150 years on

It's Quarryman's weekend on the Talyllyn.  Assorted extra trains and activities today ... and tomorrow if you are in the area!

The railway was built to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys down to the then newly constructed Cambrian Railway which could whisk the slate off to roof towns burgeoning on the back of the Industrial Revolution.  Talyllyn Railway No.2 Dolgoch must have hauled the slate train thousands of times between 1865 and the closure of the quarries in the 1940's.  

The railway escaped the grouping of the national network and survived until 1950 under the election promise of local MP Sir Henry Haydn Jones that he would keep the line running while he was in office.  On his death a group of enthusiasts approached his widow with a proposal to keep the line open using volunteer labour.  The Preservation movement was born then and several generations of Talyllyn volunteers are sharing the celebrations with all comers this year.