First piece of rolling stock leaves Llangollen Railway for new home

UPDATE ...

Another heritage coach was trailered away from Llangollen Railway just before noon today (Thursday). 

It was a privately-owned GWR auto coach being moved to a new base by it owner.

It is understood that a locomotive and a kitchen coach belonging to the same owner will also be leaving the site soon.  

* The buffet coach on a low loader at the M25 service station.

The first significant piece of rolling stock from crisis-hit Llangollen Railway has left the site.

One of the heritage attraction’s most iconic items, its 1960s-built buffet coach, was sold ahead of the current online auction of assets by special arrangement with the liquidators.

It was snapped up for £33,000 by the Spa Valley Railway in Kent and taken away from the Llangollen shunting yard by low loader earlier this week.

It was photographed by a railway enthusiast in the Clacketts service area on the M25 with its long journey to a new home almost complete.

The RMC 1864 coach was built by British Rail in 1962 as a restaurant miniature buffet and ran on the mainline network before being acquired by Llangollen Railway.

In March 1 the railway's Public Limited Company went into receivership with debts of around £350,000.

Since then the assets of the railway have been offered on an online auction, which culminates on May 12.

In the meantime, the separate Trust Board, which remains completely solvent, has been battling to raise enough money to buy as many of the assets as possible and get the railway back on track. 

In a recent statement the board said it had completed a deal with the administrators to purchase certain assets belonging to the railway along with the right to use the railway line for an undisclosed sum. 

It added that talks have been started with the Welsh Government, Business Wales, Denbighshire County Council and the National Heritage Lottery Fund, all of which had been positive. 

It says it is targeting the end of July or early August for re-opening the railway to passengers.

And as fundraising continues the board says £100,000 approximately is needed to cover necessary overheads for the re-opening phase, for which it hopes to attract grant funding.  

* To donate to the railway appeal online go to: https://llangollenrailway.enthuse.com and click the Donate button, or via our Facebook page. For taxpayers, the railway can apply for 25% Gift Aid. Alternatively, supporters are invited to send cheques payable to Llangollen Railway Trust Ltd to The Station, Abbey Road, Llangollen LL20 8SN.