Powers to construct a railway from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn, plus a short connecting line at Tywyn which was never built, were obtained in 1865 when Parliament passed the Talyllyn Railway Act. Initially the plan was to build a railway from Bryneglwys to Aberdyfi, however the construction of the standard-gauge Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway meant that only the section as far as Towyn (as it was then known) was required. McConnell was the owner of a Manchester cotton mill and wished to diversify his interests because of the shortage of raw cotton due to the war in America. The Aberdovey Slate Company Limited was formed in 1864 by William McConnell to lease the quarry and open it up on a large scale. Slate was first quarried at Bryneglwys in the 1840s, by John Pughe of Aberdyfi, the end product being carried to Aberdyfi by pack animals or on carts or sledges for onward shipment by sea.Ĭuriously, the American Civil War was the real impetus for the construction of a railway to serve the quarry. Bryneglwys lies on the same veins of slate as the quarries further east around Corris and Aberllefenni. All but invisible from the main valley road, and from the present-day terminus of the Talyllyn Railway at Nant Gwernol, the quarry once employed 300 men and in its time produced 300,000 tons of slate and slabs. The history of the Talyllyn Railway is inextricably tied up with the history of Bryneglwys slate quarry.
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