Information about the services that our railcars have provided can be found under 'Out and About' below and work that has taken place on the railcars at Llangollen and Butterley can be found under 'Unit-specific work' below.
The highlight of the year for us is the Railcar Gala and this year's one took place last weekend (7-8 October). All four operational 2-car units were pressed into service and the star of the show was the class 127 power car no. 51618 that had only recently seen the light of day following extensive bodywork repairs that had taken almost four years to complete.
The special gala timetable featured 2-car and 4-car railcars and also the GWR observation coach that was hauled uphill from Llangollen to Carrog by the twin-power-car class 104 then returned to Llangollen by one of the other units.
To add a sprinkling of nostalgia, the trains displayed some unusual destinations during the weekend including Accrington, Barmouth, Blackpool North, Cambridge, Crianlarich, Dolgellau, Hitchin, Huddersfield, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Yes, the full version does just fit on the blinds! Click here for a lesson in pronunciation), Mablethorpe, Mildenhall, Sheffield Midland, Sheffield Victoria, Skegness, Spalding, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wrexham General !
Here is a selection of pictures of the main event...
Hybrid class 127/108 approaching Berwyn on 07/10/23
Hybrid class 127/108 arriving at Carrog on 07/10/23
Hybrid class 127/108 arriving at Glyndyfrdwy on 07/10/23
Hybrid class 127/108 at Glyndyfrdwy on 07/10/23
Class 104+observation coach passing the class 127 at Glyndyfrdwy on 07/10/23
A driver's eye view of the hybrid class 127/108 passing Llangollen Goods Junction on 07/10/23
4-car Class 108 + hybrid class 127/108 leaving Glyndyfrdwy on 08/10/23
Class 104 + observation coach approaching Glyndyfrdwy on 07/10/23
Class 104 passing the 4-car class 109+108 at Carrog on 07/10/23
Class 104 at Corwen on 07/10/23
Class 104 at Corwen on 07/10/23
Class 104 at Corwen on 07/10/23
Class 109 + observation coach at Carrog on 07/10/23
Class 109 at Llangollen on 07/10/23. The destination blind looks like an optician's test because it is displaying the full 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch' rather than the shortened version of 'Llanfair PG'. Click here for a lesson in pronunciation
4-car class 109+108 at Corwen on 07/10/23
4-car class 108+109 leaving Berwyn on 07/10/23
Class 104 + observation coach passing the class 108 at Glyndyfrdwy on 08/10/23
A driver's eye view of the 4-car class 108+hybrid 127/108 passing Llangollen Goods Junction on 08/10/23
Class 08 shunter 13265 about to shunt-release the observation coach at Llangollen on 07/10/23
The observation coach being shunt-released by class 08 shunter 13265 at Llangollen on 07/10/23
A group of railway volunteers overseeing the uncoupling of the observation coach from the class 104 at Carrog on 07/10/23. I wonder if it was a case of two people doing the uncoupling and four offering advice? :-)
On the Saturday evening there was a Llangollen-Corwen return 'Land Cruise' special that departed after a hotpot supper was enjoyed by volunteers, staff and visitors at Llangollen Station and included a stop for refreshments outside a temporary bar at Glyndyfrdwy station on the way back. Here is a selection of pictures of the evening train...
4-car Hybrid class 127/108 + class 108 waiting to depart Llangollen on 07/10/23
4-car class 108 + hybrid class 127/108 at Corwen on 07/10/23
4-car class 108 + hybrid class 127/108 at Glyndyfrdwy on 07/10/23
Driver's eye view from the front of the class 108 preparing to leave Glyndyfrdwy for Llangollen on 07/10/23
The preparation for, and implementation of, the gala requires an "all hands to the pumps" effort, not only for members of the railcar group but also for lots of other volunteers and members of staff at the Railway. We are very grateful to all concerned and to the passengers who attended. Hopefully everyone had a good time.
Prior to the gala, and since the previous report, services were operated by the following combinations of railcar: 108, 108+109, 104+108. There was also one day (Friday 6th October) when a swap was arranged part way through the day as a way of ensuring that every railcar went through our hand washing facility prior to the gala.
Since the gala the 2-car hybrid class 127/108 has been in charge.
The class 104 was given an 'A' exam during the weekend of 23-24/09/23. Most of the time was spent dealing with the starter motor on the no. 1 engine of 50454 (the one that had given up after only a couple of starts). It turned out that it had not enjoyed the experience of fighting an engine with a cylinder full of water and, as a result, the commutator and brushgear was quite a mess, so much so that one brush had split in half and a couple of them were showing signs of arc damage. It was all cleaned up and the dud brush plus associated brushbox were swapped from another defective motor. All appears to be well now and we hope that it will last longer this time!
The fourth rear jumper socket on the back of 56456 had its cables drawn to the back junction box with a lot of pushing, pulling and cursing. It now has a full set of jumper sockets at the back - though there is a little more work to do to get them all terminated in the junction box.
The timber supports above the cab windows were fitted after much cutting, trimming, drilling and fitting, and the metal faceplates were also fitted. The corner panels for the driver's and secondman's sides, that were loosely in place, had to be cut along the window edge to get them to fit behind the window frames.
Thanks to Ian Bradbury, Allen Chatwood, John Joyce, Mike Martin and Martin Plumb for supplying the pictures.