Television comedy star Chris Barrie, best known for his role in Red Dwarf and the BBC sitcom The Brittas Empire, travelled on the Llangollen Railway on Easter Saturday, 4th April, to publicise the start of Wales Comic Con.

Chris was greeted by dozens of fans at Corwen railway station as he boarded a special heritage service to travel through the Dee Valley to Llangollen, where he was to have a busy day at the Wales Comic Con convention to be held at the Llangollen Pavilion.

Chris’s visit marked the start of a new partnership between the railway and Wales Comic Con, bringing together heritage, popular culture and tourism. This was just the start of the collaboration, with more joint events between Wales Comic Con and the Llangollen and Corwen Railway planned for the future.

Chris has also been invited to attend the railway’s Branch Line Gala next weekend, when a full programme of steam and diesel services will be operating, so that visitors to the convention can travel on the railway as part of their Comic Con experience.

During his time at the railway, Chris met some of the volunteer crews and stepped onto the footplate to discover first-hand what it is like to be on a working steam locomotive.

Chris commented that he had a fantastic time on the railway, and it was great to meet so many fans. It was something special to be on the footplate, shovelling coal and experiencing a real working steam engine, and he gave a huge thank you to everyone for such a memorable experience.

“It has been absolutely fantastic. It was so great to welcome Chris Barrie to the railway. He was a brilliant guest – a great sport and incredibly knowledgeable about steam trains. You could really see his passion for heritage railways, and it meant a lot to both our volunteers and the fans who came along to see him.”

Paul Bailey from the Llangollen Railway, who welcomed fans at Corwen Railway Station