NEWSLETTER Volume 3 Issue 1 — Easter 2012

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Easter Bunny 1

Museum News 2

Garden Railway 3

Engineering

Report 4

Drive a steam train

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.

EAS T ER EG GC I TM ENT

Come along to the Talyllyn this

Easter for a great day out.

On Easter Sunday Mr Bunny

will be popping in to wave off

the trains and meet children.

He’ll be hiding his eggs around

the railway for you to spot,

there’ll be prizes too. As well

as that there’s the Free Mu-

seum, Gift Shop and King’s

Licensed cafe to keep you

busy! Tickets are valid all day,

so make the most of it!

Tywyn’s famous Easter Monday market returns this year and will be taking over

the streets of the town. Avoid the parking crush and go by train. An extra early

train will link Abergynolwyn and Tywyn, with special cheap fares. If you’d rather

avoid it all together head for the hills and take the “Escape the Market Special”.

Leaving Tywyn early you’ll be out in the countryside before the hoards descend!

In a change from the usual

economic ‘doom & gloom’ we

are proud to announce our

new cheaper child fare.

Children, when accompa-

nied by an adult or senior,

can travel all day for just -

£2. This is a move that has

been welcomed by the

families that have already

paid us a visit.

Previously family tickets

were available for groups

of two adults and either

one or two children. Now

families with only one

adult or with seniors (over

60s) can get the same

discount. For instance, a

family of one adult and

two children will pay £1

less than 2011.

Whilst times may be hard

we hope our little initiative

will keep your day out af-

fordable. PE

K I D S GO FO R 2 QU ID In previous years chil-

dren’s discount and family

tickets where only avail-

able on day rover tickets.

This new offer now applies

on any journey where the

£2 is cheaper than the

standard child price. So

you’ll never pay more than

that for an accompanied

child.

We have decided to move

to this offer to reduce the

cost-burden on family

groups of all sizes.

MUSEUM REPORT FEBRUARY 2012

Since the end of the 2011 season the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum has

continued with its usual activities. The collection was on show to the public

during the winter train service and a number of the railway’s patrons took

the opportunity to pay a visit. The total number of visitors for 2011 was

19489, comprising 14684 adults and 4805 children. This figure shows a

very slight increase over the numbers for the year 2010

With the closed period, the opportunity has again been used to hold weekly

working parties, and although the numbers supporting this venture have

not changed significantly it is gratifying that at least one new member has

joined the regular team. These working parties are held every Thursday

morning when trains are not running in addition to the usual Saturday ses-

sions on the first weekend of each month.

Work undertaken this winter includes –

Restoration of a two plank operational preserved Talyllyn Slate wagon.

Restoration of the ex Chattenden and Upnor Points Indicator.

Continuing renewal of the Talyllyn Edmondson Card Ticket display.

Repairs and re-decoration of the display stands in the museum.

Intensive cleaning of all the artefacts on show not in showcases.

Removal of the Rev Awdry Centenary temporary exhibition.

The two operational diesel locomotives “Penelope” and “Indian Runner” in

the collection remain at the North Ings Farm Museum near Sleaford and

are regularly maintained and operated as required.

Regular reports are made in the News section on the Museum website.

www.ngrm.org.uk

W.Mc

Page 2 NEWSLETTER

Exhibit locomotive ‘Dot’

Narrow Gauge

Railway Museum

When visiting the Talyllyn

pop in and pay us a visit

at Tywyn Wharf station.

There are artefacts and

displays telling the story

of Narrow Gauge

Railways across the UK

and Ireland. Also a

recreation of the Rev W

Awdry’s study, where he

wrote the Railway series

of children's books.

Admission is free.

Talyllyn Treats Special VIP Days Out

Tour the museum, Lunch in

King’s Cafe, tour of the work-

shops and sheds a locomo-

tive footplate ride and first

class travel. All in one day!

treats@talyllyn.co.uk

Stay in touch with the Talyllyn Railway: On Facebook www.facebook.com/talyllyn

and on Twitter www.twitter.com/talyllynrailway

Recent additions

A commemorative plate celebrating 100 years

of the company which was founded in Aberyst-

wyth in 1878 as “The Patent Exhaust Steam

Injector Company”

The name was changed to Davies & Metcalf in

1902

The company is now part of Sabwabco Davies

& Metcalf Ltd.

T H E L A T E S T F R O M L L E C H FA N G A R D E N

Newsletter 2 .2

Kes Jones

Page 3

The Llechfan Garden Railway

is a 16mm/foot scale garden

railway located on the Ta-

lyllyn Railway in Tywyn,

Gwynedd. 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 circuit of 40 yards

and a more recent higher

level circuit of 90 yards, both

of which are level) linked by a

steeply inclined (1 in 35)

branch line. For more infor-

mation including opening

times go to www.llechfan-

garden-railway.org

Great Little Trains of Wales

Discount Card

For just £10 our 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!

Compton Down – an Era passes .

For those who have been following the adventures of the Llechfan Garden

Railway – the basic story behind the Compton Down Railway may be famil-

iar. Its conception by a very young Peter Jones in 1949 led to many chapters

in its 61year history and has seen it move from Portsmouth via North Devon

to two different locations in Pembrokeshire. Earlier last month saw the close

of its longest chapter, nearly 40 years in the back garden of a little bunga-

low in the tiny village of Simpson Cross. Over that time it underwent many

radical rebuilds and took on a few different forms, mirroring many a proto-

type as industries came and went, expanded and redeveloped. Following

Peter’s death in 2009 there was an initial move to Llechfan of many of the

more tender buildings suffering from the weather in their Pembrokeshire

home. The Compton Down Railway itself continued for a further 2 years with

regular trains run with various visiting engines through a still substantial

landscape. A maternal move and resultant house sale was to mean that the

last CDR train was to run on the 21st of February 2012.

With the noble help of Stephen Thorpe, Tim Wilkinson & Geoff Loynes, two

vehicles were filled with everything it was physically possible to rescue and

bring safely to Tywyn. The majority of the concrete buildings were success-

fully parted from their moorings and most of the track was broken free from

its cement footings, a 5 hour task alone! The largest building, the brewery,

which at some 7 foot long had previously been too big to fit in previous vehi-

cles, was stuffed with smaller buildings and nestled safely in Chris Russells’

kindly loaned transit amongst the rest of the evacuees. Tim’s Land Rover

was mostly full of track with Compton Castle balancing proudly atop the pile.

The next chapter – already well underway at Llechfan, has already seen

many of the latest additions released into the wild and let loose in the land-

scape – but there is much, much more to add to the ongoing tale of the

Compton Down, long may the story continue to unfold.

DR IV E A ST E AM TR AI N

Accompanied and guided by an experienced Talyllyn Driver, the guest will take

the regulator of one of our famous locomotives from the shed at Tywyn Pendre

for either one or two trips to the end of the line at Nant Gwernol and back. There

are two available, a single trip evening and a longer all day experience.

As they make great gifts, they are quite often used for surprise presents. In

these cases we can arrange a gift certificate to arrive in an unmarked enve-

lope, so we don't give the game away. We have even had someone get as far as

the locomotive shed before the surprise was revealed.

They cost £350 and £700 respectively. Do you have someone who’s worth it?

E N G I N E E R I N G R E P O R T

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

This is the latest of our occasional newsletters, 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 send your email address to newsletter@talyllyn.co.uk Ray Reid

Page 4 NEWSLETTER

Are you looking for a extra special gift for someone ? A Talyllyn driver

experience could be that gift.

The World’s First Preserved Railway

Rheilffordd

Talyllyn Railway,

Gorsaf Wharf

Station,

Tywyn,

Gwynedd.

LL36 9EY.

Phone

01654 710472

Fax

01654 711755

enquiries@

talyllyn.co.uk

newsletter@

talyllyn.co.uk

www.talyllyn.co.uk

The closed season is a busy time for staff and volunteers on the Talyllyn Railway

and this year is no exception. This winter’s major project has been the Wharf Cut-

ting relaying, which has seen five months of hard work for the team on the Talyllyn.

Work began the week after the October half term holiday, or Autumn Outdoor

Week as its known to many, where the old track was taken up and replaced. This

was the key work to get done first as it was a tight schedule between starting work

and the Santa trains and the Christmas services.

After a cold, wet run up to Christmas with volunteer numbers reaching as low as

three some weekends, the work on the track was finished just in time for the Santa

trains to run with a 5mph restriction over the newly laid area and the team could

finally see some results. When the number of volunteers was higher work on the

new drainage system got underway alongside the relaying to help with drying out

the formation and generally improving the drainage system.

By the Spring Outdoor Week Three trains were running up and down the line - one

digging drain trenches, one laying the concrete troughing in the south cess and a

further train providing stone for backfilling and slate waste as support for the cut-

ting bottom. At this point there is still a lot to be done but there is a final big push

to get it finished this weekend (commencing 17th March) so hopefully if all volun-

teers join together and make one final effort it should be finished with a week to

spare. The Talyllyn Railway’s volunteers thrive on hard work and fulfilling chal-

lenges and they’ve certainly had one with this project, but the reward of seeing the

end result will be extremely satisfying.

L J