Aberaeron Bog Railway

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Pre dating human life on earth by approximately 9.5 years, a small meteorite was travelling from a far distant galaxy on a direct collision course with Earth.

Finally striking its target, it landed in an area that was in future times destined to become known as Aberaeron. At this time, nobody realised how it’s small but powerful magnetic field was to affect events in the future.

Its arrival went un-noticed by all but a small collection of ants who thought it was an unusually large egg and promptly buried it.

Some time later on, mankind had evolved, and the railway had been invented.

In celebration of this, Aberaeron businessman Dafydd Lloyd-Brunel, (who was no relation to his half brother Isambard, a successful builder of many things to do with railways) decided to construct his own railway on what at that time was known as the Aberaeron Bog.

Construction began with a small team of workers, Dafydd led, and was assisted by his Great aunt Gwynedd, a self taught dynamite expert, his younger cousin (7 years old at the time) Gwyn who became very proficient with a bucket and spade, His beloved French poodle, Dylan and a retired pit pony on loan from a donkey sanctuary in Fishguard.

Using a compass, Dafydd began to lay the track in what he believed to be a Westerly direction, and after a few weeks as much as 20 feet had been successfully laid. A short time after that, he came upon a tall cliff face, so using the talents of Great aunt Gwynedd and some dynamite she had in her apron pocket, he constructed a dual purpose tunnel and coal mine, the coal mainly being put aside for the arrival of the steam locomotive he was expecting, the rest going to his cottage in Aberbabble for fuel for the winter.

Finally emerging from the other side of the tunnel, he continued to follow his compass to the West, and build track, and one day to his delight, he came upon the end of another track which appeared to be fairly new, and apparently unused but going somewhere. He joined his track to this one, and sat back to await the arrival of his locomotive and rolling stock.

The day arrived when a brand new 0-4-2 tank loco, 2 open trucks and a guards van were delivered by Pickfords, an up and coming road Haulage Company, and Dafydd quickly lit the fire, coupled up the rolling stock and prepared to set off.

With a blast of the whistle, he opened the regulator, and so began the first epic journey of the Aberaeron Bog Railway, (so named due to the nature of the ground in the area.)

He waved goodbye to the Mayor and some council officials who had come to witness the event, and as the locomotive began to pull away covered all of them in hot embers from the chimney.

Undeterred they all cheered as the train disappeared away and into the tunnel, and the sound got quieter for a few moments, but to their amazement they heard another train coming behind them.

They turned to look, and saw a train emerging from the tunnel behind, and with great glee, they waved a greeting to the driver.

Dafydd waved back to the assembled officials, and wondered just how they had got in front of him so fast. The officials scratched their heads in wonderment at what they had just witnessed.

A few minutes later, and the whole thing repeated itself again, and Dafydd decided to invent the Doppelganger theory as it appeared to be actually happening.

After half an hour or so, everybody got bored of the whole thing, and Dafydd brought his train to a halt alongside the officials.

A huge debate followed as to what had happened, and Dafydd began to suspect that all was not well. He got out his compass, and setting off in a Northerly direction watched the needle as it began to spin wildly. Suddenly he tripped over what appeared to be a small rock, and the compass went into overdrive. It was at this instant that Dafydd realised what had happened. This mysterious little rock ( now known to be an ancient meteorite) had affected his compass during the construction, and he had in fact built the worlds first circle line. After his initial disappointment, he ignored the ridicule he received from all around him. And in total defiance he continued to run his railway for many years. Even though it served no useful purpose at all, round and round he went until eventually many years later the line was closed in a national railway rationalisation program.

Dafydd was re-housed in an institution for the bewildered, the rails lifted, the loco and rolling stock recycled into wind turbines, and the tunnels turned into low rise luxury housing for ex cave dwellers from Fishguard, and were then sealed up.

So ended the little known life of the Aberaeron Bog Railway, but it is faithfully reproduced in the model we see today. Little of the original remains today, the tunnel mouths now overgrown, and the trackbed is now part of the roadway.

And the cave dwellers? As far as can be told, they still exist, occasionally venturing through a new tunnel they dug using a compass, the exit is believed to be somewhere near Borth, but emerging about 500 yards out to sea.