David Williamson (1939 - 2019)

My sister Rosemarie and I have the very sad duty to inform you of the death of our beloved Father, David Williamson. His funeral was held at All Saints Church, Baschurch on Wednesday 16th October.

David joined the preservation society in Tywyn in 1970 whilst on holiday with his family. He joined the East Midland area group and subsequently joined the committee.

He recalled early morning starts on day working parties from Derby (in the days before the M54 was built). In 1974 David took over area group sales and attended many Traction Engine Rallies raising money for the society and awareness of its operations with the general public. Dad also worked in the traffic department becoming a volunteer Assistant Guard – learning his trade from John Cox.

In 1977 following the family move to Shropshire he joined Brian Walker’s bridge gang – supporting Brian and his sons with Keith Ferguson; working on bridge and block post maintenance, most notably Rhydyronen bridge.

David worked his way up to Guard enjoying his contact with the public and with the assistants and trainees who were rostered with him. He greatly enjoyed being Platform Inspector at Wharf Station and Station Master at Abergynolwyn. Dad never quite got to be a grade card holder – he said he always forgot what he learned from one trip to the next.

Our family spent many school holidays either camping or caravanning at Tynllwyn while Dad volunteered on the railway, and we also enjoyed working with him as trainee guards during our teenage years. The family also enjoyed weekends working with the sales stand at the Shrewsbury Flower show and Bishops Castle Traction Engine Rally in the 1980’s along with the Vincent Family.

In his later years Dad very much enjoyed the opportunity to drive steam engines – following a really enjoyable driving experience with Mike Green in 2010.

David was a narrow gauge steam railway enthusiast all his life and the Talyllyn Railway and his friends from the society were an important part of his life.

Peter Williamson