NEWS UPDATE No. 122
As summer turns to autumn, another school holiday season draws to a close. Despite some unsettled weather during July and August, passenger numbers remain ahead of expectations, around 3% above the equivalent period in 2022, despite concerns over the possible impact of the cost of living crisis. Indeed, the Steam Gala over the August bank holiday weekend saw record numbers of visitors, with the Saturday seeing the highest ridership on record. And to top it all, the railway has once again been awarded a Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice award.
The school holiday season kicked off with the ever-popular “Alice the Little Welsh Engine” day on July 29th, when the railway welcomed back author Pauline Hazelwood, the creator of an ever-growing range of beautifully illustrated children’s books telling the true stories of various narrow-gauge engines. Celebrating the 10th annual event, Pauline spent the day greeting and entertaining the many children who had turned out for the occasion.
Having returned to steam this year after a lengthy overhaul, Alice herself was giving rides around the station at Llanuwchllyn, sharing duties with Winifred. The day proved extremely popular, to the extent that the regular service train had to be increased from four coaches to five and then to six for the afternoon trips.
Another highlight of the August timetable is the Thursday evening barbecue trains, which pause at Llangower for passengers to enjoy a BBQ provided by the local butcher and watch the sun gently setting over the lake. These once again proved popular, attracting a good number of passengers and some very positive 5-star reviews on social media. As one happy participant posted afterwards:
‘We did the BBQ special tonight. Great concept; the time went really fast. A train ride down to Bala. Back up to the half way station where we stopped and had local BBQ by the beach. Lovely scenery as the sun set. Then back to the starting point. Worth the money.’
Steam Gala ‘a great success’
This year’s three-day Steam Gala on August 26th – 28th saw no fewer than six Quarry Hunslets in action, the five resident engines being joined by visitor Britomart which is normally based at the Ffestiniog Railway. The regular two-train ‘Pink’ timetable was augmented by two or three demonstration slate trains each day. 
These ran to and from Llangower, where the ever popular ‘three-train shuffle’ kept them clear of the passenger services at the passing loop. Many of the trains were double-headed, and several swapped engines at Bala as well as Llanuwchllyn, requiring some clever planning to ensure that all six engines had at least one trip with each of the other five.
Thanks to some hard work in the workshops (below), the railway was able to put together two four-car trainsets, which were certainly needed to handle the number of passengers. Services were well loaded, which may have been a reflection of the indifferent weather conditions. All three days were cool and overcast with occasional showers, which was not conducive to sitting by the lake but ideal for getting out and taking a trip on the train. General Manager David Jones reckons that the Saturday was the busiest day on record, with a large mid-afternoon coach party boosting the ridership to more than 10% greater than previously carried on a single day in the railway’s history.
The ‘great little gathering’ of six Hunslets attracted plenty of enthusiasts to make the most of their multi-ride rover tickets, while photographers could be spotted up and down the line, capturing some dramatic photos and lots of video of the engines in action. And after the last train on the Sunday evening there was a special photo-call for Nick Broderick of Trackside magazine, who had brought his family over to sample the occasion and report on the BLR Trust’s latest fund-raising activities. The following evening Trust Chairman Julian Birley treated Nick and his family to a trip down the line with Alice and a couple of the Penrhyn quarry coaches.
‘It was a fantastic weekend that went very smoothly on the whole, and it also turned out to be our busiest ever bank holiday weekend as well’, commented David Jones. ‘I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped make it such a great success. All the loco crews, guards, signallers, back room boys, bus crews, and especially the unsung heroes who helped park all the cars and sell tickets to keep the passengers flowing. And also our hard working café staff who kept all of us and the public fed and watered, and to all those who manned the stalls raising funds for the extension and other worthy causes.’
Now that all five Hunslets are available for service, the workshop team have been able to turn their attention to other things. Open saloon coach No 10 had been stripped down last winter for a heavy overhaul, including the fitting of doorways on the ‘hill’ side ready for the extension into Bala. All of the steel panelling has been replaced, along with the floor, while volunteer Roger Kemp has revarnished all of the wooden seat slats. Chief Engineer Rob Houghton has also made a new set of chopper couplings to complete the conversion programme started some years ago. A major push by Rob and Dan Laidlaw saw the coach readied to re-enter service for the Gala weekend, but a few finishing touches remain to be completed.
Special events coming up
Looking ahead, our Model Railway Show will be taking place at Ysgol Godre’r Berwyn secondary school in Bala on September 16th and 17th. There will be many layouts on display, including a fine-scale model of the GWR Drws-y-Nant station (between Llanuwchllyn and Dolgellau), coming all the way from Epsom, as well as a model of the Port Dinorwic slate wharf built by Great Model Railway Challenge judge Kathy Millatt and now acquired by the Bala Lake Railway.
Frequent trains will be operating on both days, while a vintage bus service will run to and from the school, providing easy connections between the railway and the show.
Coming up later in the autumn will be our popular Halloween trains on October 28th and 31st, followed by Santa Specials on December 9th and 10th. Bookings are now open for both of these events. For more details take a look at our events page at https://bala-lake-railway.co.uk/events/.
Bala Extension Progress
The Bala Lake Railway Trust is continuing to push ahead with planning for the extension of the railway into the town centre, and the preparation of a revised planning application that addresses the seven issues which were raised when the initial application was refused in April.
On July 20 the Trustees met Snowdonia/ Eryri National Park’s Historic Environment Planning Officer, Eleanor Carpenter and Howard Jones from consultants Caulmert Ltd at the site of the future station to discuss details of the new planning application. BLRT Chairman Julian Birley said he was ‘greatly heartened that we now have a defined way forward. We received excellent guidance and advice from Eleanor Carpenter who has also agreed to keep engaged with us as the application is prepared. There is still the issue of the phosphates in the river, but the additional points of refusal I am confident we can now resolve.’
Since Julian made that comment, there has been a major development on the phosphates issue. In August, Natural Resources Wales issued a phosphate permit for the Bala Wastewater Treatment Works, so we now know how much phosphate entering the water at Bala is safe for the river. The next step will be Dŵr Cymru’s response, and we wait to hear whether there is headroom between the Treatment Works’ current performance and the target to allow new connections to the sewer system. Even if there isn’t at the moment, Dŵr Cymru has published upgrade plans which include a phosphate stripping capacity, so there will be a way forward.
Survey work is underway, with Bureau Veritas engineers from Derby and Manchester visiting the railway at the end of August to prepare a detailed report to assess the noise and vibration impact the locomotives will have on the town. Not surprisingly, the initial findings were that the impact will be absolutely minimal, but at a cost of £2,500 it demonstrates the detail that is required to ensure that everything the Trust is doing will have no adverse effects on anyone.
Fundraising for the project continues apace, and the Trust has now passed half way to its target of raising £100,000 for the ‘fighting fund’ to cover the cost of the new planning application.
A huge contribution has come from Clwb Badminton y Bala, which as a community fundraising initiative organised a 24 h Spin Cycle on the shore of the lake on Saturday August 26th.
Club members and friends took turns with the aim of cycling the equivalent of 500 miles, which is the same as riding from Bala to Paris. In the event, they managed more than 900 miles, getting to Paris and back to Dover. Together with a raffle of prizes donated by local businesses, the club raised the staggering amount of £10,712.43. Julian Birley said ‘I cannot think of another heritage railway anywhere that has had such incredible independent local support, such is the belief of the community in the future success of the BLR and local economy with trains coming into the town. To say thank you is simply inadequate, but my command of the English language cannot express our gratitude enough.’
Meanwhile, volunteer Jenny Smith and other members of the Bala Lake Railway Society organised a cream tea garden party in Bala on August 19th, which together with a craft sale raised more than £500. But despite these fantastic contributions the Trust is still a long way from its target and would welcome further donations at https://www.balalakerailwaytrust.org.uk/donate.html
We are now more than half way there, please help to get us over the line!