Phone Box I remember being quite excited at the prospect of this village having a telephone box. In the early 1960’s only five or six households had the luxury of a telephone. When the railway station was open emergency phone calls could be made from the Booking Office at cost price. It was originally intended to place the kiosk on the junction under the street light but space was very limited and the new phone box was eventually erected in its current position. The year was 1966 Roger Young, May 2019

Street Lights Originally there was only one feeble street light in the village situated on the junction. In the early 1960’s a second light was placed in the middle of the village. The current seven light scheme was put in about 1980 and included a light in the phone kiosk. The railway station never had electricity and was lit by oil lamps. Roger Young, 20 th May 2019

School Transport On the demise of the trains at the end of 1962, home to school transport was provided by bus. Gwernyfed was served by Western Welsh. Llangorse area to Brecon County schools travelled on Vic Jones Pontfaen’s “Flying Banana”, a pale yellow and white with a black flash; a Bedford S B Coach with a 33 seater Duple Body that leaked whenever it rained (Registration no: CCP339). Any trouble-makers were allocated seats that the driver, Vic, could see in his interior mirrors; continued bad behaviour resulted in the pupil being thrown off the bus and left to walk home - as Vic would say, he was not in the army for nothing! The bus never broke down in the morning going to school but the trip home was not so reliable. For about a whole term the bus did not have a reverse gear, so this involved the older boys having to push the bus backwards which was required to turn around in Trewalter Lane. I sat in the front seat and operated the sliding access door – no automatic powered doors then! Good old days. Roger Young, May 2019

Train At least 20 people would catch the 8.30am train into Brecon every week day. During winter months there would be a roaring fire in the Waiting Room which was the place to hear the latest news and gossip. Sweets, chocolates and cigarette for the day would be bought from the ‘Refresh’. With eight trains in and eight out of Brecon every day that was a train to suit everyone. Roger Young, May 2019

Water & Electricity in Talyllyn The village water supply came from springs and tanks in the adjacent fields. Pressure was very low. Most houses did not have an inside toilet, or an internal tap. Water could be obtained from one of the three village taps (these taps did not dry up even in the summer of 1976). It was 1956/7 that the DMD water mains arrived. Water from Talybont Reservoir pumped up to a tank on the Allt; the water pressure was amazing but blew all the ball valves. Water for the station and railways was collected from springs in the tunnel. Mains electricity arrived in 1953, however George Thomas of “Allt View” supplied power (110v DC from a bank of batteries that he kept charged with a “Black Stone” generator) to his immediate neighbours just for lighting. He charged two shillings (10p) a week. George would run his generator on a Saturday afternoon and I was told that it would rattle the windows. Roger Young, May 2019

I was three years old when I moved from Talybont to Lake View with my parents and twin brother, Brian. My dad, Reg Evans, worked on the railway as a signalman at the North Box and I used to love going to have tea with dad and watch him pulling the levers for the train to go by. We went to school on the train and used to walk up the ash path (as it was called) to Tayllyn Station. As we knew some of the drivers they would take us for a ride in the engine and let us blow the whistle. Then we’d go in the guards van and even went on a trolley all the way to Pentyrhw with Bill Dyer and his dog Jane. Many times we’ve walked through the tunnel and then go and buy sweets from the refreshment rooms (happy times). Great excitement when the Royal Train with the Queen stayed in the siding just up by the North Box in August 1955. When we lived at Lake View we had no running water or electricity. We used oil lamps and had a pump with the well in our garden which was filled from a spring in the field. No TELEVISION only the radio and no ELECTRIC GADGETS (like we have today). But many happy hours were spent with the Thomas children at Oakfield and the Gerrish children who lived at Old Platform (no longer there). A very happy childhood with so much fun and GREAT MEMORIES. Brenda Arnold (née Evans), May 2019

It can be no coincidence that I started my working life at Talyllyn Station since I grew up a few feet away from a railway track at Crossing House Llanfihangel-Talyllyn where there were manually operated level crossing gates on the Hereford to Brecon branch line. There were three porters working at the station covering three shifts in a day which included overlaps when two porters were on together. As well as porter duties we were lamp ‘boys’, a once a week duty caring for the signal lights and tunnel lamps. Keeping lamps alight was a finely tuned and monitored duty that paid attention to details - as was every job on the railways. Each activity was recorded, signed and accounted for including the items coming off the goods van of one line and then being moved to the other at this railway junction. It was the porter’s job to ensure this transfer went without a hitch from the respective Brecon to Merthyr and Hereford to Brecon lines and vice versa. Moving boxes, crates and baskets meant trolleying them from one platform to another over the walk-way used by everyone. This was no mean feat. Trolley brakes and the incline on the walk-way meant that sometimes one of the containers would fall off and be damaged. The Station Master was required to record the loss and ensure that it was accurately costed so that the owner did not lose money and could be compensated. If the contents were perishable the station staff would be able to purchase them and the goods were divided out amongst them and paid for as part of the compensation. One such box contained kippers; not only were they shared out and paid for but one mischievous porter used a kipper’s head to play a trick on the Station Master after he had left for home on the Brecon train. The head was pinned to the underside of his desk, above and at the back of a drawer where it proceeded to decay and smell! First of all the smell was thought to be caused by a bird having flown through an open window and died in the office. Staff were used to move the furniture to no avail. The puzzle contained to cause speculation as the smell became worse and some uninformed staff scratched their heads. The ticket clerk however knew the characters who worked at the station and during a tea break suggested that if anyone knew what was causing the smell they had better cure it as the floor boards were to be taken up the following day in search of the cause. The kipper’s head was removed that evening! Pranks and playfulness were all part of railway comradery whilst carrying out the serious job of keeping a transport system moving. I went on to spend my working life around trains from porter to foot-plate man and driver on steam engines and then diesel ones. There were many times when I passed Crossing House on the way to Dowlais Top, Pant and Merthyr. On the way we slowed to go through the gates and I dropped my washing off the shovel for Mam to do as I was in lodgings in Hereford. At Dowlais I loaded a lump of coal on the coal store for Mam (Daisy) and one lump for John Hamer at Trefeinon. They were dropped off on the return journey and had my clean washing on the shovel the next day. Useful things those shovels. The story which marks railway comradery for me occurred during my childhood. I was nine years old and was allowed to roam the countryside with friends. One summer’s day in 1946 I was told to stay home but not told the reason. I already knew some of the rules for the trains going over the crossing and I was startled when the train I was expecting sounded a whistle at Llangorse Halt. Surprised because it was the ‘stop’ whistle which wasn’t to be used unless the circumstance was exceptional. More surprisingly it was followed by the ‘slow’ whistle and so the pattern continued as the train passed the warning signal and appeared under the tin bridge which took the road traffic to Llangorse. Something was amiss according to these whistles as the train went past the house a dark haired, very tanned man waved to me from the window and Mam was waving back to him. It was Dad (Horace). He had been demobbed and the railway crew had their own way of announcing his arrival! I can only imagine that this event happened throughout the country for railway families working on or living near the line who had relatives returning home after the war. I was duly sent to Talyllyn Station where I found Dad talking to the staff. Although I didn’t recognise him as it had been so long since he had been home, it had to be him since he was the only chap in uniform. He was in fact the only adult in our family who didn’t work on the railway. After being a despatch rider to and fro to the front line in Africa and Italy he returned to his job in Talgarth working for Billy George. Hence motorbikes and trains were in my blood as Brenda’s dad, Reg Evans, knew as I always went to show him my new motorbikes, after all Lake View was a stone’s throw from The Crossing. Peter Davies, May 2019

What good fortune to be brought up smack bang between Hay to Brecon Tram road and Hereford to Brecon Branch Line at the railway Crossing House where my grandmother was the level crossing keeper and when she became ill my mother (Daisy), previously a clerk at Talybont Station, followed in her footsteps so that the three generations living there could remain in a house for the keeper of the gates. Fortunate for many reasons including travel by train and the beautiful countryside which combined to make life bliss for a young child. From four and a half years old I walked the Tram road and Ash Path to catch the train at Talyllyn with my sister Sue and friends to Brecon where we went to school. There were lots of children taking the same journey, some sticking their heads out of the ‘leather belted drop down’ windows, some rocking on the concertina joins between the coaches and some swinging upside down on the ledge of the luggage racks after the guard had gone past. We weren’t always on time for the train and often waved at the driver as he passed us hoping that he would wait for us at the station and if we ran fast enough we would be in luck. If travelling by train from Monday to Friday was fun then Saturday was the icing on the cake as this meant one thing for many – ‘The Pictures’. The children went in the afternoon and the grown-ups and young adults in the evening. After the film it was a visit to the chip shop or a tavern, depending on your age. There were two occasions when my brother met me at the station to take me home – on the back of his motorbike, a bee’s knees job! Another reason for going to the station was to collect a Persian kitten and a Pekinese puppy, in wicker baskets sat waiting on the platform with the Station Master pointing to the package meant for the Crossing House. Great care was taken to keep these pets off the track as more than one chicken had been sliced in half courtesy of GWR trains. The last train to pass our house was on 14 th December 1962, a date scribed into the concrete step of Dad’s new greenhouse. At nine years old I saw the railway come to an abrupt halt and it was speedily taken apart so that no other company could re-open the lines. Life for adults living in railway properties was not modern and therefore not easy. Electricity was put in our house in 1959. Spring water came down the line to an outside tap. It was 1965 before my parents were able to have a bathroom. The toilet, until then, was up the garden path. No central heating, no double glazing but that was pretty much the norm and didn’t stop the fun and there was plenty of that to be had. Mary Kneath (née Davies), GWR Crossing House – May 2019

The Major Explosion In 1957 a lorry carrying three and a half tons of TNT en-route to a quarry at Glyn Neath caught fire whilst travelling on the A40 road near Scethrog. It was at about dawn, the driver ran to ring the Fire Brigade whilst his mate attempted to stop any traffic. The lorry blew up creating a crater in the road the size of at least two double decker buses. Small parts of the lorry were found in Talybont-on-Usk, all the properties in Scethrog suffered damage and many houses in Pennorth lost windows. In Talyllyn the loud bag woke up most people. Many thought that it may have been an earthquake. No one was hurt. The County Surveyor of Breconshire County Council (R. H. Daniels) had the hole filled, road re-surfaced and open to traffic the SAME DAY!!! Roger Young, May 2019

Childhood in Talyllyn I have very fond memories of an idyllic childhood growing up in Talyllyn. I was born at Brynderwen Farm in 1943 so during the war, but have no recollection of how it impacted on lives here. I vaguely remember that we had Italian prisoners of war working on the farm, what I do remember are the wooden toys they made for us. Living on a dairy farm would certainly have meant no food shortages. My grandmother, who farmed in Defynog, was making cheese and also butter (wonderful rich yellow, salted). We had chickens and geese, pigs, sheep – no shortages there. I remember that we had gas lighting at the farm, with Calor gas bottles. Water was from the well in one of our top fields and also supplied Dolcoed, Glascwm and Drostre houses. It was an excellent supply and was used until we had mains water put in when the farm buildings were sold for residential use about 20 years ago. The ever reliable Aga heated the water, was used for cooking and the bottom slow oven even provided comfort for newly born weakling lambs! I think I was about ten when we had electricity in the village. I remember that the first appliances we had were a washing machine and a fridge, no television for a while. Unfortunately this newly refurbished telephone kiosk had no part in my life as a child. We always had a telephone at the farm – Llangorse 47. At the age of four I was travelling to Mount Street Infant /Junior School on the train (can you imagine today letting children do that on their own?). The railway was our playground in a way – I’d run down the meadow, calling on Rosemary who lived in Cobbstown and we’d play in the goods coaches. I can still recall the smell of the warm tarred wood. Walking through the tunnel was a frequent occurrence, goods trains slowly approaching meant you dived for cover in recesses in the wall – parents would have had a fit if they’d known. Then on to the Grammar School on the train. There was a very strict order of segregation; the boy’s grammar school pupils travelled in one coach and the girls in a separate one. No funny business there! The railway system was superb. The porters always had a roaring fire in the waiting room. We had a season ticket for school travel and used it to go to Brecon on Saturdays. Mr Thomas, the Station Master, would hold the train if we were running late for school – my mother would phone him. Bill and Violet Davies at the ‘Refresh’ were kindness personified – anyone else remember the Christmas tree with a present for each child? I used the train frequently as a teenager to go to London in the holidays. Dad’s sister and family had a small hotel in Gower Street and were always busy, so many holidays were spent there helping out. I loved it and grew to love London. It broadened my outlook. I was in teacher training college when the railway line became part of Beeching’s plan. It was devastating. The speed with which it happened, the sale of the land and the removal of railway lines showed that there would be no going back. It made life so much easier for moving livestock to the bottom fields when Dad bought the chunk of the line that divided the meadow from the fields that were known as “the land below the line”. It included the magnificent engine shed. Some of the stone we used to build a fireplace in our new house. I look back with really fond memories of my childhood here; and was so happy to return to Talyllyn as an adult, with my family, to the home which we built on the farm. June Rennison (née Gwynne-Harris), June 2019