The Talyllyn narrow gauge railway in west Wales has received a £682,500 Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards a project to redevelop Tywyn Wharf station.

The £1.7m project involves demolishing the existing museum and several other structures and constructing a purpose-built museum as an extension of the original station building.

Once complete, the new museum will provide improved exhibition conditions for the railway's extensive collection of artefacts, locomotives and rolling stock.

The railway, which runs from Tywyn on the coast of Cardigan Bay inland to Abergynolwyn, expects visitor numbers to the museum - currently in the region of 5,000 a year - to increase significantly once access is improved.

Professor Tom Pritchard, chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Wales, said: 'Tourism plays a major role in the North Wales economy and this award will not only ensure the future of the railway's valuable collection and make it more accessible to visitors, but secure jobs for the people who live and work along the railway who depend on tourism.'

The railway, inspiration for the Rev. W. Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine stories, was built in 1865 and became the first volunteer-run railway in the world when the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was formed in 1950 and assumed control. Details: www.talyllyn.co.uk