FINAL FRONTIER: LLANGOLLEN NEEDS HELP TO FILL GAP
A £10,000 appeal is to be launched in January for the last big stage in the Llangollen Railway’s Corwen extension – filling the ‘Gap’ in the breached embankment.
Bulldozed through in the 1970s to provide access to the nearby sewage works, and further eroded by contractors for the Corwen flood relief scheme in 2013, the 150-yardlong gap will require 9,000 tonnes of spoil to rebuild the embankment to double-track width for the main running line and a siding.
With the temporary platform of Dwyrain Corwen East now closed (SR487), and work nearing completion on the permanent island platform and run-round loop at Corwen Central, the LR is aiming to reconnect the two railheads and run the first trains into the latter station in 2019 – depending upon the embankment being reinstated.
Project spokesman George Jones said: “The time is shorter and the reward for supporters will be the sight of the train arriving at the new station across the final frontier, something we are all waiting for!”
The ‘Gap’ has been retained until now to provide road access to the station site, which most recently was essential for the water tower and the former Weston Rhyn signal box to be brought in. A road-rail vehicle has now been acquired to transport materials once the embankment is rebuilt and road access becomes unavailable.
A contractor to carry out the reconstruction of the embankment will be sought in early 2019, and an appeal leaflet will be published on the Llangollen Railway website’s Corwen News pages during January.
Send donations for the Corwen Central Railway Development project to Paul Bailey, at ‘Dolwen’, Bryn Eglwys, Corwen LL21 9LY.