Thousands to visit railway gala

Steam locomotive The Royal Scot will star in a £100,000 nine-day railway event in Llangollen.

More than 10,000 visitors are expected for the biggest gathering of steam locos for more than half a century.

Organisers say the event, which starts on Saturday, will be the biggest and most ambitious steam railway gala ever staged in the UK, with more than 250 train journeys in the nine days.

Pop mogul Pete Waterman will formally open Steel, Steam & Stars 2 at 8am. It runs in conjunction with the railway's real ale festival, as well as a miniature railway exhibition and display of traction engines and vintage motor cycles at Glyndyfrdwy station.

Spokesman David Wilcock said: "Hotels and bed and breakfast houses in the Llangollen area have been fully booked since late last year and accommodation is at a premium."

As well as the Royal Scot, benefiting from a £1 million restoration after a fire, the event will feature City of Truro, which clocked the first 100mph run on rails in 1904. The transportation costs to bring the eight main locomotives to Llangollen amount to nearly £30,000. Some 140 tons of coal has been bought for the event, at a cost of almost another £30,000.

Visitors can ride night trains, join a photo shoot and have a go at driving the trains.

Hundreds of enthusiasts are expected to travel to Carrog station on April 26 for the culmination of the festival when all the locomotives will be coupled together.