The Gwili Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Ager y Gwili) is a Welsh heritage railway that operates a standard gauge preserved railway line from the site of Abergwili Junction (near Carmarthen) in South West Wales along a short section of the former Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway that closed for passenger traffic in 1965, the track being lifted in 1975 "just as the Gwili was being established".
The Gwili Railway was set up in 1974 (but formed officially in April 1975) and, by 1978 (the same year the Gwili re-opened), had purchased and rescued at least eight miles of track (between the sites of Abergwili Junction and Llanpumpsint railway station) and was running an initial steam-hauled service on a one-mile section of it at the time.
The Gwili Railway has the distinction of becoming the first ever standard-gauge preserved railway to operate in Wales when it re-opened "in Spring 1978" the one-mile section of the Carmarthen-Newcastle Emlyn route from its base at Bronwydd Arms, three miles north of Carmarthen.
Since then, the railway has expanded to Danycoed halt and the company continues to hope to expand its services towards Llanpumpsaint.
Currently, the railway is working south towards Carmarthen to a new station site called Carmarthen North built both on the northern outskirts of Carmarthen itself and at the site of the old and former Abergwili junction.
The locomotive stock of the Gwili Railway is unusual in that it mostly represents local industrial and wartime operations rather than mainline services. In an interview with Steam Railway Magazine, it was stated that railway intends to obtain a larger loco or locos for passenger service.
Currently, as of September 2012, (with the first of the two miles to Carmarthen North re-laid, so far), The Gwili Railway is currently at around a total of 3½ miles in length.
Read more about Gwili Railway: List of Stations of The Gwili Route, History of The Line, Visitor Attraction, Future Expansion, Vintage Coaches, Filming At The Gwili Railway, Awards
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)