It’s the annual weekend where as many of our toys as possible come out of the box to play! This year we’re celebrating both Railway 200 as well as Talyllyn Railway 160.
Our fleet of steam and diesel locomotives will be out in force on passenger and goods workings throughout the weekend, with some interesting combinations on offer throughout the weekend. With so much to choose from, can you plan your visit well enough to travel behind all the locomotives in service?
As well as celebrating our past, we’ll be celebrating the new too by shaking up our carriage sets and putting our newest vehicles together in one rake. Of course, this set will be pulled by the youngest our locomotives at times, while conversely our oldest Talyllyn and Corris locomotives will get to pull a train made up of our oldest carriages.
Saturday will be an intensive timetable, with short hop trips to Brynglas featuring two of our diesel locomotives Alf and St.Cadfan, while the 2.35pm departure from Tywyn Wharf will recreate the trains of the 1950s, when some afternoon trains would run fast to Dolgoch and Abergynolwyn.
A goods train will be out and about too – hopefully with an interesting load or two; what might we find to place on the wagons this year? Furthermore, we’ll be offering a limited number of places to travel aboard these workings in Van 7, as well as on Vans 5 and 6 on the passenger sets.
Our traditional cavalcade is being slightly changed up, so be sure to be at Wharf from 5.30pm ready to see the convoy set off for Pendre at 5.57pm.
Onto Sunday, and we start the day by celebrating all things small – or four wheeled to be precise! ‘The Four Wheel Fumble’ will see No. 2 Dolgoch heading a train made up of as many of our four-wheel carriages as we can muster for a leisurely jaunt to Abergynolwyn for breakfast. Those who travelled aboard the AGM train recreation at last year’s event will remember the simultaneous departure there after the train was split in two. Well, we’re repeating that here with one half carrying on to Nant Gwernol while the other heads back to Wharf.
There’ll be fun with the goods train too when some of it is stowed in the siding at Brynglas and Van 7 is taken solo back to Wharf as an ‘Inspector’s Special’. Limited places will be available to travel aboard this rare working for a small fare supplement.
Triple headers are a rare occurrence, but if you’re in the right place at the right time you’ll be able to enjoy a quadruple header as far as Brynglas, where two locomotives then drop off to take the waiting goods train back to Wharf.
In between trains each day at Abergynolwyn, our engineering trolley Toby will be giving rides within the station limits in return for a small donation to our 75 appeal.
This weekend coincides with the first of our annual beer festivals – recent years have seen the bar drunk dry by the end of the Saturday so be sure to get in there and sample the selection of craft ales and ciders before it’s too late! Enjoy the site of our trains coming and going, a handful of visiting miniature road engines shuffling around and maybe even the sound of a fairground organ.
The Llechfan Garden Railway will be open for public viewing with some of our resident volunteers and visiting members of the 16mm Association running all manner of trains around the garden circuits.
You can view the timetables for each day below:
Tickets are available to book now:
ADULT – £40 | CHILD – £20
ADULT MEMBER – £10 | CHILD MEMBER – £5
2-DAY ADULT – £60 | 2-DAY CHILD – £30
2-DAY ADULT MEMBER – £15 | 2-DAY CHILD MEMBER – £7.50
