‘HORWICH GOODS’ NO. 12322 WORKS THE MAGIC AT LLANGOLLEN GALA

The special appeal of L&YR ‘Horwich Goods’ 0-6-0 No. 12322 did the trick for the Llangollen Railway at its three-day Autumn Steam Gala (September 2-4), drawing in the crowds and increasing revenue by 40% on last year’s event. Andy Booth’s 1896-built ‘A’ class, making its LR debut on a visit from the East Lancs Railway, might have appeared to be a ‘fish out of water’ on a former Great Western line - but No. 12322 (previously BR No. 52322 and L&YR No. 1300) worked gala passenger and goods turns to within just a few yards of the junction at Corwen where, until 1962, engines of the same class shedded at Rhyl arrived with trains from the LNWR Vale of Clwyd line. Hugh Shipton’s pannier tank No. 6430, returning to Llangollen with autocoach No. W167 after their August Bank Holiday visit to the Mid-Norfolk Railway, were deployed on single-coach trains - a welcome change from the ‘auto sandwich’ arrangement which has been the norm at LR galas for several years. But plans to have No. 6430 facing east, chimney-first into Llangollen, had to be abandoned, because of problems in loading the engine the ‘wrong way round’ onto the lowloader at Dereham. There was added spice for visiting enthusiasts on the Sunday with two identity changes involving ‘home fleet’ engines, BR Standard ‘4MT’ No. 80072 appearing as the erstwhile Templecombe locomotive No. 80043, and ‘Manor’ No. 7822 Foxcote Manor masquerading - at least in part - as the former Shrewsbury (84G) and Wrexham (Croes Newydd – 89B) engine No. 7811 Dunley Manor. Both makeovers were funded by Berwyn station staff member Peter Dickinson - but Foxcote Manor had to run with its own 7822 cabside numberplates, after the company making the replica plates somehow got the numbers wrong - and made

plates for No. 7815 Fritwell Manor instead! GWR ‘Large Prairie’ tank No. 5199 completed a fiveengine line-up at the gala, which included almost 80 train departures over the three days, including auto shuttles between Carrog and Corwen East.

The first ‘Horwich Goods’ 0-6-0 to reach Corwen in 54 years - Andy Booth’s L&YR ‘27’ class No. 12322 - passes Llangollen Goods Junction signal box during the Llangollen Railway’s Autumn Gala on Sunday September 4, with the 9.45am to Carrog. Alongside,...

For the Llangollen Railway’s gala, flagship engine No. 7822 Foxcote Manor changed its identity to No. 7811 Dunley Manor - a local engine in the early 1960s. The real No. 7811 was scrapped in Swansea almost exactly 51 years ago. DAVID WILCOCK