Talyllyn Railway

The Great Little Trains of Wales Ticket (Child) Visited : June '99

Summary

Beautiful little railway. Everything I hoped or expected it to be, even in the rain. We saw the real Peter Sam and Sir Handle !

Site

The main site at Twywn is small and compact, but had the advantage that all shunting was in easy view.

My Peter Sam Badge We joined and departed the train at Abergynolwyn, a long station with passing loop situated deep in the countryside

Also got out and walked around at Nant Gwernol, a station near a waterfall which could be the start of main nice walks in the woods.

We wanted to see the waterfalls near Dolgoch station, but it was raining too much.

Some of the 'stations' are little more than a slate slab with a sign next to them !

Ride

Nice steady ride down the valley to the coast. Not the most spectacular, but very pleasant.

Me in the rain by the double header (Peter Sam and Sir Handle)

Engines

No.1 'Talyllyn' : Fletcher Jennings, 1864
No.2 'Dolgoch' : Fletcher Jennings, 1866
No.3 'Sir Haydn' : Hughes, 1878 , currently running under the guise of Sir Handle.
No.4 'Edward Thomas' : Kerr Stuart, 1921, currently running under the guise of Peter Sam.
No.6 'Douglas' : Barclay, 1918
No.7 'Tom Rolt' : Talyllyn Railway, 1991
Four Diesels, one of which was pretending to be Rusty when we visited.

Rolling Stock

Purpose built carriages of various types. All very cute.

Engine Shed

Could only look inside as we passed in the train.

Museum

Superb purpose built museum with a history of narrow gauge railways. Contained a couple of engines, one of which we could go in the cab. We also saw Peter Sam's special funnel !

Shop

Good sized shop at main site, with nice toys, badges and videos. Daddy said there was lots for the narrow gauge modeler as well.

The station at Abergynolwyn also had a few things in the cafe.

Catering

Had a nice hot meal at Twywn in the Buffer Stop Buffet (a portacabin)

Also nice tea and cakes in the main station building at Abergynolwyn.

Toilets

Not too bad, but the floors had got an bit dirty with mud being trodden in on a rainy day. Two sets at Abergynolwyn !

Other Facilities

Potential for walks from various stations (if it's not raining too hard)
Short walk to the pebbly beach at Twywn.
Coin operated narrow gauge train set containing Skarloey at Twywn.

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This page was last updated on December 23, 2002