List of Talyllyn Railway rolling stock

This is a list of the rolling stock on the Talyllyn Railway ( _cy. Rheilffordd Talyllyn), a RailGauge|27 narrow gauge preserved railway line running for convert|7.25|mi|kmcite web |title=About the Talyllyn Railway|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/index-about.html|publisher=Talyllyn Railway|accessdate=2008-06-15|date=2004-10-29] from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. [Mitchell and Eyres, 2005 page 7] [Boyd 1988, page 44] Despite severe under-investment, [Rolt 1965, page 50] the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers. [Thomas 2002, page 32] [Ransom 1996, page 139]

When first opened, the railway owned two steam locomotives, "Talyllyn" and "Dolgoch", and five carriages, including one brake van. There were no additions to the rolling stock until the line was taken over in 1951. Two ex-Corris locomotives were then purchased from British Railways, and subsequent additions brought the total up to six steam locomotives, four diesels and 23 carriages.

Locomotives

The line has six steam locomotives for passenger trains and four diesel locomotives that usually haul only works trains. It is unusual for all steam locos to be operable at one time, as there is usually one loco undergoing overhaul. [cite web|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/news/default/20070829_100_Availability.html|title=Talyllyn website - 100% availability| publisher=Talyllyn Railway|year=2007|accessdate=2008-06-17] As of October 2007, loco No 6 "Douglas" has been stripped down for boiler overhaul, and will be unavailable for the 2008 season. [cite web|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/news/default/engineering/20071014_No_6_Douglas_dismanteled_for_overhaul.html|title=Talyllyn website - No 6 Douglas dismantled for overhaul| publisher=Talyllyn Railway|year=2007|accessdate=2008-06-17]

Steam locomotives

Former locomotives

Goods wagons

The original Talyllyn Railway was primarily constructed for conveying slate. It had a large number of slate wagons for this purpose, some of which survived into the preservation era. It also had a number of other general and special purpose goods wagons. Since the takeover of the railway by the Preservation Society a large number of additional wagons have been purchased and built. The following table lists the main types of wagon used during both periods:

Liveries

The standard livery for locomotives on the Talyllyn is bronze deep green,cite web|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/locos/index.html|title=Talyllyn Railway livery details] lined in black and yellow, although since the 1980s there has been a policy of varying some of the liveries for a period of time. It is usual to have one steam engine painted in the guise of one of its fictional counterparts from the Skarloey Railway and wearing a face on the smokebox. - this is usually No 3 or No 4, as the red livery closely resembles the colour carried by these locos on the Corris Railway.

The liveries carried by the steam locos in 2008 are as follows:-

*No 1 - Black with red and white lining. [cite web|title=No 1 'Talyllyn' update - January 2008 |url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/news/default/20080116_No_1_Talyllyn_update__January_2008.html]
*No 2 - In a lined maroon livery. [cite web|title=No 2 'Dolgoch' - more pictures|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/news/default/engineering/20080309_No_2_Dolgoch__more_pictures.html]
*No 3 - In Indian Red, due to appear as "Children's Engine" "Sir Handel" for 2008. [cite web|title=TR Council report June 2007|url=http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/trps/internal/council-06-07.html]
*No 4 - In standard Talyllyn green.
*No 6 - This loco is dismantled for overhaul, but previously appeared as "Skarloey Engine" "Duncan".
*No 7 - In standard Talyllyn green.

The vintage rolling stock and the carriages built for the line after preservation, are cherry red, lined with deep bronze green. Additionally, the railway has preserved rolling stock from other railways. These retain their original liveries.

The Corris coach (Talyllyn Number 17) and brakevan (Talyllyn Number 6) are brown lined with gold leaf and the two Glyn Valley Tramway coaches (Talyllyn Numbers 14 and 15) are green lined with white.

References

Bibliography

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