It's time our railways got back on the right track

HAVING just experienced a Fawlty Towers on Wheels experience on the “Mancunian Express" - late, overcrowded, and worst of all, suffering from a boiler malfunction on the refreshment trolley - I am still proud of the Welsh railway history and heritage.

- With Graham Davies

Following the early industrial wagonways, we can claim at the beginning of the 19th century the world's first steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick on the Penydarren Tramroad; and in 1807 the world's first fare-paying passenger line on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway.

As our industrial strength shaped and was shaped by the railways, so its decline reduced the need for the mineral lines.