Fabulous Falcon

Despite being just over the hill in the next valley, my visits to the Corris Railway have been few and far between. Suppose with the two original locos, a carriage and a longer run at the Talyllyn and the Corris only running at weekends mostly, there hasn’t been sufficient temptation. Before the pandemic, we’d visited Corris a few times for coffee and cake at Idris Stores, a walk around the village and called in at the craft centre in Upper Corris to top up supplies of Dyfi Gin amongst other things, but these hadn’t coincided with the railway running. 

My two visits were when No 3 has visited its old stomping ground. The first in 2003, when I was the fireman of No 3 on the formal grand reopening ceremony. An excellent day made more memorable by one of the trains being late off because my driver and I were too busy listening to stories of the old Corris from noted historian and author Gwyn Briwnant Jones. The second occasion was No 3’s visit in 2012 when I spent a day driving No 3 with a pilot man, another Andrew who we quickly discovered had a similar outlook on life to me. 

One disadvantage of having the slightly odd gauge of 2ft 3in and a restrictive loading gauge between the walls at Corris is that your motive power choices are limited. You can’t borrow a loco from the Ffestiniog or Statfold toy boxes for example. The Talyllyn doesn’t have a surplus in order to hire them out and anyway, the original Talyllyn pair and Tom Rolt would struggle to squeeze between the Corris walls too. So new build has been the way to go and having seen the progress made in recent months on their Falcon new build, I was keen to see the loco run. Andrew and I had stayed in contact since and had let me know when he would be over and the new build Falcon would be running. The result being a rather damp visit to Corris on Saturday morning. 

Arriving suitably before the first train of the day, we had chance to walk along Bridge Street to Idris Stores. A fantastic little shop and coffee house, we found that a change in ownership hasn’t spoilt the place at all and we enjoyed a brew, cake, a game of dominos plus picked up a few essentials. Both Idris Stores and the excellent Slaters Arms pubs (which I’m long overdue a visit) displays a wonderful community spirit that Corris seems to embody. Coffee and cake consumed, it was back to the station where the train had arrived.  

Idris Stores

On my last visit in 2012, the Corris seemed to be a small organisation with big ambitions but becoming swamped by trying to do too many things at once. The carriage shed had been built at Maespoeth with plans for new carriages, a southern extension and a new Falcon loco in addition to grand plans for the Corris station site where the doctors surgery had just been removed. Plus Loco 7, the railway’s new build Tattoo whilst looking the part, had proven not to be a match performance wise with the original No 4 on a visit to the Talyllyn the year before. 

Fast forward to 2023 and the Corris have made great strides in the intervening decade. Some careful work during the loco’s ten year overhaul has seen Loco No 7’s performance greatly improved. The train comprised three superbly recreated Corris carriages and there is a fourth on the way. The layout at Corris has been transformed with a traverser so trains are no longer propelled in one direction and a start was made during Covid on the southern extension when money, available material and contractor availability made a happy alliance. Plus the pièce de résistance, the new build Falcon simmering at the head of the train. 

Driver Andrew was suitably proud of his steed and I was able to take up his offer of a footplate ride where he proved that No 10 is every bit as good as the original No 3 that I’m more familiar with. Some careful modernisation has occurred but the essence of the build means that if you didn’t know the loco was a new build, you could easily be forgiven for thinking this was an original loco fresh from a heavy overhaul. 

One particular feature I liked was the tasteful recreation of the original style cab, but with the height increased (the original was notoriously low I’m told) to improve comfort for the crews and also matches the increased height of the recreated carriages in the same manner as the originals matched. 

Superb stuff, it’s great to see such progress being made in the Dulas valley and I’m sure that with the two locos completed and the fourth carriage well in hand, that the new station at Corris and the southern extension will hopefully follow soon. Though I don’t intend leaving it another decade to my next visit. 

Who let him loose with the new loco… very grateful to be allowed to run the loco round at Maespoeth. A fine machine and hoping it might head out side of the hill sometime so I can return the pilotman favour.