Teifi Valley Railway

Ms Perry With out wishing to really get involved. If you or an organisation your affiliated with is about to take legal action I think you would be wise to limited comments on forums and social media to official statements only. I have seen comments on sites like this used by solicitors and legal types to muddy the water and create a general diversion from the main issues at hand.

 

The track between Henllan and Pontprenshitw has been lifted!!

It's the end! Please Liz do something!!!!!

 

There we go, a sad day! This is the track lifted between Henllan and Pontprenshitw (where the waterfall (!) is for the land train (which will cost him £800 aweek to hire, his own words) So much for everyone not believing me last year!!!!

Peter Johnson now what about everything is rosy with the volunteers and workers NOW!!!!!

What is more annoying is apart from Old Llanyfriog to Riverside that was the best bit of track!

 

Looking at it, it seems the rails have been pushed to each side but they have not finnished clearing yet!

 

Incredibly depressing. Sheer vandalism.

 

That looks pretty terminal to me.
Can't see them getting much if any interest in travelling on a land train, that will kill off the enthusiast customers. If the "operator" is expecting to make any money out of this I suspect he's in for a nasty surprise.
Who condemned the Track, the Railway Regulatory people?

 

Heritage railway customers had already been put off last year by the emphasis on the amusement park side. Can't see any being interested in a land train which only goes about half a mile. ORR closed the track on June 10th but emphasised that there was not much wrong with the first stretch and this could be put right in 3 to 4 weeks - if there was the will to do it - but there wasn't. It soon became obvious that the Railway was being run by the tenant and he was used to getting his own way, whatever the effect on the Railway. I have sent the documents to a firm of solicitors in Carmarthen and will be seeing them next week. Too late to stop the vandalism but maybe TVR can sue for criminal damage ...

 

I'm curious about the business case for this "land train", if it's the sort of thing I'm imagining in my mind, why the hell would you ride one through some Welsh countryside as opposed to the promenade at Weston Super Mare where they belong ?, seems about as sensible as parking an Ice Cream Van in the Artic Circle to pick up passing trade.

 

Gosh, that's a depressing sight. I've only been to the Teifi once, when I was cracking through first visits to there, the Gwili and Brecon Mountain in a single dash one day in 2012. The first Gwili service had held on for a late coach party so my blat over to Henllan failed by about 5 seconds to get there in time for my planned Teifi trip. I was going to have lunch there and wait for the next service then another sprint towards Brecon, but the lady in the cafe at Henllan was so miserable and disinterested, and the atmosphere such a dour contrast to how professional and welcoming the Gwili had been, that I just took a few pictures around the station then returned to the Gwili for a bit before heading for Pant rather than waiting for the next TVR service. I'd bought a ticket as well as lunch so they had a reasonable deal out of me, but it wasn't an enjoyable place to kill however much time there was before the next service. I hadn't written it off for good and was always planning to pop in again and hope for a better experience next time I was heading in the Gwili direction. I hope I and every other prospective visitor still gets the chance, but it looks and sounds like a very unhappy situation.

 

I agree that is a very sad situation and the post from Unlikely above serves to highlight that it is better to have both the Gwili and Teifi with an enthusiast draw in the area for those making a trip down the M4.

Having read abour the efforts that went into setting up the Teifi, with the well known local railway campaigner the late Dr Penn of Whitland at the heart of the efforts to get the trackbed and LRO in the first place, it would be sad in the extreme to see the story end here.

Hopefully this is not the case. West Wales deserves a vibrant heritage railway scene just as much as any other part of the country.

Regards

Matt

 

An indication of the future of heritage railways can be seen here. How is it that "unlikely" saw two completely different railways within 10 miles of each other? How was one welcoming but the other not. Nothing to do with gauge. Why has the TVR struggled to staff the railway while there's loads of good news coming out of the Gwili. Rather than look at these two railways individually, look at the UK wide situation with heritage railways. Is there a formula for a successful railway because I'm sure there are many formulas for failure. All railways need to learn lessons as this example shows that the whole show can be out of town in a very short period of time.

 

The local paper appears to report the directors of the TVR voted in favour of lifting the track, with two votes against: http://www.carmarthenjournal.co.uk...ction-fails/story-21315253-detail/story.html .

It would be interesting to know if the vote was of TVR Co. Directors (of which Companies House reports there are three), or of TVR Society trustees (of which the Charities Commission reports there are two, one of whom is also a company director), or both.

Additionally, the LRO will (I assume) vest operating power with the TVR Co. only, thus rendering the legality of operation by Mr Dearing a point of interest. Consequently I would suggest that there may be grounds for a case of both criminal damage to and trespass (by road train) on a statutory railway.

 

I'm sorry unlikely had a bad experience at the TVR but please keep in mind he only visited once. He may have been unlucky. It may be that the staff member concerned just happened to be having an off-day. I've only managed to visit the TVR once but there was nothing wrong with the service on that occasion. Unfortunately, I've never managed to to get to the Gwili so I can't draw comparisons.

 

I have to admit Ive only visited once and whilst the Narrow Gauge engine was interesting the ride wasnt that interesting and the site at the top end was a bit of a dumping ground. Not somewhere a casual visitor would take a family.

Also wasnt the freindliest and made a big deal that the wonen on the till have us a discount for HRS passes and she shouldnt have. Again not our problem.

Found the Gwilli much freindlier bunch and better visitor experience in general.

 

Often there can be more factors than just geographical, In my experience having a bad apple in a group can be pretty destructive, how many people would be as tolerant of the cafe lady as Unlikely was ?, I can understand an unwillingness to take to task volunteers if they are giving their time for free, but if they put off enough customers or fellow volunteers, are they worth the hit ?.

Probably a drop in the ocean to the TVR's problems, but polite customer service is going to be increasingly demanded by visitors in future, luckily many seem to have realised this with staff giving a friendly hello and being only too happy to help, that encourages repeat visits.

 

It was never well advertised or sign posted.
We always end up at Gwilli, never found the TVR narrow gauge and now sounds as if the likelihood removed.
Who is going to pay for a land train going virtually nowhere? I wouldn't unless it's on rails not many people will turn up for this.
Criminal damage in the eyes of those interested in Heritage Railways, it will turn back into natural countryside or a dump.

 

Quoting from a Facebook post: "All change at the Teifi again, the Board have voted to boot out the person renting the site and solicitors are working on it now! This will be a long battle!" So looks like things are moving. I'm afraid that's all the info I have on this.

 

Does this mean the track will be put back ?

 

Not in the short term id imagine. Just hope that everyone has learnt the lesson from 6024 as far as solicitors are concerned.