Talyllyn Young Members Group

02/12/2024

!!!HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!

YMG Day 2025 will be on Tuesday 19th August.
The day will be on a pink timetable day, so don't forget to keep that in mind with your plans!

If you have an idea that you'd like to suggest to the committee, you can send them to us using this form: https://forms.office.com/e/3q8NMJBsyE , or by email to [email protected], or by direct message to either of our social media accounts.
Submissions for ideas for the event will be needed by the 7th December at the very latest, so don't miss out!

You are more than welcome to send your suggestions even if you weren't at the event, or aren't a young member.
Keep your ideas coming in!

Thank you in advance, and we hope to see as many of you next year!

24/11/2024

Thanks to all of our young members who made the trip to the NEC yesterday and helped out at the TR stand, it was a fantastic day and it was great to see so many of you again!

It's Day 2 at the National Festival of Railway Modelling - we were so rushed off our feet telling people all about the Railway we just didn't have a chance to post yesterday! Come and see us at Stand 79A.

Some of the Talyllyn Young Members Group were attending the show, and couldn't resist a group photo with 'Douglas' - a huge thank you for those who polished No.6 up and have been helping to running the stand over the weekend.

Don't forget you can visit the footplate of 'Douglas' while at the Festival and we also have a special offer of 10% off all products on our stand!

22/11/2024

AND SHE'S DOWN!

'Douglas' has arrived at the NEC with just ONE DAY TO GO until the National Festival of Railway Modelling! Come and see the little engine at Stand 79A - currently our Talyllyn Young Members Group Team are giving 'Douglas' a thorough clean & polish before the doors open tomorrow.

Book your tickets now at www.NFRM.co.uk!

20/11/2024

We don't know about you, but we can hardly wait!

16/11/2024

Another photo from Wednesday, at the end of the event, with Daisy of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Young Members Group

16/11/2024

Look out for us at the NEC, we'll be there with the TR's stand (in front of the little blue engine!)👀

The countdown to The National Festival of Railway Modelling has started! The UK’s biggest railway modelling exhibition takes place over the weekend of November 23 & 24 at the NEC in Birmingham.

We can’t wait to see you there, and neither can No.6 'Douglas' who is coming along to be on display!

For more information about the show, and to book your ticket, head to www.nfrm.co.uk

16/11/2024

Last Wednesday, four of our YMG Committee Members went to the capital to represent the Talyllyn Railway at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Heritage Rail's reception at the House of Lords.
Here, they discussed all manner of topics on heritage railways, with representatives from heritage railways across the country, as well as leading figures in the Heritage Railway Association, Members of Parliament and Peers of the Realm.
A fantastic day was had, with new and stronger connections formed with other railways across the UK.
The Talyllyn Railway was well represented with attention given to our young and diverse membership as well as our legacy as the oldest preserved railway in the world (Liz Saville-Roberts MP made sure to give the TR a mention in her speech!)

Many thanks to the APPGHR and HRA for the opportunity for us to attend.

📸 - Mehdy Alaoui

16/11/2024

It's been two weeks since our fantastic Steam 'n' Scream and Bonfire night events at the Talyllyn Railway!
What amazing evenings they were, from scares to s'mores...
Thanks so much to everyone who helped get involved in the events, whether you were helping spook visitors at Dolgoch, or building our enormous bonfire at Tynllwyn. We couldn't have done it without you!
Thanks again to the TR management, Membership and Activities Committee, and for their work in organising these brilliant events.
We look forward to doing it all again in 2025!

📸 - Nathan Spence, Matt Jordan and Henry Pearsall

23/10/2024

Don't forget that this Saturday the Rev W Awdry's very own Model Railway - 'Ffarquhar Branch' - will be visiting the Vale of Rheidol Railway's Model Railway Exhibiton alongside our own Talyllyn Young Members Group!

'Ffarquhar' is a rather special layout: it was built by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry, author of 'The Railway Series' & creator of 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. Whilst it's origins lay in 1955, this layout dates from 1968: a rebuild of the original. It depicts the terminus of Thomas' branchline: many of the original book illustrations are based on the trackplan of this layout. The rolling stock is also original: the earliest example is Annie the coach, which dates back to 1927! It was scratch-built by the Reverend when he was only 16 years old.

Come say hello and see some model railway history in action this weekend!

https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/events/aberystwyth-small-model-railway-exhibition/ #

22/10/2024

TR BONFIRE 2024 needs YOU! 🔥🔥🔥

Saturday 2nd November is the day of Talyllyn Railway's annual Bonfire event!

If you're able to attend the event this year, then please consider helping out with bonfire building and marshalling...

Bonfire building will take place during the day, followed by marshalling in the evening. Trains for the event leave Wharf at 19:00.

Bonfire building during the day is plenty of fun and a great way to mix with other volunteers outside of usual duties. More details on that will be found on our YMG Announcements WhatsApp group (be sure to join if you haven't already! Link in bio)

Event marshalling in the evening involves manning the field gates as well as directing spectators, it's a YMG tradition and the M&AC really appreciate our involvement, so be sure to get stuck in!

If you're interested in getting involved, please let the committee know by emailing [email protected]

📸 - Ethan Selby-Davies

22/10/2024

Calling all Ghosts, Ghouls, Wraiths and Monsters!
Spooky season returns to the Talyllyn Railway with this year's "Steam 'n' Scream" events on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st October.

The Railway needs you, the YMG, to help to spook and scare passengers on a haunting evening walk at at Dolgoch Woods!

Food and drink will be available, with a BBQ between trains to be devoured by undead volunteers.

We look forward to your frightening appearances!

📸 - Nathan Spence

07/10/2024

Introducing our New Committee for 2024/25!

📸 - Editing by Matthew Edwards-Causer, graphics by Mehdy Alaoui

26/09/2024

It's been just over a month since our fantastic Young Member's Day!

It was great to see the Young Members taking centre stage, with a busy and varied day.
Morning engine cleaning and shunting at Tywyn Wharf, and the Abergynolwyn to Nant Gwernol shuttles provided plenty of interest and saw a great deal of engagement with the public, with many visitors getting stuck in polishing No. 3 Sir Haydn and learning about the role of the guard in Van No. 7 on the extension...

A big thank you to everyone who was able to help organise the event, and to all of our young (and some young at heart!) members who took part. Well done everyone!

Thanks to Ffion Freeman, Dan Edwards, Ioan Martin, Will Sewell and Luke Bowerman for their photos

We very much look forward to next year's YMG day!

08/09/2024

Today 5 of our Young Members took a visit to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway's Carriage Works at Boston Lodge to make some progress on the replica Gunpowder Van project!

Under the tutelage of Glenn Williams, head of the Carriage Works, the group cut the wood for the chassis to size - learning how to use various woodworking machines along the way. Our next step is to create the mortise and tenon joints to join all the parts together - and then, we can get it rolling!

We are also happy to report that last month the metal panels for the body arrived at Pendre and have received coats of primer to protect it from rust while in storage, awaiting the chassis' completion.

A huge thank you once again to Mantell Gwynedd for awarding us the grant that has made this project possible and of course to Glenn Williams & all at the F&WHR for their hospitality today.

22/08/2024

Tomorrow we take over the Railway!

Young Members Group Day is just around the corner and we're so excited, there's plenty going on - so take a look below:

Fancy your hand at cleaning an engine? Come down to Wharf and see how it's done, and maybe give it a go yourself under the tutelage of our Young Members as No.3 "Sir Haydn" will be prepped and brought into steam in Wharf Yard from around 11:45am.

There will be shunting demonstrations at Wharf with No.9 "Alf" and a special doubled headed departure with No.1 "Talyllyn" and No.2 "Dolgoch" at 10:55am.

No.2 "Dolgoch" and a portion of the train will remain at Abergynolwyn for the day, giving Goods Train rides up to Nant Gwernol and back for a small extra fare - with all proceeds going to the YMG.

Also at Wharf will be a stand where you can pick up one of our YMG Pin Badges for £5 and find out more information about the YMG and other young volunteering schemes at the Talyllyn, including Tracksiders & Navvies.

We hope to see you around the Railway!

📸 Luke Ryan

08/08/2024

Hello all,
Unfortunately we've got some bad news.

Due to unforeseen circumstances that have resulted in delays, we have been unable to do the necessary restoration work to the carriage pushing equipment. Therefore carriage push is going to have to be postponed until next year.

We are very regretful about having to make this decision, and will be consulting with the relevant persons as to why we've had to come to this decision. We didn't want to start fundraising without knowing for sure it would go ahead, and with the small time frame left, we believe that this would have been an insufficient time to then raise a quantity of money that we would have been proud of.

We hope you understand, we are just as frustrated about this as you are.

Regards,
Matt Jordan - YMG Secretary

31/05/2024

Some of our Young Members went for a grand day out to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways today!

We were given a guided tour of Boston Lodge works, showing off the progress of their current National Lottery Heritage Fund Project (Something to look forward to at the TR!!) and we even got to all have a drive of the lovely little 'Lilla' in one of their new workshop sessions!

We finished the day off with a trip on the afternoon 'Woodland Wanderer' to Tan-Y-Bwlch hauled by their gorgeous new locomotive 'James Spooner' - a HUGE thank you to all at the F&WHR who made this possible and for being so welcoming, and a massive thank you to our social events coordinator Poppy for organising it with them.