A big weekend in Llanfair

Llanfair Caereinion is preparing to welcome thousands of visitors this weekend for two big events.

Llanfair Caereinion Show is being held on Saturday at Llysun, Llanerfyl, by kind permission of the Tudor family, while over three days, starting Friday, the Steam Gala on the Llanfair line will take place.

The Llanfair Caereinion Show is one of the area’s biggest with post Brexit funding and policy sure to be a talking point throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway’s annual Steam Gala will get underway on Friday with several events including an evening photographic session down the line, which is open only to pre-booked photographers.

Over the weekend an intensive timetable will operate including freight and mixed passenger and goods trains. At Welshpool Raven Square new display space has been created thanks to the hard efforts of members over the summer adding a concrete floor to the long carriage shed.

At the other end of the line the attractions at Llanfair include open workshops with stands and displays within including more model railways with live steam, while conducted tours will be undertaken of Tanllan yard and stock shed, areas normally not accessible to the public. Works locomotives will be demonstrated for visitors, as will the work of the railway’s track gang.

Once again the Gala coincides with the separate-entry Garden Railway Show held on Saturday and Sunday at Llanfair Leisure Centre. A free bus service will run from Llanfair station up the hill to this event, which showcases large-scale model railways with again many using live steam locomotives.

Site entry to the railway’s Llanfair station will cost £3 per car but parking at Welshpool station will be free.

Full details of the Gala and timetable are available at www.wllr.org.uk/steam-gala-2016.

For more information contact the railway on 01938 810441.