Steam to debut on Britain’s oldest public railway – again!
AN £ 18,000 grant to the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway ( LMMR) will enable it to complete the restoration of a steam locomotive of its own.
The award has been made by the Association for Industrial Archaeology towards the cost of restoring Avonside 0- 4- 0ST No. 1498 of 1906 Desmond to working order, for use on the line during its open days at Cynheidre.
Desmond worked at the Lysaght’s Orb Steelworks in Newport from new. Named after a member of the Lysaght family, the locomotive had a long working career and was used at the steelworks until 1973.
It was then handed over to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales at a ceremony at the steelworks, which turned out to be the last time that it was steamed. Desmond later went on static display at the 2ft gauge Teifi Valley Railway, at which it caught the eye of the then LMMR chairman Des Thomas. Initially a loan was arranged, with the locomotive later being transferred to the ownership of the LMMR.
So far, more than £ 70,000 has been spent on restoring Desmond to working order, including a grant of £ 50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £ 3000 from the Prism Fund
( for spare parts) and over £ 20,000 of the railway’s own charity funds. The new grant should allow for the completion and testing of the locomotive, the final stages of its restoration ironically beginning in the year that saw its former steelworks base finally close after 122 years.
Next step
A substantial amount of restoration work has already been completed on Desmond at the Llangollen Railway. The locomotive was transferred to Bill Parker’s Flour Mill workshop at Bream in the Forest of Dean on September 23.
There, an assessment of outstanding work required to complete the locomotive will take place, with the aim of enacting a programme of work to complete the locomotive over a fairly short timescale. Tasks include the fitting of vacuum brake equipment to haul passenger trains, boiler tube replacement, testing and cosmetic finishing.
The modern- day LMMR aims to restore as much as possible of the original Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway, the majority of which was laid on the course of the Carmarthenshire Tramroad, said to be the oldest public railway in the UK.
The Carmarthenshire Tramroad was established by an Act of Parliament in 1802 as a horse- drawn plateway and began running trains in May 1803. Although the Surrey Iron Railway was the first to be incorporated, it is said that the LMMR was the first to carry traffic.
The Carmarthenshire Tramroad closed in 1844, but the line was rebuilt and reopened in 1883 – using steam traction for the first time – under the newly- formed LMMR Company, which became part of the GWR at the Grouping in 1922. The line continued as a main artery for coal distribution from the Gwendraeth valley until the closure of Cynheidre Colliery in 1989.
Revival
The modern- day LMMR has spent 20 years developing the Cynheidre site as a heritage centre, and on September 3, 2017, held the first of several open days, giving visitors brake van rides over the 200- yard running line. Preparations are under way for the heritage line to link up with existing track to the north of Cynheidre village to create a mile- long running line.
Longer- term plans centre on the development of a heritage park telling the story of coal in the South Wales Valleys and its transport from pit to user and in particular the Cynheidre ‘ super’ pit.