Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway
Welshpool Wales
United Kingdom
N52.659599  W3.160087
(Welshpool Station)


This narrow gauge railway is located near the eastern Welsh border about 5 kilometres from England in the old county called Montgomeryshire but now named Powys. The railway track is thirty inch gauge (762 millimetres) which is very close to "Bosnian" gauge which is 760 millimetres. This may account for the railway's use of carriages obtained from the Zillertalbahn which is 760 millimetre gauge. The line is 8 1/2 miles (13.7 kilometres) long and generally follows the River Banwy Valley in low hills covered with farms between the Raven Square station in Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinion at the western terminus of the railway. The engine sheds, maintenance shops, and locomotive servicing facilities are located at Llanfair Caereinion.

Compared to the history of other narrow gauge railways, construction of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway Company started rather late, in 1899. The odd gauge of 30 inches was chosen to save costs as frequently happened with many other narrow gauge lines. From Cambrian Railway's standard gauge mainline station interchange in Welshpool track was destined to reach Llanfair Caereinion by laying it through the town between buildings. By 1903 construction was complete and Cambrian Railways, the operator, ran the first passenger train over the route upon its opening. With little traffic to support the business, and loans becoming due, the railway was in trouble by 1908. The First World War's demand upon it saved the day until the 1920's when the business began to falter once again. In 1922 Cambrian Railways was taken over by the Great Western Railway (GWR) who subsequently absorbed the Welshpool & Llanfair in 1923. (Hence the GWR paint scheme on locomotive number 823 "Countess".)The GWR takeover was not successful in increasing passenger traffic which resulted in passenger service abandonment in 1931. The Second World War, like the first, increased goods traffic for a while but the interchange demands between standard gauge and narrow gauge in Welshpool plus greater vehicle road traffic competition proved the death knell for the little railway. 1956 marked the last train run before preservation.

Volunteers formed the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway Preservation Company Limited in 1960 leasing the line from British Railways at the end of 1962.(British Railways had taken over from the GWR during nationalization of Britain's railways in 1948.) Locomotive Number 1, the "Earl", appeared on the railway following an overhaul in 1961. Original coaching stock was long gone but some passenger carriages were acquired so initial service began between Llanfair Caereinion and Castle Caereinion in 1963, about halfway to Welshpool. By 1972 services were extended to Sylfaen with the intention of re-opening trackage into Welshpool proper. By this time things were going well so in 1974 the railway purchased the property from British Railways for the sum of £8,000 (that's $13,723 or $69,234 adjusted for inflation).

However, the route through town to the standard gauge mainline station was blocked when the Welshpool Borough Council decided to construct a car park and road bypass, now Brook Street. The crossing of Church Street would no longer be possible following construction. The railway managed to run some trains through town before construction of the bypass and parking lot as this photo shows. All this resulted in a new Welshpool terminus being created at Raven Square on the western outskirts of the town with passenger service commencing there in 1981. Shortly thereafter there was a requirement for new carriages which were gratefully donated by the Zillertalbahn (760 millimetre gauge) in Austria.Over the past several years equipment from abroad has joined the railway in its quest to maintain and improve including a South African tamper, a Taiwanese diesel, two Hungarian passenger carriages, plus one from Austria, a Romanian steam locomotive, and even an Austrian rollwagen. (A narrow gauge rollwagen (roll-vah-gen) is like a low flatcar capable of carrying a standard gauge rail car on its deck. Several Austrian narrow gauge lines make use of them.
* See these two Pinzgauer Lokalbahn rollwagen photos.

Currently there are seven steam and four diesel locomotives on the roster. Two operational 0-6-0T engines, the "Earl" and the "Countess" are the original locomotives built by Beyer Peacock of Gorton, Manchester, in 1902 for the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway Company Limited. Others engines have come from the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, Chattenden & Upnor Railway, Provan Gasworks, Sierra Leone Government Railway, and the Zillertalbahn. A comprehensive steam and diesel locomotive roster is available at Wikipedia.

Monday morning hangover. The railway's 2018 Steam Gala was held from the 31st of August to the 2nd of September. Monday the 3rd was hangover day as the party was over and clean-up continued. Immediately after the Gala, and on the following day, all the special arrangements set up for the Gala had to be taken down, trade stands, the beer tent and equipment removed, and the biggest item, removal of visiting Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway locomotive "Superb". This involved a procedure which took several hours loading the engine onto a lowBoy (it's called a low-loader in Britain) for road transport back to Sittingbourne in Kent. Follow this loading procedure in the photos below:





Match the colour of your day of travel to the appropriate coloured timetable below. Red boxes indicate special events. Trains do not operate on white days.
 

 
A red box around a date denotes a special event with the appropriate colour timetable. Extra trains may operate.
 
A special event day with a special timetable.
See the website or phone for current details.
 
Travel on replicas of the original Great Western Railway liveried carriages on trains with this notation.
 
Dates of the Santa Special.
See the website or phone for current details.
 

The fare ranges from free up to £32 per family for return journeys.
See the website or phone for current details.