2017 December - Working Party Update

Busy Times


The weekend of December 2/3 was super busy with at least four working parties going on around the railway.

At Pendre, the West Carriage Shed was full of people painting Carriage 22 in the toasty Paintshop. This week will see the final push to get the carriage back in service for the Santa Specials this weekend. An amazing amount of work has gone on recently to get the paintwork completed in time – once again Team Talyllyn rose to the challenge. As can be seen from the photos it’s had a superb job done on it.

In the cold part of the shed, the carriage maintenance working party team were replacing brakes, greasing brake hangers and the various other tasks to keep our continuous brakes working well. Not so glamorous as painting, but equally valuable to keeping our carriages at their best.

The loco shed was also pretty busy as the loco working party gang stripped and cleaned locos No 4 Edward Thomas (in the works) and No 6 Douglas. The aim of this is to get the engines ready for their annual cold boiler exam. Usual tasks include removing boiler plugs and washing the boiler out (gets rid of accumulated scale), cleaning out the chimney and smokebox, wirebrushing the firebox, removing the gauge glasses and several other jobs. It’s also an opportunity to give the motion a really good clean. The boiler inspector has already been – happily he passed both locos so the next working party will concentrate on putting them back together!

Up the line, the hedge laying mission on Doldheuwydd Bank continued. Not such a nice weekend weather-wise as last time, however the brave hedge layers were consoled with plenty of cake and tea. The view from the bank is looking so much better now.

Wharf cutting has had a lot of attention. Next time you travel through it on the train you'll be amazed at how much lighter it is. Our top tree surgeons have been on a mission to cut back a lot of the overhanging trees, it's made a massive difference.

Thanks as always to all the volunteers who appear in Tywyn in the middle of winter to undertake all these jobs.

Photos by Sarah Freeman, Keith Hayes and Karen Willans