The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway is commemorating the 120th birthday of its two original locomotives. Earl and Countess, with, “The Beyer Bash”, a three-day event from Friday, 20th to Sunday, 22nd May that celebrates their builders, Beyer, Peacock & Company.
Attending the weekend will two be visiting locomotives, K1 from the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway, and No. 1827 from the Statfold Narrow Gauge Museum Trust
K1 was built just seven years after Earl and Countess, and pioneered the Garratt arrangement of articulated locomotive that made Beyer's products famous around the world.
Until 1966, No. 1827 was the works shunter at Beyer, Peacock's works at Gorton in Manchester, where Earl and Countess were built. It was built in 1879 and is one of the oldest working steam locomotives in the UK. Originally built as an 0-4-2 crane tank, it was later converted to a conventional 04-0 saddle tank, and was used as the basis for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's 0-4-0 saddle tanks.
During the weekend, 1827 will be operating on a specially-laid section of track at Welshpool and will feature in photographic opportunities with the other locomotives on display.
This event will be the first time since autumn 2019 that visitors have been able to ride multiple W&LLR trains with a single rover. The railway is planning to operate two main train sets over the whole line between Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinion behind visiting Austrian locomotive Zillertal and resident Taiwan diesel No. 17.
One of the stars of the show will be Earl, which will operate regular interval shuttle trains from Welshpool to a new loop and halt at Sylfaen. That will give plenty of chances to hear the locomotive hard at work climbing the steep Golfa bank.
Timetables for the weekend are expected to be published around four weeks before the event in mid-April.
For further information about the weekend and to book your tickets, please visit https://wllr.org.uk/beyer-bash/
