Railway Adventure is a 1953 non-fiction book by LTC Rolt discussing the early years of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society. The book is regarded as a classic in railroad history, outlining the birth of rail preservation with a scrappy Welsh narrow gauge line achieving world-wide fame due to its unique volunteer ran non-profit system.
Rolt begins his book chronicling the history of the Victorian Britain era railway through The Edwardian Era and beyond World War 2, to the moment the line entered preservation as a non-profit operation. From there Rolt describes his firsthand experience in those early years of running the railroad as a preserved line.
Events in the book have been adapted in fiction with The Railway Series (and its television adaptation Thomas & Friends) pulling directly from events in Railway Adventure.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Area: The Bryn Eglwys slate quarry was the original reason for the line's existence. It closed in 1946 after decades of underinvestment finally led to a serious collapse. In the book, it's described as desolate but almost intact, as if the workers had just laid down their tools and left at the end of a day.
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Adaptation Displacement: The Railway Series does give credit to Railway Adventure as being the source material for "Gallant Old Engine" but regardless Awdry's fictionalized version of Rolt's writing has gained a wider audience than the original source material. The adaptation of the story in Series 4 of Thomas & Friends gives no acknowledgement of the story's origin with Rolt's book.- Although not credited the events of The Railway Series story "Old Faithful" are also loosely based on events in Railway Adventure with the biggest difference being Awdry switching out Dolgoch for his Talyllyn Expy Skarloey... and glossing over the fact the event occurred only weeks (if not days) after the events which inspired "Gallant Old Engine."
- Author Tract: Its obvious Rolt (along with John Betjeman who provides the book's forward) was very dissatisfied with the nationalized British Railways network. Small volunteer ran railways are portrayed as an escape from what Rolt views as government overreach.
- Biography: After Chapter 1 which concludes the pre-preservation history of the railway, Rolt switches to an autobiographical tone for the rest of the book explaining the events of the early presentation years through his personal experience.
- Blessed with Suck: Dolgoch was built with a long wheelbase (to a length of 6'6") and several strange mechanical choices to allow it to get perfect adhesion on the rails. As Rolt describes while that patented design was advantageous in that regard, it proved to create a cramped and hard to maintain locomotive downplaying any advantages gained by the locomotive's unique design.
- Break Out the Museum Piece:
- When Edward Thomas is undergoing maintenance, the railway are forced to fall back on the much older and worn-out Dolgoch.
- At the time the book was written, the last time Talyllyn (even older, and in even worse condition) had been steamed was to come to the rescue after Dolgoch had derailed.
- Cool Train: Obviously with all the locomotives and rolling stock getting attention, with Dolgoch being portrayed as a mechanical protagonist by the book.
- Drives Like Crazy: The unnamed 18 year old locomotive driver who first takes Dolgoch up an abandoned piece of track quickly gets fired from the railway company when he manages to damage the locomotive's frame through poor engine handling.
- Furnace Body Disposal: What happens when an unfortunate sheep is hit by a steam locomotive? Simple, chop the carcass up and toss it in the firebox with the coal...
- Homemade Inventions: Rolt on his first visit to the Talyllyn Railway finds one of the former saddle-tanks from Talyllyn having been repurposed into a shed roof. There are also various improvised tools in the engine shed, which the railway's staff had used to maintain the locomotives.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Rolt's brief visit with Sir Haydn Jones gives an impression of this, with Rolt impressed by the over 80 year old man's mental ability and strong conviction to keeping the railway running summer tourist trains until his death. Rolt notes that Jones was respected but not loved by the community, but suggests Jones's almost Victorian era attitude was simply a relic in post-war Britain.
- I Have Many Names: as noted with the brief name change of Dolgoch to Pretoria as a patriotic British response to the Boer War.
- Likewise the locomotive Sir Haydn was called The Falcon before attaining its formal name.note While the future Edward Thomas was known simply by its class type as The Tattoo.
- Like Father, Like Son: While recounting the history of the Talyllyn Railway, Rolt draws attention to line surveyor and engineer James Spooner Jr. who was following his father's similar job in laying the Ffestiniog Railway route years prior.
- Magic Brakes: a Truth in Television case as well, where Rolt describes riding in the cab of Dolgoch in 1949 with an inexperienced 18 year old driver who took the engine beyond its normal last station stop and along the ravine facing rusted rails to the Bryn Eglwys incline. When Rolt's fellow Rail Enthusiast Bill Trinder realizes the engine is moving too fast and reaches for the handbrake the engine driver laughs by pointing out the brakes do not work on the locomotive anymore.
- Mistaken Nationality: while inspecting the former Corris Railway #4 (which would become the Talyllyn's Edward Thomas locomotive) Rolt points out how aspects of the engine's design including fully exposed valve gear and the lack of a continuous footplate from pilot to cab seem almost "trans-Atlantic" due to being design features more common in American built locomotives than the engine's actual British origins.
- Near-Death Experience: When recounting the quarrymen who used to ride up the slate inclines pre-preservation, Rolt describes one who during a break-away jumped off his runaway slate wagon and onto a tree branch promptly before the slate wagon careened into the Nant Gwernol ravine below.
- Considering the shoddy boiler condition of Talyllyn and Dolgoch at the start of the preservation era, every time they were fired up could have been a near death experience due to the potential risk of a boiler explosion.
- Non-Indicative Name: Wharf station was originally known as "King's Station" — not because of any connection with royalty, but because the land was bought from a Mr King.
- No OSHA Compliance:
- Until the preservation society came on the scene, the railway was run with the same safety regime that had been in place in 1865, ignoring later laws requiring such safety features as continuous brakes. The preservation society gradually tried to improve matters, but it was a slow process. It's mentioned in the foreword to the 1960 edition that no-one, not even the boiler inspector, had realised how dangerous a condition Dolgoch's boiler was in at that time.
- The slate quarry (until it finally closed) was also known as a dangerous place to work; Rolt mentions that there was never any attempt to protect the workforce from the slate dust produced by mining operations, leading to numerous cases of silicosis, and there was the constant threat of a tunnel collapsing on the workers.
- No Smoking: the small size of the passenger coaches on the Talyllyn Railway forces them to adopt a no-smoking policy even in the 1800s, to the dismay of some passengers. The preservation era briefly reverses the policy as of the time of Rolt's book.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: the book suggests the reason the Talyllyn Railway was never made a part of the nationalized British Railways system was because toiling in obscurity in a remote corner of Wales, the government had likely assumed the railway had already been abandoned, and skipped over it in the nationalization process.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: When Rolt finds an illustration of the railway's long forgotten official seal in a storage cabinet, he soon has it painted on all the locomotives as a return to once forgotten tradition.
- The Alleged Car: All the locomotives on the line, Talyllyn and Dolgoch in particular were beat up and worn out and nearing the end of their useable life (with Talyllyn considered completely worn out and not restored until years after the book was published). Even the "new" locomotives Sir Haydn and Edward Thomas have their issues with Edward Thomas suffering from a decayed boiler and Sir Haydn frequently derailing due to mis-gauged wheels. At the conclusion of the book Talyllyn and Sir Haydn both are stored inoperable and Dolgoch is rapidly approaching major mechanical failure as deferred maintenance catches up to it. Only Edward Thomas with its boiler repaired is considered reliable for regular use.
- The Cameo: Rolt describes meeting with screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke of Ealing Studios at the Talyllyn Railway and discussing with him their efforts to run the line, which Clarke would then incorporate into The Titfield Thunderbolt.
- When Rolt begins listing the type of volunteers the railway attracted in its early years he does mention having a vicar join the society. Its a pretty safe bet as to who that might be.
- The Cynic: A particularly cynical Rail Enthusiast shows up at an early meeting to propose a preservation society, and their attitude is so snarky many present at first assume they are some corporate saboteur attempting to steal away the railway for fiscal gain, with Jim Russell retorting to the cynical man "we have not come here to sell anyone a golden brick!" On the following Christmas, Jim would be surprised to find an anonymously delivered golden brick on his porch as a humorous Take That! from the cynic.
- The Determinator: Rolt's description of Dolgoch; aging, buffers drooping, strange proportions and failing mechanical components yet solidly built and capable of bringing even a full train back to station on extremely low steam pressures. The engine gets the nickname "The Old Lady" as a fitting title for its stubborn ability to limp home even in the most dire conditions.
- The Unpronounceable: Not a surprising result of an English book covering a location set in Wales. The opening of the book alone already throws place names such as Gwynedd, Mawddach and Dyffryn Dysynni straight at the reader on page one.
- An in-text example occurs when a Kerr Stuart mechanic attempts to visit the Corris Railway in Machynlleth to repair Corris #4, and struggles to reach the village due to pronouncing it as "Makinilek."
- The Storyteller: "Old Peter" Williams a pensioner who had retired from the Talyllyn Railway's slate hauling days returned to the railway once it reopened to help in various small tasks, often sitting in a chair inside the Pendre shops and regaling the young volunteers with stories about the railway during its heyday.
- Trauma Conga Line: when things start going wrong on the railway, they just don't stop. Parts will break, derailments will happen, tempers will rise, and passengers will grumble.
- Vast Bureaucracy: Rolt views the small venture of preserving the Talyllyn Railway as a bastion against expanding government red tape and returning to more local institutions.
- War Comes Home: although Towyn itself was far from fighting, as part of The Home Front; Rolt mentions how a nearby airfield, defenses laid along the beachside, and even training for the eventual Normandy invasions along the Welsh coast changed the character of the town while also signaling a rapidly changing world compared to the increasingly archaic Talyllyn Railway operation.
