Whilst the loco shed is busy with the 10-year overhaul of No. 7, other areas of the railway have not been in hibernation. The signalling and telegraph department have been working on the signal box where the installation and testing of a token machine is complete and ready for the changeover to EKTs from the current staff system in operation between Maespoeth Junction and Corris. New interlocking for the lever frame with dogs made in house by Phil Scott has been installed and undergone final adjustments and testing. Meanwhile, work continues in the carriage shed with the painting of coach No. 24.
In this short video, head of S&T Samuel Knappett runs us through the working of the lever frame with the new interlocking dogs in place.
In order to survive in the 21st century as a viable tourist attraction the Corris Railway needed a working steam locomotive so as to give visitors the unique experience of travelling part of the oldest narrow gauge railway in Mid-Wales aboard an early 20th century-style train. The members of the Corris Railway Society were asked if they would help to finance the building of a modern version of the Kerr Stuart “Tattoo” class locomotive, similar to loco No. 4 (now Talyllyn Railway No. 4 “Edward Thomas”). A majority of those who responded to the survey said they would support an Appeal Fund to build the engine. The Project was started officially on 1st February 1995 and with funding provided by members’ covenants plus many other fund raising initiatives. The new locomotive, numbered 7, entered service in 2005, bringing the sound of a steam engine at work back to the Dulas Valley after half a century.
2025 marks the 20th year of service on the railway for No. 7 and the second “10 year” major overhaul of the locomotive is now due, following the expiration of her boiler ticket at the end of the 2024 running season.
In the last decade No. 7 has proved a reliable locomotive suffering only one major failure whilst working Santa Trains in December 2018. Whilst taking empty coaching stock back to Corris station to collect extra passengers, a lack of lubrication caused a section of the valve gear on the driver’s side to seize. As the locomotive was working uphill with the regulator open this caused stress and damage to the valve gear as a whole. The locomotive was taken out of traffic immediately and repairs were carried out with the help from the Vale of Rheidol Railway. The “Tattoo” was ready just in time to work a photographic charter and a “Your Railway for the Day” experience package before passenger train services for 2019 were due to commence at Easter. More recently, a failed steam gasket during the 2024 gala meant that she had to be withdrawn after working the initial double header with Falcon steam locomotive No. 10.
Overall however, she has proved to be a reliable locomotive for both the Corris Railway, heading the majority of passenger trains and private charters as well as a couple of brief visits to the Talyllyn Railway where she worked alongside her sister locomotive No. 4. Since the last “10 year” overhaul she has completed 3,978.5 miles, primarily on Corris metals, although this figure does include a couple of hundred miles working from Tywyn to Nant Gwernol on the Talyllyn Railway.
An entirely volunteer force started the strip down of the locomotive between Christmas and New Year 2024, not least in an attempt to burn off some Christmas calories, although primarily in the hope to maintain a schedule of work that will see the locomotive returned to steam in time for the 2025 Corris Railway gala due to be held on Saturday 24th May.
The saddle tank, cab, coal bunker, boiler cladding, steam fittings and pipes and the motion were removed within a couple of days and have been stored indoors on a flat waggon in order to allow work to progress on the boiler and smoke box. The boiler will be re-tubed at Maespoeth and the boiler metal and welds will be inspected and measured to ensure that they meet the necessary safety requirements to pass certification for the next ten years. After the boiler is lifted from the frames, the driving wheels and pony truck will be removed and the frames will be cleaned down and repainted.
The workshops at the Vale of Rheidol Railway have been contracted to fabricate a new stainless steel smokebox for the loco as well as re-profiling the tyres and fitting new crank pins. New bearings for the driving axles will be produced in-house at Maespoeth in the newly revamped machine shop, under the auspices of engineers Phil Scott and Ian Cross. The recently acquired Huron mill has also been used to take measurements to a three decimal place accuracy of the axle centres and the motion using the digital read out.
The cancellation of the 2024 Santa Specials owing to Storm Darragh meant the total loss of the much needed revenue usually accrued at this time of year in order to ‘keep the lights on’ at the Railway outside of the running season. Anyone wishing to donate to the Railway to help with general running costs or the overhaul of No. 7 can do so via the Railway’s website – www.corris.co.uk – or cheques payable to Corris Railway can be sent to The Corris Railway, Station Yard, Corris, Machynlleth SY20 9SH.
For the full story of the construction of Locomotive No. 7 see The Tale of a “Tattoo”, written by Peter Guest and available from the Corris Railway online shop or from the museum sales counter at Corris.
The running season may now have finished but that doesn’t mean that the railway has gone into hibernation. The fallen trees across the line in three places have now been cut up and cleared and dehumidifiers have been drying out the machine shop after the flood waters receded. The completion of this work means that the worst of the effects of Storm Darragh have now been dealt with.
Loco No. 10 has had her bunker cleaned out, and both the tank and boiler drained. At the start of December she successfully passed her steam test and so she is now going to have a period of rest before a busy season next year.
Preparations are underway for the 2nd 10-year overhaul of Loco No. 7. The Talyllyn Railway has kindly loaned two boiler cradle wagons to support and facilitate movement of the boiler once it has been lifted off the frames. Work will begin on the dismantling of No. 7 at the end of December when volunteers will be stripping the engine down in Maespoeth shed under the aegis of the railway’s chief mechanical engineer, Trefor Davies.
The boiler tubes will be removed in order to prepare for the ultrasonic testing of the boiler metal and welds as well as checking the integrity of the firebox. The frames will be lifted and the wheelsets dropped out. The wheels are going to be re-profiled by the Vale of Rheidol workshops and they will also be making new crank pins. The Vale of Rheidol are also making a new smoke box out of stainless steel similar to the one they made for No. 4 on the Talyllyn Railway. New white metal bearings for the loco are being made in-house at Maespoeth.
With the boiler and cab removed from the loco, there will then be the opportunity to clean and degrease the frames and the motion, prior to repainting. The boiler will be re-tubed and the whole reassembled, before the loco undergoes extensive testing in order to receive another 10-year boiler ticket.
N.B. The photograph at the top of this Press Release and those inside the engine shed shown below are of the 10-year overhaul of Number 7 during November 2014.
Owing to Storm Darragh, the Corris Railway had to cancel its weekend of Santa specials on December 7th and 8th. This was a decision that was taken by many of the other heritage railways in the country and rightly so.
Many of the volunteers who help run the railway travel from across the country from as far south as the Isle of Wight and as far north as Scotland. They had completed the setting up on Friday 6th and were looking forward to welcoming excited children on a trip to Santa’s grotto.
Saturday morning revealed that the plans of mice and men ‘gang aft a-gley’. There were landslips on the road north and south of Corris, a total loss of electricity at Corris and Maespoeth Junction and the overwhelmed road drains of the A487 meant that rain water was flooding off the road and cascading into the machine shop, engine shed and loco inspection pit. A line inspection revealed 3 trees blocking the line in various places. By Saturday afternoon, local volunteers had cleared the road drains and stopped any further water ingress into the loco shed at Maespoeth.
Corris volunteers embarked upon a clean-up process in order to undo the damage caused to the infrastructure of the railway, something which will be undertaken in the run up to Christmas.
Other larger heritage railways tend to run Santa specials over multiple weekends. Owing to the small size of the CR volunteer base this is not something that the Railway can currently undertake.
Historically the Corris has relied upon the income gained over a busy weekend of Christmas running to help provide a financial cushion for the winter months when it is not open. The non-running of the specials meant the railway was faced with the loss of this income, plus the additional loss of the not inconsiderable monies spent on setting up, including children’s presents and the food and drink which are part of the visitor experience. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of one volunteer, all the pre-booked passengers had received a complete refund by midnight on Saturday the 7th December, excepting those kind and generous people who had asked the railway not to refund them, but to keep the money instead, in the form of a donation to General Funds.
Other local businesses had suffered too, such as the Corris Café and the Slater’s Arms – both supporters of the railway with whom it enjoys a symbiotic relationship.
The 2025 Corris Railway Santa Specials are scheduled for Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th December.
There are just a few days to go now before Santa pays his annual visit to his grotto in the carriage shed at Maespoeth Junction where he is looking forward to welcoming children and parents arriving on the Corris Railway Santa Special Trains from Corris station. On arrival at the Junction there will be the chance for the children to meet the man in the red suit and receive a present, whilst there will be some seasonal refreshments for all.
There are four trains scheduled to run on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th December, leaving Corris at 11.00am, 12.30pm, 2.00pm and 3.30pm on both days. Fares are £7.50 for adults and £10.00 for children. With limited seats available on each train advanced booking is advisable at www.corris.co.uk/tickets, particularly if planning your day around a particular train time. The journey will be in the recreated 19th Century carriages and with a steam engine pulling them passengers will get a brief taste of travel along the Dulas Valley 100 years and more ago.
The Museum and Shop at Corris station will be open on both days allowing visitors to see artefacts from the history of the Railway, which once linked Machynlleth and Aberllefenni, and the area generally or to buy some late items of clothing, books, cards or children’s gifts ahead of the festive season and 2025. The range of children’s books includes “Hugh Goes Sliding” by Christopher Awdry, author of some of the “Thomas” tales about steam locomotives on the Corris and tales about the Friendly Engines written by one of our volunteers.
When it was announced that the Warley Model Railway Society were ceasing to organise their major Annual Exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham it looked like the end of a major event for modellers and also an end to the long association with the show for the Corris Railway Sales and Information stand.
However the baton has been picked up by the publishers of British Railway Modelling magazine and on November 23rd and 24th Hall 5 at the NEC will be packed with interest for modellers. There will be stalls from many manufacturers and sellers, plus stands from Societies including the Corris Railway.
And of course there will be award winning layouts in all scales and from various periods of the modelling hobby, extending back for a century in some cases and ranging forward to the current era of DCC and highly detailed locos, stock and scenery.
The Corris stand will be at stand No. 166 and will have a range of books, souvenirs, cards and other items to tempt buyers seeking something for themselves or perhaps a Christmas gift.
For most of the last twenty years the annual Santa Special trains on the Corris Railway have been headed by “Tattoo” steam locomotive No. 7, built new for the Railway in 2005 and as seen in the photograph above. However in 2024 a newer engine will be taking a starring role at the head of the trains and no doubt featuring in family photographs and videos.
This is Corris No. 10, a “Falcon” class machine delivered new to the Corris in 2023. After a spell as Britain’s newest steam loco it has had a busy 2024, starring in gala events on both the Corris and the Talyllyn Railways and also taking a leading role in the TR’s “Awdry Weekend” where it assumed the guise of “Sir Handel” from the “Thomas the Tank Engine” books.
The new build carriages, built by the Corris Railway’s volunteers, headed by No. 10, will give passengers a taste of everyday travel in the Dulas Valley at the start of the 20th Century as they are based on the Edwardian originals which ran until 1930, whilst the first “Falcon” locomotives were built for the Corris in 1878. The journey is from Corris station to Maespoeth Junction where Santa will be waiting with presents for the children whilst his helpers will have seasonable refreshments for everyone. The round trip will take around an hour.
There are four trains scheduled to run on December 7th and 8th, leaving Corris at 11.00, 12.30, 2.00 and 3.30. Fares are £7.50 for adults and £10.00 for children. With 70 seats available on each train early booking is advisable, particularly if planning your day around a particular train time. Advance booking can be done online via www.corris.co.uk/tickets
The Museum and Shop at Corris station will be open on both days allowing visitors to see artifacts from the history of the Railway, which once linked Machynlleth and Aberllefenni, and the area generally or to buy some late items of clothing, books, cards or children’s gifts ahead of the festive season and 2025. The range of children’s books includes “Hugh Goes Sliding” by Christopher Awdry, author of some of the “Thomas” tales, plus other children’s books written by a Corris Railway volunteer.
As the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Corris Railway Society back in 1966 approaches, 2026 should see first class travel on the Mid Wales narrow gauge line available for the first time in nearly a century.
The volunteer carriage building team, working in the sheds at Maespoeth Junction, will have the latest new build coach, number 24 fully primed and ready for painting by the end of October. Recent work prior to that has been mainly completion of the vestibule panels and etched glass for the end of the first class compartment which has been created. Further drawings are being produced for outstanding parts.
The new vehicle will be the second of the new build carriage fleet to feature a clerestory roof and the ventilators for this feature have now been produced. This style of roof added a large amount of work to both the fabrication of the steel skeleton and the many timber capping sections that enclose the structure of number 24, but it means that along with the similar clerestory on number 22 and the elliptical roofs on numbers 20, 21 and 23 the modern day Corris trains have similar profiles to their pre-1930 counterparts.
The construction of numbers 22 to 24 has been funded by a Corris Railway Society member and carried out by the engineering volunteers.
First class travel was a feature of the CR from the official commencement of passenger services in 1883. The original steam hauled carriages were tramcar styled four wheelers which led to an interesting episode when the original bogie coach entered service. This was a third class vehicle but was such a more comfortable ride than the four wheeled first class offering that passengers who had paid the higher fare class regardless.
After the GWR withdrew passenger services after taking over the Corris in 1930 the withdrawn carriages were scrapped apart from two bodies which survived near Gobowen. One is restored and is in service on the Talyllyn Railway and the other resides in the Museum at Corris station. There are no plans to return it to service.
The main 2024 operating season on the Corris Railway will end on Saturday October 26th when trains will leave Corris Station for a journey along part of the Dulas Valley at 11.00, 12.00. 13.30, 14.30 and 15.30. As usual the Railway’s Museum and Shop will be open at Corris station. However there will still be the Railway’s traditional Santa Trains to come on December 7th and 8th, for which bookings are already coming in online.
Looking back over the last 10 months much has been achieved with the revival of the line which was closed in 1948. Work has progressed with building the new embankment which will eventually extend the length of the journey along the Valley. Further work is going ahead with planning the necessary bridge over the Nant Goedwig waterway.
The surviving member of the original trio of steam locomotives which were delivered to the Corris in 1878, No. 3, returned for a month long visit in June, its visit including a successful Gala Day when for the first time in over a century three steam engines were working on the line together. The other pair in action were “Tattoo” class No. 7 and No. 3’s much younger classmate No. 10, which became a resident of the locomotive shed at Maespoeth Junction in 2023.
In July No. 10 accompanied No. 3 to the Talyllyn Railway where it headed selected trains for a month including a Gala Event and the Awdry Weekend. It worked well on the longer line and was well liked by the Talyllyn’s loco crews.
Volunteers have continued to improve the machine shop area inside the locomotive shed with new walling and the delivery of a milling machine which is a considerable upgrade on the one previously in use and will enable more engineering work to be done in-house. In the carriage shed work continues on the construction of the next new carriage which, once complete, will allow the Corris to offer first class travel.
Although the line will be closed for public trains during the winter, after the Santa Trains have run, work will continue on the routine but necessary work of track maintenance, vegetation control, building maintenance and more. Extra volunteers are more than welcome and details of how to volunteer can be seen at www.corris.co.uk from where tickets for the Santa Trains can also be booked.
Looking to the future, including the day when track laying begins on its Southern Extension, the Corris Railway has agreed to purchase three ballast waggons from the Talyllyn. With siding space at something of a premium on the Corris Railway, even allowing for the carriage shed and waggon shelter at Maespoeth Junction, the Corris has also agreed to donate three of its existing fleet to Glyn Valley Tramway revivalists at Chirk, which shares the Mid-Wales twenty seven inch gauge at this stage of its history.
The waggons due to depart are a trio of Robert Hudson waggons numbered 205, 206 and 219 in the Corris lists. The first pair have been on the line since 1984 whilst the latter arrived in 1996 from the Ripon Valley Railway. It had previously been based at the Yaxham Light Railway, situated next to Yaxham Station on the Mid Norfolk Railway.
The Corris Railway’s waggon restoration team, the “Tuesday Gang”, will be taking on the task of merging the usable parts of a quartet of waggons which have been in storage with a view to producing one, or possibly two, usable vehicles for the future. The Gang has spent time in the summer months producing new steps for the Maespoeth Junction signal box, utilising their metal working and carpentry skills. The steps will take the place of the existing ones during the winter work programme although it is to be decided if this will precede or follow the Santa Special Steam Trains which will run on December 7th and 8th.
A side door waggon from the Aberllefenni slate quarry has been sent to the Vale of Rheidol for riveting to be carried out.
