Strange loco on the line

An Indonesian loco is to be the star attraction at Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway’s annual gala.

The unfamiliar steam locomotive has already been spotted on the line, having arrived on August 14, and will play a starring role at the gala on the weekend of September 5 and 6.

The locomotive, ‘Pakis Baru No. 5’, has been kindly loaned by its owners the Statfold Barn Railway in Staffordshire.

Pakis Baru, an articulated loco built in 1905 by Orenstein & Koppel in Germany for service on Indonesian sugar mill lines, is scheduled to be in operation throughout the event, working several demonstration trains and play a major part in the traditional Saturday evening photography session at Llanfair Caereinion.

The first visit by a locomotive since 2010 is just one of a number of innovations at the W&LLR’s annual enthusiast event, which has been significantly refreshed this year with several new items added to the regular elements.

A team of W&LLR staff and volunteers has recently refurbished the run-round loop at Cyfronydd station, which will allow a much more intensive timetable –including freight and mixed trains.

The loop will also be used by a special service for photographers, dropping them off at Heniarth halt and Cyfronydd station in time to catch run-pasts by the heritage mixed trains, and returning them to Llanfair afterwards.

Welshpool Raven Square station will play a major role in the event – Kitson-Meyer 0-4-4-0T locomotive ‘Monarch’, which once worked at a Kent paper mill and which normally lives in the line’s display shed, will be on show outside as will the line’s Sierra Leone Railway bogie carriages.

This will form the backdrop to a display by the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum’s UK support group.

The space released in the display shed will be occupied by a ‘Little Layouts’ model railway exhibition with five model railways on show including live steam.

Many more attractions will be found at Llanfair where the workshops will be open with stands and displays, including more model railways with live steam, while conducted tours will be undertaken of Tanllan yard and stock shed, areas normally not accessible to the public.

Stock not normally seen in action on a public day will be demonstrated, including the ex-MOD railcar ‘The Wasp’ and Hunslet mines loco ‘Ferret’, which has been restored to working order by railway volunteers after many years out of use.

A Real Ale bar and refreshments will be open throughout the weekend.

On Saturday the line’s smallest locomotive ‘Dougal’ will be visiting both Welshpool and Castle Caereinion stations on its way back from the Shrewsbury Steam Rally the week before.

The locomotive will be hauled along the roads on a trailer by Fowler steam traction engine ‘Foremost’. A steam car and Sentinel steam lorry will also be travelling between the stations.

The Gala will coincide with the separate-entry Garden Railway Show at Llanfair Leisure Centre. This event, which showcases large-scale model railways is under new management this year following the death of its previous organiser Steve Warrington in January.

Steve Currin, a well-known personality on the heritage railway scene, has taken on the show and promised to develop it.

A free bus service will run between Llanfair station and the Garden Railway Show.

Site entry to the railway’s Llanfair station will cost £3 per car but parking at Welshpool station will be free.

W&LLR general manager Charles Spencer said; “We are making this year’s Gala busier and more varied, and we’re very grateful to Statford Barn for offering us Pakis Baru, which will be a great attraction.”

Henry Noon of the Statfold Barn Railway said; " We are very pleased to be supporting the W&LLR at its Gala. We are looking forward to seeing No 5 running through the beautiful Mid-Wales countryside, a far cry from its working life in the sugar mill in mid Java!"

Full details of the Gala and the timetable are on the railway’s website, www.wllr.org.uk/steam-gala-2015, where discounted online tickets can be pre-booked. Updates will also appear on the W&LLR Facebook page www.facebook.com/WelshpoolSteamRailway. For more information contact the railway on 01938 810441.