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In 1950 the future was bleak for the Talyllyn Railway: the owner, Sir Henry Haydn Jones had died and the line looked likely to close at the end of the season. A group of railway enthusiasts formed the Talyllyn Rail-way Preservation Soci-ety and, thanks to the goodwill of Sir Haydn's estate, took over the railway. The Talyllyn became the world's first preserved railway. The first train ran on the 14th May 1951. A lot has been achieved since then in restoring the track and improving the line for visitors.

In 2011 we are cele-brating 60 years of rail-way preservation. Events and Celebrations are taking place throughout the year alongside our regular

family events pro-gramme. There are lots of opportunities to join the celebration. The big weekend is the 60th An-nivesary of the first on the 14-15th May, fea-turing the return to steam of No.2 Dolgoch. On 4-5th June we will be running trains all day and night, for a rare chance to enjoy the sights and smell of

NEWSLETTER Volume 2 Issue 1 — Easter 2011

A YEAR OF CELEBRATION

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

A Year of Celebration

1

Llechfan garden railway

2

Stations@ Stations

3

Engineering Update

3

Webcam up and running

3

Spring Events 4

www.greatlittletrainsofwales.co.uk

One of The Great Little Trains of Wales

Hungry? When you are visiting the

Talyllyn Railway don't forget to pop in to King’s Licensed Café on Tywyn

Wharf station.

Quality food and a friendly service: open for Breakfast, Lunch and Afternoon Tea. The bar is open during the day with ales, wines and

spirits.

steam in the dark. Have the chance to see what it takes to run a successful pre-served railway at the Volunteer‟s Showcase Gala on August 27th.

There is lots more

information online at

www.talyllyn.co.uk/

tp60

We hope you can join

the celebrations.

The recent generous dose of dry and clement weather has certainly helped to bring the garden railway at Llechfan out of its winter hiberna-tion. There have been sightings of several species of steam engine wend-ing their way through the rapidly re-emerging undergrowth – with familiar favourites alongside a few welcome visitors and new purchases. Progress wise the dry days have allowed the damp timbers of some of the more venerable Compton Down buildings to dry enough to repair, replace and restore the damage done by many the rain of many winters. The church of St Bunny‟s has seen the most extensive repair work with a large rotten section of the tower removed and replaced with a more stable poly-styrene base for the fence panel chips that form the stone coursing. One of the oldest buildings, the Compton Museum, complete with its tribute to the narrow gauge track display seen many moons ago in the Talyllyn mu-seum, has now returned to its rightful place. It will also double as a secon-dary station building once the new platforms are incorporated as part of the finalised Compton Down station track plan which is next up on the to-do list ready for the coming season. It will also include a motive power shed which is hoped to be cast from a mould made from a recovered low relief section of engine shed built by Peter Jones. Another part of the master plan will be to lay slabs in front of the main steaming-up area to save our muddy paws. There are more public running days planned for this summer than in pre-vious years to coincide with the Talyllyn 60 years of preservation celebra-tions – dates are available from the Llechfan website www.llechfan-garden-railway.org. We hope to welcome new visitors and volunteers over the course of this year. Kes

Page 2

SPRING SUNSHINE FOR LLECHFAN GARDEN RAILWAY

Newsletter 2 .1

The Llechfan Garden Railway is

a 16mm/foot scale garden rail-

way located on the Talyllyn Rail-

way. Built in the garden at the

rear of the railway’s volunteer

hostel Llechfan, the 32mm

gauge line has around 180 yards

of main running line consisting

of two circuits (a low level cir-

cuit of 40 yards and a more re-

cent higher level circuit of 90

yards, both of which are level)

linked by a steeply inclined (1 in

35) branch line.

more information including

opening times go to

www.llechfan-garden-

railway.org

Great Little Trains of

Wales Discount Card

For just £10 the Discount Card entitles the holder to 20% off

one adult full round trip fare

on normal timetabled trains on the participating railways listed

on the card. Discount cards are valid for 12 months from

the date the first journey is

made. Not only that, but we have also managed to arrange

discounts for Great Little Trains of Wales Card Holders

with selected accommodation providers close to many of our

member railways. This makes

the card a real bargain!

You can buy them online at

www.GreatLittleTrainsOfWales.co.uk

or write to GLTW Secratary, Wharf Station, Tywyn,

Gwynedd. L36 9EY

Newsletter 2 .1 Page 3

Narrow Gauge

Railway Museum

No visit to the Talyllyn Railway is

complete without a look round the

Narrow Gauge Railway Museum.

It houses a large collection of

exhibits from tickets to

locomotives and is also the home

to a display on the Rev W Awdry,

childrens‟ author and creator of

the famous blue engine!

The museum is run by volunteers

and all help is greatly appreciated,

whether practical, financial or by

donating items to the collection.

Narrow Gauge Railway Museum,

Wharf Station, Tywyn, Gwynedd,

LL36 9EY, Wales,

curator@ngrm.org.uk.

STATIONS @ STATIONS 2011

For the third year running the T.R, in collaboration with Churches To-gether in Tywyn, is organising „Stations at Stations‟. It combines a train journey with the „Stations of the Cross‟ – a traditional Christian Lent de-votion.

There are 14 selected representations of the last journey of Christ from his trial to his burial. These are marked as the passengers pause at each of the „stations‟ in sequence for prayer and meditation.

This innovative event was originally conceived by Ian Evans (a T.R. vol-unteer and a Reader in York diocese) to tell the Good Friday story in a place and in a way that was different. In the last 2 years people have come from a long way to take part.

If you wish to take part, please be at Wharf station by 4pm where the first 2 „stations‟ take place before the train departs at 16.55. It will return by 20.30.

Tickets are free but there will be a collection which will go to support the work of the Bishop of Matebeleland. We hope people will give gener-ously because people in that diocese in Zimbabwe are suffering great hardship. Initially, tickets were available through the local churches and chapels but they are now readily available from the Booking Office at Wharf station. If you have never experienced this event, why not try it this year because next year it will probably not take place.

ENGINEERING UPDATE

As is always the case Pendre is extremely busy with the operating season upon us and the last of the winter maintenance being completed. There have been several major projects undertaken this winter, some of which are still ongoing. The most important one is the continuing rebuild of loco no. 2 “Dolgoch”. The new boiler has been delivered and much midnight oil is being burnt to meet the May deadline. No.7 “Tom Rolt” has had major work carried out to its cylinders, although more will have to be done next winter.

Nant Gwernol has been the venue of another project. The footbridge across the ravine was built some 40 years ago and has come to the end of its life. A com-plete new structure has been manufactured in Pendre works and is currently be-ing erected and should be finished by Easter.

Abergynolwyn has had its power supply upgraded to meet the ever-increasing electricity demand of the café and Pendre has an improved gas supply which will allow gas central heating to be installed in the paint shop.

We have been quite fortunate in being able to replace some of the works equip-ment recently and have a new band saw for cutting steel and are installing a new works compressor at this moment.

Planning is continuing on a new storage shed at Quarry Siding which hopefully will be available this winter keep our track equipment under cover and materials are being sourced for the planned relaying of the line between Wharf and Pen-dre. Much work will be required on the project as the drainage is very poor in the cutting.

Pendre Webcam

We now have a webcam up and running at Pendre, mounted on the water column it give a view down the yard. Keep an eye out for the passing trains 5 minutes after they leave Tywyn Wharf. During the day you may see locos and carriages being shunted into the workshops for maintenance or a works train loading tools. Virtual trainspotting from your desk!

Talyllyn Railway Wharf Station, Tywyn, Gwynedd. LL36 9EY Phone: 01654 710472 Fax: 01654 711755 enquiries@talyllyn.co.uk www.talyllyn.co.uk

Here in the Talyllyn of-fice we have spent the winter preparing for a busy year. With our 60th Anniversary cele-brations in full swing, we have not forgotten the whole host of popular family events.

The Children‟s Duncan Days return again this year packed

full of fun family activities. Duncan is still in the work-

shops at the moment. A lot of time has been spent on

Dolgoch in the last few

weeks to get her brand new boiler ready for her starring

role in the 60th Anniversary celebrations. Although Dun-

can has had to take second

place, work has continued, so hopefully he will be put-

ting in an appearance this year. There will be a special

appearance of the Skarloey engines on June 18th to

celebrate the centenary of

their creator Rev Wilbert Aw-dry.

After the procession of bank

holidays we‟ll be assembling

the vintage carriages for an-

other season of the Victorian Train Experience. This year

the itinerary features a trip to Abergynolwyn with photo-

graphic stops along the way, after lunch the train makes

two return trips to Nant

Gwernol, there is plenty of time to take a forest walk

and rejoin the train later, or

Thank you for giving us your email address when you filled in a survey form on the Talyllyn

Railway. This is our latest newsletter, in which we aim to provide information on the many

aspects of the Railway.

If you would like to see more, less or different items in future editions please let us know. If

you do not want to receive future newsletters, please email us at newsletter@talyllyn.co.uk

and we'll remove you from the mailing list. Your email address is held solely to enable us to

send you our newsletter and will not be used for any other purpose. If you are not on our list

and would like your name to be added just leave your email address with any of our staff.

If you would be interested in receiving a similar newsletter from Great Little Trains of Wales

please email newsletter@talyllyn.co.uk. Ray Reid

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Children's Birthday Parties

Children‟s Birthday Parties can also be arranged, to include party food and the train ride. Whilst footplate trips are restricted to those who have accumulated more birthdays, you are welcome to photograph children standing on the footplate whilst the train is in the station. Prior booking is essential, and a minimum of two weeks is required. If a particular date is wanted, then you are advised to book as far in advance as possible.

Page 4 NEWSLETTER

stay about for the ride. On return to Tywyn you will be

treated to a tour of the Narrow Gauge Railway

Museum and slate wharf.

There‟s also the Have-A-Go

Gala and Fathers‟ Day and a lot more going on as well,

see www.talyllyn.co.uk/

events for full details.

Don’t Miss the Easter Bunny at Tywyn Wharf on Easter Sunday,

Drive A Steam Train

We are pleased to offer a

choice of two footplate

experiences, giving you the

chance to drive one of our

historic locomotives.

Full Day Experience

Available all year round except

during peak services (pink

timetable). Cost: £650.00

Daylight Evening Experience

Available from April to

September. Cost: £325.00

Footplate experiences can be

run on dates to suit

participants, subject to there

not being other bookings or

special trains operating.

Please contact us for dates at

de@talyllyn.co.uk or:

Talyllyn Railway, Wharf Station,

Tywyn, Gwynedd, LL36 9EY.

Phone 01654 710472

Fax 01654 711755