Birkenhead Woodside comes to Deeside at Llangollen 1967 event
Railway history was both re-created and rewritten at the Llangollen Railway’s ‘Along Birkenhead Lines’ steam gala, on March 3-5. When Stanier ‘8F’ 2-8-0 No. 48697 hauled the last passenger train to Llangollen in BR days - the ‘Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway Railtour’ of April 29 1967 - it was not permitted to call at Llangollen station, and terminated at nearby Goods Junction. But thanks to the efforts of today’s preserved line, 50 years later, Great Central-based classmate No. 48624 was able not only to haul passengers from the town’s restored station, but take its re-creation of the railtour ten miles further on to Corwen. It was one of the highlights of a commemorative weekend to remember the end of steam in the area - and the famous farewell to the Paddington-Birkenhead express service exactly five decades before. Here, too, there were re-creations of famous railtours - with a difference. On March 4 1967, the stars of the Ian Allan ‘Birkenhead Flyer’ and ‘Zulu’ specials were preserved ‘Castles’ Nos. 4079 Pendennis Castle and 7029 Clun Castle - but with no four-cylinder GWR 4-6-0 available for the gala, a ‘mini’ version of both trains was run, using ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6960 Raveningham Hall from the West Somerset Railway. Repaired just in time to run on the Saturday and Sunday - having only had new cylinder liners fitted on February 23 - ‘Black Five’ No. 45337 was renumbered as No. 44680 to re-create the Stephenson Locomotive Society’s farewell Birkenhead tour of March 5 1967, in addition to masquerading as scrapped Birkenhead locomotive No. 45292. Making its Llangollen debut was Ivatt ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No. 43106 which, 49 years before, had been the last BR steam locomotive to run over the Chester-Shrewsbury line in BR days, during its journey to preservation at the Severn Valley Railway on August 1 1968. Organiser Peter Dickinson commented: “The weather was not kind to us, with a combination of sunshine, rain - and even snow - in almost equal measure. “However, our three visiting locomotives performed faultlessly throughout, and particular credit must be given to Head of Engineering Graham Elwood and his team for working tirelessly to return No. 45337 to traffic. “The authenticity of the re-creations was appreciated, and we were able to put some artefacts of the original Birkenhead Woodside station back on public display for the first time in over 50 years, including the enamel running in board from the signal box. At the Llangollen’s galas, we strive for accuracy and passion in all that we do.”