P B Whitehouse, an authority on railways, extols the virtues of “the little railway” – the Talyllyn - that runs from Rhydyronen to Abergynolwyn and beyond.

The Talyllyn Railway was opened in 1866 to transport slate from Bryneglwys Quarry in the Gwernol Valley to Abergynolgwyn and thence to Towyn. It was also licensed to carry passengers but it didn't reach its centenary, closing in 1950. Here P B Whitehouse, friend of disused railways, celebrates the line's successful continuance – from 1951 - under the auspices of the world's first railway preservation society of which he was a founder member.

Patrick Bruce Whitehouse (1922-93) was a pioneering founder member of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, the first of its kind, and was also involved in the preservation of the Ffestiniog Railway and Devon's Dart Valley Railway and in the creation of the Birmingham Railway Museum. He wrote, or co-wrote, 53 books on railways and co-presented the BBC children's programme ‘Railway Roundabout'. His trade was building – he ran the family's firm (B Whitehouse & Sons) in Birmingham and received an OBE following his campaign in the 1960s for safety regulations on building sites.