Pre-preservation Talyllyn Railway in Colour

There are only a handful of colour images known to exist of the Talyllyn Railway before it was preserved in 1951. I am lucky enough to have one of them in my collection. Please enjoy:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/crowquine/15138743549/

Dan

 

That is a delightful photo, and also of great historic value. Thanks for sharing.

 

My pleasure. I was lucky to acquire it. I'm hoping to publish a higher-resolution version of this picture along with another set of (black and white) pre-preservation photos at some stage.

 

I now have five colour photos taken between 1949 and 1950, along with the interesting set of black and white views from the late 1940s. These is due to be published in a national magazine early next year.

 

Sounds fascinating, let us know when it comes out.

 

A crop from another of the colour photos. This one shows Edward Thomas inspecting the wheel from the brake van. This is either 15th. or the 18th. April 1949, towards the end of a hot day at Tywyn.

 

Those interested in these photographs may be interested to know that a number of them appear in my article in the March issue of Heritage Railway magazine. This covers the Talyllyn Railway in the period 1940-1950. Hope you enjoy.

 

Here's the first two pages of the four page article:

 

Brilliant photographs! I've just been re-reading Railway Adventure by LTC Rolt, which is highly recommended. I'm always struck by how backward the Talyllyn was by this time--still apparently stuck in the Victorian era while the rest of the world (or parts of it at least) was embracing the jet age. Photographs of Edward Thomas' office (and the gent himself) really convey this impression.

 

Fantastic pictures, convey a great atmosphere. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks all. I've also had an article published in the March issue of Talyllyn News that details locomotive Dolgoch during the 1945-50 period:

 

A further set of colour photographs from Easter 1949 appear in my article in the November issue of Railway Magazine. There are pictures of the Talyllyn, Corris, Festiniog and Vale of Rheidol.

 

....notice how the locomotive green is different in each photo..........

 

It's the same paint, but different light, different film stock and negatives that are 65 years old

 

....exactly, which just goes to show how unreliable old photos are for determining colour ......in anycase they are always far better than b&w...cheers

 

It does. I now have around 20 colour photos of the Talyllyn Railway on this day in 1949. From the light conditions and other pieces of evidence, I'm fairly confident that the green seen in the title image is close to the actual paint colour.

 

Thanks Dan for sharing the photos to the public domain a really great record.

 

Great pictures.

I don't want to pick on the TR particularly but when I see pictures like this (and the same can be said for just about every heritage railway) is does lead me to wonder whether any of us are truly in the preservation game. Have we generally gone to far in adjusting to the "needs" of the modern visitor? I realise we are constrained to the art of the possible, but the locos and the coaches survived, the ambience and architecture didn't. It's impossible, but I wish the modern adjustments could be kept "off stage" as it were.

 

Yes and no. As you say, visitor facilities at stations are usually unavoidable. But the experience of actually travelling on the train is still much the same as it always was, particuarly on a railway like the TR which runs through unspoiled scenery (and where, if you are lucky, you can get a seat in an original coach).

One approach that can work quite successfully on longer railways is to concentrate facilities at as few stations as possible. For example, at the Bluebell, Sheffield Park, Horstead Keyenes and East Grinstead have all changed considerably, but Kingscote is still much as it was in steam days. I'd argue that it was worth "sacrificing" the other three stations in order to preserve Kingscote as a true, unspoiled country station. I'm sure others can suggest similar examples on other lines.

 

Except that's been "modernised" to the point where hopefully it's a pretty safe bet the train won't fall off the track and leave the passengers walking home!

Some improvements are exactly that! Lol.