Heritage Railway – August 01, 2019

An aerialvisualisationoft heBalaLake Railway’sextension

into thetowncentre.BLR

Demonstrationfreighttrains,comprisedofslatequarrywagonstakenfromtheline’sextensivecollection,wererunbetween

LlanuwchllynandLlangowerduringthegala,inadditionto passengerservices.Hunslet0-4-0STNo. 780of1 902 Aliceisse en

shuntingagoodstrainat Ll angoweronJune16,whilesisterHunsletMaid Marianwait swithapassengertrain.FREDKERR

Passingtrains:QuarryHunslet0-4-0STs No.680of1898

George BandNo.822 of1904Maid Marianinactionduring

thegala.WithhelpfromHeritageRailwayreaders,£300, 000

couldsoonberaisedtoallowthemtorunin toBalatown

centre.FREDKERR

Bala extensionpushesahead

–but must raise£300,000

ByRobin Jones

THEBalaLakeRailway(BLR)has taken

three major steps in its bidtojoin the

growing number of heritage lines that

can boastatowncentrepresence.

Asit iscontinuingtoforgeahead

withextending therailwayinto

down-townBala, theLlangollen

Railway,the otherlinetohave

revivedasectionoftheGWR Ruabon

toBarmouthroute, is completing its

long-awaitedextension intoCorwen

towncentre.

Fortheextension,twomore

land purchaseshavealmost

beencompleted,and mattersare

well in handforagreeingadeal

tohaverunningrightsover the

flood defencesatthe northend of

Bala Lake.

NaturalResourcesWales (NRW),

thegovernmentbodyresponsible

forthe managementofthe lake,

is settoembarkonasignificant

upgradetothe flood defences that

protectthetownfromfloodingfrom

the lake.Theseupgradescoincide

withoveraquarteroftheroute

of theextensionand,with close

collaboration with NRW,the civil

worksrequiredfortheextension will

be carried outbythem.

Stakeholdersupport

Therailwaywill haveto contributefor

the additionalwork requiredtocreate

theformationforthe laying of track,

but because of the economies of scale,

bybeingpartofamuch larger project,

the savings will beconsiderable.For

this partoftheproject, therailwayhas

toraise£300,000.Magnox, the nuclear

energycompany, owner of the nearby

decommissioned powerstationat

Trawsfynydd,hasawardedagrantof

£23,000tocoverthe additional design

work required.

BLRtrust chairman Julian Birley

said: “I havebeeninvolved with

capital projectsforheritagerailways

fornearly 25years,but in thattime,

Ihavenevercomeacrosssuch

universal supportforaheritage

railway.

“NRWcould not bemore

supportiveorhelpfulinwhatweare

tryingtoachieve. Matt Jenkins,who

is heading up the projectforNRW,

is going theextramiletoensure

therailwaygets whatitwants while

managing themuchlarger £6million

projectforupgrading the flood

defences all around thetown.

“Support continuesinthe much

widercommunity, fromthecounty

council, thetowncouncil, local

businesses andresidents.

“They all see thehugecommercial

COUNTYDonegalRailway

Restor ation Limited has

commissionedaspecial badgeto

mark the60th anniversaryoft he

closureoft he CountyDonegal

Railways(CDR), whichfalls on

December 31.Thelast trains

ranonthe 3f t-gauge system on

December 31,1959.

Thebadge uses thecolourful

crest of theCounty Donegal

RailwaysJointCommittee,

whichwasdesigned in 1906,to

mark the jointpurchase of the

DonegalRailway Companyby

the GreatNorthernRailway of

Ireland and theMidlandRailway

of England.The number 60

has been incorporatedtomark

the anniversary.

TheCDR crest incorporatesthe

arms of t he O’Donnell clan, and

wasused on steam locomotives,

railcars and trailers until the

closureoft he railway in 1959,

and remained proudly in use

on thecompany’sreplacement

buses untilCórasIompair Éireann

took over the CDRroad services

in 1971.Thre eshamrocks,

situatedatt he base of the

original,havebeen replaced

with the number 60, withtwo

of the shamrocks movedtothe

side of the numberto crea te the

anniversarybadge artwork.

County DonegalRailway

HeritageCentre managerNiall

McCaughan said:“The badges

arebeing made asalimited

editionventure, and cost £5

plus post and package.Weare

considering producing special,

County DonegalRailway-themed

badgeseveryyear, as collectors’

items,and we hope that railway

enthusiasts will supportthe

60 badge which

represents one

of theways in

whichwe will

be marking

the 60th

anniversary

of therailway’s

closurethisyear.”

➜Details of

the badges

and howto

purchase them

areatwww.

donegalrailway.

com

34 Heritagerailway.co.uk indusonwww.facebook.com/heritagerailway

NEWS

CountyDonegal

commissions

specialbadgefor

60thanniversary

Above:The60thanniversary

badgeandtheCountyDonegal

Railwaysoriginal.