Talyllyn Railway 0-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Talyllyn (Locobase 4915)

Data from "The Tal-y-Llyn Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (15 June 1912), p. 124.

On the Welsh west coast, near Cardigan Bay lay the Bryn Eglwys quarry that at its height produced 300,000 tons of slate and slabs. The founder of the Aberdovey Slate Company, WilliamMcConnell, saw quarrying as a good way to diversify income during the US Civil War when cotton supplies were less certain. A rail line was to connect Bryn Eglwys to Aberdovey, but only a truncated narrow-gauge portion from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn was completed in 1866.

This little saddle-tanker was the first engine on the line and was delivered as an 0-4-0ST. Adding a trailing axle reduced the bobbing that the original design had had. Talyllyn had deteriorated to poor condition by 1945 when it was laid up. Reconstruction and modification by Gibbons Brothers, Ltd. didn't meet requirements and the engine was modified again later. In 2001 it was still running, limned in the TR's deep bronze green livery.

Class Tom Rolt (Locobase 4920)

The newest of the Talyllyn's stud of small tank locomotives, this engine uses the boiler, cylinders, drivers and other pieces of an Andrew Barclay-built well tanker originally delivered in 1949 (ex. works 2263) to the Bord na Mona Railway in Ireland (Bord na Mona is the Irish Turf Board -- whether that's racing or peat I don't know.). It was named for the author LTC Rolt who advocated the preservation of this little railway and served as General Manager.

The [] website notes that this is the most powerful engine on the line.