Modelling opportunities
The junction for this line was at Ruabon, in a westerly direction, passing through Acrefair, Trevor and Sun Bank Halt, before reaching Llangollen. The station here is on a narrow shelf between the town and the River Dee. It comprises a two-storey building with Abbey Road to the rear, at first floor height, and the booking office and waiting room at ground floor. The footbridge is from the upper floor, with steps overhanging the River Dee, on the far platform. The platforms were extended to 734ft long; that’s almost 3m in ‘OO’ gauge, and clearly in need of considerable compression to fit into a reasonably sized room. Continuing westerwards, the line passes the old goods yard, which consists of an original Grade Ii-listed goods shed, extended with a brick and corrugated structure forming Llangollen locomotive shed for the preserved railway. The facilities here include a machine shop, maintenance, repair and erection shop with sidings and an ash pit outside. Beyond this point, the railway runs parallel to Abbey Road before curving over the River Dee on a stone pier and plate girder bridge, with carriage sidings to the north of the line. I’ve avoided adding the goods junction signal box at Llangollen owing to the massive compression around that area and close proximity of other signal boxes. But it would be easy to add it back in if it’s a must-have for you. Beyond are stations at Berwyn, Glyndyfrdwy, Carrog and Corwen Central, a newly built station, defining the end of the preserved line. In past times, the line went beyond here; there was a junction with the L&NWR line to Denbigh, and the GWR line heading south west to Bala Junction, where the line split again.