Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway

The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway ( W & LLR) is a narrow gauge railway in the Welsh county of Powys. The railway line is about 14 km long and connects the towns of Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinion. The track width is 2 ft 6 in (762 mm).

Opening

The W & LLR was one of the few narrow gauge branch lines that have been built under the provisions of the Light Railways Act of 1896. The line was opened on April 4, 1903, should support the economic development of remote area. Originally operated by the Cambrian Railways line never threw off profits.

The winding route through undulating terrain, with correspondingly steep uphill and downhill sections. The starting point in Welshpool lay next to the train station to the main line; when the trains ran through the city, the train driver had to constantly ring the bell security.

Decline

1923, the line was taken over in the wake of the merger of companies of the Great Western Railway. On February 9, 1931 we were on passenger buses and sat for a; only the freight has been retained. For the Eisteddfod movement of people between 6 and 11 August 1945 was taken up again temporarily.

In 1948, the W & LLR into state ownership. Freight traffic remained for some time; British Railways, however, 1956 decided to close down the railway line.

Tourist attraction

A few years later, a group of railway enthusiasts are found together, took over the railway line, and began the restoration. On April 6, 1963, the first section of Llanfair Caereinion endpoint was starting, re-opened as a tourist attraction. In several stages, the track was almost completely taken back into service. Because the route was no longer through the town Welshpool to the starting point at the old train station is available, a new terminal was built on the outskirts at Raven Square and inaugurated on 18 July 1981.

The track width of 762 mm of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway was in the British colonial empire indeed common, arrived in the British Isles itself but only very rarely. Therefore, locomotives and rolling stock from other countries, had to be, for example, procured from Austria. The usual there Bosnian gauge of 760 mm made ​​about the use of used vehicles of the Zillertal Railway possible without major modifications.

A generous donation from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the recovery of both the original locomotives, as well as the original cars and the purchase of necessary workshop equipment.

The railroad is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales.