CORRIS Railway Society’s annual gala will be held on Saturday, May 24 with the first train of the day departing Corris at 10.30am.
This gala will provide an opportunity to see older locos from the fleet, alongside the railway’s newly built loco, No. 10 Hughes 0-4-2 ‘Falcon’ and No. 11 Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0 ‘Vlad’.
There will be several opportunities for railway members to ride on the gravity train down the Dulas valley like slate mine workers of yesteryear. Adult annual membership is £22 and can be purchased online by clicking here .
Depending on crew availability, the railway hopes to use Loco No. 5 Motor Rail Simplex 4w ‘Alan Meaden’ to offer rides in Guard’s Van 204 in exchange for a small donation. ‘Alan Meaden’ was the first locomotive acquired by the society and worked the first formal train of the revival between Maespoeth and Corris in 1985.
The workshops at Maespoeth Junction will be open to the public and there will be fun games for children of all ages to play. Visitors to the gala will also be able to see work by the volunteer workforce including carriage number 24, which, once complete, will allow first class travel on the line for the first time in at least 90 years.
The Museum and Shop at Corris Station will also be open. The recently completed reconstruction of a manrider or ‘Velocipede’, using original wheels and axles, will be on display.
Refreshments will be available from the shop, the village shop and cafe or the Slaters Arms, which once had its beer delivered in casks rolled across the street from the railway’s waggons.
Corris Craft Centre also has an excellent cafe and visitors may park their cars there and walk to the station down the zig-zag path. Parking is available at the station and Lloyd’s bus service number FF2 stops outside the station yard and bus service T2 stops outside the Braich Goch Hotel.
Advance Gala Day Rover tickets can be purchased via the Corris Railway website and are priced at £10 for adults, £5 for children aged five to 15. Children under five are free and there is a £1 fee for dogs.
