Tender arrives for railway's steam gala

* The tender arrives in Abbey Road.

An important component of the forthcoming Spring Steam Gala at Llangollen Railway arrived by road yesterday (Wednesday).

The tender for the visiting locomotive Raveningham Hall was trailered to the Abbey Road entrance of the railway in plenty of time for the gala over the weekend of March 3-5.

The front end of Raveningham Hall - the part with the boiler, cab and large driving wheels - arrived separately by low-loader the previous day.

Entitled Along Birkenhead Lines, the gala will feature an intensive timetable of both passenger and mixed traffic trains, a great collection of historic steam locomotives and special attractions along the line.

The weekend also marks the 50th anniversary of two significant events - the last steam-hauled Cambrian Coast Express and 50 years since the last through working from London Paddington to Birkenhead (Woodside).

A railway spokesperson said: "The gala will be one of the most historically accurate and authentic steam events yet achieved at Llangollen. Expect to see cameos, displays, recreations and all the appropriate paper ephemera."

The event will feature a number of special visiting steam locomotives :

• LMS 8F No.48624 (c/o The 48624 Locomotive Group & GCR PLC)
• GWR No.6960 Raveningham Hall (c/o West Somerset Railway)
• LMS 'Flying Pig' No.43106 (c/o The Ivatt Class 4 Group & Severn Valley Railway)

In addition, the Llangollen Railway's 'home fleet' pool of locos for this event will be:

• LMS 'Black 5' No.45337 (making her return after overhaul)
• BR Standard Four tank No. 80072
• GWR '5101' Large Prairie No.5199
• BR Manor No. 7822 "Foxcote Manor"
• Class 03 Diesel No.03162 (a former Birkenhead shunter)

The visiting Ivatt Class 4MT 43106 was the last BR steam locomotive to travel between Chester and Shrewsbury, on August 1, 1968.

* Download our FREE Advanced Information booklet for the latest news on the gala from: http://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/event/spring-steam-gala-3rd-march/