Category: News

The first episode of a new BBC Wales TV series will feature Sir Gareth and Lady Maureen Edwards at the controls of a steam engine on the narrow gauge Corris Railway in Mid Wales.

Titled “Gareth Edwards Great Welsh Adventure” the programme will appear at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday October 26th and in addition to the footage taken at the Corris the great former Welsh Rugby Union International and British Lion can also be seen travelling at higher speeds in a rally car and having a close up meeting with birds of prey. The programme may be screened more widely on the national BBC network in the New Year.

Any viewer who would like to emulate Sir Gareth and Lady Maureen and drive a Corris locomotive can do so via the Your Railway For The Day package in which groups of up to six people can drive steam, diesel and battery electric locomotives and try their hand at signalling or working as a guard. More information can be seen at www.corris.co.uk or obtained by sending an s.a.e. to Corris Railway, 42 Bluebell Close, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3XQ.

With only a few weeks left of the 2021 Operating Season remaining, apart from a planned weekend of Santa Trains in December, Corris Railway Society volunteers are continuing to work on the revival of the Mid Wales narrow gauge line and looking forward to a major winter project.

This is the new track layout and station platform at Corris. A traverser is being constructed by Statfold Engineering which, together with a new point being installed to complete a loop, means that locomotives will be able to run around their trains at both Corris and Maespoeth Junction. Refurbishment of the ground frame is in progress in the Maespoeth Junction workshops and new sleepers have been delivered, as well as track fittings. The modified layout will require the building of a new platform as part of a larger scale and longer term intention to build a new Corris station including an overall roof. Such a roof was a feature of the original station in the village.

Work on the new track layout will begin after the two days of Santa Trains operation which will take place on December 11th and 12th. Santa train tickets can be purchased online from www.corris.co.uk

The dry and warm weather through most of September allowed more construction work on the embankment which will replace a lost section of the original trackbed south of Maespoeth Junction and eventually allow trains to run further southwards along the Dulas Valley. Material continues to arrive from Dolgellau. Important work completed also included connecting the drainage layer below the embankment base with a drain to the Dulas, clearing the flood plain of debris from earlier site work and levelling of the topsoil in front of the stone filled gabions at the base of the embankment. Work has also been done by a flail tackling the vegetation which had grown strongly on the steep sided slope of the valley.

New build carriage number 24, which will offer First Class accommodation and an observation section, is being worked on in the carriage shed at Maespoeth Junction with the flooring complete and hardwood sections being fitted to the outside of the vehicle.

Donations to assist with the work at Corris station and/or the Southern Extension embankment can be made online via www.corris.co.uk or cheques payable to Corris Railway can be sent to Corris Railway, Station Yard, Corris, Machynlleth, SY20 9SH. Please indicate for which work a cheque donation is intended.

Established in 1950 the Historical Model Railway Society has accumulated a large archive of drawings, photographs, other documents and books which are housed in its dedicated building at the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire. This is an invaluable resource for both modellers and railway and social history purposes and available to Society Members.

Many of the books housed in the library have been donated to the HMRS by its members or left in legacies and this continues to the present day. However this means that there is a duplication, or greater multiple, of titles that are offered and already held and the Society looks to find good homes for these rather than seeing them go from cherished possessions to being pulped for recycling.

The HMRS Librarian is Ian Cross from Derby who amongst other interests is an engineering volunteer with the Corris Railway which is restoring the narrow gauge line in the Dulas Valley, north of Machynlleth, in Mid Wales.

Ian has produced, and helped to produce, some components for a new steam locomotive which should enter service on the Corris in the autumn of 2022. It is a small tank engine, based on a design dating from 1878, and the completion date depends to a great extent on the rate of fundraising. Although the new Corris Falcon would comfortably fit in the tender of Tornado or Flying Scotsman it is not a cheap project and will finally cost in the region of three hundred thousand pounds.

To help matters along Ian had a sales stand at the Corris’ Gala Weekend, September 4th and 5th, selling some of the duplicated titles. This followed on from previous successful selling efforts on behalf of the Midland Railway Centre and the Bishops Castle Railway Society. His stock was further helped by some large donations from Hudson’s Transport Bookshop in Matlock.

As a result of the generosity of supporters, the HMRS and Hudson’s the funding for the new Falcon benefitted to the tune of four hundred and eighty eight pounds which a supporter of the project rounded up to five hundred pounds.

Information about the Falcon locomotive project can be seen at www.corris.co.uk