Railway open in time for Easter

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway is opening its new running season on Saturday and looking forward to welcoming visitors and particularly families from all over the world.

 

Staff and volunteers have been hard at work over the winter to ensure the railway is ready for another season. Several sections of track have been re-laid, one of the original engines has had its boiler lifted out and tubes replaced, while the volunteer team of ‘hedgebashers’ have been opening up the views for passengers, particularly on the rollercoaster section of line between the Banwy river bridge and Cyfronydd station.  

 

Trains will be running every day until Easter, and over the Saturday to Monday of Easter weekend a busy two-train timetable will be worked. Children will get an egg-stra surprise with a free chocolate egg between Good Friday and Easter Monday. A child’s return ticket costs just £1 per adult travelling.

 

With the season getting underway, the pace will quicken for the hardy staff and many volunteers who run the eight-mile narrow gauge line. A major priority will be the return to steam of the line’s no 12 ‘Joan’, an 0-6-2 Kerr Stuart tank built in 1927 for service on the sugar liens of Antigua. Joan has been at Llanfair since 1971 but was last steamed in 1991. Over the past five years a meticulous restoration has been taking place, including the fitting of a completely new boiler, and the final pipework is now being added ready for a return to service early in the new season.

 

W&LLR General Manager Terry Turner said: “The weather has been glorious in the last few days showing just what a beautiful part of Mid-Wales we live in. Hopefully many visitors will come and discover the best way of seeing our scenery from the carriages of a Welshpool & Llanfair train!”

 

Full details of services can be obtained visiting www.wllr.org.uk.