Editor

It is good to see that the Corris Railway are extending their line and building a further steam locomotive. I hope the members will do all they can to keep the Corris Railway ‘hero’ Mr Campbell Thomas in the public mind - maybe by naming their new locomotive after him.

Mr Campbell Thomas was Stationmaster at Machynlleth in 1948 when the Corris Railway closed - this at the time of a national scrap drive. Carefully, he hid his the two Corris Railway locomotives Nos 3 and 4 in the lower yard and accidentally overlooked an instruction from Swindon Works to send the locos for scrap. He knew the Talyllyn Railway would need them one day, so he ensured from 1948 to 1951 they were kept in a condition that they could work again. Inspired by Campbell Thomas, another railwayman Oliver Veltom, District Super at Oswestry, saved the Vale of Rheidol Railway from closure in the 1950s. Such was his efforts, his men called the line ‘Veltom’s own Railway’. Oliver had regard for his men and when in the Beeching era lines closed, he wrote to all the major employers in the district served by the lines asking them to take on redundant railwaymen. Oliver out-did Mr Campbell Thomas. When the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway closed in 1956, he saved their two locomotives for six years in Oswestry works so the line could reopen in 1963. When the history of railway preservation pioneers is written, Campbell Thomas and Oliver Veltom will feature high on the list.

Chris Magner Dunval Road, Bridgnorth

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