Sunday, February 16, 2020

Ride the heritage train during half-term



* Looking through the diesel railcar cab onto the line.

Llangollen Railway resumes train services tomorrow (Monday) in time for the schools half-term break giving familes the chance to visit the glorious Dee Valley. 

On weekdays, Monday to Friday, the timetable will provide an off-peak service with the heritage diesel railcars offering a journey alongside the River Dee, as an easy means of exploring the Welsh countryside.

Railway general manger, Liz McGuinness said: “Our heritage railcars may not be as glamorous as some of the exciting, new trains on the mainline network, but they do have some features modern trains don’t offer passengers. 

"On our diesel railcars you can sit behind the driver and see where the train is going, or sit in the rear and see where the train has been. 

"That way you soon find out the railway line is neither flat or straight as it climbs over the river and up the hill to Berwyn Tunnel."

She added: "The line twists and turns through the valley calling at our wayside stations with all the features of a traditional railway – restored station buildings, line-side signals, passing loops at signal boxes, a level crossing, bridges over and under the line and an impressive viaduct - as it follows the River Dee through the Welsh countryside.

“And all the seats line up with the windows to offer the best views of the Dee Valley as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, now recovering from a long winter with Spring just around the corner. 

"During the January close-down period our volunteers have been busy each weekend with a maintenance train out tackling the lineside vegetation where it had become overgrown. This has improved the view in the remote area past Deeside Halt where the railway runs through a great bowl in the landscape between the Berwyn Mountains in the south and the Llantysilio range in the north. A dramatic view well worth coming to see.

“And for the half-term period from February 17- 28 there is a special offer for families – the first child travels free with the second child at half-price when accompanied by an adult paying a full line fare. Just the thing to keep the children’s interest with a new adventure by train.”

For youngsters perhaps unused to modern train travel, a trip on the Llangollen Railway is an education in how grandparents used to travel before they had a car, when everyone went everywhere by train. 

This is a railway which has been put back in the landscape since it was closed and dismantled over fifty years ago, a testimony to much hard work by volunteers and supporters to restore the line.
At the weekends the train service will be operated by the traditional steam locomotive.

* See the timetable for details at: .llangollen-railway.co.uk

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