Llangollen Railway branch line gala: April 10-12 2026

20-30 mins down , not quite sure why

a lot of high vis on stations which is a shame . Sub sets switched as well

13:45 glyn to llan cancelled and also preceding working from llan

 

My eldests video from our visit to the gala . Well worth watching to the end. The last two runs filmed were quite special

he would also like me to pass on his thanks to you all for watching his compilations . Nat Pres is often the highest contributor to his view counts

 

no speeding up .

 

Llangollen Railway Branch Line weekend by Martin Creese, on Flickr

Many thanks to the Llangollen for putting on the gala and the efforts to create an interesting timetable that reflected a branch line feel as opposed to long trains doing the full line . It also is good for the intermediate stations encouraging both spend and time to be spent at them .

that said complexity of operation add challenges around the timetable and operational staff doing moves that wouldn't be done on normal operating days and creates a risk of delays which others have touched on . Losing the lunchtime round trip to Glyn didn't help (three trains converving on Glyn simultaneously) as the next llangollen bound was the brake vans which were limited capacity

I think Sunday delays were around 30 minutes and the coaching stock sets changed .

It was also apparent that operational staff were all in High Vis . I understand why as on busy platforms it enables staff to be seen and stand out, and those volunteers I did see (all were lovely helpful people) were not in a consistent railway uniform, but equally is glaring visual shock ! and not the steam era ambience people go to enjoy.

The afternoon and especially the last two eastbound trains showed Llangollen at its scenic best . 7754 with Iain Ross on the regulator coming out of Glyndyfrdwy was GWR secondary line at its finest . I could have gone home happy but 4555 worked the very last train back to Llangollen so I waited the two hours in increasing cloud and sporadic rain . Distant whistles heralded its progress (Still raining) but slowly the sun came out . With steam on 4555 now pretty much on time scurried past. I'm not sure I'll capture a better image this year

Llangollen Railway Branch Line weekend by Martin Creese, on Flickr