8
Jan
2010
The Snow Is Still Here In Tal-y-llyn
If you’re planning to climb cader during while the snow is down please please be careful……..!!
It snowed around 4 days ago heavy here in Tal-y-llyn, just for a few hours during the evening, looks great doesn’t it. The roads are nice and clear thanks to the council gritters we didn’t get much chaos on the roads, it hasn’t snowed since but as the temperature isn’t rising above freezing the snow just isn’t melting. I guess the weather is keeping some visitors away, but some folks are still going up Cader, what a wonderful site that must be, although the walk would be far more dangerous for the not so competent walkers.
This is the first time in around 9 years that i have seen Tal-y-llyn lake frozen over, as can been seen in my photos.
11
Aug
2009
RACE THE TRAIN EVENT - Saturday 15 August, 2009
This unique event is a must for all multi - terrain runners. Many competitors return regularly to try and better their performance or just beat that train while others have run nearly every year since the races started. Most serious runners have heard about it either from their friends, TV, or the press so if you haven’t already competed perhaps this year is the time to attempt it. These events also give you the additional challenge of not only racing your fellow competitor’s but also the Train. Having been televised world-wide on several occasions we have attracted many runners from abroad coming from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, America, Hong Kong, Africa etc.
Race the Train takes place alongside as far as practicable the route taken by the Talyllyn Railway on its journey to Abergynolwyn and back. In order to do this all courses use a mixture of public roads, lanes, un-metalled roads, tracks, agricultural land, and rough grazing pastures. The terrain varies all the time and can be very wet & muddy in places, the routes also ascend and descend quite steep terrain and runs on narrow footpaths with little chance of overtaking. Often the Train, or for many runners the track, is just over the fence and in many places if you coincide with the train your family friends, if they are on the train, will be able to shout encouragement to you. A lot of the course is across private land only open for the race so pre & post race inspection of the courses is not possible. All courses are marshalled, well signed, and provided with refreshment / water points along the way. There are members of the Red Cross, Qualified Nursing Staff, & Medical cover over the course. Raynet (Amateur Radio) co-ordinates services should any problems arise. In the afternoon for the main race we normally also have an Ambulance on standby. Remember it is your legal duty to assist any runner with serious problems. You will see that all the races are designated as having approximate distances. This is because we have to alter the course slightly almost every year often in the last few days before the race to accommodate local conditions. These variations are often only slight but invalidate any official measurements of the courses. Usually they tend to balance out and the distance remains virtually the same.
view more information on the official Race The Train Website
27
May
2009
Tal-y-llyn Railway
Distance - Approx 3 Miles Away From Tal-y-llyn
Contact Number - 01654 710472 - Email Enquiries@talyllyn.co.uk - Website www.talyllyn.co.uk
The Talyllyn Railway is a historic narrow-gauge steam railway, set in the beautiful Mid-Wales countryside. Running from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn and Nant Gwernol, the line passes the delightful Dolgoch Falls and there are excellent forest walks at Nant Gwernol.
Why not come and visit us for a great family day out?
We hope you will come and visit our historic, steam-operated railway and enjoy meeting the friendly volunteer staff. The line runs for seven and a quarter miles (11.8 km) through the beautiful and unchanging Fathew valley.
In 1953 the railway was filmed by the American producer Carson Davidson. In his film ‘Railway with a Heart of Gold’, he described it like this:-
“It is a relic, this railway, a bit of ornamental scrollwork lifted from the pattern of yesterday and kept, as a memento …”
Built on a gauge of 2 feet 3 inches, the Talyllyn Railway is one of a number of narrow-gauge lines in north and mid Wales built in the 19th century to carry slate, in the Talyllyn’s case from the Bryn Eglwys quarries near Abergynolwyn. Opened in 1865, the line runs the seven and a quarter miles from Tywyn (on the Cardigan Bay coast) to Nant Gwernol, from where a series of horse-drawn tramways continued into the mountains. The slate traffic ceased in 1946 following a serious rock fall in the quarry.
In 1950 the line’s owner Sir Henry Haydn Jones died, and the future for the TR looked very bleak, as it had been losing money for some years. A group of enthusiasts, led by the engineer and author L.T.C. Rolt, sought to prevent the railway’s closure and scrapping and, thanks to the generosity of Lady Haydn Jones, the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society (the first such organisation in the world - find out how to join) was allowed to take over the running of the line. By then the railway was in a very sorry state with the one operable locomotive, in very poor condition, struggling to pull the trains along an overgrown and perilous track.
Since 1951 great improvements have been made; volunteer members of the TRPS now provide most of the train crew and station staff required to operate the line, and assist with maintenance work and with many other activities. The track has been relaid, locomotives have been acquired and rebuilt, additional carriages have been constructed, a safe and flexible signalling system has been installed, and the many other improvements needed to cater for the much increased number of passengers have been carried out.
But the TR is still very much the railway it always was, a rural byway where the pace of life is gentle, the average speed of the train is still less than nine miles per hour, and passengers can have an unhurried journey along the beautiful and unspoilt Fathew Valley. Both the original locomotives and all the original carriages remain in regular use to this day. We’d love you to come and travel on our railway.