Especially for those with the same love for Awdry's creations
The Awdry Extravaganza is a special event hosted by the Talyllyn Railway in honor of the late Reverend W Awdry. For those who may not know, Wilbert Awdry was the man responsible for creating the world of Thomas The Tank Engine through his books known as The Railway Series. He wrote his first book titled "The Three Railway Engines" back in 1945 and nearly 80 years later is still loved by people all across the world.
Wilbert based many of his stories and characters on real life inspirations and one such inspiration was none other the the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. The Reverend had a close connection to the railway even volunteering on the line himself. This connection is why the Talyllyn Railway found it appropriate to hold an annual dedicated to all things Awdry and 2024 marked my first time not only seeing the event but visiting the railway itself.
Travel
We set out early Friday morning but not before catching wind of the Microsoft Glitches that seemed to be causing mass delays to flights across the world. After waiting nearly two years to go to this event, the thought of my flight being delayed hours or straight up canceled was the last thing I needed on my mind. Made it to Dublin Airport in plenty of time and while some flights had been delayed or canceled, thankfully our flight to Liverpool wasn't affected at all.
We flew out from Dublin with no issue landing in Liverpool just 30 minutes later. We then collected our hired car and drove to our accommodation in Aberdyfi, Wales. Between driving from Kerry to Dublin, flying to Liverpool, and then driving to Wales we spent roughly 13 hours traveling on Friday not reaching our accommodation till after midnight. We hopped straight into our beds as we were to be up nice and early the next morning.
Day 1
{The Handover}
The first event of the weekend was The Handover ceremony which was to commence at 9.50am. This would be the official launch of the year's events with special guest Veronica Chambers, the late Wilbert Awdrys daughter. She gave a moving speech about her father and his connection to the Talyllyn Railway also mentioning how grateful she and her family were for all the support they have received since the books first launched in 1945.
{The Picnic}
The first train of the event was The Picnic which was to leave Talyllyn Wharf at 10.40am. This consisted of a doubleheader with No.3 Sir Haydn and No.10 Falcon Locomotive dressed as Sir Handel. We ran right up to the top station at Abergynolwyn where a picnic lunch was provided for all those on the train. We had a look around, took some photos, and watched other trains pass by before hopping back on the train taking us right back to Wharf Station.
While up at Abergynolwyn Station I had a quick look around the shop and cafe before heading into the Ffarquahar Exhibition which had one of the model railways made by Awdry. Not only did they have an original working layout, but the exhibition also featured a variety of the Reverend's models, some information about the books, along with some of the props used in the Television Series Thomas The Tank Engine, most notably Harold the Helicopter.
{Awdry Exhibition}
At 2pm I went to see the Awdry Exhibition. This was a showcase featuring even more of Awdry's models, props from the show, along with a lot of behind the scenes materials used for both The Railway Series and Television Series. The star attraction of the display was the Skarloey and Fearless Freddie props which were taken out of storage especially for this event. After watching the show as a child it felt so surreal to see the actual models for myself in person.
{The Boat Express}
While I hadn't originally planned on going on this train, I managed to snatch up a ticket the day of the event which gave me a chance to mix with some of The Irish Bois. The Boat Express followed the same route as The Picnic running straight up to Abergynolwyn Station before reversing around the train to take us back to Wharf.
While we were traveling up the line on The Boat Express, some fellow Irish Bois took to the roads to race the train to the end of the line. After a brief exchange while stopped at Dolgoch Station due to sheep on the line, the race commenced once more with The Boat Express climbing into the mountains. We caught a glance of the bright red car flying down the road eventually overtaking us and taking the lead. However, once we arrived at Abergynolwyn only half of the people in the car were at the platform while the others were parking, whereas all of our train had reached the station together, so I guess who actually won the race is up for debate.
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| No.3 Sir Haydn (Left) and No.10 Falcon Locomotive (Right) |
{Evening Entertainment}
To finish the Saturday I went to the Tywyn Cinema for the Evening Entertainment for a lecture about Wilbert Awdry and how he came to create The Railway Series. At this event, we also heard information about Awdry's Lore which had never been released publicly until now. Some information brought to life in this lecture was the inspiration for several characters basis, certain engines that used to work on the railway, and even Awdrys plan to potentially kill off Henry the Green Engine. We were also treated to a recording of one of The Railway Series stories read by Awdry himself. Awdry used to record his stories being read aloud so he could hear if the story had a good flow to them and several of these recordings made an appearance over the weekend.
Day 2
{The Horse & Cart}
Sunday started strong with "The Horse & Cart" which was a special train consisting of both passengers and goods wagons. With another run up to Abergynolwyn, we got to witness the engine rearrange the wagons and run around the train leaving other trains to pass in the meantime. One passing train just happened to be No.1 Talyllyn which had only recently been rebuilt. Of course, I brought my Lego model of Talyllyn with me to Wales and was delighted to capture this wonderful moment of the Lego model with it's real life counterpart.
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| No.1 Talyllyn wearing one of the old face masks |
{Llechfan Garden Railway}
At Talyllyn Wharf there lies a built in garden railway at the Llechfan volunteer hostel. Starting as a basic loop the layout has progressed over time expanding into a two circuit loop with sidings, bridges, and a new branch line under construction. Some members were running their custom models around the loops which made for a stunning sight. So much work goes into the upkeep of the garden railway and into the models themselves so it was great to see them in action while I was there.
Conclusion
Overall, this was possibly one of the best trips I've ever been on, everything that could go right did go right and better. Not only was the event line up brilliant but the volunteers and rail fans alike were just wonderful and at the end of the day it was them who truly made the event so spectacular. As someone who has rarely seen working steam engines in Ireland, it was such a treat to see several Victorian era engines working away as if only built yesterday and who I have no douth will be turning wheels for years to come. It is incredible to think that one man who wrote children's books about talking trains nearly 80 years ago is still bringing so many people with a shared love of railways together to this day, but I suppose that was just part of the brilliance of the Thomas the Tank Engine Man.
{Vlog}
I decided to capture a lot of my trip on video with the aim of making a vlog of the entire weekend. I recently published it on my Quirky Production YouTube channel and have attached a link below if you'd like to take a look. There is a lot of interesting footage from my trip that I couldn't fit into this blog so I highly recommend checking it out.
Vlog: https://youtu.be/Ulze_RuyKPk
*Talyllyn Railway Links*
The Talyllyn Railway is a volunteer based organisation and heavily depends on donations to keep their engines running. If you would like to keep their wheels turning I have included links below to the Talyllyn Railway's website and donation pages.
I highly recommend donating to this railway that truly has a heart of gold!
Website: https://www.talyllyn.co.uk/
Donate: https://www.talyllyn.co.uk/support/donate/
