The History of the Railway

This short history gives a relatively brief outline of the railway's history; various books have been written about the line and give a fuller account.

[ The Quarry | The Railway is built | Passenger traffic starts  | McConnell Era ]
[  Haydn Jones buys quarry and railway | First preserved railway ]
[ Restoring the line | The Nant Gwernol extension | The TR in the third millennium ]

Part 1: The Quarry at Bryneglwys

The history of the Talyllyn Railway is inextricably tied up with the history of Bryn Eglwys slate quarry. All but invisible from the main valley road and from the present-day terminus of the Talyllyn Railway at Nant Gwernol, the quarry once employed 300 men and in its time produced 300,000 tons of slate and slabs. Bryn Eglwys lies on the same veins of slate as the quarries further east around Corris and Aberllefenni. Slate was first quarried at Bryn Eglwys in the 1840s, by John Pughe of Aberdyfi, the end product being carried to Aberdyfi by pack animals or on carts or sledges for onward shipment by sea.