A preserved railway is planning to extend its current operation by rebuilding a short section of track along the Dee Valley.

The mainly steam Llangollen Railway believes its three-year scheme will help in the regeneration of the picturesque small town of Corwen in Wales.

The railway is hoping to recruit enough volunteers to rebuild two miles of line on the trackbed of the former railway from Ruabon to Barmouth and has applied for legal permission to go beyond its current terminus at Carrog, and serve Corwen.

“We believe that delivery of this project to bring the railway to Corwen will be a central part of the regeneration of the town,” said Gordon Heddon, a railway vice president.

“The provision of the new car park, in anticipation of the coming of the railway, provides for an interchange with bus services and opens up a new marketing sector for the railway in terms of easing access to the west and north of the Dee Valley.”

A major funding raising appeal will be launched to finance the railway’s share of the project which is also supported by funding from the Welsh European Funding Office and the Welsh Assembly Government.

A new station will be built at Corwen with a single platform and a passing loop.

The old main line from Ruabon to Barmouth closed to passenger traffic in 1965 and to goods in 1968.The seven-mile section of the railway was reborn thanks to volunteers in 1975.

“The achievement of the extension will be the culmination of a 35-year ambition to rebuild the railway from Llangollen to Corwen, a project which started back in 1975, when we took over a derelict station at Llangollen,” said another vice president, William Shakespeare.

Information from George Jones.

Llangollen railway