Suzie in Wales - Day 5 (Another day, another railway)

Today’s railway was the Talyllyn, the first preserved railway in the UK (probably). After yesterday’s tiny tourist railway it was back to 2’ 3” gauge and decent sized carriages! The first issue was finding the disabled parking, you literally go down the station drive, and in the end we dropped Mandy off and went back to the main car park as space is very limited.

The railway was built in the 1860’s, primarily to carry slate from the quarry at Bryn Eglwys, but when they obtained a parliamentary act, needed to acquire some parcels of land, it also included passenger traffic - the first time this had been authorised on a narrow gauge railway. Unfortunately the whole operation was heavily over-capitalised and uneconomic, struggling through to about 1950 when the quarry itself finally closed, which also seemed to be the end of the railway. 

Fortunately a Preservation Society was formed by a group which included Tom Rolt, an engineer and one of the founders of the Inland Waterways Association, and Lady Haydn, the widow of the last owner, handed over the railway which has now developed to the current successful operation. 

Dolgoch was our loco for the day. 



The falls, after which the loco was named. 



Sir Haydn, another of the locos, being coaled and watered. 

After a late lunch in the Refreshment Rooms we drove up some fairly narrow and twisty roads to visit Mary Jones’ Monument. At the age of 15 Mary walked 26 miles, barefoot, to Bala, to buy a copy of the Welsh Bible as she couldn’t obtain one elsewhere. This prompted the foundation of The British and Foreign Bible Society.