Caerllechi Mountain Railway

Caerllechi Mountain Railway Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Caerllechi Mountain Railway, Railroad Company, Telford.

A fictional narrow gauge railway based on Welsh practice, inspired by real-world lines like the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland, Vale of Rheidol and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, operating in the 1920s, running on 32mm gauge track modelling 2ft.

Another wagon now with decals applied.Just needs to dry and a lacquer coat applied.
02/09/2026

Another wagon now with decals applied.
Just needs to dry and a lacquer coat applied.

Following on from the first “construction” post.This was the next piece of the jigsaw, the first corner of the line (and...
01/09/2026

Following on from the first “construction” post.

This was the next piece of the jigsaw, the first corner of the line (and keen eyed individuals will note that I have both 32mm and 45mm gauges here). A number of concepts were trialled in this area before I settled on a large piece of marine ply (treated) to create the corner and a yard area.

I then had a series of sleepers that I had already sawn in half and these again were trialled in various arrangements before a final design was determined.

The curvature here was set at 5’ to accommodate the larger locomotives and a series of wagons were trialled to ensure all was smooth.

This then allowed the first train to run the length of the line, all of a few tens of feet, but a momentous occasion indeed.

C&W have again been busy working late into the night to get these wagons finished off.It is acknowledged that the blue a...
30/08/2026

C&W have again been busy working late into the night to get these wagons finished off.

It is acknowledged that the blue and the wartime hexagonal decals aren’t technically accurate, but it’s the Earl’s take on 1920s operations on the CMR rather than the DHR, it’s already been acknowledged previously that it is speculated that the Earl’s C class (blue) was the inspiration for the DHR painting its locos in the same, in the late 50’s.

The decals are again done by Tom of Endon Valley and they are exquisite.

C&W have been busy today, not only out shopping the Earl’s engineering coal hoppers, but have also found time to finish ...
29/08/2026

C&W have been busy today, not only out shopping the Earl’s engineering coal hoppers, but have also found time to finish the decals on these Darjeeling wagons.

Thanks again go to Tom of Endon Valley for supplying these wartime hexagon transfers utilising his new printer, I don’t think I’ve seen a crisper finish and a more vibrant white in these hexagons before - they look brilliant.

Hi everyone, I just want to give a massive shout out to all the railways followers, we’re now at 910!Absolutely incredib...
29/08/2026

Hi everyone, I just want to give a massive shout out to all the railways followers, we’re now at 910!

Absolutely incredible.

Thank you so much.

Hi everyone, the C&W team were up late into the night last night applying the latest decals provided by Tom of Endon Val...
29/08/2026

Hi everyone, the C&W team were up late into the night last night applying the latest decals provided by Tom of Endon Valley.

The Earl (whilst establishing the railway) also set up a construction company and foundry (the “Caerllechi Engineering Company”), the motto “Through enterprise and industry”, to build the line along with any associated structures that may be required and branch out into a wider market, with his fingers already in mining.

This entity is now fully established and fabricates and casts a wide variety of products for clients.
As you can imagine the foundry consumes a substantial amount of coal on a daily basis which is typically brought up by the “Caerllechi Collier” coal train.
The Earl had already bought a couple of hopper wagons from the mining company historically (who had initially shipped these from America - before beginning to build their own to a similar design) but the Earl wanted to take it one step further and brand the wagons with his company logo.
So the Earl reached out to Tom who worked his magic on some concept art that the Earl and his designers had come up with, along with some wagon information that the Earl requested was done in the same style and font of the GWR, as whilst the Earl loves his “small” by comparison railway, he is a great admirer of the GWR and as you will have seen, already has a good relationship with the company as a number of narrow gauge GWR wagons are based on the line.

So with the above said, the pictures below show what has been achieved.
The Earl is very pleased with the results and looks forward to seeing the vehicles in regular traffic and perhaps even visiting other railways.

Another late night of detailing, this time with some custom decals from Endon Valley, capturing the Earls engineering co...
28/08/2026

Another late night of detailing, this time with some custom decals from Endon Valley, capturing the Earls engineering company crest, along with GWR lettering (the Earl has a soft spot for the GWR).

I’ll of course post photos in the day light on the railway when the other side is completed and the decals have been blended into the existing weathering.

A little bit of late night modelling.The final decals going on this Darj inspired van, followed by the door detailing go...
27/08/2026

A little bit of late night modelling.

The final decals going on this Darj inspired van, followed by the door detailing going black to match the other van, with both of them then to be subjected to some weathering.

Hi everyone,I thought it was about time that I began telling the history of the line (on this occasion, the physical lin...
27/08/2026

Hi everyone,

I thought it was about time that I began telling the history of the line (on this occasion, the physical line), which was started back in April 2022, and identified as “Phase 1” (I know, very imaginative 😆).

Firstly, whilst the garden was lovely, it wasn’t really suitable for our needs and therefore a lot of work was required to take us back to a “blank canvas”, where we could make it our own.

Straight off the bat was a lot of veg clearance so off track were employed to clear all this out, this was then followed by some fairly heavy civils works including new fencing, a new trellis and frame and a few other bits and bobs.

However, soon after this was done, the Earl’s father was consulted as a former colliery surveyor, to assist in the surveying of the land and determine the art of the possible with respect to the railway and its levels.

Shortly after, some materials were obtained to construct the first timber framed raised sections of the railway. As you can see in the pictures these were created from 2.4m long sections of 6x1 board, on top of 2x2 cross bracing, with 3x1 edging boards, all of this was of course treated timber but was given a liberal coating of preserve and then felted. These were then fixed to a pair of 4x4 posts concreted in the ground. (Later these top boards were lifted off to install another post mid span to reduce sagging as the bending moment had been too great for the timber to resist).

At this point the first items of rolling stock and track were placed on the boards to confirm track separation prior to the creation of the first curved segment, which would complete “Phase 1”.

The Earl has been on a visit to one of the slate quarries served by the railway today, to finalise a large expansion pla...
25/08/2026

The Earl has been on a visit to one of the slate quarries served by the railway today, to finalise a large expansion planned by the operator.

In the left of the image you can see the quarry manager, the chief foreman and the Earls’ chief engineer going over the plans.

This expansion had presented a need for more capacity in the conveyance of goods along the line, finished slates on the way down and coal and supplies on the way up.
As you will have seen, the Earl recently purchased another locomotive to bolster the engine roster to cover this increase in workload which will now be based at the largest coal mine as the designated shunter, freeing up another locomotive to manage the increased slate traffic.

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