Are we narrow-minded enough?
I DON’T even remotely enjoy telling you ‘I told you so’ but the state of narrow-gauge railways in Wales causes some concern. They may now have too many for their own good. On the face of it, the Great Little Trains of Wales are marvellous, and a national treasure. But as I remarked elsewhere, they are like the architecturally grand buildings in Edinburgh — you can’t quite believe anyone seriously thought they needed another one.
Anyway, an absolutely massive project has been heroically achieved with the rebuilding of the long lost Welsh Highland Railway and I’m planning a trip all the way from Portmadog to Carnarvon. Well done guys, and it amused me
that there were two working volunteer working parties – the Black Hand Gang, who were Welsh speaking, and the Rest of the World. I went to see their work in Bedgellert and it’s just wonderful. Superb stuff; you guys really deserve to succeed.
The problem is, as I pointed out when all this started: how many narrow gauge steam railways do you actually need in Wales? There isn’t a set number of paying passengers and volunteers and charitable givers of cash, of course.
True, the number probably expands with the number of railways. But a rubber band can only be stretched so far.
Now we hear that the Talyllyn Railway is in deep financial trouble. It’s hard not to see this as partly caused by the exciting new project just up the road attracting all the attention.
I mean look at how many narrow-gauge steam railways there are if you come up from Shrewsbury towards the Cambrian Coast line. There’s the Welshpool and Llanfair at Welshpool. Then there’s a Vale of Rheidol Railway at Aberystwyth. Then the Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn near Barmouth. Then at Portmadog we have the famed Ffestiniog Railway and now the massive Welsh Highland Railway too. Plus I nearly forgot the miniature railway at Fairbourne, across
the water from Barmouth. Virtually within sight of the WHR is the Snowdon Mountain Railway. And round the corner is the Bala Lake Railway. That’s eight and I haven’t gone to South Wales yet!
Now I love these little railways and have travelled on all of them except the newest. What’s surprising is that all of them are completely different in character, so they are not doubling up in that sense.
(Another worry is that the only one which forms a useful part of the national network is the Ffestiniog. I have used this to get up from Harlech to Llandudno on the north coast, and a fine trip it is to. Timetables and tickets work right through as part of the national system. It’s a pity that more of these lines don’t carry passengers for transport and well as fun, and freight too. That isn’t going to change easily. There’s one in Kent that does school runs, for example, but that’s rare. And that’s another issue: you can run these just as museums or theme parks.)
But the worry remains in Wales that there are only so many railway trips the average holidaymaker will want to take: two in a week maybe. And given that some of the volunteers are English or Scots, and have a fair old way to come, there must be a limit to their time and effort and money too. Of course, if yet another massive Welsh narrow-gauge rebuilding project starts, it’s up to those who make the effort whether it happens or not – but the long-term future is the worry.
It would be a crying shame if this reaches the stage of ‘one new one in, one old one out’.
The Talyllyn Railway should have a special place in our hearts as it’s the oldest preserved railway. In fact it never really stopped, just somehow magically morphed from a slate line to an enthusiasts’ one. I have to confess I was, until I heard this news, planning a trip with some chums on the Welsh Highland, (and have mentioned its unique crossing with the Cambrian coast line in my new book Britain From the Rails: A Window Gazer’s Guide and put a picture in there). But now I realise what danger the beloved Talyllyn Railway is in, I am changing my plans to go there too. Go on, make it the year you go back to this lovely mountain railway. You won’t be disappointed, I’m sure.
