World’s first volunteer-led railway proudly unveils a Red Wheel award

THE Talyllyn Railway, the world’s first railway to be preserved and run by volunteers, celebrated receiving a National Transport Trust Red Wheel award on July 26.

AM Mabon ap Gwynfor, the local Member of the Welsh Senedd, performed its unveiling and said how much the railway meant to the local economy and on the pride he and everyone else feels about this Red Wheel.

TR chairman David Ventry said: “We are honoured to be recognised by the National Transport Trust for the work that our original pioneers put into the railway, paving the way for the successful heritage railway movement we enjoy today.”

National Transport Trust chairman Stuart Wilkinson said: “We are very pleased to have a Red Wheel here where railway preservation began all those years ago. The dedication of those pioneers in saving this railway is very evidently still here at the Talyllyn, and at the many other preserved lines that have followed.”

The trust created the Red Wheel scheme to recognise and commemorate the most significant sites of historical importance to UK transport heritage in the United Kingdom. The Talyllyn unveiling brings the total to 150 in Wales, Scotland, and England.

At the unveiling of the Red Wheel are (left to right): David Mitchell, president of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society; Stuart Wilkinson, chairman of the National Transport Trust; Coun Elwyn Jones, the chairman of Gwynedd Council; Coun Eileen Jones, the Mayor of Tywyn and chairman of Tywyn Town Council; AM Mabon ap Gwynfor, the local Member of the Welsh Senedd; TR general manager Stuart Williams; and TR company chairman David Ventry. NTT