Latest News

October 2011

10222 Sentinel Naming Ceremony 29/10/2011

A fantastic day was had at Cynheidre on Saturday 29th October 2011 as our Sentinel
diesel shunter, 0-4-0DH 10222 was named Peter J Griffiths at Cynheidre Station
platform by Councillor for the Glyn Ward Mr. Jim Jones.

Peter Griffiths was born in 1942 in Cynheidre, and lived in a house overlooking the mine.
He was educated at Five Roads CP, Llandovery College, and Lincoln College, Oxford.
He and his family emigrated to Denver, Colorado in 1972 as an investment counsellor
but during the past several years he and his wife, Yvonne, have renewed their links with
Wales.This has been evidenced by his very real interest and practical support of our
project. He is also author of ‘Tongue Tied’ a book he wrote ‘to entertain, but also to
glorify Wales, its people and its language’. This is published by Y Lolfa, Talybont( ISBN
9781847710970). Signed copies of the book are available to order for £9.95 directly
from the LMMR by emailing us.

Dignatories and special guests present were: -

Member of Parliament for Llanelli Nia Griffith.
Llanelli Town Council Mayor Councillor Mrs. Linda Steadman and Deputy Mayor
Mr. Hubert Hitchman.
Llanelli Rural Community Concil Mayor Councillor Mrs. Sue Lewis and her consort
Mr. Ray Thorne and Deputy Mayor Mrs. Tegwen Devichand.
Councillor Jim Jones and Councillor Carol Rees.
Carmarthenshire County Council Councillor Chairman and Consort Councillor Mr.
Ivor Jackson and Mrs. Jackson.
Mr. Alun Taylor of Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

The loco did the ceremony proud, having now been painted into full Hanson Aggregates
colours by members Rob Morris and Brian Hardy (with the painting materials donated to
the company by Hanson). It is also now complete with the Hanson Aggregates corporate
logo.

A lot of time and effort went into making the event a success (and the rain failed to
dampen spirits). Following the naming a light buffet was provided in the MK.2 buffet car
and RW Rail owned MK.1 BSK 34676 at Cynheidre station (with it's proud owner Robert
Lawrence giving those interested a tour of the guards compartment).

The event was well attended by members (who had been cordially invited by post
several weeks ago).

In addition to all that attended the event we would also like to thank Arriva Trains Wales
for providing a replacement window for our MK.2 buffet car.

A video of the naming ceremony is available to view below and was excellently put
together by member Bob Masterman, who himself kindly assisted with the application of
the rather fiddly Hanson Aggregates logo!

We hope to hold further events in the new year and this was a good test of our ability,
commitment and resources to carry such an event out.

''Desmond'' Appeal

The company's steam loco Avonside 1498 'Desmond' (currently the subject of a National
Lottery Funded restoration at the Llangollen Railway) has seen funding become quite
short recently and the company are appealing for anybody who may be able to help with
the remaining restoration costs (believed to be in the region of £20,000). Any potential
investors are advised to contact Project Director Des Thomas on 01554 759255 or to
email us through our contact tab on the left.

September 2011

It has been a few months of steady progress at the LMMR. Concentration on acquiring
various grants and funds has been our main focus.

Restoration

The repaint of our Sentinel 0-4-0DH 10222 is nearing an end and is looking fantastic,
following months of excellent work from active members Brian and Robert. Click images
below to view below.

Prototype Coach

We have struck a new partnership with another local railway, in order to assist them for
storage purposes. We hope to form a fruitful relationship with The Burry Port and
Gwendraeth Valley Railway in the coming years and thank them for their current and
future assistance with track laying on our run around section at Cynheidre. The first item
of rolling stock to arrive at the LMMR under the agreement is a Leyland built prototype
coach no. ADB 977091. The vehicle was delivered to Cynheidre by Allelys on Friday
09/09/2011. Please see a video of the move in our video section here.

For a video of the move click here.

Pictures of the coach can be clicked on below.

Tar Wagons

The Leyland built coach was not the only arrival at the railway, with two redundant tar
wagons arriving at Cynheidre on the same day. The tankers have been very kindly
donated by CPL Industries. The tanks, which had lay on a bed of mud for at least 20+
years were located at Cwm Coking Plant, Beddau and posed a potential issue to
remove. Thanks to invaluable assistance from employees at Beddau and Allelys we
managed to retrieve both tankers as planned.

For a video of the move click here.

Pictures of the tankers can be clicked on below.

June 2011

Work is continuing to progress well at Cynheidre. The probation service have now
cleared a significant amount of brambles from between the sleepers of the running line
to Cynheidre North.

We are currently concentrating on the weekly car boot sales at Murray Street Carpark,
Llanelli every Sunday. This is a very important artery of income for us at present and will
allow us to fund a number of future projects going forward over the next few months.

Sentinel 0-4-0DH 10222 has now been completely covered in undercoat externally,
thanks to the excellent ongoing work by volunteers Robert Morris and Brian Hardy.
Internally some electrical and air issues are currently being investigated.

April 2011

Avonside 0-6-0 steam locomotive no. 1680 ''Sir John'' was delivered to Cynheidre today
from the nearby Gwili Railway. A deal was struck with the Vale of Neath Railway, the
owners of the loco several months ago to bring the loco to the LMMR for storage. The
arrival compliments our own Avonside locomotive 1498 ''Desmond' nicely.

March 2011

We have now received a Mk.1 brake corridor coach recently purchased by one of our
members.

The coach has been at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway since 1986 and is a
welcome addition to our growing collection of stock. It will be used as hauled stock and
we will be utilising it's vacuum braking and steam heating facilities.

For a video of the move, please see our Videos section.

Other news

Work is currently progressing on converting our iron ore tippler wagon into a flatbed P-
way engineering wagon. Although unfortunate that we will lose a mineral wagon, the
bodywork on the wagon was in such a poor condition that it would be uneconomical to
repair in the short term. As we will be carrying out a lot more heavy track work in the
coming months, this will prove to be a useful vehicle for transporting materials back and
forth our site by rail.