Talyllyn Remembered

by Enys Thomas (Piytherch) formerly Gwndwnwal, Llanfihangel

Bom 1934

Refreshment Room - I believe the entrance from the platform was a double door. l seem to remember there was also a side door between the booking office and the refreshment room. Drinkers tended to sit one side of the room and passengers the other side. Two drinkers I remember were Mr. Jones Brynllici and Mr. Fred Morris Brynderwyn (June’s old home). Mr. Jones brought milk chums to the train and Mr. Morris had a local milk round run by his lame son, Gwilym. My grandparents at Rockfield found the milk delivery wonderful.

During the Second World War the refreshment room was used as a meeting house for the Home Guard. The men guarded the tunnel and took it in tums to sleep on camp beds. The guarding did not continue for long as one man ( Mr. Rees Powell, Pentwyn, Llanwem ) got his finger stuck in the mechanics of the bed and ended up in hospital. I think that was the end and the Home Guard fnished. My father( Howel Prytherch, Gwndwnwal, Llanfihangel ) was one of them but never got his uniform.

The Booking Office had a fire in the comer. Tickets were given from the hatch. There was a door into the office for the staff.

The Station Master was Mr. Skey and he lived in the end house over the tunnel. He met with an accident while travelling on the footplate to the lower platform - he was hit by a train. The lower platform was on the Newport/Merthyr line (Cobstown ). Mr. Skey then finished as Station Master and a Mr. Thomas. booking clerk at Brecon. came to Talyllvn as Acting Station Master.

The Booking Clerk at Talyllyn was Peggy (Samuel ) from Brecon. She later became Peggy Powell when she married local farmer, Tudor Powell, of Hemley Hall, Llanfihangel. Waiting Room This had a glowing fire in cold weather. In fact all the places at the station had fires in the winter. There was no shortage of coal.

Porters ,I remember two women: Kathleen Jones from Gwndwnwal Cottage and Lal? from C arlisle. Also two or three men: Harold Williams, ? Parry and Don Shutt. Kathleen Jones was our neighbour at Gwndwnwal and was very pleased to get the job of porter. Her husband, Jack, had gone to the war. I remember her telling my mother about the uniform. The women had a choice of skirt or trousers and Kathleen decided on trousers. I believe the first shifi for the porters started at 6 o’clock in the morning and finished at 2 or 2.30 in the afternoon. The next shift lasted until the 10.10 train came in from Hereford.

Signal Man, I recall Clem Jenkins from Llangorse. I think he stayed in the signal box all night if the weather was particularly bad. In his spare time he was good at cutting hair.

Trains on a Saturday came from South Wales packed with families visiting patients at Talgarth in the Sanatorium and Mental Hospital. They would change for the Hereford or Moat Lane train.

Tuesdays and Fridays saw farmers going to market. The last Friday of each month, when it was cattle sale in Brecon, the goods trains were full of cattle going to the Midlands and London.

During World War 2 troop trains carried soldiers to the Front Line from Derring Lines.

Farmers brought their milk chums for the 8 o’clock morning train to Newport. They always had to wait for one farmer from Llangorse. He would arrive late but they never left without his milk.

The trains from Merthyr could be heard coming from Torpantau especially on a clear still night.

Local playwright T.C. Thomas wrote about taking black market food to South Wales in Davy Jones ‘s Locker. lt has been on T.V. with local actor Jack Walters of Llanfiynaeh. T.C. Thomas had been Head of Llanfihangel school and lived at Heddfan, Llanfihsmgel.

Pigeons came in crates from South Wales and were released at Talyllyn. They would fly around the station before making off back to South Wales.

Saturdays saw dozens of men—miners with their greyhounds coming up from South Wales on the train at mid-morning, Some would stay in the refreshment room all day, others would make for the Royal Oak and Black Cock in Llanfihangel. Some would collect butter and eggs to take home.

I remember a Mrs Pound running a refreshment room. In later years it was run by Mrs Violet Davies. She had one daughter, Pat, who was my age. Pat worked at Tudor and de Winton, the solicitors in Brecon. I think the Davies family were the last to run the refreshment room.

There was a letter box on the station, either on the wall of the refreshment room or on the booking office wall. Also there was a machine for chocolate.

My mother used to order day-old chicks from Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire and they would arrive (perhaps a dozen of them) at Talyllyn in a cardboard box. We would have to check at the station for their arrival as we had no telephone. Sometimes the porters would give the chicks water.