Blue plaque honours Ffestiniog’s doyen dozen

IT IS 65 years since schoolboy Leonard Heath Humprys attracted an audience of 12 to hear his scheme to revive the defunct Ffestiniog Railway. Timed to the precise minute, a blue plaque commemorating that first meeting in Bristol was unveiled by Sir William McAlpine on September 8. The first gathering took place in a basement room occupied by the Bristol Railway Circle in a building in Tyndalls Park Road, now occupied by Bristol University. The unveiling was attended by Monika Humphrys, Leonard’s widow, and the two survivors of those who attended the meeting, John Bate, retired chief engineer of the Talyllyn Railway, and Vic Mitchell, founder of Middleton Press and a founder director of the FR Society. The FR history group’s online account of that first encounter recalls Leonard’s handwritten invitation to “those prepared to form a committee to forward the Festiniog Railway Preservation Scheme”. He had already gained an airing in the January 1951 edition of the Journal of the British Locomotive Society and Trains Illustrated. He knew that he needed professional engineering help. A surprise attendee at the meeting (Leonard, age 17, arrived 20 minutes late) was Harold Holcroft, a leading locomotive designer with the GWR, SECR, and the Southern Railway under Oliver Bulleid. Vic Mitchell recalls discussions over the cost of providing 10,000 new sleepers, similarities to the Talyllyn Railway, and rolling stock repairs. It grew from there. Shortly afterwards, Leonard was called up for National Service, but he returned to become assistant secretary to FR Society, and was later a founder company director. He died, aged 66, in December 2000.

BHAGESH SACHANIA Sir William McAlpine unveils Bristol Civic Society’s blue plaque outside the building where the 1951 meeting was held to launch the revival of the Ffestiniog Railway. With him are Monika Humphrys, widow of Leonard Heath Humphrys, who convened the gathering, and attendees John Bate and Vic Mitchell.