50 children from two Dee Valley community schools relived a local tradition when they arrived by train for a sunny day out at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
Youngsters from the Corwen and Carrog areas traditionally came by train from their local stations to the Eisteddfod’s children’ day each year but Dr Beeching ended the fun when he axed the Ruabon to Barmouth line in the early 1960s.
But thanks to the route’s revival as a thriving heritage line the Eisteddfod was able to team up with Llangollen & Corwen Railway to bring the annual outing back to life in 2019.
This year’s band of happy railway children, who travelled aboard a vintage diesel train, came from Ysgol Corwen and Ysgol Carrog.
After boarding at Corwen Station they lapped up every mile of the trip to Llangollen where they arrived just after 9am, waving at the windows of the carriages.
On the platform they were officially greeted by people from the Eisteddfod and the railway and there was time for pictures – and even a couple of songs from the children – before they were shepherded from the station to the Eisteddfod field for an action-packed day.
The Eisteddfod’s Ian Lebbon, who organises these sentimental journeys, said:
“We see them as extremely important to the people in the communities at the other end of the heritage line, where the railway is part of their everyday lives.
“The railway, of course, is one of the three great highways of the valley, along with the River Dee and the A5 road. Many of these children will never have travelled by train before, especially one as magnificent as the heritage one they came on today.
“It’s also good for them to be able to see and enjoy the Eisteddfod. Many of them will be coming to the festival for the first time and we hope they will become regular visitors.”
Becky Mollison-white, assistant headteacher at Ysgol Carrog, said: “It was an amazing experience for the children from the two schools and they were all very excited about it.
“Corwen and Carrog both have stations on the heritage line and the children were very happy about getting the opportunity to travel on it.”
Helping to guide the children to the field was a group of young people from Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen and Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in Wrexham who work at the Eisteddfod each year as Welcome Hosts, which Ian Lebbon says he sees as a wonderful opportunity to boost their future career prospects.
