Editing Talyllyn Railway (section)

====<span class="anchor" id="Extension to Nant Gwernol"></span><span class="anchor" id="1969–1980"></span>Extension to Nant Gwernol: 1969–1980====
[[File:Nant Gwernol station, Talyllyn Railway - geograph.org.uk - 2511203.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nant Gwernol railway station|Nant Gwernol]] station]]
The preservation society had long held ambitions to extend the railway along the former mineral extension from Abergynolwyn to the foot of the Alltwyllt incline, and as early as 1959 work had begun to trace the owners of the land that the extension traversed. Planning began in the mid-1960s, but construction did not start until 1968 when the winding house for the Abergynolwyn village incline was demolished.<ref name=Thomas34>Thomas 2002, page 34</ref> To bring the line up to passenger standards some of the curves needed to be eased, and this required blasting work, as the line runs on a narrow ledge on the hillside at this point.<ref>Bate 2001, page 181</ref> The extension and new station at Nant Gwernol were opened on 22 May 1976 by Wynford Vaughan Thomas who drove in the ceremonial "[[golden spike]]" to complete the extension.<ref>Bate 2001, pages 184–185</ref> Despite this official opening ceremony, minor work still remained to bring the extension to the standard required to run regular passenger trains, but regular train services began on 29 May 1976.<ref>Bate 2001, page 189</ref>

[[File:Nant Gwernol footbridge - 2008-03-18.jpg|thumb|right|The footbridge across the Nant Gwernol]]
Although the extension of the railway was completed in 1976, work in the vicinity continued with the creation of footpaths connecting to the new station. A new footbridge was built crossing the Nant Gwernol gorge and connecting the station with the existing path on the east side of the river. The bridge and paths were opened on 3 May 1980 by [[Gordon Parry, Baron Parry|Lord Parry]], the chairman of the [[Visit Wales|Wales Tourist Board]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Railway Times |page=11 |volume=18 |title=Narrow Gauge News-Centre |date=June 1980}}</ref> By the mid-1970s, it had become clear that passenger numbers were no longer increasing. After 1973, the peak year for passengers on the Talyllyn with 186,000&nbsp;passenger journeys made,<ref>Bate 2001, page 169</ref> numbers were to decline consistently until the 1990s.<ref name=Thomas35/> Preliminary work on the conversion of ''Irish Pete'' for use on the Talyllyn, which had begun in the early 1970s, was put on hold in 1975 and the chassis and boiler were put into storage at Pendre.<ref>Bate 2001, page 234</ref>