As happened to many other heritage railways and the national railway network, Storm Darragh last weekend caused extensive damage to the Talyllyn Railway and forced the cancellation of many services.

With Christmas just around the corner, the Talyllyn Railway was getting ready for its services during the Festive Steam, including Tinsel and Turkey trains, The Carol Train and the Santa Specials.

Unfortunately, the 90 mph winds wrought by Storm Darragh battered the Welsh coast, and the Talyllyn Railway was right in the middle of a Red Weather Warning Zone.

As it would have been impossible for visitors and volunteers to travel to the railway, it decided to cancel all planned services for the weekend of the storm.

Customers understood the situation, and most rebooked for a different weekend.

A gang of staff and volunteers went out on Sunday, 8th December to assess the damage and and began to start the task of clearing it up.

They found a large number of trees had fallen across the line, and damage had been caused to several block posts and station buildings.

Other damage was caused by blocked culverts that caused flooding, and there was debris everywhere.

The worst damage was to the section of line between Abergynolwyn and Nant Gwernol, where there was also many blockages that also affected surrounding footpaths and bridges.

The railway has extended grateful thanks to the gang who assessed the damage and started the clear-up, which is still underway.

Fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any substantial infrastructure damage, the main problem being removing trees and other debris from the running line.

It is still planned to run Christmas services, but to ensure their safe running trains will only run as far as Abergynolwyn as the line to Nant Gwernol is yet to be cleared and repaired. However, the Café at Abergynolwyn will be open so that passengers can still enjoy a festive fill of hot and cold drinks and food.

The Santa Specials are not affected and will run as originally planned to Dolgoch station which will take on the appearance of Plas Nadolig, or in English, “Christmas Place”.