News from the Bala Lake Railway
September 2016 Update At the risk of sounding repetitive, the BLR has done it again. The 2nd October marked the end of the main operating season, although there is a lot of activity at the end of October and early November over the Halloween and half-term period (more later). The…
August 2016 Update Any tourist based operation expects, indeed, hopes to be busy during the main holiday month of August, and the Bala Lake Railway was nothing if not well patronised by visitors. The Steam Gala, held over four days of the Bank Holiday weekend, was definitely a popular venue,…
July 2016 Update July was another busy month on the railway, and passenger numbers were up (again) by 6% on July last year, but it is of note that the start of the school holidays brought even greater numbers to Llanuwchllyn, up by a full 12% on last year. On…
June 2016 Update After all the excitement and success of May, with the launch ofDiana into service on the railway, followed by the Photo Charter, both events being blessed with perfect weather, one might suppose that June would be quiet by comparison. Not a bit of it, and it proved…
May 2016 Update What a month there has been on the railway! Leaving the brilliantly staged Bank Holiday Gala and the launch of Diana until later, we were thrilled to learn that that the Bala Lake Railway has been awarded a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2016. We would like…
April 2016 Update Passenger numbers, by their very nature, do not always follow strict patterns. Those of April 2015 were very healthy, largely as the result of the big celebrations in the middle of the month in honour of the return to service of Winifred, our Hunslet which had been…
March 2016 Update We have already reported on the first services this year in February, but the first major passenger activities were around a particularly early Easter. The enthusiasm of visitors was as good as ever, although the Bank Holiday Monday was traditionally damp, hence the numbers were down. But…
February 2016 Update We break with tradition and start with And Firstly because of some wonderful news received at the very end of February. When we were presented with the opportunity to acquire from the MOD the rail needed for the extension into Bala, it spurred on and created greatly…
Double recognition for Bala Lake Railway at industry awards The Bala Lake Railway received two industry accolades at the annual Heritage Railway Association Awards held at Grand Station, Wolverhampton on Saturday February 6th 2016. The Steam Railway award, presented by one of the country’s leading railway magazines, was awarded…
January 2016 Update The first month of the year is an opportunity never to be missed on any railway, and the BLR team leapt into action on the onerous task of replacing all the sleepers along a quarter mile stretch of track, which we will cover later. But other activities…
