NGRM - The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum

A major feature of the Museum is of course the history of the Talyllyn Railway. Built in 1865 for William McConnell, a Manchester businessman, it served the Bryneglwys Slate Quarry which prospered briefly but was in decline by the 1900s and closed in December 1910.

The railway did not close and it was bought by the local MP, Sir Henry Haydn Jones, along with the quarry and Abergynolwyn village. In November 1911 he reopened the quarry and worked it until 1946. From then on the railway ran just a summer-only passenger service. When Sir Haydn died in 1950 it seemed the railway would finally close.

However, a small group of people were determined to save the line. The Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was established to keep the railway running using a mixture of paid and volunteer labour. By 1965 the Railway was prospering and the society’s pioneering work was being copied by other preservation groups.

http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/