Saturday 24th September 2016 saw our Society celebrate 80 years since No. 6800 Arlington Grange was built at Swindon in 1936.
To mark the occasion our members and invited guests attended a day where everything ‘Grange’ was indulged.
The day started with tea, coffee and bacon baps in the Henry Robertson Suite and storyboard panels erected to chart the development of railways, culminating in the design and life of the GWR Grange Class. A commemorative booklet was handed to each attendee as a memento. A twenty minute film show of archive Grange footage was then shown before a tour of the Llangollen Railway’s workshops conducted by our Engineering Director Chris Moore. This led to the unveiling of a replica nameplate and number plate of Arlington Grange for the attendant press. Also in the workshop were a display of no less than four miniature Granges of different scales and a genuine name and number plate from No. 6802 Bampton Grange owned by Brian Jones. After returning to the Henry Robertson Suite a specially made cake was cut and everyone enjoyed a glass of champagne before we took to the reserved carriage on the train to Corwen and return. Before departure members were asked to pose for a photograph with No. 80072 wearing the specially produced headboard to celebrate the event.
A great day enjoyed by all which brought our group closer together with the commitment to finish the locomotive within the next couple of years
Next we go to the Warley Show on 26-27th November with the locomotive.