Two narrow-gauge locomotives will join the line-up for the Severn Valley Railway’s Railway 200: Trains through the Ages event, which takes place on 5 and 6 July.
‘Chaloner’ from the Leighton Buzzard Railway will appear alongside ‘Holy War’ from the Bala Lake Railway. Both will run on specially installed temporary tracks at Engine House Visitor Centre at Highley, offering footplate rides to visitors.
‘Chaloner’ was built in 1877 at De Winton’s Union Works in Caernarfon. Its distinctive vertical-boiler design was used in the North Wales slate industry. For more than 70 years, it worked in slate quarries, before being withdrawn in 1950 and entering preservation in 1960.
‘Holy War’, Hunslet works No 779, was the last steam locomotive to work in any slate quarry in the UK, and in 1969 it ended almost 100 years’ association between steam engines and slate quarries.
The two narrow-gauge locos will complement the already-announced guests LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No 60163 ‘Tornado’, and HydroFLEX, the UK’s first hydrogen-ready passenger train.
‘Things are shaping up very well for our Railway 200 event,’ said SVR’s managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster. ‘We are so grateful to our colleagues at both the Leighton Buzzard and the Bala Lake Railways for their support in allowing their narrow-gauge locos to come to us.
‘It’s going to be an unmissable event. With all our guests plus our own GWR 4930 ‘Hagley Hall’, GWR 1450 operating an Autotrain, LMS Stanier Mogul 13268 and a range of heritage diesels from our fleet, we’ll have more than 130 years of rolling stock on site, with locos from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries!’
Other attractions during the event include a pre-grouping goods train and a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster. The weekend also offers the final chance to see ‘Inspiration’, the Railway 200 exhibition train at the SVR, on the very first leg of its UK-wide tour.
There’s more information, a timetable and tickets at svr.co.uk.