The Welshpool to Llanfair Light Railway annual Steam Gala is set to return this autumn, with organisers calling it the largest one they have planned for several years.
The railway’s annual celebration of trains, road steam, model railways, classic vehicles will be returning on Friday, September 1, and end on Sunday, September 3.
The larger celebration is fitting for 2023, as this year marks a double anniversary for the railway, 120 years since the line’s opening in 1903 and 60 years since re-opening as a heritage line in 1963.
On the railway’s anniversary, general manager James Bett said: “We opened as a railway in 1903 so this year we celebrate 120 years as a railway but more importantly it was 60 years ago that we reopened as a heritage railway.
"So, we’re celebrating both those achievements and look forward to the next 60 years as our volunteers put in even more hard work.”
The gala will see several steam engines running along the line, featuring six home-fleet engines that include Austrian pair 'Sir Drefaldwyn' and 'Zillertal', the first time both engines will be seen together on the line.
Sir Drefaldwyn was the first of the re-opened line’s regular roster of passenger trains, entering service in Spring 1970 and proving a most powerful engine able to pull the heaviest loads.
Built in 1944 in German occupied France, the supply depot the train was stored in was captured by Allied forces before it could ever be in German service.
Instead, Sir Drefaldwyn was sent to Austria before being discovered by the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway in 1968, looking for something to pull the four open-balconied carriages gifted by the Austrian Zillertalbahn line.
Over the weekend Llanfair Caereinion station will be host to a number of attractions as part of the gala, including collections of road steam and vintage vehicles, a display from the National Cycle Museum, workshop tours, rides on a classic Routemaster bus, a Sierra Leone Railway stand, a 16mm live steam railway as well as Llanfair Connections and Cloverlands Model Car Museum.
The gala will also be holding events at the other end of the railway line in Welshpool, where visitors can see classic cars from Mid Wales Classic Vehicle Club, of service locomotives and rolling stock on display and walking Tours of the original railway town section.
Tickets and timetables for the event are available at the Welshpool to Llanfair Light Railway website.
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