IN March 2021, the Llangollen Railway hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when the former plc operating company got into financial difficulty. Fortunately, as reported in The RM at the time, the railway was saved thanks to the dedication of its volunteers and well-wishers and is now operated by the charitable Llangollen Railway Trust (LRT).
Lessons have been learned – a prime example being that contract engineering work is no longer being carried out on site. Engineering resources are targeted at home fleet rolling stock instead. To paraphrase a contemporary political agenda, at Llangollen the focus is ‘build back sustainable’.
When I visited on Saturday, October 8, laughter was not in short supply in the Motive Power Depot (MPD) at Llangollen. Friendly volunteers were cracking on with their respective tasks – including emptying ash from the pit and generally tidying up, painting Plasser & Theurer bogie diesel crane No. DRP81530, progressing the return of GWR 2-8-0 No. 3802 and carrying out maintenance on Class 26 No. 5310 (26010).
With the exception of two paid
