MWT Cymru
  • Home
    • About Us
      • Our Members
      • Our Partners
      • Visit Wales
  • Why Join?
    • Mid Wales Businesses
      • Mid Wales Accommodation
      • Mid Wales Attraction, Activity & Event Membership
      • Mid Wales Restaurant & Retail
    • North Wales Businesses
    • South Wales Businesses
      • South Wales Accommodation
      • South Wales Attraction & Activity Membership
      • South Wales Restaurant & Retail
    • Community Tourism Groups
    • National & Commercial
    • Supplier Membership
    • Representation
    • Membership Fees
    • FAQ's
    • Testimonials
  • IMI Wales
  • Marketing
    • Visit Mid Wales
    • The Importance of Destination Marketing
    • Bedroom Browser Advertising 2026/27
    • Mid Wales Visitor Guide Advertising 2025/26
    • TXGB
  • Resource Hub
    • 1. MEMBERS AREA
      • Information & Support
        • GDPR
        • TV and Copyright Licences
        • Setting up Google My Business
        • Book keeping & Payroll
        • Business Review
      • Press & PR Support
        • Mid Wales Media Hub
      • Member to Member
        • Menu Request
        • Brochure Request
        • Attractions & Activities Pass
        • FREE Browsers / Maps
      • Suppliers
    • Image Gallery
    • Trade Events
    • Press Releases
    • Current Projects
    • Suppliers
  • Contact
Join Now

Latest Press Releases

Industry News

Favourite loco to return at double diamond celebration weekend

25/4/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
The reopening day special pauses at Castle Caereinion in April 1963. A since-modified example of the basic toastrack carriage seen directly behind the loco will return for the gala event.  Photo: W&LLR Archive

Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (W&LLR) will stage an Anniversary Gala weekend on June 17 and 18 to celebrate two significant events, one exactly twice as old as the other.
 
On April 6, 1963, 60 years ago, the W&LLR reopened as a heritage railway run by volunteers. Another 60 years and two days earlier, on April 4, 1903 the line had opened for the first time with much pomp and ceremony in both Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinion.
 
When the preservation company began operations in April 1963, it was in a very uncertain environment. At the time there were just two preserved railways operating in Wales - Talyllyn Railway had been a volunteer operation since 1951 and the Ffestiniog Railway had reopened its first short section in 1955.
 
But the Welshpool & Llanfair volunteers faced a new challenge as they were leasing the line from British Railways, with all the bureaucracy that entailed. Not until 1973 was the line purchased from BR.
 
The early years were marked by severe cash shortages and the project was almost doomed when the bridge over the River Banwy partially collapsed in 1964. But the volunteers overcame these challenges and the line has steadily grown in prominence to become the major tourist attraction it is today.
 
The gala event will celebrate the line’s history and future. Without doubt, the highlight is set to be the return to service of 0-8-0T steam locomotive 699.01 ‘Sir Drefaldwyn’, following a long overhaul delayed by such issues as the Covid pandemic.
Picture
The return to service of ‘Sir Drefaldwyn’ will be the major highlight of the gala. The loco is seen here in 2014 with correct Austrian carriage stock before the latest overhaul started.
Photo: Kevin Heywood/W&LLR

Sir D has its own prominent place in the line’s preservation history. Built in 1944 in France by Société Franco-Belge for the then occupying German military, it never saw service before the supply depot it was stored in was captured by Allied forces.
​
The loco was then sent to work in Austria and it was discovered redundant on a siding by W&L members in 1968, following the gift to the railway of four open-balconied carriages by the Austrian Zillertalbahn line.
 
Sir D was not the first steam locomotive to arrive at the W&L after preservation, but it was the first to be regularly rostered on the line’s passenger trains, entering service in spring 1970 and proving a most powerful engine able to pull the heaviest loads.
 
The loco worked until 2000 when its boiler ticket expired and, with other heavy-haulage locos then available, it was placed in store, restoration not beginning until 2014. 
                                                                                                           
The Anniversary Gala will also recall important parts of the W&LLR’s history and will include a return to the line for one of the first carriages secured by the preservationists.
 
With the W&LLR’s own carriages having been scrapped in the 1930s, following the withdrawal of the passenger service, the new company had to look for stock and, in 1961, secured a set of very basic ‘toastrack’ carriages from the Upnor & Lodge Hill Railway, a naval line in Kent.
 
These were modified in service with the W&LLR and served the line well until better vehicles became available and they were sold to the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, back in Kent. Thanks to the S&KLR, one carriage will return to Wales to recreate the look of trains in the line’s earliest preservation years.
 
Other highlights of the weekend will include re-enactments of important events in the railway’s history. Among these are the cutting of the first sod ceremony and the chairman's speech on re-opening to a recreation of the jazz trains run in the 1980s and an evening dining train. It is also hoped to have other visiting vehicles on static display.
 
Trains will run between Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinon throughout the weekend. Full details of the event and ticket booking facilities will be found on the railway’s website at www.wllr.org.uk/upcoming-events.​
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 November 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 November 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017

    Categories

    All Coronavirus (COVID 19) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Events Industry News/Changes Marketing Member 2 Member MWT Meeting MWT Members MWT Membership Benefit MWT Project MWT Representation MWT Suppliers #RealCeredigion #RealMidWales Scam Warning Technology Visit Britain Visit Wales Wales Tourism Alliance

    RSS Feed

Find out More
Join Now
Call Now

MWT Cymru
The Station
Machynlleth
​SY20 8TG

Tel: 01654 702653
​Email: [email protected]


Company Number: 2612356





​

Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy | Membership Terms & Conditions

Contact Us.

Press enquiries: [email protected] 
>> See our Media & Press page here

​MWT Membership Helpline 01654 702653

Opening Hours:

Monday - Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 4.30pm

Closed Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidays


Industry: @mwtcymru.co.uk | 
www.facebook.com/mwtcymru
​
Visitor: @visitmidwales | 
@showmewales 
| 
​
www.facebook.com/visitmidwales
​www.instagram.com/visitmidwales

Picture
MWT Cymru works closely with Visit Wales, the tourism team of Welsh Government.

​>> Top tips for working with Visit Wales


Picture
MWT Cymru are proud members of the Wales Tourism Alliance.

           >> Find out more about The WTA 

MWT Cymru
The Station | Machynlleth | Powys
01654 702653
Privacy Policy | Contact Us
©MWTCymru 2016 all rights reserved 
Company Registration Number: 2612356
 VAT Registration Number: 549824502
  • Home
    • About Us
      • Our Members
      • Our Partners
      • Visit Wales
  • Why Join?
    • Mid Wales Businesses
      • Mid Wales Accommodation
      • Mid Wales Attraction, Activity & Event Membership
      • Mid Wales Restaurant & Retail
    • North Wales Businesses
    • South Wales Businesses
      • South Wales Accommodation
      • South Wales Attraction & Activity Membership
      • South Wales Restaurant & Retail
    • Community Tourism Groups
    • National & Commercial
    • Supplier Membership
    • Representation
    • Membership Fees
    • FAQ's
    • Testimonials
  • IMI Wales
  • Marketing
    • Visit Mid Wales
    • The Importance of Destination Marketing
    • Bedroom Browser Advertising 2026/27
    • Mid Wales Visitor Guide Advertising 2025/26
    • TXGB
  • Resource Hub
    • 1. MEMBERS AREA
      • Information & Support
        • GDPR
        • TV and Copyright Licences
        • Setting up Google My Business
        • Book keeping & Payroll
        • Business Review
      • Press & PR Support
        • Mid Wales Media Hub
      • Member to Member
        • Menu Request
        • Brochure Request
        • Attractions & Activities Pass
        • FREE Browsers / Maps
      • Suppliers
    • Image Gallery
    • Trade Events
    • Press Releases
    • Current Projects
    • Suppliers
  • Contact
Members Area
Join Now