Description
Ordered from Kerr Stuart in Stoke, Staffordshire by the Corris Railway, this Tattoo class 0-4-2 saddle tank locomotive arrived at Machynlleth Station and ready for service in 1921.
The railway and slate industry it relied on were both in decline by then and when the Great Western Railway bought the Corris line passenger services and the bus service it provided were immediately ended.
However it was nationalisation in 1948 which brought focus on loss making lines, and a landslide caused by unusually heavy rains that year which gave the bean counters the excuse to close the little railway.
The lines two remaining steam locomotives, numbers 3 and 4, were in danger of being scrapped. Sir Haydn Jones of the Talyllyn Railway up the coast had rejected an offer by British Rail to sell him the locos by British Railways, but the station master at Machynllyth saw potential in them and hid them from the scrap man.
When the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was formed to take over the line from Sir Haydns’ widow after he passed away, and negotiations began to bring the two Corris locomotives up the coast to help the newly saved Talyllyn Railway.
This video covers the entire story from delivery to the Corris Railway in 1921, the scale of the slate industry using exclusive drone footage and the centenery celebrations in 2021.
The video runs for 1 hour.
R.R.P. £18.00
