Restoration appeal on steam railway
A £4,000 appeal has been launched by Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales to restore an original locomotive watering point where the water was taking from a waterfall.
Steam engines have to take on water at regularly intervals and, when the railway was built more than 200 years ago its first locomotive shed was at Ty Dŵr, just above Abergynolwyn village on what was known as the mineral extension. Here a waterfall supplied water for the locomotives.
The railway has announced plans to build a replica to the original facility. An appeal was launched at the recent Warley Model Railway Exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society chairman, Ian Drummond, said: "Even when the shed fell out of use, locomotives continued to take water here when they shunted wagons between Abergynolwyn station and the base of the first incline to the Bryn Egwlys quarry at what is now Nant Gwernol station.
"The watering point continued in use for nearly 90 years before the slate pillars were demolished and the slabs reused to build a retaining wall at the site of a major landslip at Dolgoch in 1955. Later alterations were also made to the site to enable passenger trains to travel through to Nant Gwernol.
“The restoration of the old watering point at Ty Dŵr has long been the object of discussion. Now, as part of our long-term heritage strategy, we are actively seeking the funds through the Ty Dŵr Appeal to make this a reality.
He said that the involvement of the railway in Gwynedd Council’s bid for World Heritage status for the North Wales slate industry had highlighted the need for us to make the most of our heritage assets and the reconstruction at Ty Dŵr is an initial part of these plans.
“There are other projects we are also looking at, including what can be done at the site of the former winding house at the head of the incline which supplied Abergynolwyn village. The next stage of the Ty Dŵr project is a detailed survey of the site and plans for the rebuilding as close to the original as can be done today.”
He said that the restored watering point would not be used for regular passenger trains, but it could be used for photographic and other special trains.
Talyllyn Railway is a narrow gauge railway opened for goods traffic in 1865 and shortly after for passenger services, which have operated every year since between Tywyn on the west coast of Wales and Nant Gwernol, just over seven miles inland.
In 1951, operation of the line was taken over by the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and became the world’s first preserved railway, run primarily by volunteers.
