Saturday May 9th will see two major milestones in the history and revival of the Corris Railway as the Mid-Wales Narrow Gauge line performs the opening of its new carriage shed at Maespoeth Junction and the formal launch of its appeal for funds to extend the railway southwards along the Dulas Valley towards Tan-Y-Coed.

Maespoeth Junction is only accessible by trains from Corris station and the Corris will be running a shuttle service of trains with departures between 10.00 a.m. and 11.10 a.m. to convey passengers, media and guests to the Opening Ceremony. Train services will then be suspended until 1.00 p.m. whilst the Opening Ceremony takes place before resuming with further afternoon departures at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. to allow more passengers to travel on the line and see the works. Trains will also operate on an hourly basis between 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Sunday 10th May.

For Corris Railway Society Chairman David Coleman and the team of volunteers May 9th will be a particularly special day. “The shed has been a key project for us during the last three years”, he explained. “Most of the work of planning and building has been carried out by volunteers but even so it has involved us in raising over £100,000 to make sure that we have a facility that will let us store our heritage and replica rolling stock under cover and out of the worst of the weather that our proximity to Cadair Idris and Snowdonia can produce. Over the last few weeks many hours of work have gone into track laying to give access to the new shed and this work is also the first small step towards our hopes and plans to increase our length of trip to some two and a half miles along the Dulas Valley. We are confident that a longer Corris Railway will bring more visitors and business to our area and we already have purchased much of the required track materials and placed them in secure storage.”

David explained that there are other plans in the pipeline to further the revival. “We have already had one new steam engine built between 1994 and 2005 and we are now fund-raising towards a second on which we expect to see building work beginning before the end of the year. Construction work on three new carriages which will closely follow the design of originals from the late 19th century is also going ahead by a small team of our volunteers and we have conservation projects, station improvements and much else to tackle. The Carriage Shed Project has shown what we can do and we are facing the future with confidence”.

FOR COMMENT ON THIS RELEASE CONTACT: John Simms on 01823 323106 or via john.com@wsrail.net.
Corris is five miles north of Machynlleth and eleven miles south of Dolgellau in Mid-Wales.
Station Yard, Corris, Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 9SH