Category: Press Releases

Following on from producing a series of kits of the Corris carriages and brake van for 7mm scale Iconic Rail will be adding a ready to run model “Falcon” to their range of products.

Pre-orders are being taken for the first batch with delivery due in a couple of months time. The model has a metal chassis and gearbox so should have plenty of weight beneath what is promised to be a well detailed plastic body. The cab will be that as carried by No. 10, rather than the one John Bate fitted to “Sir Haydn” at the Talyllyn. The livery will be as per No. 10, which should certainly be accurate as Iconic Rail is the work of Graham French who lined-out No. 10 earlier in 2024.

There is definitely the beginning of an upsurge in ready to run 7mm narrow gauge models. Lionheart has produced items based on the ubiquitous in all scales Lynton and Barnstaple and now Bachmann has entered the field with various Quarry Hunslets, waggons and some buildings. It’s good to see the Corris getting a look-in rather than some of the bigger concerns.

The Iconic “Falcon” can be seen at www.iconicrail.co.uk and orders for the model which will retail at £250 can be placed via sales@iconicrail.co.uk

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

This year’s Corris Railway Gala Day on June 15th will be a special moment in the history of the revival of the oldest narrow gauge railway in Mid-Wales. For the first time in over a century two “Falcon” locomotives will be in steam and working trains between Corris station at Maespoeth Junction.

Following the completion of our new “Falcon”. No. 10, in August 2023 it has been a priority to see it working with Corris No. 3, the surviving and much rebuilt member of the original trio built in Loughborough by the Henry Hughes company in 1878. Since 1951, and following the closure of the original Corris route by British Railways in 1948, it has worked on the neighbouring Talyllyn Railway where it has been named “Sir Haydn”. It has visited Corris before during the revival period, the photograph shows No. 3 at Maespoeth Junction during passenger services in June 2003, but this will be the first time the two classmates have featured together.

No. 3 is the result of the work of Corris Railway Engineer Alfred Hulme who tackled the problem of the original trio wearing out after four decades of hard work by amalgamating components from No.s 1 and 3, whilst No. 2 stayed serviceable as back up to No. 4, delivered new from Kerr Stuart of Stoke-on-Trent in 1921. More work was done on the amalgamated No. 3 at Swindon in 1929, ahead of the Corris being acquired by the Great Western Railway the following year. No. 2 was then retired and scrapped along with No. 1.

With the Corris and Talyllyn sharing the two feet and three inches track gauge, which is almost unique in Britain, neither “Falcon” will be seen working elsewhere so this is a chance to witness and enjoy a bit of railway history. Why not come to see the event and take a train journey in this beautiful part of Wales with the sun at its annual zenith?

If you cannot make it on the 15th No. 3 will be in action on the Corris on the 8th, 22nd and 29th.

Advance tickets can be purchased online now.

The Corris will have publicity stands at two different events simultaneously on Saturday April 27th.

One will be at Narrow Gauge South, an annual event organised by the 009 Society and featuring some 30 layouts in the most popular of the narrow gauge modelling scales. There will also be trade stands with items to tempt the wallet to open or the card to be wielded. The venue is Barton Peveril College, Chestnut Cottage. Eastleigh, S050 5ZA and the doors will be open from 10am to 5pm.

The other is the National Garden Railway Show which is taking place at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, CV8 2LG. It is between Coventry and Warwick. This is large scale modelling and is organised by the 16mm Society. 17 layouts are due to appear plus trade support. Opening hours will be 9.30am to 5pm.

Overcoming adversity in re-establishing a much loved line. Corris Railway Society member Chris Smith will be giving a talk about the Corris to the Shropshire Railway Society on Thursday 11th April 2024.

The venue is The Gateway Education and Arts Centre, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB. The start time is 19:30 and the finish time 21:30 with a break for refreshments.

Guests are welcome but are expected to make a donation of at least £3.00 to help defray costs.

The first quarter of 2024 has seen rapid progress made with the construction of the new embankment that is a key part of the Southern Extension of the Corris Railway. Once completed the Extension will double the length of the journey along the Dulas Valley and mean that one and a half miles of the original six and a half mile route between Machynlleth and Aberllefenni will see train operations once again. All extension work will be south of Corris as post-closure development has been built over the trackbed north of Corris station.

The key factor in the acceleration of progress was the completion of the new road bridge crossing the river Dyfi at Machynlleth. In order to work on the banks of a river whose flow varies considerably as rain comes and goes in Mid Wales hard standing had to be created for the machinery to be used and with the completion of the bridge this is being removed to allow nature to re-establish itself.

Large tonnages of this material has been making its way up the A487 to the works site south of Maespoeth Junction. At one point in February a lorry was arriving every fifteen minutes although the pace slackened after that. After unloading the material was laid and new “benches” were cut in the hillside climbing towards the A487 ready for the next phase of building up the new embankment. These were then filled. Apart from drainage and embankment stone and material the new structure also has layers of geotextile laid.

The main enemy to progress was the wet weather continuing as winter moved into spring and some off loaded material had to be left to dry out after delivery. However the pace kept two diggers, a dumper truck and a roller at work on the 100 metres long section of embankment.

It was gratifying that by the end of March the new earthworks had risen by five metres and at the southern end of the site was coming tantalisingly close to a remaining section of the original railway fence which survived closure of the Corris in 1948 and the re-routing of the A487 which has made the new works necessary. At this point in the project the embankment is laid level level along its length but later works will be necessary to raise the northern end to the same height as the original route and the existing railhead south of Maespoeth Junction. That will reinstate a 1 in 30 gradient, and the prospect of the Corris’ steam locomotives climbing that will delight many enthusiasts.

Before that however the Nant Goedwig stream will need to be crossed followed by final grading and track laying.

View the progress here on the Southern Extension April 2024, available now on YouTube.

It goes without saying that this progress is expensive. The Corris has a healthy Southern Extension Fund fund but payments for the material, machinery and operators are quickly eating into that. Any donations toward these costs and keeping the project moving forward will be very welcome and can be made online via www.corris.co.uk. Alternatively cheques, payable to Corris Railway, can be sent to Corris Railway (SE), Station Yard, Corris, Machynlleth, SY20 9SH.

The Corris Railway will have an information stand at the 2024 Narrow Gauge North exhibition on Saturday March 9th giving an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the revival of the oldest narrow gauge railway in Mid Wales. Corris Railway Society members will be pleased to talk about the completion of the new steam locomotive “Falcon” No. 10 which entered traffic last year and the work currently in progress on the embankment which is a vital part of extending the running line southward from Maespoeth Junction. Visitors can also hear about volunteering at the Corris.

Narrow Gauge North is a major showcase for narrow gauge railway modelling and there will be a variety of layouts across the scales from 009 to 16mm including some of the less common ones such as 5.5mm and 0n2. There will also be trade stands and modelling demonstrations including one by Peter Kazer whose past layouts have included a large scale one of the Corris.

The venue is Pudsey Civic Hall and the doors will be open from 10.30 to 4.30. Admission is £10 for adults and £1 for accompanied children under the age of 16. After 1.30pm a family admission will cost £15.00 which will cover 2 adults and accompanied children. There is disabled access to all areas of the exhibition area, except the stage in the hall.

The Corris Railway Society’s own model railway exhibition will take place on August 24th and 25th at Y Plas in Machynlleth.

The beginning of February brought welcome news for those awaiting progress with the building of the embankment that will eventually see the doubling in length of the revived section of the Corris Railway, south of Maespoeth Junction.

The works have been awaiting the availability and delivery of suitable material to allow the construction to proceed. With the completion the new road bridge over the River Dyfi at Machynlleth the Corris has been able to take delivery of material from the project and it was hoped that the first deliveries would mean that there would be more lorries making their way up the A487 to the unloading point. This turned out to be the case with up to twenty lorry loads a day arriving and discharging in mid-February.

Once the load has been discharged from the lorry it requires spreading and moving to allow work on raising the height of the new embankment. This means the deployment of suitable plant and machinery plus people to operate it and progressing apace to allow more material to be delivered.

On receiving the material, the first move is to prepare the ground on which it is to be tipped. This requires the topsoil and sub-soil to be excavated to sound material to form a level bench in the steep sidelong sloping ground. These benches form a series of steps along the hillside, upon which is placed drainage stone replicating the steps. Over this foundation/drainage layer geotextile is laid, upon which the general fill being delivered can be tipped, spread and rolled in.

In anticipation of an influx of very suitable material such as this, the Corris’ contractors had cut benches above the level of the general fill then available, over the past year or so, so that the embankment could come up almost a metre before having to cut any further benches. With a few loads to begin with, followed by a week of intensive operations, this pretty much reached the limit of what what could be coped with until new benches were cut. As a result, 4 loads were stock piled elsewhere on site. More benching was planned for the third weekend of February ahead of more loads of material being delivered.

This news has other wider implications for the Corris revivalists in 2024. The material has to be paid for and there will be other bills to be met arising from the use of the plant and machinery. The Corris has accumulated a good sized fund to meet the costs of the Southern Extension but with more work to be done including providing a crossing over the Nant Goedwig stream more money will need to be raised via trading and donations. Anyone who feels able to help and to eventually enjoy a longer journey by narrow gauge train in the Dulas Valley can donate via www.corris.co.uk or by sending a cheque, payable to Corris Railway, to Corris Railway (SE), Station Yard, Corris, Machynlleth, SY20 9SH.