Welshpool double appeal includes a coach ‘fit for a queen’
THE Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (WLLR) has launched an appeal not only to raise £120,000 for the overhaul of EE Baguley (Drewry) 0-6-0DM Chattenden, but to build a replica of a coach in Sierra Leone that was once intended for the Queen to ride in.
A Railway Transformed, said to be the WLLR's most ambitious appeal for many years, aims to use the coach to create a new premium three-carriage train using the line's two former Sierra Leone Government Railway bogie carriages, which were built in Gloucester in 1961 for the country's independence celebrations. Known as ‘independence carriages,' they were acquired by the WLLR with Hunslet 2-6-2T No. 85, built in Leeds in 1954, after the Sierra Leone system closed.
The ‘Queen's Coach' was specially built in 1961 for the visit of the Queen to the West African country, but due to a change in the schedule for the royal visit, she never travelled in the carriage.
However, the carriage survived the closure of the system in 1975 and is today displayed in the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum, which was established in 2005 by Colonel Steve Davies, in the system's former Freetown works. Steve later became director of the National Railway Museum and is now chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. In 2019 the WLLR was formally twinned with the Sierra Leone museum and several of the line's volunteers are also members of its UKbased Friends group.
The new Queen's Coach will replicate the glass-encased observation end of the original and a central saloon which can be used as day-to-day first-class accommodation and for special occasions. The carriage will include facilities enabling the railway to greatly increase the range of on-train catering it can offer, and will also offer wheelchair access, not currently possible with the current Sierra Leone vehicles.
One of the existing Sierra Leone carriages is currently in third-class format with bench seats, which are not really suited to 21st-century travellers, so the appeal also seeks to fund a conversion to second class with conventional seating. The other carriage is a first-class vehicle with white leather armchairs which are popular with travellers, but they will before long be in need of replacement which it is also hoped to fund through the appeal.
Launch
The appeal was formally launched at a private event on April 27, which is the 60th anniversary of Sierra Leone Independence Day, and has been publicly promoted since the resumption of services on May 1.
Those donating to the appeal will be offered a number of incentives, and will also be able to select whether their donation goes towards the overhaul of Chattenden or the carriage element of the appeal.
Donors contributing more than £200 will receive a certificate of participation, with donors of £500 or more also receiving an exclusive A Railway Transformed print. Those contributing £1000 or more will additionally be offered a footplate ride (one-way, over the full line) aboard Chattenden following its overhaul.
Larger donors will be able to sponsor seats in the carriages: £2000 or more in the second-class carriage, £2500 in the first-class vehicle and £3000 in the Queen's Carriage. Each package will include the donor's name on a plaque in the carriage, a space at the official dedication of the Premium Train, cream tea on board at a date of the donor's choice, the exclusive print and certificate of participation.
The Queen's Coach package will also include a tour of the WLLR workshops with company chairman Steve Clews, who said: “Donating to A Railway Transformed will mean that you are helping to secure the future of our vital infrastructure and to relate unique histories of important heritage vehicles – you will improve your own experience when you visit our beautiful railway and that of many thousands of others in the coming years.
“In an increasingly crowded preservation scene, this scheme will put the WLLR ‘on the map' in a unique way. Many parts of the world have famed premium trains that run through wonderful landscapes – it is time for mid Wales to join them.”
Operation
Chattenden was built in 1949 for the Navy's Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway in Kent. It arrived on the WLLR in 1968 from the Broughton Moor Royal Naval Armaments Depot, Cumbria and since then has provided the motive power for works trains.
In recent years it has also been seen on passenger trains, especially early and late services during the summer peak timetable. However, it is now in need of a major overhaul.
➜ Visit www.wllr.org.uk for details of how to donate, along with infomation about the 2021 services.