The Talyllyn Railway

I always enjoy a visit to the Talyllyn.
Although not usually a 'noisy' railway the ride is always pleasant and the turkey sandwiches (with cranberry sauce!) in the cafe at Abergynolwyn alone make the visit worthwhile, train ride or no train ride!
The gradients on the line are generally not particularly steep or long but the steepest are encountered early in a journey from Tywyn. Hendy Bank is the first and is encountered soon after departing from the second station on the line, Tywyn Pendre.
'Sir Haydn' was working on the railway on 9th July 1984 and is heard in this on-train recording departing from Tywyn Pendre station.

The second gradient to be encountered is Cynfal Bank.
On 23rd August 1996 'Douglas' is heard climbing the 1 in 77 gradient and passing Cynfal Halt at the top of the bank with the first train of the day.

Over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend in 1998 the Talyllyn Railway held an Enthusiast Event. During the morning of 4th May 1998 a demonstration engineers train was run. This train was advertised to be as long and heavy as possible! For this reason the train was to be double headed and the engines chosen where 'Tom Rolt' piloting 'Douglas'. The pair sound to be having very little difficulty with the load reaching the top of Cynfal Bank.

Like many other railways the Talyllyn needs to attract families and have for quite a few years always had one engine running with a face on the smokebox and a more 'friendly' name to attract the kiddies!
In 1996 the loco having this treatment was 'Edward Thomas'.
Now it seems to me that the obvious thing to have done was just cover up the 'Edward' and leave it at that but instead the loco was carrying the name 'Peter Sam'.
For our purposes we'll stick to the original name so, in this on train recording, 'Edward Thomas' is heard departing from Dolgoch heading for Nant Gwernol. 8th June 1996

At Dolgoch on 15th September 1997 it was raining (even under the trees) so this was the only lineside recording of the day. The loco heard departing for Nant Gwernol is 'Tom Rolt'.

Built for the railway in 1864 by Fletcher Jennings the appropriately named 'Talyllyn' is still providing sterling service on the railway. This loco was originally built as an 0-4-0ST but was soon converted to an 0-4-2 to cure what was described at the time as 'excessive vertical oscillation'!
In this recording 'Talyllyn' is heard departing from Abergynolwyn for Nant Gwernol as traffic hurries by on the nearby road. 4th May 1998

On the Talyllyn Railway trains are almost invariably quite short, usually no more than 4 or 5 coaches. However, on 29th August 1999, 'Edward Thomas' had a train loaded to no less than 7 coaches to cope with the Bank Holiday crowds and is heard in this recording departing from Abergynolwyn with a train for Nant Gwernol.