A full day of lineside photography at the scenic Llangollen Railway with guest 6880 Betton Grange

We are delighted to offer the second of two full days of photography in rural Denbighshire featuring No.6880 Betton Grange which is visiting for a short period to appear at the Railway’s April Steam Gala. Llangollen was where the first years of construction took place, so it is fitting that the locomotive should return there now that it is fully operational.

The Llangollen Railway runs for ten miles through the Dee Valley between the popular town of Llangollen to its most recently opened terminus at Corwyn. The line runs along part of the route of the former Ruabon to Barmouth line which closed to passenger traffic in 1965 and to goods traffic in 1968. The track was lifted and much of the infrastructure demolished. The preserved organisation began in 1975 by relaying a short length of track in Llangollen Station itself, and over the next ten years the line was rebuilt as far as the distinctive black and white station at Berwyn. Since 1985, the length of the line has gradually been increased to Deeside Halt in 1990, Glyndyfrdwy in 1992, Carrog in 1996 and finally to Corwyn in 2023. Many of the station buildings and signal boxes have also been rebuilt and repainted into the Western Region colours of the 1950s.

During the period 1936-1939, eighty members of the Grange Class of 4-6-0 were constructed at Swindon Works. They were designed as mixed traffic locomotives for both goods and passenger working. Churchward had first envisaged these locos in the 1900s and Collett progressed the idea into practice by replacing the aging 4300 Class design of 2-6-0s with the Grange and Manor 4-6-0s. More Granges were envisaged but the outbreak of war in 1939 saw production curtailed. They were classified as red route locomotives in terms of axle loading which prohibited them from routes previously worked by the 4300 Class, hence the introduction of the twenty lighter Manor Class locos. First to be withdrawn was No.6801 in 1960, and 45 were still in use at the start of 1965, steam’s final year on the former GWR. No members of the Grange Class were preserved. In 1998, the 6880 Society was established as a registered charity with the aim of building an 81st Grange, to be named Betton Grange. Initially being constructed at Llangollen, the goal was ultimately achieved in 2024 when the completed locomotive emerged from Tyseley Locomotive Works ready to recreate scenes which had not been seen in nearly sixty years.