This film is part of Free

Railway with a Heart of Gold

At the heart of the Talyllyn Railway are the volunteers – e.g. schoolboys, bus drivers, actors – whose commitment ensures the line’s continuance, despite the odd derailment.

Documentary 1965 15 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Overview

An American film-maker’s humorous tribute to the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society whose dedicated members ensure the continuance of the line, despite the odd derailment and unidentified bits-and-bobs falling off the locomotives. He concludes that the railway is “a bit of ornamental scrollwork lifted from the pattern of yesterday and kept as a memento".

Carson [Kit] Davidson, independent film-maker and later medical editor, has had two of his films nominated for an Oscar (‘Third Avenue El’ and ‘Help! My Snowman’s Burning Down’). He has written books for children and with his wife (a children’s author) has created the ‘Taconic Peaks Ramble’, Vermont, on 420 acres of land.