THE Llangollen Railway’s spring steam gala has been turned into a major celebration of the ‘Changeover Years’ on the Western Region.
The showpiece April 13-15 event aims to capture the atmosphere of 1965, when steam was rapidly giving way to diesels.
The gala will also mark 50 years since BR lifted the track from the Ruabon to Dolgellau line, leaving all the stations derelict.
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The star of the show will be newly-overhauled GWR 2-8-0 No. 3802. It will be joined by BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T No. 80072, which will be back from its loan period at the Severn Valley Railway, GWR large prairie No. 5199, which is expected back from Tyseley Locomotive Works, and GWR 0-6-0PT No. 6430.
It is planned that all four will be heavily weathered to represent the state they would have been in on the WR.
The contrast will be with the then-new shiny diesels in pristine condition – Type 3 D6940 and Type 4 D1566, both in the BR blue scheme. All six locomotives have WR origins.
Eleven trains will run between Llangollen and Carrog, starting from Llangollen at 9.15am with the last service retuning at 6.06pm.
Passenger trains will work through to Dwyrain Corwen East, top and tailed from Carrog. The first arrival at Corwen will be at 10.13am.
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