Teifi Valley Railway

Looks like its in the economy version of the Rugby test plant

 

SGT Murphy has never been for sale since it arrived at TVR nor will it ever be for sale. Progress has been slow and steady. At present there’s just myself working on SGT. With the railway running to earn cash. And myself having just had a baby. Progress has slowed but not stopped. These things don’t just happen over night. Even the big railways with 10’s of people lining to do one job, locos take months…

 

Congratulations on the baby

 

So exactly how much trackbed east of Henllan does the railway own? To Pentrecwrt? As I understand the track bed to the east of the road bridge by the tunnel in Pentrecwrt is private farm land. And what are the expansion plans for the future? I assume a loop at Pontprenshitw is top priority.

 

No reply from TVR so maybe I can help you. The whole branch from Pencader to Emlyn was bought in 1980 but much of it has since been sold, leaving the company owning the land between the two river bridges at Emlyn and Pentrecwrt.

 

Looks to be about 5 miles then? A decent run.

 

You’re wrong Elizabeth. We own track bed across the river too… I am only aware of one small insignificant patch of land that was sold off.

 

So why not answer the original question, instead of having a pop at a former volunteer (whatever the history of the parting of the ways). It's not a good look, to be honest.

 

I wasn’t having a pop merely pointing out that this is incorrect and correcting this.

 

well, so how much trackbed DOES the railway own, ffs??

 

It’s exactly 2.5km from henllan to riverside. I believe there’s 1.5km over the river we own also. This is going west from henllan. And I believe 3km the other side.
I’m not 100% on the accuracy of this I must admit but this is what I believe.

 

So you've criticised Elizabeth and told her that she's categorically wrong, then you say that you're not 100% sure on what is owned.
Unbelievable.

 

Ghost, please re read my comment.
I did not once question what bits of land is owned by us or not as you suggest. This is quantitative information. (Either we do own or don’t).

My question of accuracy is merely an observation with respect to the lengths I stated of each section.

I was correcting the fact we own track bed west of the river which was left out. And, that only a small and insignificant amount of land was sold. And yes I can categorically state this.

Since when did correcting someone become a direct criticism?

Read twice, reply once comes to mind….
I’m paraphrasing of course.

 

Only yesterday I asked my wife to proof check a letter I had drafted to be told that what I thought I had written was the opposite of what it read as. We all know what we think we have written but it does not always come across as that - and certainly in this thread there are many instances where words can be interpreted differently.

I do not have the facts but I believe reading between the lines, both sides are correct in their understanding and both are potentially wrong based upon the other view point. ‘Correction’ may therefore be misplaced. If I can elaborate:

1. Elizabeth has indicated that the branch was purchased between Pencader and Emlyn. Various sources on line suggest it may have been between Llandysul and Emlyn; I would probably trust Elizabeth on this more than the internet given she was a key player around that time.
2. Assuming however Llandysul is the eastern limit, the branch would be approx 12km which is about 5km longer than TVR volunteers beliefs. If correct, it does suggest there may have been significant parcels offloaded if the whole branch was purchased. It’s also unlikely that British Railways at the time would have wanted to sell as much if the branch as possible to avoid having small chunks still in their possession
3. Llandysul station was clearly sold to the government (whoever the landowner was) as the site was obliterated with the construction of the bypass.
4. If the bridge at the western end is deemed to be the one over the Teifi then TVR Volunteer would probably be correct in stating Elizabeth’s post is incorrect. Looking at Google maps, the line is clearly identified with no major obstacles until it reaches the outskirts of Emlyn. Where is appears to have disappeared is around Melin Pandy and where there is a river bridge over the Afon Arad and which is probably more aligned to Elizabeth’s comment ‘river bridge at Emlyn’ than the river bridge at Llandyfroig riverside. This might align with the 1.5km TVR volunteer has suggested.
5. Moving east it appears that the formation east of the other river bridge mentioned in Elizabeth’s post has also been removed. This suggests the land has been subsumed within the adjacent farmland. It does reappear later but again disappears due the above mentioned bypass. From the river bridge back to Henlan it’s probably about 5km so Tommy Williams post may be correct in that further land has been sold off and which possibly confirms TVR volunteers suggestion of 3km being broadly correct

based upon the above no one appears to be ‘wrong’ but presenting their case using different facts?

I both love and hate this thread!?!

 

I sense some deflection going on here. I sense it, because you have edited the original post which I replied to, to delete the words "But you really amuse us all". That's the bit which turned an otherwise factual post (I have insufficient knowledge of the TVR to know if the facts were correct or not, you clearly believe they are and I'm not arguing on that point), into a criticism of the person you were correcting. A mild enough criticism, to be fair, but taken in the context of all that has gone before in this thread, and specifically in the context of not responding to the original question until Elizabeth had (after waiting some time) posted a polite enough answer of her own (again, I've no idea whose 'facts' are right, that's not the point), the impression given is that you were less interested in answering a question about the railway that you support, and more interested in finding fault with someone else's answer to the question.

If that wasn't your intent then fair enough. But that's the impression you gave. So hopefully this answers your question.

 

Somewhat correct. Originally I said she amused us all. As in keeps us busy and interested. But reading back and knowing people would react, I retracted it because I knew someone would comment re “amuse us all”.

This is why engaging on here is so difficult.

 

Engagement is not difficult if the comments are constructive. You yourself cannot be doing badly as you are approaching 100 likes already. The difficulty arises when we become emotive. It’s not easy as the reason many of us post is because we are passionate about the subjects we write about but inevitably those emotions do come to the surface occasionally. And I speak from experience having made a few posts from the past I would like to rescind It’s then the misunderstanding, miscommunication and possibly criticism arises. Sometimes we just need to temper our feelings and trust the facts will speak for themselves.

 

I suppose you could always check The Land Registry?

 

It is really difficult to transmit tone in anything written, maybe especially online. What sounds innocuous when you’re writing it with the tone you intend can easily come out all wrong. I find that anything that needs to be said “a certain way” in order for the meaning to be understood is best avoided.

 

Not sure why TVR Volunteer did not ask another Society member for this information (assuming that there must be some left who have been members for several years) or indeed the general manager. It seems not much is known about the early history of the TVR and perhaps it is regarded as irrelevant. In case anyone is interested I republish a file describing it.
Re: sales of railway land : the stretch from an empty field near Pencader to the edge of Llandysul yard was sold first, to someone who lived on it in the former level crossing keeper's cottage and planned to build a miniature railway. British Rail refused to allow us any access to any station yard except Henllan, so a stretch of trackbed in Llandysul yard was sold to a local agricultural merchant so that he could build a shed to expand his business. The next farmer along the line erected a large shed over the trackbed and was using the bed as a roadway running alongside the road to Pentrecwrt. Solicitors were called in and eventually this stretch was sold to him, against the wishes of many Society members including me. A small patch of land was sold years later beside the river at Alltycafan to the farmer who owned the land around it. All these sales were concluded in the nineties. The new management have made one sale, not publicised but revealed by the Balance Sheet of its Accounts , of part of the trackbed on the edge of NCE yard which had been used as part of the purchaser's garden for years. Since no information about this sale has ever been disclosed it was impossible to guess how much land was involved.