Acknowledgements

Thanks first of all to you, reader, for joining me on this adventure. I hope you enjoyed it. If you've stuck with me this far, perhaps you won't mind tarrying while I thank some other friends whose support made this project possible.

My dear friend Samantha Dodge was my partner in making our shared dreams of Wales into reality. Her friendship, companionship, and tolerance for my eccentricities made this trip of a lifetime. The very talented Justin Tilton of instructional media + magic, inc. provided hardware and software resources and constant encouragement. Thomas Matthew Swingly contributed invaluable guidance and hard-won expertise in Photoshop. Dr. Ben Fisher of the University of Wales-Bangor, author and creator of the Welsh Highland Railway Project web site, put up cheerfully with my many e-mailed queries, and provided irreplaceable expertise on the Ffestiniog and its sister and partner lines. FR Operating Department Volunteer Co-ordinator Stewart Macfarlane saved me from many errors, and helped identify the FR train crews pictured in the photographs. FR volunteer and trainee fireman Andrew Castledine's critical eye saved me from still other errors. Richard Huss of the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth and the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, Webmaster of the official Talyllyn Railway web site, generously offered advice and guidance about the TR, signaling, Vale of Rheidol rolling stock, and a host of other matters. I would also like to thank Richard for the use of his wonderful images of TR token machines and interlocking devices.

My most special thanks go to the fine people of Wales who made my visit so wonderful. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, I can tell you that the Welsh are a people who possess and give kindness and courtesy in unequalled measure. This is true most of all of the expert volunteer and professional railwaymen and women of the Talyllyn, the VoR, the Ffestiniog, and Railtrack. In preserving and operating the railways of Wales, they are saving a magnificent cultural legacy for us all. My hat is off to all of them. If any reader of these pages recognizes the railway people portrayed in the images who are not credited by name, please be so kind as to e-mail me at eledbetter@steamsafari.com. I would be pleased to acknowledge them by name.