RACE TO COMPLETE CORWEN CENTRAL AS HALT CLOSES

Closures and ‘last trains’ are, thankfully, rare in preservation – but on November 4, GWR ‘2884’ No. 3802 worked the last train into Dwyrain Corwen East.

Just over four years after it hauled the reopening train into the temporary terminus of the Llangollen Railway’s western extension on October 22 2014, the Collett 2-8-0 was adorned with a commemorative headboard and Welsh flags to mark the closure of the halt with the departure of the 3.50pm train for Llangollen.

The platform will now be dismantled and its materials recovered, while Santa and Mince Pie Special trains will terminate at Carrog, pending the completion and opening of the permanent terminus of Corwen Central in 2019. Project spokesman George Jones said: “The challenge is now on to get it operational by next spring – weather and resources allowing. Closing Dwyrain Corwen East has focused minds.”

To complete the 150-yard gap between the current railhead and the new station, the volunteer team needs to rebuild a section of embankment that was breached in the 1970s to construct an access road to the nearby sewage works. An estimated 4,800 cubic yards of spoil will be required to fill the gap.

The ‘Tenner for a Tonne’ appeal to in-fill the new station’s island platform reached its £10,000 target on November 4, and the foundations for the eastern end of the Up platform are complete, allowing the final length of platform wall to be built soon.

Once the in-fill is finished, contractors will be engaged to lay an estimated 40,000 paving slabs.

GEORGE JONES GEORGE JONES The former Weston Rhyn signal box being lifted into position on its new base at Corwen on October 25. A new access balcony will be added and steps are under construction at the site. GWR ‘2884’ 2-8-0 No. 3802 at the head of the ‘Last Train to Corwen East’ on November 4.