Royal philatelic society honour for michael farrant
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1st December Tonight's topic was Great Little Trains of Wales by Mike Thompson of Northfleet (quite a journey on a foul evening). The TALYLLYN Railway (Towyn Wharf to Abergynolwyn and Nant Gwernoc) opened 1865 and was known as "The Toy Railway". Henry Haydn Jones (MP for Merioneth) said he would fund the railway as long as he was MP, which he was from 1910 until his death in 1950 - the line never made a profit! His widow allowed a Preservation Society to run it. Labels were produced in 1957 @ 11d each initially and a letter needed one of these + a GB stamp - there were 2 sheets of 6, different colours. Later there were a considerable number of commems and stamps continue to be issued. We saw proofs and colour trials, sheets, etc. The second half opened with the FESTINIOG Railway, which ran to Port Madoc and was opened in 1836. We saw much material from this, and also LLAMBERIS LAKE Ry; GREAT ORME Ry; WELSHPOOL & LLANFAIR Ry; VALE OF RHEIDOL Ry; BRECHIN MOUNTAIN Ry; BALA LAKE Ry; and WELSH HIGHLANDS Ry; with postcards, lots of stamps, many in sheets (usually of 12) and lots of surcharges necessary when the cost of a Ry stamp which had to be affixed went up from 11d. Mike is extremely passionate about this rarely seen material - perhaps some of us had seen some of it before, but nothing like the variety or quantity. Very many thanks, Mike. jmw  Download 1.26 Mb. Share with your friends:
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