Heritage route
Llangollen Railway
Llangollen → Corwen · Wales
Llangollen Railway in pictures



Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 16 km
- Fastest time
- ≈ 1 h
- Average speed
- 16 km/h
- Top speed
- 40 km/h
- Operator
- Llangollen Railway Trust
- Countries
- Wales
- In service since
- 1975
- Train
- Ex-GWR steam & heritage railcars
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
Ten miles of the Great Western’s Ruabon–Barmouth line, closed in 1965: volunteers reopened Llangollen station in 1975 and relaid the Dee valley mile by mile, reaching a new station at Corwen in 2023.
The Vale of Llangollen Railway reached the town in 1862, and the Llangollen and Corwen Railway carried the line on up the Dee valley, opening the present Llangollen station in May 1865. Passenger trains ended on 18 January 1965; volunteers began reopening the line from Llangollen in the 1970s and rebuilt it west through Berwyn, Glyndyfrdwy and Carrog. The company that ran it went into receivership in 2021, and the Llangollen Railway Trust took over and reopened the line that July.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 167930 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
Along the way
- Llangollen station and the Dee
- Berwyn and the Chain Bridge
- Glyndyfrdwy
- Carrog
- Corwen
How long is the Llangollen Railway?
The Llangollen Railway runs 16 km from Llangollen to Corwen.
How long does the Llangollen Railway take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 1 h for the 16 km. That is an average of 16 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 40 km/h.
Who runs the Llangollen Railway?
Llangollen Railway Trust, with Ex-GWR steam & heritage railcars.
How old is the Llangollen Railway?
The line has been in service since 1975. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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