The Corris Railway – Past, Present & Future

This was a late change to the previously advertised programme.

Tonight, our speaker Chris Jones talked to us about “The Corris Railway, past, present and future”. It was a fascinating history lesson about the line used for transporting primarily coal and slate, although it did have some passenger traffic also, between 1908 and 1933. The industrial owners of the line always found passengers a nuisance as they interfered with their main business operation. The 2ft 3in gauge railway was built in 1858. The line then carried freight from 1859 through to 1948 and ran between Machynllth and Corris then on to Abergavenny and Ratgoed Place, this final stretch of the line was only ever built for horse drawn vehicles. The track was lifted in 1949 under BR Nationalisation but the section between Machynllth and Corris was re-laid and reopened in 1968. The four engines now in use are all from the original pre-nationalised railway and are shared nowadays with the Talyllyn Railway as is majority of the rolling stock. As part of the revised railway a traverser was built at Corris as a space saving measure. Many of the original features of the line are still visible today, also several buildings and areas remain accessible. A great history lesson spanning nearly two centuries.

Our thanks to Chris for coming to our aid at short notice.

Dave Elsdon
Branch Secretary