History Literature / RailwayAdventure

* NoOSHACompliance: 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 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 workforce.

* HilariousInHindsight: Rolt comments that King's Station is oddly named because the Talyllyn never had received any royal visitors in its lifetime up to that point. In the years after the book would be published then-Prince Charles [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cadkJF7qv24&t=2s would visit the railroad twice]] riding the footplate of locomotives on both occasions.
** By the time Charles made his royal visits to the line as well, the station had ''lost'' the name of King's Station in favor of Wharf Station instead!
** Rolt often comments on abandoned narrow gauge lines such as the Ffestiniog Railway, the Welsh Highland Railway, the Corris Railway and Glyn Valley Tramway in past tense terms as all of them had closed by the time the book was published. Almost all of them would be re-opened or rebuilt (either partially or fully) over the coming years by the very rail preservation movement which had its roots on the Talyllyn. The partially rebuilt Corris is almost the Talyllyn's sister railway at this point due to how close it is, and the modern Talyllyn and Corris regularly send locomotives and rolling stock back and forth between them for special events.
* HomemadeInventions: 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.

* MagicBrakes: a TruthInTelevision 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 Byn Eglwys incline. When Rolt's fellow RailEnthusiast 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.

* TheAllegedCar: 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'' permanently sidelined for most of the book and not repaired 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.

* IHaveManyNames: as noted with the brief name change of ''Dogloch'' to ''Pretoria'' as a patriotic British response to the Boer War.

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: 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.

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: 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.

** When Rolt begins listing the type of volunteers the railway attracted in its early years he does mention having a ''[[TheVicar vicar]]'' join the society. [[Literature/TheRailwaySeries Its a pretty safe bet as to ''who'' that is.]]

* TheAllegedCar: 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'' permanently sidelined for most of the book and not repaired 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.

* NoSmoking: 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 by reactivating as of the time of Rolt's book.

* NoSmoking: 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.

** 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."