With the main operating season on Corris Railway fast approaching, we’ve been looking back on their busy, productive year.

Over the last 10 months, much has been achieved with the revival of the line which was closed in 1948. Work has progressed with building the new embankment which will eventually extend the length of the journey along the Valley. Further work is going ahead with planning the necessary bridge over the Nant Goedwig waterway.

The surviving member of the original trio of steam locomotives which were delivered to the Corris in 1878, number 3, returned for a month long visit in June, its visit including a successful Gala Day when for the first time in over a century three steam engines were working on the line together. The other pair in action were “Tattoo” class number 7 and number 3’s much younger classmate number 10, which became a resident of the locomotive shed at Maespoeth Junction in 2023.

In July number 10 accompanied number 3 to the Talyllyn Railway where it headed selected trains for a month including a Gala Event and the Awdry Weekend. It worked well on the longer line and was well liked by the Talyllyn’s lococrews.

Volunteers have continued to improve the machine shop area inside the locomotive shed with new walling and the delivery of a milling machine which is a considerable upgrade on the one previously in use and will enable more engineering work to be done in-house. In the carriage shed work continues on the construction of the next new carriage which, once complete, will allow the Corris to offer first class travel.

On Saturday, 26 October, trains will leave Corris Station for a journey along part of the Dulas Valley at 11am, 12pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm and the shop and museum will be open at Corris station. There will still be the railway’s traditional Santa Trains to come on 7 and 8 December, for which bookings are already coming in online.

Although the line will be closed for public trains during the winter, after the Santa Trains have run, work will continue on the routine but necessary work of track maintenance, vegetation control, building maintenance and more. Extra volunteers are more than welcome and details of how to volunteer can be seen at www.corris.co.uk from where tickets for the Santa Trains can also be booked.