Ever since plans for the new station at Corwen were revealed, I have had my eyes on the headshunt (the former through line). An attempt this summer to cover it on a 'Drive a Class 08 loco for a fiver' weekend was thwarted, as the driver said that it was not permitted. When this charter was announced for the morning of our AGM day in Llangollen, I booked promptly. I gather that the trip (with 80 places) filled very quickly.

The other matter of interest for me was Pentrefelin Sidings. My rules for what counts as 'required track' include only that owned at any time by BR (or its constituents), Railtrack or NR. Looking online suggests that these sidings were owned by a tinplate works on the banks of the River Dee, with its own loco, then by a rubber works. Conversely, online sources say that the sidings were later used by GWR and BR to stable coaching stock arriving at Llangollen on day excursions, implying main line ownership. Does anyone have definitive knowledge on this matter, please? Yes! A member confirms it was so on a 3 Jun 1963 excursion to Llangollen from Birmingham Snow Hill via Ruabon (reverse).

Turning to the event itself, a few days beforehand there was major disruption throughout Denbighshire because of heavy snow. Living at the other end of Denbighshire, I wondered whether I would be able to reach Llangollen, or even if the tour could take place. In the event, on Fri 22 Nov, there was a major change with Storm Bert bringing slightly warmer weather but with gale-force winds and torrential rain. As usual, members travelled from far and wide; the nearest was our Wales BLN Editor (13 miles).

On the day, I reached Llangollen in good time and did battle with the ticket machine in East Street car park, round the corner from the Town Hall for our afternoon AGM. I could not understand why my ticket was only valid until 15.00, despite paying the full day price. I then spotted a sign at ground level saying that parking was free from 15.00 on selected dates before Christmas! Crossing the River Dee bridge and walking round to the Goods Yard, Llangollen P1 was noted to be occupied by a rake of coaching stock, being prepared for the Santa specials starting the following weekend. Would this restrict full coverage?

We were told to assemble at the Goods Yard at 08.30, for a 09.00 start. Our assembly and roll call took place in the crew mess, to keep us out of the heavy rain. I ended up meeting again some past and present Society luminaries, whom I had encountered, for the first time in years, just nine days earlier at Angus McDougall's memorial get-together (BLN 1460.2673). Once the names were all taken, we moved into the large maintenance shed, leaving the Llangollen Railway volunteers to fortify themselves for an arduous few hours, with hot drinks / toast / breakfast. I was unable to find a date for the construction of this metal building, which was not there on my previous attendances in 1982 (BLS) and 1993 (Kentrail Enthusiasts Group). Enquiries inside revealed that the date was 1996. Especially notable in the shed was the mainframe of 'Bickmarsh Hall' (5967), in light red primer, with the curved nameplate perched atop.

When all was ready, we were led out to see the immaculate Class 108 2-car DMU, vehicles 51933 & 54504. Participants boarded by a portable set of metal steps, to choose our seats at will. This was reminiscent of 1970s railtours - boarding away from a passenger platform, no reserved seats and a view forward past the driver. Here the resemblance ended, as proceedings used to be based on linear routes as opposed to TRACKmaps level gricing. In essence, our route was goods yard to Pentrefelin Sidings, the Llangollen end of line, then Corwen end of line and back to Llangollen Goods Yard (now the Loco Shed and Workshop area), about five reversals in all. The present-day, higher standard, method involved some 19 reversals, with much securing of points. Boarding by steps was a slow process for safety so we did not set off until 09.12, noting that the stock in P1 had been hauled by loco 08202 to Goods Jn, clearing the way for our exploration. We went straight to Pentrefelin, reaching the shed doors on No3 Road.

http://www.minorrailways.co.uk/trackplans/llangollen.pdf is Peter Scott's up to date 1 Jul 2023 plan.

Our DMU then returned to the long siding between Goods Jn and the station, much of which was occupied by stored wagons. Heading out of this siding proved extremely difficult, with much wheel spinning and inching forward at a crawl. The rail surfaces were saturated in the heavy rain, with grass growing over in parts. Talking to the driver later revealed that my assumption, that the goods branch climbs up from the running line, was totally wrong. In fact, that branch is virtually level, the main line to the station and our siding drop sharply. As a result, we were trying to leave the siding from a position probably not traversed recently, on an adverse incline. Perseverance and skilled driving paid off though.

When we eventually made it out, we covered both platform lines and headshunt sidings at the station. As our train was clear of the platforms in the headshunts, I wondered whether this could give us a rare non-stop run through the station but this was not to be. There was then a toilet break in P2 (train toilets not in use), while 08202 returned the coaching stock to P1. Next was the run to Corwen, noting the mixture of semaphore signals. Some are BR London Midland style upper quadrant arms, with others GWR style lower quadrant. Carrog box and station were renamed as 'Lapland', for the Santa specials.






At Corwen there was a further break, for people to descend to the shop / café at ground level (hot drinks on sale) and / or use the platform toilets. After the break, it was a slow crawl into the headshunt, right up to the buffers at the end of the embankment overlapping with the trackbed of the original line from Denbigh to Corwen. As I was congratulating the driver, he revealed that he had never been to the end before (always a good sign on a tour like this). Locos running round simply pass the points then reverse. In covering the full layout here (both platforms and the siding as far as possible), we managed the rare non-stop run through the station. Future historians may well be confused by the naming of the signal box here as Corwen East, the same name as the temporary station (in use 1 Mar 2015 until 4 Nov 2018), 300yd to the east. It is east of Corwen station, maybe there will be a Corwen West signal box one day‽















Our next call was Carrog to traverse the very start of the station sidings, blocked by rolling stock almost to the points, so it was very much a technical visit. As we made our final journey east, a collection was made for the volunteers who had worked tirelessly in dreadful weather and the bag seemed to contain mostly paper money rather than coins, confirming how impressed we were with what they had done.









The DMU returning to Llangollen Goods involved a wait for various points to be secured and we terminated on the long siding immediately north of the maintenance shed. This is on rail level ground, used for loading / unloading rolling stock to / from road vehicles. We were about four coach lengths from the bitter end but the track grooves ahead of us were full of compacted material. This is probably where the road vehicles and their ramps would stand, so possibly never traversed by rail vehicles.

Our final arrival was at about 13.50, only 20 minutes later than estimated. All in all, this was a superb effort by all involved, including the limiting of places to 80, so we were not squashed in. Many thanks.