We are delighted to announce that diesel-hauled trains will be running at Llangollen in September. 5310 will work 3 trips Llangollen-Carrog on Friday 10th September.
Diesel-hauled trains are also expected to operate on Friday 17th September, Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th September, Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd October, Friday 8th-Sunday 10th October and Friday 29th October.
Each day should see 3 trips, with the diesel diagram leaving Llan at 10:30, 13:00 and 15:15 on weekends (with a DMU also out for 2 trips) and 11, 12:50 & 15:10 on weekdays (one train in service).
It’s certainly been a very challenging 6 months since the last update to our website. Without going into too much detail about what has gone on across the railway, which is well documented elsewhere, the good news is that the Llangollen Railway Trust have been successful in acquiring the necessary assets and permissions to to take over the railway and operate trains again. After a lot of hard and challenging work through the spring and early summer, a DMU shuttle service to Berwyn marked the start of LR Trust operations on 8th July. The railway reopened to Glyndyfrdwy and Carrog with steam operation restarting on the 21st of August.
With two of the most active members of our Group heavily involved in getting the railway back into operation (one has become Trust Chairman, another is managing the Permanent Way, both have put a lot of hours in to other areas. However there has still been regular work taking place on the diesel fleet, which both now benefit from being undercover in the shed following the winding up of the contract engineering business. Volunteers are now working as a combined Motive Power Depot team, supporting work on both steam and diesel locomotives. #
At the time of writing 5310, 31271 and 1566 are all fit for traffic. We are very grateful to A1A Locomotives for their continued support, 31271 is expected to remain with us for the foreseeable future. A new hire agreement with the Trust is being negotiated for 31271.
Saturday 4th September ended up as a landmark day, with the first diesel-hauled train under LR Trust operation taking place, when 5310 stood in for GWR 2-8-0 3802, which had developed a minor brake fault. The Type 2 performed well and the trip provided a good loaded proving run ahead of regular diesel-haulage returning later this month. Thanks to Rhys Lloyd for the photo. For those on Facebook, do please follow our Llangollen Diesel Group page, which is regularly updated.
Tez Pickthall.
