Tramway plans to be unveiled

The future of an historic tramway on the Shropshire border as a heritage tourism attraction will be unveiled this weekend. The Glyn Valley Tramway ran from 1873 until July 1935.

It once hauled slates down the Ceiriog Valley and took essential provisions, mail and even tourists back up into the Welsh foothills.

There are now plans to turn what is left of the railway into a working museum.

Today, the Glyn Valley Tramway Trust will receive the lease for the Victorian engine shed in Glyn Ceiriog, once the hub of the tramway, from Wrexham County Borough Council.

Civic dignatories will tour the building and the coal wharf, which could be the first area to be restored.

Trust chairman Dr Bernard Rockett will also unveil plans for the future.

On Saturday the "visioning weekend" will be open to residents of Ceiriog Valley.

Spokesman David Cooper said: "We are seeking the opinions of the residents of the Ceiriog Valley, for the future of the line will be theirs."

The group wants to develop the engine shed as an interpretive museum based on the history of the trust and its involvement and contribution within the industrial heritage of the Ceiriog Valley.

Members also hope to develop, in conjunction with a working museum, a track to show the type of locomotive, as well as goods wagons and coaches, that were used on the line.

To mark all its hard work, the trust has recently received a Heritage Railway Association Award for its journal.