Following a delay to its initial landing in Britain, Llanfair Railway’s diesel locomotive from Taiwan is scheduled to arrive in Wales later this month, writes Malcolm Tattersall.
Welshpool to Llanfair Light Railway, having partnered railway at Alishan on the South China Sea island, was expecting the diesel train to arrive in Britain on January 1.
However the 10,000km journey was delayed by bad weather, resulting in an eight day delay for the 25-ton engine, number DL-34.
The 50-year-old Japanese locomotive will serve on Llanfair Railway as part of a three year loan from its sister railway in Taiwan, having been designed to haul heavy logging trains down the steep winding track from Taiwan’s highest mountain to Chiayi on the Alishan Forest Railway.
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It will now be transported by low-loader and is expected to arrive in Wales on Wednesday, January 18.
Welshpool to Llanfair Light Railway chairman Steve Clews said: “We are most grateful to the Alishan Forest Railway and Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau for their most generous offer.
“DL-34 will be a welcome and valuable addition to our roster, and we hope that once the pandemic has receded sufficiently, Taiwanese visitors will be able to come and see the loco in action here for themselves.”
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