Welshpool as it all began in 1961
Dick Johnson recalls the humble beginnings of his now 60 years of volunteering on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway.
In 1961, aged 16 and undergoing an apprenticeship in precision engineering, I first arrived in Welshpool to volunteer at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. In the town the railway still crossed the road at Raven Square roundabout, and it was possible at that time to walk along the line from the main-line station though the town and between the back of the houses to Raven Square.
Ed’s note – efforts to preserve the 2ft 6in gauge line were already underway when the line was closed by British Railways in 1956 – the first working parties started clearing track in 1959 but there were delays in setting up the company and over the future of the town section, which Welshpool Town Council was ultimately successful in denying to the preservationists).
Raven Square was a cross roads for the A458 towards Llanfair Caereinion and the coast, the A490 north to Llanfyllin and the back road, Brook Street, through Welshpool. The railway’s level crossing cut across the A458 road and the A490 on one side of the roundabout, then continuing along Brook Street before disappearing into the Bron-y-Buckley housing estate. Ranged on the other sides of the roundabout was the national egg-packing station and the Raven Inn.
At that time the headquarters for the W&LLR preservation project was in one of the brake vans, sitting on the line on the Llanfair side of Raven Square. This was the only decent bit of level track at the base of the Golfa bank and all the rolling stock the Company had acquired was there, having earlier been brought through Welshpool hauled by a horse. The platelayers hut was still in place and the Wickham inspection trolley was stored in a corrugated tin shed for safety alongside the single-line track.
“By means of a hacksaw and a relay of people we cut through the rail...”
Lack of power
Another reason for the rolling stock being stored here was that there was no means of pulling any of it up the bank. The only powered items the company had were the Wickham trolley, powered by a 350cc JAP motor cycle engine, and a converted hand trolley which was powered by an Austin 7 car engine.
We worked in this manner for a month or so until a Ruston Hornsby diesel arrived from the Lincolnshire Ironstone Co. The 16/20hp diesel (170374/1934), needed to be regauged from 2ft to 2ft 6in, the wheels being taken out at Raven Square and sent away.
A new buffer beam was fitted on either end to match the height of our wagons, the loco given the number 3 and the name ‘Raven’.
Working parties were working on the Golfa Bank clearing the vegetation back for when we could
eventually get a train up it. Once we got the wheels back and were able to use Raven on works trains, there was a need to put the loco at the other end of a train at Raven Square – it went out hauling wagons up the Golfa with a working party, was run round in the loop at Golfa Halt or Castle Caereinion, and then came back down with the loco at the front of the train.
Raven Square at this time was simply a plain stretch of line at the time so a siding was put in to enable wagons to be hand shunted around the loco.
We extracted a point from Welshpool yard and brought it through the town using the hand trolley – this was simple in thought but difficult in operation with the tools we had to hand. The point was dropped into position only to find that one of the rails needed to be shortened. By means of a hacksaw and a relay of people we cut through the rail.
In the same year it was learnt that the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway at Chatham Dockyard in Kent was due to close. This was of 2ft 6in gauge and there was some rolling stock for sale. Purchased was a 4-wheel 350hp diesel made by Hibberd, later to be named ‘Upnor Castle’, along with five 10-ton low-sided bogie wagons two high-sided bogie wagons, four toast-rack carriages, a brake van and a breakdown van, along with a ‘combination coach’.
New stock
The arrival of the first Chattenden & Upnor stock in July 1961 added to our variety of things to attend to on the line and it was gradually moved to Golfa and Castle Caereinion for storage. At this time we did not have access to Llanfair Caereinion station which was still occupied by the local coal merchant.
As an aside, the couplings of the Chattenden stock were link-and-pin whereas W&L stock used chopper couplings. So the locos at this time were limited as to which stock they could haul.
With both diesels in operation, we were able to do more to clear the line of shrubbery. This included removing several strands of barbed wire from across the line – during the closure period farmers had left the gates to fields open and used the barbed wire across to stop the stock from straying up the track.
After the closure both the original steam locomotives had been transferred to the former Cambrian works at Oswestry and in November 1961 a major event was the return of ‘The Earl’. ‘The Countess’ remained at Oswestry having a little bit of work done to it before it returned in 1962.
The Earl was initially stored at Castle station, and its first preservation journey to Llanfair from there required some time in preparation, the boiler and tanks being filled by hose pipe from the bungalow opposite the station.
When all was done and some sacks
of coal poured into the bunker, we lit the fire. Whilst we waited for the boilers to get up to pressure, tarmac was chipped away on the crossing to clear the rails, the result of several applications of road surfacing carried out over the years. Several members went down to Dolarddyn crossing to carry out the same task.
Once there was enough steam to move The Earl a train was made up but approaching the crossing it was found that the loco’s cylinders fouled the road. More tarmac had to be chipped out to allow the train to proceed across the road.
It was a steady crawl down the bank to Dolarddyn crossing where again more tarmac had to chipped out to allow clearance. Once over the road we proceeded, making several stops along this stretch of the line as some of the banks had fallen down to the track and needed to be cleared, as well as more bits of barbed wire being put to one side.
Several of the occupation crossings needed attention, while major clearance had to be carried out at a crossing providing access to a smallholding and forever to be known in W&L folklore as Dirty Lane. Whilst this was being dealt with another group went ahead to clear the flangeways of the road crossing at Cyfronydd station.
Track worries
The train drew into Cyfronydd and stopped whilst a party walked ahead to look at section known as ‘The Kink’ (Mile Post 7). During the period whilst the line was closed the track had been used as an anchor for a winch to take trees across the river. As a result the line was now badly out of alignment (hence the name) and the embankment had slipped towards the river.
It was decided with care to take the train along this section but the driver got off the train to watch as it was gingerly driven over The Kink. We stopped again at the Banwy Bridge to inspect it visually before going over, while at Heniarth the crossing had to be cleared.
The train proceeded gently round the Mill Curves and we stopped to look at the weir and the mill race. Just outside Llanfair a further stop was made by the water tower to see how well it was working, which it was not. The sluice at the top of the field was blocked – this was attended to and water started flowing into the tank, so a fresh leather bag was put on the tank outlet.
When we finally arrived at Llanfair we found the loop covered by piles of coal. This we had to shovel out of the way to enable The Earl to run round to the other end of the train.
After looking around Llanfair we made a fairly uneventful journey back, stopping at the water tower to refill that tanks and carefully heading to Castle. At this time negotiations were going on to enable us to get into Llanfair and for the coal merchants to vacate the buildings.
Andrew C adds: As we all know those negotiations would soon be successful and within two years, on 6th April 1963, the Preservation Company would run its first public trains. Regular passenger services to Welshpool would wait until 1982, to a newly built Raven Square station, the W&LLR overcoming many challenges before becoming the established line that it is today.