To commemorate St George’s Day, a Dinorwic Quarry wooden pattern for the nameplate “George”. The nameplate was carried by a Hunslet Engine Company 0-4-0ST, works number 184 of 1877. The locomotive was later renamed Minstrel Park, and was withdrawn around 1920.
From sixty years ago, the Talyllyn Railway Easter and Spring timetable. The Friday service provided an opportunity for those living in the valley to have a couple of hours at Tywyn on its weekly Market Day.
The Official Opening of the Teifi Valley Railway took place this day in 1986. The ticket shown was issued for this event. The 2ft gauge railway was built on the trackbed of part of the former standard gauge line from Carmarthen to Newcastle Emlyn. The railway went through a difficult period in 2014, with part of the line replaced by a road-train, but is now operating again from Henllan to Pontprenshitw.
A selection of track components from the Croesor Tramway. The horse-drawn tramway used chaired T-section rails, mounted on wooden sleepers.
The southern three miles of the tramway were relaid in heavier rail when they became part of the Welsh Highland Railway in 1922.
A Festiniog Railway cast iron wagon number plate. The type of wagon which carried this number is unknown.
From our ticket collection, a residents’ ticket for the 3ft 6in gauge Great Orme Railway. After a serious accident in 1932, the Great Orme Tramway at Llandudno was sold to a new owner the Great Orme Railway Company. In 1949 the local council took over ownership, and in 1977 the name reverted to the original Great Orme Tramway.
A Talyllyn Railway pocket timetable card for 1957. After arrival at Abergynolwyn, the first afternoon train will have either been moved to the loop line, or propelled up the start of the mineral extension to allow the second train into the platform. The photograph by Pat Whitehouse shows locomotive 4 and train waiting on the extension while locomotive 6 runs around its train. This arrangement continued on certain days until the loop at Quarry Siding was commissioned in 1969.
A Corris Railway Shipping Note. The blank form would be filled in with details of the wagon number and slates being conveyed. Most slate was carried in wagons owned by the individual quarry.
A third edition of Minimum Gauge Railways published in 1898 by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood. The book describes his railway at his home in Duffield Bank, Derbyshire, and the line at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. The book has now had some conservation work undertaken to the binding. The full text of the third edition is available online through Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org
A Manx Northern Railway semaphore fishtail signal from Ramsey. The line to Ramsey closed in 1969.