Category: News

Saturday June 15^th was a day of variable weather in Mid Wales with good spells of sunshine interspersed with some very heavy, albeit generally of short duration, showers. Despite the downpours this year’s Corris Railway Gala was a successful day with full trains and good sales in the Railway’s shop.

It was a day of historic events. The schedule of trains leaving Corris station at half hourly intervals was the most intensive timetable ever to operate over the section of line to Maespoeth Junction and for the first time in living memory three locomotives were in steam. Expecting a good turn-out for the event the Corris had decided not to run any demonstration freight trains and to concentrate on its passenger services. There had been a spate of online bookings during the day and on the evening of the 14^th as well as walk-up sales on the day.

For most of the visitors the major attraction was the visit of “Sir Haydn” from the neighbouring Talyllyn Railway and its initial appearance alongside its much younger classmate Corris No. 10. It was the first time two “Falcons” together had worked trains in over a century and the lunchtime double-headed pairing was a highlight of the day. No. 3 was very much at home on the railway where it ran between 1878 and 1948, its green livery contrasting with No. 10 in its Corris red paint.

The visiting engine had to come to the rescue in mid-morning when the “Tattoo”, Corris No. 7, failed in section with a steam leak on its way up the line. The 2005 built loco was returned to the Junction and spent the rest of the day on the headshunt while the pair of “Falcons” worked turn and turn about.

A number of Corris Railway Society members took the opportunity to walk down past the headshunt and onto the new embankment which has now linked up with the earthworks supporting the existing head of rail. Looking ahead to the next phase of the line’s Southern Extension plans a new appeal leaflet to raise funds for the Nant Goedwig stream had been printed and a number of visitors had picked one up and were reading it (copies can be obtained by sending an s.a.e. to CRS 42 Bluebell Close, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3XQ or donations to the Southern Extension Fund can be made online at www.corris.co.uk). Hopefully donations may follow.

Overall it was a very satisfactory day for the Corris and thanks go to the visiting crew from the Talyllyn who worked No. 3 during the event.

With this year’s Corris Railway Gala Day less than a fortnight away the following is the plan of train workings for the day. Please note that circumstances, such as a breakdown, may cause this to change and the Corris Railway cannot accept responsibility for any changes to the following timetable.

Public service trains will leave Corris station at:

• 11:00 – Planned locomotive No. 7
• 11:30 – Planned locomotive No. 10
• 12:00 – Planned locomotive No. 3
• 12:30 – Planned locomotive No. 7
• 13:10 – Planned locomotives Nos. 3 & 10 double heading
• 14:15 – Planned locomotive No. 10
• 14:45 – Planned locomotive No. 3
• 15:15 – Planned locomotive No. 7
• 15:45 – Planned locomotive No. 10

Public service trains will leave Maespoeth Junction at:

• 11:15 – Planned locomotive No. 3
• 11:45 – Planned locomotive No. 7
• 12:15 – Planned locomotive No. 10
• 12:45 – Planned locomotive No. 3
• 14:00 – Planned locomotives Nos. 3 & 10, topping and tailing the train
• 14:30 – Planned locomotive No. 7
• 15:00 – Planned locomotive No. 10
• 15:30 – Planned locomotive No. 3
• 16:00 – Planned locomotive No. 7

PLEASE NOTE: IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO START YOUR DAY AT MAESPOETH JUNCTION. PASSENGERS MUST START FROM CORRIS STATION.

Locomotive Information

No. 3 is the surviving member of the original trio of locomotives built in Loughborough in 1878. Following the closure of the original Corris route by British Railways in 1948 it was purchased by the Talyllyn Railway in 1951 and has worked there since, being named “Sir Haydn” by our friends at Tywyn. This is the locomotive’s third visit to its original home.

No. 7 was the first steam locomotive built for the Corris Railway revival and after a chequered story around its construction – including the firm building it going out of business – entered service in 2005. It is a 21st Century classmate of a locomotive delivered from Kerr Stuart Ltd of Stoke-on-Trent in 1921 and which, accompanied No. 3 to the Talyllyn. This will be its last summer in service as a statutory overhaul falls due in 2025. To read more see the booklet The Tale of a “Tattoo” by Peter Guest.

No. 10 arrived on the revived Corris at the end of August 2023 and as visitors will see it is a classmate of No. 3, albeit some 145 years younger. It was built for us by Alan Keef Ltd, at a cost of nearly £400,000 and this Gala will see two of these “Falcon” locomotives working together for the first time in over a century. Its story is told in a booklet by John Simms.

The workshops at Maespoeth Junction will be open to the public, as will the Museum and Sales area at Corris station. Light refreshments will be available but if something more substantial is wanted it is a short walk from Corris station to the village shop and cafe or the “Slaters Arms” (which once had its beer delivered in casks rolled across the street from the railway’s waggons).

The Corris Craft Centre has a good cafe. It is possible to walk to the Railway from the Craft Centre via the zig-zag path but the return up the path is not for the unfit.

Photograph shows a scene from the 2021 Gala Day when ex-Corris Railway No. 4 Tattoo Locomotive paid a visit from Talyllyn Railway to join replica Corris Railway No. 7.

This year’s Corris Railway Gala Day, which will be held on Saturday June 15th, will have a couple of changes to previous Galas on the Mid-Wales narrow gauge railway, Past galas have seen demonstration freight and van trains running between Corris station and Maespoeth Junction and some trains headed by diesel locomotives.

Instead this year’s plans intend to see three locomotives in steam. The Corris’ own Kerr Stuart “Tattoo” No. 7, completed in 2005, and its “Falcon” No. 10, delivered from the workshops of Alan Keef Ltd at the end of August 2023 and making its Gala debut. They will be joined by “Falcon” No. 3 “Sir Haydn”, courtesy of the Talyllyn Railway, which will be spending the month of June back on its original route. No. 3 was constructed by the Henry Hughes company in Loughborough in 1878 and is the surviving member of the trio of locomotives that brought steam to the Dulas Valley for the first time.

The lack of freight workings is based on past experience when planned trips for the Railway’s heritage freight stock had to be cancelled on the day in favour of passenger trains to meet the demand of space for people to travel.

One of the features of the day will be some double heading of trains by No’s 3 and 10. Evidence of double heading by “Falcons” during the Corris’ history, even in its “golden age” before the First World War is scanty. One photograph exists of such a working on the bridge over the river Dyfi at Machynlleth but it is not known if this was a set-up for a commercial postcard. With the original route closed in 1948 memories of how trains worked have almost vanished but local tradition says that some trains were double headed at times of high demand, such as on market days in Machynlleth. It is suggested that on these occasions the pairing would work returning trains from Machynlleth as far as Maespoeth Junction. There with the most severe climbing over, including the 1 in 30 gradient on the approach to the Junction, which the current work on the Southern Extension will recreate, one locomotive would detach before the other took the trains on the rest of its journey to Corris and Aberllefenni.

It can be safely said that three locomotives in steam is a sight that has not been seen on the Corris in over a century and beyond living memory.

Visitors to the Gala will also be able to see the work being carried out by the Corris’ volunteer workforce including carriage number 24 which once complete will allow first class travel on the line for the first time in at least 90 years. The Railway’s Museum at Corris will be open, along with the sales area at which drinks and sweets will be on sale. It is a very short walk from the station to the village shop and cafe, and the “Slaters Arms” which until 1948 had its beer delivered by train with the barrels being rolled across the road from the level crossing opposite the pub. The Corris Craft Centre also has an excellent cafe and visitors may park their cars there and walk to the station down the zig-zag path (which is a steep journey on the return). Parking is available at the station and Lloyd’s bus service number 34 stops outside the station yard.

Advance Gala tickets can be purchased via www.corris.co.uk