The Talyllyn Railway has announced that the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Very Rev’d John Witcombe, and his wife, Ricarda, has visited the Talyllyn Railway whilst on holiday in the area.

The couple visited the heritage railway on the 18th July 2018. Ricarda is Chaplain of the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton.

John Witcombe travelled on the footplate of steam locomotive No. 2 ‘Dolgoch’ for the length of the line from Tywyn Wharf to Nant Gwernol and back.

John’s visit was arranged by Rev’d Nigel Adams, who is a retired priest who lives in Tywyn.  Nigel and his wife Celia, who is also a priest, have been volunteering for over 30 years.

The connection with Coventry Cathedral is that both Nigel and Celia were both ordained Deacon there in 1988.

What did the officials say?

John Witcombe and Ricarda thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Talyllyn Railway and John said:

“Visiting the Talyllyn was to fulfil a lifelong ambition. As the first of the re-birthed narrow gauge steam railways, it is incredibly well known, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get there. I was overwhelmed by the team’s hospitality and the experience of riding on the footplate was an amazing experience.

Driving a train is not a case of brute force – it’s an incredibly subtle task of teasing the controls to work with a beautiful but ancient and sensitive piece of engineering to pull us through the beautiful countryside. The teamwork of John driving and Martin as the fireman was a great example of practical co-operation.

There’s a surprising amount to do, and they were much too busy to talk to me on the up journey, but a bit more relaxed coming back down the hill to Tywyn.  All in all it reminded me of the Cathedral for which I’m responsible: we also exist to take people on a journey, though it’s a journey of meaning rather than through the country. We are also very well known, and loved for our heritage as well as our story, and rely heavily on a large team of dedicated volunteers.

We are on many people’s lists of places they really should get to one day – so i just want to encourage you to visit us both. You won’t be disappointed!”

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