Press Release - Railway Preservation’s First Female Volunteer Visits The Talyllyn Railway

On Friday 29 April Thelma Whitehouse, believed to be the first woman to volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway in 1951, visited the railway with her son Michael for a trip up the line on a specially arranged train.


The wife of Pat Whitehouse, the first secretary of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, Thelma volunteered to help prepare the line for its opening in May 1951 as the World’s First Preserved Railway.

Sixty-five years later, Mrs Whitehouse was back at Wharf station ready to board a special train composed of the same locomotive and carriages that had formed the first train of the railway preservation movement on 14 May 1951. Here she was greeted by the current chairman of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, Jane Garvey.

Also present were Richard and Tim Rolt, the sons of Tom Rolt, one of the main driving forces behind the preservation of the Talyllyn Railway. They had driven to the railway in one of Tom Rolt’s cars - an Alvis dating from the 1930s. Thelma’s son, Michael Whitehouse, who himself is very much involved in the Heritage Railway movement, also signed copies of his book ‘Talyllyn Pioneers’ about the early days of the preserved railway.


Photo: Ian Drummond

'Talyllyn Pioneers' is available through the Talyllyn Railway Shop.



For further information about this press release please e-mail: pressoffice [at] talyllyn [dot] co [dot] uk (subject: Website%20Query) or phone either 01654 710472.