The Talyllyn Railway

(Note in advance: This post is probably the longest post I've ever done. If you choose to read the whole thing, it'll take you a bit. It has a ton of pictures, and is all about my visit to Talyllyn Railway. I’d like to thank my parents for taking me there and Megan for being such a good sport about going too. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to post this, but I didn’t want to rush through it when I didn’t have time. I wanted to do it justice. So, here it is!)

A week and a day ago, my family and I took a daytrip to the town of Tywyn, in Wales. We got up really early and took a bus and the Tube to Euston Station. Then from 8:43 to 9:53, we were on a train from Euston to Birmingham. From 10:09 to 11:54, we were on a train from Birmingham to Welshpool. Then from 12:05 to 1:25, we were on a bus from Welshpool to Machynlleth. Then from 1:40 to 2:04, we were on a train from Machynlleth to Tywyn. It took a long time, but the scenery was gorgeous. Rolling hills, big fields, streams, beaches, water, clouds…it was great. There were hundreds of sheep on the hillsides. I didn’t post any pictures of the trip from Euston to Tywyn because I took so many pictures and wouldn’t know where to begin. But you can see them when I come home.

The main (and pretty much only) attraction in Tywyn was the Talyllyn Railway. The Talyllyn Railway is a historic narrow-gauge railway preserved by a society of railway enthusiasts. The Rev. W. Awdry based some of his Railway Series books off of engines from the Talyllyn Railway. That’s how I first heard about it as a child. Ever since then, I’ve dreamed of visiting Talyllyn.

When my family came up, my parents decided we could take one of the days to visit Talyllyn. I was ecstatic. But when we looked up their schedule online, we discovered that none of the trains would be operating that day. I was disappointed, but my parents insisted that we could visit anyways. So we did.

The train ride there was great. (Technically, it would be “rides” because we took 3 different trains). I felt like a little kid again. I sat at the table on the trains and listened to my iPod and looked out the window at the scenery. The day before, I had bought a hardcover book called “Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection”, which was the complete collection of stories written by Christopher Awdry, the son of Rev. W. Awdry, who took up writing the Railway Series after his father retired. I read Thomas stories on a train that was headed for a railway where there were more trains. I hadn’t felt like such a kid in a long time. It was great.

We finally made it to Tywyn. It was, as Megan put it several times, “in the middle of nowhere”. It made Houghton feel like New York City. There was nothing. Finding Talyllyn Railway was easy. When we got there, it was also deserted. No trains were running. We found the gift shop and more importantly, the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, but it seemed like they both closed at 3 PM, which would give us about 40 minutes to do both. But then we learned something miraculous: a couple was going to be celebrating their 50th anniversary at the Talyllyn Railway in a private train. Because of that, both the museum and the shop were going to be open until 4! If we had came here any other day but then, we would’ve had less than an hour. Now, we had almost 2 hours! We still didn’t get to ride any train, but we had all the time in the world to check out everything else. That was enough for me.

The Narrow Gauge Museum was by far the coolest museum I've ever been in, period. It was full of engines and equipment and signs and signals and stuff like that. It was nuts. I was like a kid in a candy shop, only better, because I was a kid in a train museum. The guy there was so cool. He was this old man who knew everything about trains. He reminded me of my Grandpa, or Uncle Stuewe. He just sat there as I looked around, and whatever I stopped at, he'd tell me about. I loved him for that.
This is Jubilee, an engine built in 1897. I think it was built in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, meaning the 75th year of her rule, that happened in 1896, but I'm not sure on that. I bet the old guy would've told me if I had asked.
Jubilee's nameplate.
This was where one of my childhood dreams came true for the first time. Never in my life had I been in the cab of an engine before that day. I got to touch all the controls. I knew what some of them did just by looking at it, but I wasn't too sure on other stuff. I was so happy. It was insane.
What it looks like from the cab.
Look at how freakin' happy I am. I'm smiling like a moron.
I couldn't find this one's name, and I didn't have the patience or the attention span to stay there.
This is Rough Pup from 1891.
This is a model of Talyllyn, the engine that gave Talyllyn Railway its name. More on that later.
This is a copy of "Four Little Engines", the 10th book in the Railway Series. See Henry the Green Engine? The small engine is Peter Sam, an engine that is based off of an engine here.
This is a note for reserved copies of "Four Little Engines". I think it gets bigger if you click on it. Towards the bottom you can see an add for the other Railway Series books printed at that time.
This is the unique funnel of the engine Edward Thomas, the engine that Peter Sam is based off of.
This is a die-cast toy model of Peter Sam. I have the exact same toy in my attic upstairs.
Ditto for the toy of Rusty. Rusty is based off the diesel Midlander, which was somewhere at Talyllyn, but we couldn't see him.

All of the engines were on the first floor of the museum, as they obviously couldn't be supported by the second floor. The second floor had equipment used on trains and at stations, and also had a section devoted to Thomas the Tank Engine and the Rev. W. Awdry.
This is a photo of Rev. Wilbert Awdry himself.
This is a reconstruction of his private study with his original books and furniture, donated by his family. You can see his glasses, watch, and pipe on his desk. Most of the books on his shelf are books of the Bible, railway books, Thomas books, and maps.
Gordon!
This is an actual relief map of the Island of Sodor, made in the 1970s.
One of the best days of my life.
My sister and mom looking out at the scenery. This was on a balcony overlooking the railway. You can see tracks in the corner.

Like I said, the scenery was beautiful.

This is Wharf Station, the only place we could really get to. The museum and gift shop are to the left. At this point, we had taken a break from the museum to check out the gift shop. How I walked in there with a credit card and walked out without spending a hundred pounds is a mystery (actually it's not-my parents were there and made sure I was more or less responsible). They had all sorts of books and magazines on Talyllyn and trains in general. I got a Talyllyn Railway visitor's guide and an old locomotive magazine. They had an entire Thomas the Tank Engine section, and I got a little plastic cup, just because. I mean, I wasn't going to go in there and not get anything Thomas-related, you know? My parents surprised me by buying me a poster and a beautiful print of a painting of one of the engines there (Sir Haydn in real life/Sir Handel on the Island of Sodor). I also got a little wooden carving made from actual wood from the buffer beam of the engine Talyllyn before they replaced it. I got a little certificate to go with it. I was almost drooling. Then we went back to the museum because I wasn't done yet.
Here was a nice little placard about Rev. W. Awdry and the Railway Series.

A photo of Rev. W. Awdry, his son Christopher, and his grandson Richard with the real Sir Handel. What they did was take Sir Haydn (the real-life basis of Sir Handel), put a face on him, and change his name. It was a special attraction for kids who wanted to ride an actual Thomas train.

Ok, this is where things got REALLY cool. Remember how I said that there was a couple celebrating their anniversary with a special, private train? Well, while we were still there, they started getting the train ready! I actually saw an engine! I was on the second floor of the museum when Mom and Megan called me out to the balcony, and there was No. 7 Tom Rolt with its firemen giving it coal right below us! I took some pictures on the balcony, and ran back down to the tracks to see it up close. They shovelled the coal into the hole just before the cab. You can see the rubber flap they hung on the side, covering the word "Tom". This was to keep coal from scratching the side of the engine or making it dirty.

Tom Rolt letting off steam. I got a great video of this. It whistled, and I almost went deaf. I loved it.

Me and Tom Rolt. When I got near it, I could tell that it was an 0-4-2 engine. I was so happy to be right next to it and lean on it. I was trembling a little bit. I was such a little kid.

The front of Tom Rolt. See the little plaque right under his funnel? It's for the 50th anniversary of Ann and Winston, the couple who ordered the train. If it weren't for them, I would've only had 40 minutes for the shop and the museum, and would have never seen Tom Rolt.
Some information on Tom Rolt.

This is the cool thing about Tom Rolt- there is a Railway Series engine that's based off of him! Ivo Hugh was created by Christopher Awdry in the book "New Little Engine" from 1996. This is a picture of him from that book when his name was revealed. Scroll back up and compare this picture with the photos of Tom Rolt. They're very close. But there are some differences. The face, for instance. But yeah, another childhood dream came true that day. I met an actual engine from "Thomas the Tank Engine". Ivo Hugh is no James or Percy, mind you, but he's still an engine from the Island of Sodor. It was a good day for me.
Signing the guest book. I'm the last one on the right.

Sentimental afterthought. I haven't signed that name in years.

The people are getting ready for thier ride on Tom Rolt. This was taken on the bridge overlooking Wharf Station. See the big heap of coal?

The beginning of the Talyllyn Railway, and the only part of it that I could see. Someday, years from now, I'm going to go back there and go on the actual railway. If my children love trains and/or Thomas, it'll be when they're young. If they don't care about trains, I'll go with just my wife when they're grown up. But either way, I am going to go back to Talyllyn, no question.

Megan and Mom left a little bit before Dad and I. They wanted to go to a nearby store to get some snacks for the ride home. So it was Dad and me for a bit. On our way out, I leaned against Tom Rolt again. I didn't have much time, because the anniversary party was gathering at the platform, and I was randomly there. But I leaned against Tom Rolt and acted like I was taking a picture of his funnel (which I really was). But then, I quickly reached into his coalbox, grabbed a small lump of coal, and walked calmly and coolly away. No one noticed. That little lump of coal is going to be one of my most treasured possessions, I can tell you that. I'm going to keep it in the Thomas cup I bought here.

We left the Railway and took trains, buses, and the Tube back to London. The entire train ride back, I wrote a short story, "The Hopeful Prostitute", in my notebook. I based it off of the porn-filled phonebooths in London, the train ride to Wales, a couple Regina Spektor songs, and the Bible. When I got back to the Highbury Centre, I typed it up and put it on Facebook.

Another childhood dream came true on the train ride home. Mom and I went to the snack bar in this one car and got food, and I had dinner on a train. I had ham and cheese on panini, chedder crisps, a brownie, and a bottle of Coke. I was so happy.

We got back at like midnight. It wasn't the most time-friendly trip ever: we had travelled about 13 hours (about 6.5 each way), and we were only at the Talyllyn Railway for maybe 2 and a half hours. But my parents knew this beforehand, and they insisted that it would be ok. And it was worth it. I took 411 photos and videos on my camera that day; more than any other day in my life. I had fulfilled a bunch of childhood dreams, including eating a meal on a train, being at the controls in an engine cab, and meeting an engine from "Thomas the Tank Engine". I saw the study of the man who created Thomas in a museum filled with engines and railroad equipment. For one whole day, I got to be Danny. It was fun.