by Mark Collins

I have visited Llangollen a few times before and it has always been a beautiful day. Once again I wasn’t disappointed. It has to be one of the most stunningly beautiful lines in the UK and I wished I had the opportunity of travelling on it in its heyday.

Once again we were slaves to the timetable they were running that day so we had to be everywhere in order to get the shots that would convey it’s beauty on television. Lady luck was on our side for this particular day too as the loco running was “Foxcote Manor”.

There are some fantastic in cab shots in this episode which were filmed by the crew standing in the tender on the coal.

There’s also an unwritten equation that you are not taught at school in maths. It is ‘Camera Crew standing on coal in tender + Tunnel = Near miss.’

Our day at Llangollen was also filmed on the first anniversary of the attacks on the United States on September 11th 2001. When we arrived at Carrog there was a minute silence at 1:46pm which was respectfully observed by both passengers and staff.

Many thanks to the Chairman of the Llangollen Railway, Gordon Heddon, also to Martin Williams for supplying me with more photographs than I needed but still had fun looking through them all, Norman Jones co-author of “The Llangollen Line” which helped enormously with my research, Aled Roberts for his insights and memories and PR Officer Frank Spence (without an R).

Trainspotting.links (will open in a new window)

www.llangollen-railway.co.uk

Books

Book: "The Llangollen Line” by W.G.Rear and Norman Jones (Foxline Publishing).