The story
History
Precursor schemes: 1850 to 1858
Before 1859, slate from the quarries at Corris, Corris Uchaf and Aberllefenni was hauled by horse-drawn carts and sledges to wharves on the banks of the River Dyfi. The first proposal to construct a railway connecting the quarries to the coast came in August 1850, when the owners of the Aberllefenni, Abercorris, Gaewern and Hengae quarries met with engineer Arthur Causton to propose the Abercorris and Aberdovey Railway. By November 1850, the name had changed to the Corris, Machynlleth & River Dovey Railway or Tramroad which was planned to run down the Dulas Valley and then along the north shore of the Dyfi past Pennal to Pant Eidal, near the later main-line Gogarth Halt. A bill was submitted in early 1851, withdrawn, then resubmitted in December. The bill specified the tramroad's gauge as 2 ft 2+1⁄2 in (673 mm); due to the narrow gauge selected, the House of Lords committee imposed a restriction in the bill that forbade the use of locomotives.
This 1851 scheme was authorised in the Corris Machynlleth and River Dovey Railway Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. clxvi) but was not constructed, and was followed by two further proposals in the early 1850s. Following the plans for a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge railway along the Dyfi valley, these early proposals were shelved.
In December 1857, a fourth bill was set before Parliament to create the Corris, Machynlleth and River Dovey Tramroad (CM&RDT). This was similar to the 1851 scheme, except that it proposed to cross the Dyfi near Machynlleth and then follow the south bank of the river, and proposed a tramway from the "machine house" (i.e. the slate mill) at Aberllefenni, down to the wharf at "Cae Goch on the River Dovey" (Cae Goch was near to the later main line Glandyfi station). The gauge specified for the tramroad was increased to 2 ft 3 in (686 mm), and the same restriction forbidding locomotives was imposed. This bill was passed on 12 July 1858, becoming the Corris, Machynlleth, and River Dovey Tramroad Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. xcv).
The Tramroad Era: 1858 to 1878
After more than eight years of proposals, the 1859 scheme was the one that was built. Construction proceeded quickly, and by April 1859 the tramroad opened between Machynlleth and Corris. The section from Aberllefenni to Corris was built later that year. The section from Machynlleth to Morben was opened later. It is thought that the tramroad never extended beyond Morben.
On 3 January 1863, the standard gauge Newtown and Machynlleth Railway had opened, followed on 1 July of the same year by the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway's (A&WCR) line from Machynlleth to Borth. These two lines became part of the Cambrian Railways by August 1865. The opening of the standard gauge line to Borth made the section of the CM&RDT from Machynlleth to Morben obsolete. It was much easier to transship slates to the main line at Machynlleth and most of the lower section of the tramway was abandoned, probably in 1869.
In 1862, a new bill was deposited, seeking to extend the Upper Corris Tramway to iron ore mines at Tir Stent, near the pub at Cross Foxes. The bill also sought powers to raise further capital for the tramroad and allow the use of locomotives. But the directors of the A&WCR objected and the bill failed. Another similar bill was deposited in December 1863, and again the A&WCR opposed it. This time, however, they withdrew their objection; the CM&RDT company had been acquired by Thomas Savin, who was the principal contractor in the construction of the tramroad, and Savin had offered to sell the company to the A&WCR. The second bill passed on 25 July as the Corris Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. ccxxv); it formally converted the tramroad to a railway changing the company's name to the Corris Railway Company, allowed the use of steam locomotives and allowed the abandonment of the section west of Ffynnon Garsiwn in Machynlleth.
In 1863, a new transshipment wharf was built at Machynlleth to allow slate to be loaded from CM&RDT waggons into standard gauge wagons. Passenger and goods trains continued to run to Machynlleth Town station on the west side of Machynlleth, with some slate trains continuing to the wharfs at Morben.
It took until the 1870s for work to begin to upgrade the Corris Railway to a standard where locomotives could be used. The original tramroad was laid with light bridge rail suitable for waggons to traverse as they were pulled by horses. These rails would not support the weight of much heavier steam locomotives. Although the Corris Railway Act 1864 did not permit passengers to be carried, passengers were carried from at least 1860, and a timetabled passenger service was introduced in 1872. In 1874, a new goods warehouse and horse stable was built besides the transshipment wharves at Machynlleth, this was later converted to form the first passenger station here.
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In 1878, control of the railway passed to the Imperial Tramways Company of London. The new owners ordered new passenger carriages for the railway. They also appointed Joseph R. Dix, son of the main-line stationmaster at Machynlleth, as Manager in succession to David Owen.
The Dix Years: 1879 to 1907
Two new acts, the Corris Railway Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. liv) and the Corris Railway Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. xxxiv) were obtained which adjusted the tolls on the railway and permitted the carriage of passengers. The second of these acts was necessary because the owners of the quarries served by the railway objected that passenger trains would interfere with their mineral traffic. Initially the railway ran a test passenger service on the local roads; this proved to be so popular that they were able to pass the act of Parliament over the opposition of the quarry owners. It was also the first instance of a long history of the Corris Railway operating passenger road services in the area.
In December 1878 the first steam locomotive purchased from the Hughes Locomotive Company arrived. By February 1879 it had been joined by the other two that had been ordered and all three had begun work. Although the carriages arrived in 1878 it was not until 1883 that the Corris Railway Act 1883 was secured to allow the formal commencement of passenger services. A semi-official passenger service had been running since the early 1870s using adapted waggons to convey quarry workers and visitors.
The line was now in its settled form and began to operate a full service under Dix's energetic management. The railway was widely promoted to visitors as the best route to Tal-y-llyn Lake and Cader Idris (ignoring the claims of the rival Talyllyn Railway). The initial passenger service ran from Machynlleth to Corris, with new stations at Esgairgeiliog and Llwyngwern opening in 1884. The track was upgraded beyond Corris so that passenger services could reach the line's northern terminus at Aberllefenni, with services starting on 25 August 1887, and in the same year stations were also opened at Ffridd Gate and Garneddwen.
The railway developed a network of horse-hauled road services, including providing a link between Corris station and Abergynolwyn station on the Talyllyn Railway. This was promoted as part of a circular "Grand Tour" which took in the two narrow gauge railways and the Cambrian service between Tywyn and Machynlleth.
In 1892, control of Imperial Tramways moved to Bristol and George White of Bristol Tramways became chairman and Clifton Robinson became managing director. In the 1900s, Bristol motor buses were sent by the parent company to run the road services.
The closure of Braichgoch Quarry in 1906 brought the railway its first loss, and although the line continued on through subsequent decades, serving the quarries around Corris and Aberllefenni, it never again showed a profit. The bridge over the River Dyfi was rebuilt that year replacing the second timber viaduct with a steel bridge on slate piers.
Decline: 1907 to 1930
Following a dispute with the directors, Dix was dismissed in June 1907, and replaced by John J O'Sullivan (formerly of the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway). A new station building at Machynlleth was completed towards the end of 1907. As well as slate and passengers, the line hauled timber extracted from the Dyfi forest in the 1910s through 1930s. There was also a constant traffic in coal and general goods to the quarries and communities served by the railway.
After World War I, the decline in slate traffic continued as cheaper foreign slate and alternative roofing materials became popular. O'Sullivan had died in office in 1917; the parent company's Secretary, Frederick H Withers, acted as manager until a new manager, Daniel J McCourt (who had worked on Imperial's Middlesbrough system until that was taken over by the local municipality) took over in 1921 and was responsible for developing and extending the connecting bus services as partial compensation for the decline in rail traffic.
Takeover and nationalisation: 1931 to 1948
In late 1929, Imperial Tramways sold the Corris to the Great Western Railway (GWR), who by that time were the owners of the main line serving Machynlleth, whose primary interest was taking control of the railway's bus routes. After running a bus in direct competition with the railway in 1930, the railway's passenger service was withdrawn at the beginning of 1931. While the GWR did not relish owning another Welsh narrow gauge line, they did perform some track maintenance, and on at least two occasions the rolling stock was repainted.
On 1 January 1948, the line was nationalised along with its parent company, becoming part of British Railways (BR). While the GWR had tolerated the Corris, BR was looking for an excuse to close the loss making railway. In August 1948, that excuse came when the River Dyfi flooded. The waters began to undermine the Corris Railway embankment on the south side of the Dovey Bridge, and although the track was never breached, it was the excuse that BR needed to close the line. The last train ran on 20 August 1948 and the following day the railway was closed, without notice. The Aberllefenni to Corris section was lifted in November 1948, and 10 tons of the rail was purchased by Henry Haydn Jones for use on his Talyllyn Railway. By the end of 1950, track lifting had reached Machynlleth station.
In 1951, the Talyllyn Railway became the first railway in the world to be preserved. The Talyllyn purchased the two remaining locomotives, which had been stored out of use at Machynlleth, along with several goods waggons and the brake van – see List of Talyllyn Railway rolling stock. In 1958, the Talyllyn also purchased one of the Corris carriages, which had been in use as a summerhouse in a garden in Gobowen.
Early days: 1966 to 1980
In the early 1960s a group of volunteers from the Talyllyn Railway, led by Alan Meaden, began visiting Corris. They wanted to establish a museum for the line and formed The Corris Society in December 1966. Another group, the Corris Railway Preservation Society, was set up in the West Midlands around the same time. The two groups merged, forming the Corris Railway Society in 1968 with the aim of preserving what was left of the railway, opening a dedicated museum, and to explore reviving some or all of the line. Many of the founding members of the Society were volunteers on the Talyllyn.
Other than at Aberllefenni and Braichgoch quarries, no rails remained in situ along the Corris route. Initially the Society sought to purchase Machynlleth station for its museum, but when this proved impossible it turned its sights elsewhere. The main buildings of Corris station were demolished in 1968 leaving only the adjacent railway stable block standing, and these buildings – badly in need of maintenance – were acquired, along with a short section of trackbed leading southwards. In 1970 the first part of the building was opened as the Corris Railway Museum. A short length of "demonstration" track was laid in 1971.
During the 1970s, the Society undertook lengthy negotiations with the relevant authorities to establish the requirements for re-opening the line for passengers, while steadily building up funds and equipment In 1974, planning permission was received to re-open the line from Maespoeth Junction to Corris station. A new Corris Railway Company, reviving the original name, was incorporated to act as the Society's trading and operating arm, while the Society achieved charitable status. The Museum was extended as more of the building was returned to satisfactory condition.
Restoring from Maespoeth: 1981 to 2001
In 1981 the line's original locomotive shed at Maespoeth was acquired and became the railway's operational base. During the 1980s light track was laid between Maespoeth and Corris, a distance of just under a mile (1.6 km). The formal "first train" back to Corris ran on 24 April 1985. In the following years the track was upgraded to passenger standards while negotiations with the authorities continued.
Passenger services resume: 2002 to present
In the summer of 2002, passenger services resumed after a break of seventy-two years, initially diesel-hauled. The railway built a new steam locomotive, to a design based on the Kerr Stuart No. 4, which arrived on the railway on 17 May 2005 and runs as No. 7 (the Corris Railway never officially named its locomotives). No. 7 went into service on 20 August 2005, fifty-seven years to the day since the last train on the original railway, and now hauls the regular passenger service between Corris and Maespoeth.
The railway is also actively pursuing a southwards extension towards Machynlleth, with the initial aim of extending the line to Tan-y-Coed, midway between Esgairgeiliog and Llwyngwern and some 21⁄2 miles south of Corris. As always, this is involving lengthy negotiations with the authorities, not least due to the line south of Maespoeth running immediately adjacent to the A487 trunk road. While these are continuing the railway has consolidated its facilities at Maespoeth with the construction of a new two-road carriage shed in the adjacent field (the original carriage sheds at Corris and Machynlleth having been demolished). In 2015 work began on building the new diversion embankment to enable the southerly extension.
During 2009, the railway marked the 150th anniversary of the first train on the Corris with a series of events, including demonstration horse-worked freight trains and gravity runs of rakes of waggons.
The revived Corris Railway has maintained friendly links with the Talyllyn Railway, which resulted in both of the original Corris locos and rolling stock returning to the railway. In 1996 ex-Corris loco No. 4 returned to celebrate its 75th anniversary. In 2003, ex-Corris loco No. 3 returned on the occasion of its 125th anniversary with a heritage train of carriage No. 17, brake van No. 6 and two trucks. Corris No. 5 visited the Talyllyn Railway in 1983 and 1990, and No. 7 in October 2011. It hauled a few charter trains and played a part in the TR's Corris Weekend, when it ran with the two surviving ex Corris engines; No. 4 (Edward Thomas) and No. 3 (Sir Haydn) and stock.
Both the surviving original locomotives have visited the Corris since its reopening. In 2012, No. 3 featured in a steam Gala over May Bank Holiday weekend along with the railway's resident steam loco No. 7. No. 3's boiler ticket expired on 17 May 2012 and the loco was on static display at Maespoeth until February 2013, when the loco left the Corris to tour heritage railways and museums in the UK to raise awareness of the Talyllyn and to raise funds for its overhaul.
Original railway
Three locomotives were supplied in 1878, and partially rebuilt between 1883 and 1900 from 0-4-0STs to 0-4-2STs. By the 1920s the locomotives were badly worn. A new locomotive, No. 4, was supplied in 1921. In 1923, parts from Nos. 1 and 3 were combined to produce one working locomotive, which carried the number 3. The remaining original locomotive, No 2, was held in reserve until 1928. A report dated 12 October 1929 stated that locomotives 1 and 2 had been "marked off for some time as scrap" and the remains of both engines were handed over to a local scrap merchant and excluded from the assets taken over by the GWR.
The locomotives that ran on the original Corris Railway between 1878 and 1948 (none carried names on the Corris) were:
From Wikipedia’s article on Corris Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3