Daytripper Meets Ivor

While on my travels around North and Mid Wales, stopping off to see the odd castle and a few of the Great Little Trains (as sad rail enthusiasts are wont to do), I wondered if one of these might have given Oliver Postgate the inspiration for the character of Ivor The Engine. A little train somewhere in the “top left hand corner of Wales”.

Meet The Earl

And so it came to pass that I found a close match in the town of Welshpool (or Y Trallwng, if you prefer). From its terminus at Raven Square on the fringe of the town, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway runs through pleasant and green countryside to Llanfair Caereinion, eight and a half miles away.

But, you might have observed, The Earl is black, and Ivor was green. Indeed, but The Earl has a sister locomotive, The Countess, which is green. Both are now over a hundred years old. They are part of a tourist industry that brings people, and business, to the more rural parts of Wales.

You can see more of those Great Little Trains right HERE.