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The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway running for 7.25 miles (11.67 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe under-investment, the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers. Since preservation, the railway has operated as a tourist attraction, significantly expanding its rolling stock through acquisition and an engineering programme to build new locomotives and carriages. In 1976 an extension was opened along the former mineral line from Abergynolwyn to the new station at Nant Gwernol. In 2001 the preservation society celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in 2005 a major rebuilding and extension of Tywyn Wharf station took place, including a much expanded facility for the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. The fictional Skarloey Railway, which formed part of the Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W Awdry, was based on the Talyllyn Railway. The preservation of the line inspired the Ealing Comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt. (more...)

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July 13

• 1643 – English Civil War: Royalists defeated the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Roundway Down near Devizes in central Wiltshire.
• 1772 – Under the command of explorer James Cook, HMS Resolution set sail from Plymouth, England.
• 1863 – Three days of rioting began (pictured) in New York City by opponents of new laws passed by the United States Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.
• 1878 – The major powers in Europe signed the Treaty of Berlin, redrawing the map of the Balkans.
• 1985 – Live Aid rock music concerts, organised by singers Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, were held at Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.
• 1995 – Bosnian Genocide: The Army of Republika Srpska under Ratko Mladić began the Srebrenica massacre in the region of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually killing an estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks.

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