it was very hard due to the law to make the committee the owners of the railway. both the committee and haydn jones' people thought it was a good idea to have jones' stop being the owner. they decided to make a new company, called talyllyn holdings, the owner. the company was a mix of people from the committee and from jones' group. the company started running the railway on february 8 1951. they changed the name of the company to a non-profit called the talyllyn railway preservation society. the society started to advertise that they wanted to save the railway and asked for people to donate money. they also wanted to find people to volunteer to help run the railway. by may, almost 650 people had donated and became members of the society. the railway re-opened on whit monday, on may 14 1951. trains ran between wharf and rhydyronen. starting on june 4, trains ran daily until the summer. david curwen was the chief mechanical engineer.