Ahead of our Super-Power weekend this September, when the original Garratt engine ‘K1’ will return to the Railway, a couple from California, who recently travelled with us, told us about their family’s connections with this very special engine!
Angharad Rees-Jones and Miles Goodman, who now live in the US, traveled the same route in June as their wedding train, along the Welsh Highland to Rhyd Ddu, but this time with children Bryn and Arwen. The couple were celebrating 10 years since their wedding, when their celebration train had run behind ‘K1’.
Angharad said: “As a little girl, I had grown up spending summer holidays up here in North Wales as my parents volunteered with one of the original Railway groups in Porthmadog. We would even help with track bed surveys when the railway was opening from Caernarfon. “It was my special happy place.”
“When Miles and I were choosing somewhere to get married, we found out we could have our ceremony nearby at Plas Brondanw and then we could come here and celebrate on the train and have ‘K1’ pull us, which was the engine that Dad helped rebuild! It was the most magical day.”
“Everyone who came along said it was the best wedding they had ever been to, the crew decorated the train in teal for us, so it matched the Portmeirion colours for our ceremony, we even stopped at Rhyd Ddu station to have the speeches.”
Dad, Robin Rees-Jones was the last fireman on the FfWHR to fire the ‘K1’ loco before it was dismantled for its 10-year overhaul.
Robin had been part of the original group (formed by FfWHR Director Mike Hart) which brought ‘K1’ out of the National Railway Museum in York to return it to steam.
He said; “We spent 14 years doing it up at Tyseley and Boston Lodge and then it ran for 10 years on this railway. I was on the committee leading the restoration of K1, so it became part of the girls’ lives coming up to fundraising events and Open Days.”
Mum, Lyndsay Rees-Jones said her girls grew up around the railways:
“They would be sitting on the front carriage, of the now WHHR, as kids do, saying ‘that is my daddy driving’, loud enough for everyone else to hear, before becoming volunteers themselves on the WHR, which is why being able to get married on the railway was so special. The volunteers who had worked with Robin on the restoration also crewed the train for Angharad and Miles’ big day.”
Robin and his fellow ‘K1’ restoration team have stayed in touch and chat on Zoom each week and will be guests on a train pulled behind ‘K1’ on her return to the railway this September during our popular Super-Power (14th – 15th of September 2024) event.
Based primarily at Dinas, we will be showcasing their powerful Garratt locomotives, plus some other surprises!
Details for the Super-Power event will be available online shortly, click here for further information.
Wrth i ni edrych ymlaen i’n penwythnos Super-Power ym mis Medi eleni, pan fydd injan wreiddiol Garratt ‘K1’ yn dychwelyd i’r Rheilffordd, dywedodd gwpl o Galiffornia, a ymwelodd â’r rheilffordd yn ddiweddar, wrthym am eu cysylltiadau teulu i’r injan arbennig hon!
Teithiodd Angharad Rees-Jones a Miles Goodman, sydd bellach yn byw yn yr Unol Daleithiau, yr un llwybr ym mis Mehefin â’u trên priodas, ar hyd Rheilffordd Eryri (RhE) i Ryd Ddu, ond y tro hwn gyda’r plant Bryn ac Arwen. Roedd y cwpl yn dathlu 10 mlynedd ers eu priodas, pan oedd eu trên dathlu wedi rhedeg y tu ôl i “K1”.
Meddai Angharad: “Fel merch fach, roeddwn i wedi tyfu i fyny yn treulio gwyliau haf yma yng Ngogledd Cymru tra roedd fy rhieni yn gwirfoddoli gydag un o’r grwpiau Rheilffordd gwreiddiol ym Mhorthmadog. Byddem hyd yn oed yn helpu gydag arolygon gwelyau trac pan oedd y rheilffordd yn y proses o agor o Gaernarfon. “Dyma fy lle hapus arbennig.”
“Pan oedd Miles a minnau’n dewis rhywle i briodi, fe wnaethon ni ddarganfod y gallem gael ein seremoni gerllaw ym Mhlas Brondanw ac yna gallem ddod yma i ddathlu ar y trên a chael ‘K1’ i’n tynnu, sef yr injan y bu Dad yn helpu eu hailadeiladu! Hwn oedd y diwrnod mwyaf hudolus.”
“Dywedodd pawb a ddaeth draw mai dyma’r briodas orau y buont erioed, roedd y criw yn addurno’r trên mewn corhwyaid i ni, felly roedd yn cyd-fynd â lliwiau Portmeirion ar gyfer ein seremoni, fe wnaethon ni hyd yn oed stopio yng ngorsaf Rhyd Ddu i gael yr areithiau.”
Dad, Robin Rees-Jones oedd y dyn tân olaf ar RhFfE i danio’r loco ‘K1’ cyn iddo gael ei ddatgymalu ar gyfer ei ailwampio 10 mlynedd.
Roedd Robin wedi bod yn rhan o’r grŵp gwreiddiol (a ffurfiwyd gan Gyfarwyddwr RhFfE Mike Hart) a ddaeth â ‘K1’ allan o’r Amgueddfa Reilffordd Genedlaethol yn Efrog i’w ddychwelyd i stêm.
Dwedodd ef; “Fe wnaethon ni dreulio 14 mlynedd yn ei wneud yn Tyseley a Boston Lodge ac yna fe redodd am 10 mlynedd ar y rheilffordd hon. Roeddwn i ar y pwyllgor yn arwain y gwaith o adfer K1, felly daeth yn rhan o fywydau’r merched wrth ddod i fyny at ddigwyddiadau codi arian a Diwrnodau Agored.”
Dywedodd mam, Lyndsay Rees-Jones fod ei merched wedi eu magu o amgylch y rheilffyrdd:
“Bydden nhw’n eistedd ar y cerbyd blaen, o’r nawr Rheilffordd Treftadaeth Ucheldir Cymru, fel mae plant yn ei wneud, yn dweud ‘dyna fy nhad yn gyrru’, yn ddigon uchel i bawb arall ei glywed, cyn dod yn wirfoddolwyr eu hunain ar RhE, a dyna pam roedd gallu roedd priodi ar y rheilffordd mor arbennig. Bu’r gwirfoddolwyr oedd wedi gweithio gyda Robin ar y gwaith adfer hefyd yn criwio’r trên ar gyfer diwrnod mawr Angharad a Miles.”
Mae Robin a’i gyd-dîm adfer ‘K1’ wedi cadw mewn cysylltiad ac yn sgwrsio ar Zoom bob wythnos a bydd yn westeion ar drên sy’n cael ei dynnu y tu ôl i ‘K1’ ar ôl iddi ddychwelyd i’r rheilffordd y mis Medi hwn yn ystod ein digwyddiad Super-Power poblogaidd (14eg – 15fed o Fedi 2024).
Wedi’i lleoli’n bennaf yn Dinas, byddwn yn arddangos eu locomotifau Garratt pwerus, ynghyd â rhai syrpreisys eraill!
Bydd manylion am ddigwyddiad Super-Power ar gael ar-lein yn fuan, cliciwch yma am ragor o wybodaeth.
