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Steam whistles are sounding in the Banwy Valley again, the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway having opened its full 2019 operating season on Saturday, 13^th April.

For the past couple of years the popular mid-Wales tourist attraction has run February ‘Winter Warmer’ trains over half its route, between Llanfair Caereinion and Castle Caereinion, to cater for school half-term visitors, but the full season traditionally begins just before Easter. The trains are running again, just in time to welcome a visitor expecially popular with children.

Over the Easter weekend, 20^th to 22nd April, the Easter Bunny will be much in evidence around the line and children travelling on the train will be encouraged to spot the Easter Eggs placed en route, and on arrival at Llanfair collect their own free chocolate egg from the Bunny.

The Easter Bunny’s visit will be just the first of a number of special events the railway will run over the 2019 season. Some, such as the Vintage Weekends, Fish & Chips and Welsh Tea trains will be familiar, but there are new events too. These include a ‘Rock n’ Rails’ music festival at Llanfair on 8^th June, and ‘Theatre from the Train’ on 7^th July when travellers will be treated to a wide variety of entertainment and tableaux along the entire route of the line.

Over the winter the railway’s mostly volunteer workforce has been busy on essential but mostly unseen maintenance work, to ensure the line is ready for the new season. Major work undertaken out in the cold winter weather has included the dismantling and refurbishment of a bridge near Llanfair and essential groundwork for the extension to the railway’s stock sheds at Welshpool Raven Square.

Meanwhile in the Llanfair workshops teams have been busy on the extensive winter maintenance required on operating steam locomotives ‘Countess’ and ‘Joan’, while continuing the restoration of No.699.01 ‘Sir Drefaldwyn’ which it is hoped will return to service late in 2019.

Charging points for electric vehicles will top a wide range of improvements to be carried out on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, thanks to an £89,000 grant made to the line by the Welsh Government.

The funding has been awarded to the railway by the Tourism Amenity Investment Support (TAIS) scheme, part of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

The improvements at the popular tourist attraction meet a variety of needs, but a common theme will be better access and attractions for visitors. 

At the Llanfair Caereinion terminus two electric vehicle charging points will be made available for visitors who will be almost exactly halfway between central Shropshire and the Welsh Coast. The installation of these points illustrates the growing use of more environmentally-friendly electric vehicles and the need to provide recharging facilities for them. 

The charging points will complement a recently completed environmental programme at the railway, which has included the installation of solar panels, setting up full recycling facilities, the elimination of single-use plastics in the tearoom, LED light conversion and composting.

Also benefiting from TAIS funding will be Cyfronydd Station, just off the A458 road, where the railway will reinstate a siding to allow the stabling of special trains or heritage goods trains, and reconstruct a cattle dock that once stood on the site, as a marker of the original function of a rural light railway. A historic grounded brake van from the London & North Western Railway will also be restored as a shelter.

Funding will also improve Sylfaen Halt, one of the most visible intemediate points on the W&LLR located alongside one of the few laybys along the A458 to the Welsh coast. Already a popular spot for motorists to pause their journey and watch the trains pass, the halt will see the installation of a new track loop allowing trains to pass each other, an improved passenger shelter and information boards.

At its Welshpool terminus, the W&LLR has already commissioned shed extensions that will double the covered space available to protect historic carriages, wagons and other large artefacts. Funding provided by the grant will make the sheds suitable for public access, provide lighting and security for the exhibits and support interpretative material to explain their role in operating the original railway. It will also enable the sheds to provide undercover facilities to host special events such as exhibitions.

The Welsh language will be prominent across the improvement programme, with all new signage provided in bilingual form to emphasise the railway’s roots in the community.

 “Our mandate as a charity is to preserve and to operate our 116-year-old railway as a demonstration of how it supported the local agricultural community which opened it in 1903”, says W&LLR general manager Charles Spencer. 

“The volunteers who will be working on all these projects and contributing some of their own funds are very excited about the benefits the TAIS grant will bring, as we welcome more visitors each year.”

Welsh Government Deputy Minister, Lord Elis-Thomas, said: “This scheme is an excellent way for us to assist the tourism sector to make the improvements to local facilities and amenities, and I’ve seen the improvements made in many areas with the help of this funding over the past year. 

“Facilities such as footpaths toilets, signage, car parking are often only noticed when the provision is lacking or not up to scratch – which shows that they are an important part of the experience that people have of Wales. This is also an investment by the public sector in amenities for those who live in the area and will benefit locals and visitors alike. These projects also make it easier for local residents and visitors to become more active in Wales’ natural environment.”

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway operates on more than 150 days of the year, between Easter and the end of October, during the February school half-term holiday and popular ‘Santa Special’ trains in December.

The railway has recently earned much praise for a programme to improve access to its trains for passengers using wheelchairs or having other mobility issues. A £42,500 grant from the UK Government allowed the purchase of wheelchair lifts for the two terminus stations and refurbishment of two bogie carriages, allowing them to take larger modern wheelchairs.

A small piece of Wales made a big impression in the Far East on Saturday 8^th December, when the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway signed a ‘Sister Railway’ co-operation agreement with the Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC).

The signing ceremony was held in the city of Chiayi as part of the launch of TSC’s annual Sugar Festival, which for 2018 is taking a theme of ‘Taiwan and British Railway Culture Exchange.’

Star of the Festival is the mid-Wales heritage railway’s 0-4-0T tank engine ‘Dougal’. The Andrew Barclay locomotive, built in 1946 for a gasworks in Glasgow and resident on the Welsh line since 1967, was specially shipped to Taiwan for the event by TSC.

First connections between the W&LLR and TSC were made in 2004 when the Welsh line purchased a 1979-built Diema diesel locomotive from the corporation. Then after the W&LLR signed a sister railway agreement in 2017 with the Alishan Forest Railway, another major line in Taiwan, TSC suggested similar co-operation.  

TSC once owned more than 40 sugar mills around Taiwan, but as sugar production has declined the corporation has diversified into other areas, and now operates five short heritage railways at former mills that it owns.

Under the agreement the W&LLR is making its knowledge and experience gained in more than 50 years of tourist railway operation available to TSC, while the return benefits include technical assistance, particularly in the maintenance of the W&LLR’s Diema, and cross-level tourist promotion – the UK and Wales are now becoming increasingly attractive destinations for travellers from the Far East. 

TSC suggested the visit of Dougal to the sugar festival, and this proved a very popular move – this year’s first festival weekend attracted large crowds of visitors. The presence of Dougal and the signing ceremony, between W&LLR company secretary Michael Reilly and TSC chairman Charles Huang, was covered extensively in the Taiwan media, including several reports on national TV news.

“The level of interest in our little locomotive and our railway that we saw in Taiwan was quite incredible,” said W&LLR markeitng and publicity director Andrew Charman. He and Michael Reilly attended the festival as the guests of TSC, Andrew also making a presentation on the W&LLR to an international railway forum held the day before the signing ceremony.

“The railway’s profile has certainly been raised in this increasingly important market, as has that of Wales as a nation and a tourist destination for Far-East travellers,” Andrew added. “We have already had meaningful discussions with TSC as to how both parties can see further significant benefits from our co-operation.”

W&LLR chairman Steve Clews was disappointed to be unable to attend the ceremony due to a prior commitment, but he recorded a video message of welcome that was played at the event. “We are very pleased to be entering into this relationship with our friends from TSC and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relaitonship,” Steve said.

Dougal is expected to remain in Taiwan for at least six months. Further events involving the locomotive to benefit both TSC and the W&LLR are currently under discussion.

A narrow-gauge locomotive normally resident at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway is to visit the Far East as part of a new co-operation agreement between the mid-Wales line and the Taiwan Sugar Corporation (Taisugar).

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0T ‘Dougal’, built in 1946 to work at a gasworks in Glasgow, and acquired in 1969 by the W&LLR’s then general manager, will be spending around six months in Taiwan, during which it will be a star guest at a major festival in December.

The initiative is the result of a twinning arrangement that has been agreed between the W&LLR and Taisugar. Similar to an agreement signed in 2017 between the Welsh line and the Alishan Railway, another major line in Taiwan, the twinning promotes long-term mutual co-operation and exchange between the two railways.

The Taiwan Sugar Corporation once owned more than 40 mills around the country, but as sugar production has declined it has diversified into other areas, and Taisugar now operates five short heritage railways at former mills that it owns.

Part of the agreement will see the W&LLR providing the benefits of experience gained in more than 50 years of tourist railway operation to Taisugar, while the return benefits will include technical assistance, particularly in the maintenance of 1979-built Diema diesel loco no 17, which the Welsh line purchased from Taisugar in 2004. Cross-level tourist promotion will also be undertaken at a time when the UK is becoming increasingly attractive desitnations for travellers from the Far East. 

The W&LLR board has also agreed to Taisugar’s request to send Dougal to Taiwan on a six-month loan, in order for the loco to appear at the annual Sugar Festival in December – the major celebration of the sugar industry’s year. The theme of this year’s Festival is to be ‘Taiwan and British Railway Culture Exchange.’

While basically in working order, Dougal has not run on the W&LLR since 2013, when significant and expensive boiler work was deemed necessary. As the loco’s small size prevents it being used for passenger traffic, it has remained out of use since with the line’s limited resources necessarily focused on the front-line fleet.

A member of the W&LLR’s engineering team will travel to Taiwan to oversee the locomotive’s unloading and a technical inspection by Taisugar. The sugar company has indicated that depending on the results of this inspection an offer may be made to carry out work on Dougal to bring it up to operating condition. No work will commence until the W&LLR has been fully consulted and agreed to what extent, if any, restoration should be undertaken.

All costs of Dougal’s visit to Taiwan are being fully met by Taisugar, and there will be no call upon the resources of the W&LLR at a time when the railway is fully committed to both current maintenance and future development of the line.

W&LLR chairman Steve Clews has welcomed the agreement with Taisugar, and the bold move to send Dougal to Taiwan. “We are already seeing benefits from our twinning agreement with the Alishan line and we would expect similar benefits to both sides from an agreement with Taisugar, particularly in the areas of promoting tourism,” Steve said.

“As Dougal is currently unable to work on our railway, the visit to Taiwan will enable the loco to make a major contribution to both cementing our growing relations with Taiwan and in promoting the W&LLR to the increasingly important Far East tourism market.”              

Dougal will depart for Taiwan later this month. More updates will follow as the visit progresses.