International
International
The Talyllyn Railway PDF Print E-mail
Written by Glen Brewer   

The World’s First “Preserved Railway”

 

The Talyllyn is a little railway with lots of claims to fame. It was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain authorized by an Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam. It is said to be the first “preserved railway” in the world. It was the inspiration for the classic British film, “The Titfield Thunderbolt”. Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry (1911 – 1997) was also inspired by the Talyllyn for his extremely popular “Railway Series” of children’s books staring the familiar blue Thomas the Tank Engine. In 1952, Awdry volunteered as a guard (that’s British for conductor) on the Talyllyn where he was also an early member.

On the morning of my ride, my party of four arrived in Tywyn, a pleasant little village on the scenic west coast of Wales. I was traveling with my wife, son and a British friend who graciously volunteered to do the driving. We left the car in the “car park” and started our walk from the parking area, up the road, over the bridge above the main costal rail line, and down to the Tywyn Wharf station of the Railway. Midway across the bridge, a young man in a railway uniform rushed up to me from the station and inquired if we were to be on the 10:30 train. No, I informed him, we were on the 11:40 train. He thanked me, and immediately rushed back to his train for departure.

This unexpected and surprising incident was characteristic of my Talyllyn experience. Everything about the railway seemed extremely friendly and everyone seemed to be happy that they were there and that we were too. I soon learned that I was to be given the royal treatment.

I had, of course, made contact in advance, and we were expected. But our experience far exceeded anything I anticipated. As soon as we reached the station, we were greeted by Tony Edwards, who seated us in the station tea room and bought us tea. He then arranged for our tickets, and then showed us around Talyllyn’s impressive railway museum. Tony had visited Colorado and commented that the Talyllyn was to the Cumbres & Toltec what the Durango and Silverton was to the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways. Our museum tour was unfortunately cut short by our pre-arranged departure time. I had just a little time left for photography, then Tony showed my entourage to their seats in a first-class carriage and me to the footplate of Engine Number 2, The Dolgoch, where he introduced me to driver, Andrew Bailey and fireman, Sarah Foster.

The Dolgoch is a 0-4-0T built in 1866 by Fletcher, Jennings & Co of England, a specialist in small industrial locomotives. The engine weighs just 10 ¼ tons, has a wheelbase of six and one-half feet, drivers of two feet four inch diameter and tractive effort of 4236 pounds. The engine has a compact but remarkably clean cab for any coal burner I have seen. Inside the cab was a plaque reading: H.R.H the Prince of Wales travelled on this locomotive 25th November – 1982. I had little chance to move about. The fuel is bunker forward of cab while water space is behind the cab and in a well between the frames. Firing the engine required Sarah to scoop the coal from the forward opening, and then swing it around to the firedoor basically next to the coal supply on the right. I had to stay clear of Sarah’s tiny coal scoop while trying to see all I could of operating the engine and the scenery outside.

Slate was first quarried at Bryn Eglwys in the 1840s. In July of 1865 the Talyllyn Railway Company was created an Act of Parliament primarily for the delivery of slate to the new Cambrian Railway at Tywyn. The act also authorized passenger services, a first for a narrow gauge line. An unusual gauge of 2 feet 3 inches was selected, and the first passenger timetable was issued for December 1866.

Over the years, the slate business had several ups and downs finally closing after a mine collapse in 1946. The railway’s owner since 1911, Henry Haydn Jones, swore that he would keep the line opened for passengers as long as he lived. Only Number 2 was operating by then and only during the summer season, and the railway had seen little maintenance in years. Sir Haydn died in July 1950, and the railway was shut down by his widow at the end of October seemingly never to run again.

But a group of enthusiasts, led by the engineer and author Tom Rolt, formed the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society. Meetings were held and Lady Haydn, Sir Haydn’s widow, agreed to hand over the railway to the TRPS. The TRPS took over the railway in February 1951. Despite post-war difficulties, progress was made and the TRPS ran its first public service on May 14, 1951, with 5 round trips of 2.15 miles to Rhydyronen. Service over the original passenger route, ending at Abergynolwyn (6.57 miles), started on June 4th with two trains daily operating Monday through Friday.

On May 22, 1976, service was extended as far as Nant Gwernol over what had been a mining only extension. The Dolgoch powered the first official train.

In May 2011, shortly before my visit, the Talyllyn celebrated 60 years as the world’s first “preserved railway.” The completed Talyllyn Railway is 7.25 miles long, 2 feet 3 inches wide, and has six steam locomotives including the original Number 1, the Talyllyn and Number 2, the Dolgoch. Also still in service are the original four passenger carrages and the original brake van (that’s caboose to us).

The first few miles were bucolic, but soon the line began to climb the north side of a mountain and for much of the rest of our trip, we were in the woodlands high above the valley.

Not long after leaving the pasturelands, Andrew and Sarah heard an unusual sound coming from underneath the locomotive. The Dolgoch had just come out of the shop, and they sent for expert help from the mechanical department, a man met us, looked the engine over, rode between two stations, and decided our engine could complete the run, but should stop by the drop pit at Pendre for an inspection underneath.

As we approached Dolgoch station, we entered a forest and the scenery became quite interesting. We took water at the station while some of the passengers disembarked for the hike down to the series of three waterfalls appropriately named the Dolgoch Falls. I didn’t have time for this, but the hike looked very intriguing.

On we went to the end of the line at Nant Gwernol. Near here a pair of incline railways once brought slate down from the mines to the railroad while a third delivered goods down to the village of Abergynolwyn in the valley below. Here our crew ran around the train so that the engine would be at the front of the train for the downhill run.

We stopped at the Abergynolwyn station for our longest stop. While I took a few photos, Andrew bought tea and had one for me waiting when I found him seated on a bench by the station.

Sarah invited me to step off the engine and go with her while she collected our single line token at Brynglas authorizing us to proceed over the single track line. I was able to photograph the token exchange of the train we waited for and met there, and had a peek inside the little signal box.

On the way back, we left the train at Pendre where Tony met us for a tour of the shops and the signal tower. We saw Andrew and Sarah one more time as they brought the Dolgoch in for its inspection, then we rode the following train behind Number 3, Sir Haydn, the short distance back to the Tywyn Wharf station.

I don’t know what kind of ride the Prince of Wales enjoyed, but it couldn’t have much better than mine.
 
Railway being built from Kunming to Singapore PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrew Leonard   

Construction on the Kunming-Singapore High Speed Railway began on April 25. The line, due to open in 2020, will eventually stretch 2400 miles from southern China to the city-state of Singapore, lowering rail travel times from over 3 days straight to ten hours.

Kunming is a city in south-cnetral China with a population of around six million, and due to its geographical location, it has long been a hub of trade between China, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. Singapore is probably much more well-known, a city of five million people which is one of the world’s largest financial centers and one of the most important freight hubs.

The first link of the line will run from Kunming to the Laotian capital of Vientiane, which is as far as existing rail from Singapore reaches. The route from there is likely to pass through Bangkok and down the Malay peninsula to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then Singapore. Other proposed routes have included getting from Kunming to Bangkok via Yangon, Burma, or via a coastal route, taking the line through Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. All of these cities are likely to eventually be linked into a Southeast Asian high-speed rail system.
 
Earthquake and Tsunami Destroy Transportation Infrastructure in Northern Japan PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrew Leonard   

As most readers of this newspaper are no doubt aware, on March 11, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan. The quake, which rumbled for six minutes, generated a tsunami that, when it struck the Tohoku region only twenty minutes later, created waves up to 80 feet tall. The devastation is widespread, and this article, due to the focus of this newspaper, is just about one aspect of the destruction, the impact it has had on the transportation infrastructure.

For many, the first images of the tsunami came from Sendai Airport, which serves the city of Sendai, a city of one million people. The tsunami reached up to the 2nd level of the terminal, stranding 1300 people in the building for two days. The airport wasn’t reopened until March 17, and since then has only received disaster relief flights.

Several ports, including that of Sendai, were destroyed by the tsunami, and many others were severely damaged. The effects of this are being felt worldwide: for example, Iowa farmers are unable to ship as much food to Japan due to lowered port capacity.

The Tohoku Expressway serves northern Honshu, the largest island of Japan, linking Tokyo with the northern edge of the island, passing through Sendai. Large portions of the highway were damaged by the earthquake, and it was not reopened to the public until March 24.

Train service has been particularly affected by the earthquake. Immediately following the quake, four trains were reported as being out of contact, through three were later found intact. The fourth had derailed, but no one was seriously hurt.

The Tokaido Shinkansen, the high-speed line that serves central Honshu between Tokyo and Kyoto, was out of service for half of the day, despite being hundreds of miles from the earthquake. The Tohoku Shinkansen, which passes through Sendai, was heavily damaged; the operating company estimates 1100 sections of the line will need repairs. On March 15, partial services resumed, but only between Tokyo and Nasushiobara, roughly halfway to Sendai; on March 22, service between the northern terminus of Aomori and Morioka, again about halfway to Sendai, resumed. It’s expected the full length of the line will not reopen until late April.

Several local, non-high speed, lines were destroyed or heavily damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, including three lines serving commuters in Miyagi Prefecture, centered around Sendai.

The earthquake and tsunami damaged four nuclear power plants, causing three to temporarily shut down for safety, and the fourth, Fukushima I, has experienced a partial meltdown. Due to the history of Japan’s power grid, the eastern and western halves of the country transmit power differently, meaning that the shortage in electricity caused by the disabled power plants cannot be effectively mitigated. Rolling blackouts were instituted on March 14. Tokyo residents were assured that they would not be affected, but because the blackouts affected the electric rail commuter lines leading into the city, it was adversely affected. The already famously crowded trains doubled their intervals, and some ceased running altogether. Many commuters were stranded in the city during the first few days, though in the weeks since most of the problems have been resolved. However, with eastern Japan’s power generating capacity so drastically reduced, and with summer - and air conditioner - weather arriving, Tokyo has been told rolling blackouts will continue.

The tsunami caused damage across the Pacific Rim, from the Philippines and Papua New Guinea in the west, to Midway Island and Hawaii in the central Pacific, to Oregon, California, Peru, and Chile in the east. Millions of dollars of damage was caused to public infrastructure, including harbors, in Hawaii, while California is reporting as much as $50 million in damage, including damage to the harbors at Santa Cruz and Crescent City.