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Central Chubut Railway

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The Central Chubut Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central del Chubut ) was a British -owned company that built and operated a 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge railway line in the Argentine province of Chubut in the Patagonia region at the end of the 19th. century.

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79-705: In 1884 the Argentine government granted the Welsh immigrant Lewis Jones a concession to build and operate a railway between the valley of the Chubut River and Porth Madryn on the southern side of the Península Valdés . With the help of Asahel P. Bell, an engineer, Jones set up a company in Liverpool , England to finance the construction. In October 1884, Law No. 1539 that allowed company to build

158-629: A broad gauge line from Puerto Madryn to Sierra Grande, connecting with the Nahuel Huapi railway in San Antonio Oeste . Other plans foresaw to use bus services to help railway lines. According to Clement Dumrauf, the railway was not expanded due to British settlers that were interested in preserve the Patagonia region only for sheep farming. Another version stated that livestock company "La Argentina Southern Land Company" refused to

237-530: A first language is largely concentrated in the less urban north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , inland Conwy and Denbighshire , northern and south-western Powys , the Isle of Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , North Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , and parts of western Glamorgan , although first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. However, Cardiff is now home to an urban Welsh-speaking population (both from other parts of Wales and from

316-755: A British national identity only. Most residents of Wales (96 per cent, 2.9 million) reported at least one national identity of English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, or British. A survey published in 2001, by the Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends at Oxford University (sample size 1161), found that 14.6 per cent of respondents described themselves as British, not Welsh; 8.3 per cent saw themselves as more British than Welsh; 39.0 per cent described themselves as equally Welsh and British; 20.2 per cent saw themselves as more Welsh than British; and 17.9 per cent described themselves as Welsh, not British. Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what

395-534: A Scottish ethnicity tick-box be included in the census in Scotland, and with this inclusion as many as 88.11% claimed Scottish ethnicity. Critics argued that a higher proportion of respondents would have described themselves as of Welsh ethnicity had a Welsh tick-box been made available. Additional criticism was levelled at the timing of the census, which was taken in the middle of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis . Organisers said that this had not affected

474-716: A Welsh Mormon settlement, lays claim to a greater proportion of inhabitants of Welsh descent than anywhere outside Wales itself. Malad's local High School is known as the "Malad Dragons", and flies the Welsh Flag as its school colours. Welsh people have also settled in New Zealand and Australia. Around 1.75 million Americans report themselves to have Welsh ancestry, as did 458,705 Canadians in Canada's 2011 census . This compares with 2.9 million people living in Wales (as of

553-547: A box describing themselves as of Scottish or of Irish ethnicity, an option not available for Welsh or English respondents. Prior to the census, Plaid Cymru backed a petition calling for the inclusion of a Welsh tick-box and for the National Assembly to have primary law-making powers and its own National Statistics Office . In the absence of a Welsh tick-box, the only tick-boxes available were 'white-British,' 'Irish', or 'other'. The Scottish parliament insisted that

632-562: A distinct genetic difference between those from northern and southern Wales, which was interpreted as the legacy of Little England beyond Wales . A study of a diverse sample of 2,039 individuals from the United Kingdom allowed the creation of a genetic map and the suggestion that there was a substantial migration of peoples from Europe prior to Roman times forming a strong ancestral component across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but which had little impact in Wales. Wales forms

711-765: A distinct genetic group, followed by a further division between north and south Wales, although there was evidence of a genetic difference between north and south Pembrokeshire as separated by the Landsker line . Speaking of these results, Professor Peter Donnelly , of the University of Oxford, said that the Welsh carry DNA which could be the most ancient in UK and that people from Wales are genetically relatively distinct. The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of

790-621: A heritage back to the Iron Age tribes. When the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Common Brittonic with significant influence from Latin , as did people in other areas of western and northern Britain; this language eventually evolved into Old Welsh . The surviving poem Y Gododdin

869-448: A number of captured German 03 class Pacifics locomotives were re-gauged to the 5 ft ( 1524 mm ) Russian gauge . Most diesel and electric rolling stock can undergo gauge conversion by replacement of their bogies . Engines with fixed wheelbases are more difficult to convert. In Australia, diesel locomotives are regularly re-gauged between broad, standard and narrow gauges. Gauge conversion of wagons and coaches involves

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948-685: A reference to the Welsh. Until c.  1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry , regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. During their time in Britain , the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices , the Demetae , the Silures and the Deceangli . The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of

1027-483: A sense of "land of fellow-countrymen", "our country", and notions of fraternity. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the post-Roman Era relationship of the Welsh with the Brythonic-speaking peoples of northern England and southern Scotland, the peoples of " Yr Hen Ogledd " (English: The Old North ). The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It

1106-532: Is a focal point for many Welsh Hindus. There are about 2,000 Sikhs in Wales, with the first purpose-built gurdwara opened in the Riverside area of Cardiff in 1989. The Sabbatarian temperance movement was also historically strong among the Welsh; the sale of alcohol was prohibited on Sundays in Wales by the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 – the first legislation specifically issued for Wales since

1185-565: Is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan ( Moliant Cadwallon , by Afan Ferddig) c.  633 . In Welsh literature , the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to describe any of the Britonnic peoples , including the Welsh, and was the more common literary term until c.  1100 . Thereafter Cymry prevailed as

1264-635: Is descended from Brythonic, spoken across Britain since before the Roman invasion . In 2016, an analysis of the geography of Welsh surnames commissioned by the Welsh Government found that 718,000 people (nearly 35% of the Welsh population) have a family name of Welsh origin, compared with 5.3% in the rest of the United Kingdom, 4.7% in New Zealand, 4.1% in Australia, and 3.8% in the United States, with an estimated 16.3 million people in

1343-568: Is in early Welsh and refers to the British kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn ( Edinburgh ) and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. Offa's Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia . The process whereby the indigenous population of Wales came to think of themselves as "Welsh" (a name applied to them by Anglo-Saxon settlers )

1422-474: Is not clear. There is plenty of evidence of the use of the term Brythoniaid (Britons); meanwhile, the earliest use of the word Kymry (referring not to the people but to the land—and possibly to northern Britain in addition to Wales) is found in a poem c.  633 . The name of the region in northern England now known as Cumbria is derived from the same root. Only gradually did Cymru (the land) and Cymry (the people) come to supplant Brython . Although

1501-536: Is now Wales for more than 1,400 years. Most Welsh people of faith are affiliated with the Church in Wales or other Christian denominations such as the Presbyterian Church of Wales , Catholicism , and Russian Orthodox Christianity. Wales has a long tradition of nonconformism and Methodism . Some Welsh people are affiliated with either Buddhism , Hinduism , Judaism , Islam or Sikhism . In

1580-401: Is the changing of one railway track gauge (the distance between the running rails) to another. In general, requirements depend on whether the conversion is from a wider gauge to a narrower gauge or vice versa, on how the rail vehicles can be modified to accommodate a track gauge conversion, and on whether the gauge conversion is manual or automated. If tracks are converted to a narrower gauge,

1659-464: Is uncertain how many people in Wales considered themselves to be of Welsh ethnicity; the 2001 UK census did not offer 'Welsh' as an option; respondents had to use a box marked "Other". Ninety-six per cent of the population of Wales thus described themselves as being White British . Controversy surrounding the method of determining ethnicity began as early as 2000, when it was revealed that respondents in Scotland and Northern Ireland would be able to tick

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1738-431: Is used as a police station. Stations from Campamento Villegas to Las Plumas were used as farmsteads . Welsh people Modern ethnicities The Welsh ( Welsh : Cymry ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Wales who share a common ancestry, history and culture . Wales is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom . The majority of people living in Wales are British citizens . In Wales,

1817-629: Is your country of birth? and How would you describe your national identity? (for the first time 'Welsh' and 'English' were included as options), What is your ethnic group? ('White Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish/British' was an option) and Can you understand, speak, read or write Welsh? . As of the 2011 census in Wales, 66 per cent (2.0 million) of residents reported a Welsh national identity (either on its own or combined with other identities). Of these, 218,000 responded that they had Welsh and British national identity. Just under 17 per cent (519,000) of people in Wales considered themselves to have

1896-484: The 1668 mm ( 5 ft  5 + 21 ⁄ 32  in ) gauge in Spain pass through an installation which adjusts their variable-gauge axles. This process is known as "gauge change". Goods wagons are still subject to either bogie exchange or wheelset exchange . Some steam locomotives were constructed to be reconfigured to a different gauge: for example, some East African Railways locomotives; Garratts ;

1975-480: The 2001 census ). There is no known evidence which would objectively support the legend that the Mandan , a Native American tribe of the central United States, are Welsh emigrants who reached North America under Prince Madog in 1170. The Ukrainian city of Donetsk was founded in 1869 by a Welsh businessman, John Hughes (an engineer from Merthyr Tydfil ) who constructed a steel plant and several coal mines in

2054-650: The Bronze Age . The British groups encountered by the Romans were thus largely descended from these Beaker populations. The post-Roman period saw a significant alteration in the genetic makeup of southern Britain due to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons; however, historical evidence suggests that Wales was little affected by these migrations. A study published in 2016 compared samples from modern Britain and Ireland with DNA found in skeletons from Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon era Yorkshire. The study found that most of

2133-497: The Isle of Anglesey (19%). Among respondents between 16 and 74 years of age, those claiming Welsh ethnicity were predominantly in professional and managerial occupations. In advance of the 2011 UK Census, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) launched a census consultation exercise. They received replies from 28 different Welsh organisations and a large proportion of these referred to Welsh ethnicity, language or identity. For

2212-510: The Polish name for Italy) have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry (plural) (singular: Cymro [m] and Cymraes [f]), and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.ri] ) are descended from the Brythonic word kombrogi , meaning "fellow-countrymen". Thus, they carry

2291-671: The United States , some 5 ft ( 1524 mm ) broad-gauge locomotives were designed for easy conversion to 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge, and in the United Kingdom some 7 ft  1 ⁄ 4  in ( 2140 mm ) broad-gauge locomotive classes of the Great Western Railway were designed for easy conversion to 1435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge. After World War II ,

2370-517: The Welsh language ( Welsh : Cymraeg ) is protected by law. Welsh remains the predominant language in many parts of Wales, particularly in North Wales and parts of West Wales , though English is the predominant language in South Wales . The Welsh language is also taught in schools in Wales; and, even in regions of Wales in which Welsh people predominantly speak English on a daily basis,

2449-480: The structure gauge of standard gauge track, such as height of overpasses so that trains can be exchanged. The choice of train couplers may be a factor as well. Where vehicles move to a different gauge, they must either be prepared for bogie exchange or be prepared for wheelset exchange. For example, passenger trains moving between the 1435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) in France and

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2528-595: The 2001, around 7,000 classified themselves as following "other religions", including a reconstructed form of Druidism , which was the pre-Christian religion of Wales (not to be confused with the Druids of the Gorsedd at the National Eisteddfod of Wales). Approximately one third of the population, some 980,000 people, profess no religious faith whatsoever. The census showed that slightly fewer than 10% of

2607-789: The Comodoro Rivadavia Railway did and the same cargo as the Puerto Deseado Railway . The company reached its peak in 1948 with 197,936 passengers carried. It decreased to 161,805 one year later due to a Chubut River flood that interrupted services from July to August. In 1950 the Argentine state acquired a railcar for the Trelew-Rawson line and built 17 houses for workers in Puerto Madryn and 8 in Trelew. The Government also renewed rail tracks and

2686-739: The English language. Patagonian Welsh (Cymraeg y Wladfa) is a dialect of the Welsh language which is spoken in Y Wladfa in the Argentine region, Patagonia . There has been migration from Wales to the rest of Britain throughout its history. During the Industrial Revolution thousands of Welsh people migrated, for example, to Liverpool and Ashton-in-Makerfield . As a result, some people from England, Scotland and Ireland have Welsh surnames. Welsh settlers moved to other parts of Europe, concentrated in certain areas. During

2765-574: The Industrial Revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish; and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including Italians migrated to South Wales. Wales received other immigration from various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities immigrated particularly to urban Wales. In 2001, it

2844-600: The Iron Age and Roman era Britons showed strong similarities with both each other and modern-day Welsh populations, while modern southern and eastern English groups were closer to a later Anglo-Saxon burial. Another study, using Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon samples from Cambridgeshire, concluded that modern Welsh people carry a 30% genetic contribution from Anglo-Saxon settlers in the post-Roman period; however, this could have been brought about due to later migration from England into Wales. A third study, published in 2020 and based on Viking era data from across Europe, suggested that

2923-631: The Jewish population of that area, which reached a peak of 4,000–5,000 in 1913, has declined; only Cardiff has retained a sizeable Jewish population, of about 2000 in the 2001 Census. The largest non-Christian faith in Wales is Islam, with about 22,000 members in 2001 served by about 40 mosques, following the first mosque established in Cardiff . A college for training clerics has been established at Llanybydder in West Wales . Islam arrived in Wales in

3002-536: The Middle Ages. From the early 1960s, local council areas were permitted to hold referendums every seven years to determine whether they should be "wet" or "dry" on Sundays: most of the industrialised areas in the east and south went "wet" immediately, and by the 1980s the last district, Dwyfor in the northwest, went wet; since then there have been no more Sunday-closing referendums. Despite Christianity dominating Wales, more ancient traditions persisted. In 1874 it

3081-541: The Puerto Madryn dock's floor. As the railway line had been constructed in narrow gauge (1,000 mm while being Welsh-owned, then changed to 750 mm when it became state-owned), the CRR could not be connected with the rest of Argentine railway network. A 1960 report declared operating costs of A$ 42,876,527.00 and only $ 7,867,092 of revenue. In 1956 trains carried 70,931 tons, decreasing to 29,339 four years later, due to strong competition with road transport . The line

3160-517: The Tx class on the broad gauge before they were eventually converted back again. Gauge-change in steam locomotives has a long lineage. In about 1860, the Bristol and Exeter Railway converted five 1435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) locomotives to 7 ft  1 ⁄ 4  in ( 2140 mm ) gauge, and later converted them back again. Also in the 19th century, in

3239-639: The US may have been 26 times greater than Welsh emigration), to many countries, including the US (in particular, Pennsylvania ), Canada and Y Wladfa in Patagonia , Argentina. Jackson County, Ohio was sometimes referred to as "Little Wales", and one of several communities where Welsh was widely spoken. There was a Welsh language press but by the late 1940s, the last Welsh language newspaper, y Drych began to publish in English. Malad City in Idaho , which began as

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3318-483: The Welsh language is spoken at home among family or in informal settings, with Welsh speakers often engaging in code-switching and translanguaging . In the English-speaking areas of Wales, many Welsh people are bilingually fluent or semi-fluent in the Welsh language or, to varying degrees, capable of speaking or understanding the language at limited or conversational proficiency levels. The Welsh language

3397-436: The Welsh language was certainly used at the time, Gwyn A. Williams argues that even at the time of the erection of Offa's Dyke, the people to its west saw themselves as Roman, citing the number of Latin inscriptions still being made into the 8th century. However, it is unclear whether such inscriptions reveal a general or normative use of Latin as a marker of identity or its selective use by the early Christian Church . There

3476-572: The Welsh population are regular church or chapel goers (a slightly smaller proportion than in England or Scotland), although about 58% of the population see themselves as Christian in some form. Judaism has quite a long history in Wales, with a Jewish community recorded in Swansea from around 1730. In August 1911, during a period of public order and industrial disputes, Jewish shops across the South Wales coalfield were damaged by mobs. Since that time

3555-580: The Welsh trace, on average, 58% of their ancestry to the Brittonic people, up to 22% from a Danish-like source interpreted as largely representing the Anglo-Saxons, 3% from Norwegian Vikings, and 13% from further south in Europe such as Italy , to a lesser extent, Spain and can possibly be related to French immigration during the Norman period. A 2015 genetic survey of modern British population groups found

3634-472: The acquisition of Welsh is a gateway to better careers, according to research from the Welsh Language Board and Careers Wales. The Welsh Government identified media as one of six areas likely to experience greater demand for Welsh speakers: the sector is Wales's third-largest revenue earner. Although Welsh is a minority language , and thus threatened by the dominance of English, support for

3713-429: The bridges, overpasses and tunnels, embankments and cuts . The minimum curve radius may have a larger radius on broader gauges requiring route deviations to allow the minimum curve radius to be increased. Track centers at stations with multiple tracks may also have to be increased. Conversion from narrow to standard gauge can cause several changes not because of the gauge itself, but in order to be compatible with

3792-510: The construction of a line when they realised about the poor quality of the soil, which would be used to finance the construction. With the railway Nationalisation in Argentina of 1948, the CCR became part of Roca Railway , one of the six divisions of state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos . A report made in 1949 stated that the CCR carried less than half of the number of passengers that

3871-463: The conversion of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway from 1600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ) to 1435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ). Steel sleepers may have alternative gauge fittings cast at production, may be drilled for new fittings or may be welded with new fittings. Conversion from a narrow to a wider gauge may require enlargement of the structure gauge of

3950-762: The countries studied having at least partial Welsh ancestry. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London . The names "Wales" and "Welsh" are modern descendants of the Anglo-Saxon word wealh , a descendant of the Proto-Germanic word walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Gaulish people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer indiscriminately to inhabitants of the Roman Empire . The Old English -speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use

4029-616: The early 19th century, and founded towns in Labrador 's coast region; in 1819, the ship Albion left Cardigan for New Brunswick , carrying Welsh settlers to Canada; on board were 27 Cardiganian families, many of whom were farmers. In 1852, Thomas Benbow Phillips of Tregaron established a settlement of about 100 Welsh people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Internationally Welsh people have emigrated, in relatively small numbers (in proportion to population, Irish emigration to

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4108-505: The existing timber sleepers (ties) may be used. However, replacement is required if the conversion is to a significantly wider gauge. Some sleepers may be long enough to accommodate the fittings of both existing and alternative gauges. Wooden sleepers are suitable for conversion because they can be drilled for the repositioned rail spikes . Concrete sleepers are unsuitable for conversion. Concrete sleepers may be cast with alternative gauge fittings in place, an example being those used during

4187-504: The first telephone line of the region. Journey time (that were made on horseback) reduced from 20 hours to only 2 hours in train. From Trelew the line was extended 50 km to Gaiman on 31 December 1908 and from there to Dolavon on 12 October 1915. In 1910 a 450-mt. length dock was opened in Puerto Madryn. The railway station would be opened three years after. In 1920 the company was nationalised , being added to Ferrocarriles Patagónicos of Argentine State Railway network. Soon after,

4266-531: The first time ever in British census history the 2011 Census gave the opportunity for people to describe their identity as Welsh or English. A 'dress rehearsal' of the Census was carried out on the Welsh island of Anglesey because of its rural nature and its high numbers of Welsh speakers. The Census, taken on 27 March 2011, asked a number of questions relating to nationality and national identity, including What

4345-475: The growing Welsh-medium schools of Cardiff itself) due to the centralisation and concentration of national resources and organisations in the capital. For some, speaking Welsh is an important part of their Welsh identity. Parts of the culture are strongly connected to the language — notably the Eisteddfod tradition, poetry and aspects of folk music and dance. Wales also has a strong tradition of poetry in

4424-420: The increase came in the coal mining districts; especially Glamorganshire , which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution , as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also a large-scale migration into Wales during

4503-641: The issue. As many as a third of all properties in Gwynedd are bought by people from outside Wales. The issue of locals being priced out of the local housing market is common to many rural communities throughout Britain, but in Wales the added dimension of language complicates the issue, as many new residents do not learn the Welsh language. A Plaid Cymru taskforce headed by Dafydd Wigley recommended land should be allocated for affordable local housing, called for grants for locals to buy houses, and recommended that council tax on holiday homes should double. However,

4582-429: The language grew during the second half of the 20th century, along with the rise of Welsh nationalism in the form of groups such as the political party Plaid Cymru and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society). The language is used in the bilingual Welsh Parliament (Senedd) and entered on its records, with English translation. The high cost of translation from English to Welsh has proved controversial. In

4661-612: The large 500 , 600 and 700 class locomotives of the South Australian Railways introduced by William Webb in 1926; and the Victorian Railways J , N and R classes. In the Australian instances, conversion was anticipated from 1600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ) broad gauge to 1435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge. Conversion to a wider gauge

4740-420: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, a small wave of contract miners from Wales arrived in Northern France; the centres of Welsh-French population are in coal mining towns, and particularly the French department of Pas-de-Calais along with miners from many other countries. They tended to cluster in communities around their churches. Settlers from Wales (and later Patagonian Welsh) arrived in Newfoundland in

4819-413: The line, was promulgated. Works began in 1886, directed by engineer Jones Williams, in both cities simultaneously, Puerto Madryn and Trelew. Apart from the local workers, several groups of immigrants were brought from Italy , Spain , Syria , Wales among other countries on the Vesta ship. On 11 November 1888, a line 70 km long between Trelew and the quay in Puerto Madryn was opened. It included

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4898-408: The mid 19th century, and it is thought that Cardiff's Yemeni community is Britain's oldest Muslim community, established when the city was one of the world's largest coal exporting ports. Hinduism and Buddhism each have about 5,000 adherents in Wales, with the rural county of Ceredigion being the centre of Welsh Buddhism. Govinda 's temple and restaurant, run by the Hare Krishnas in Swansea ,

4977-421: The past the rules of the British Parliament forbade the use of Welsh in any proceedings. Only English was allowed as the only language all members were assumed to speak. In 2017, the UK government agreed to support the use of Welsh in the Welsh Grand Committee, although not in parliamentary debate in the house outside of this committee. In 2018 Welsh was used in the grand committee for the first time. Welsh as

5056-500: The peoples of southern Britain; all were called Britons and spoke Common Brittonic , a Celtic language . This language, and Celtic culture more generally, seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age , though some archaeologists argue that there is no evidence for large-scale Iron Age migrations into Great Britain, in which case the Celticisation of Britain would have occurred through cultural diffusion. Most people in Wales today regard themselves as modern Celts , claiming

5135-584: The predominant language in parts of Wales, particularly in North Wales and parts of West Wales. According to the 2001 census the number of Welsh speakers in Wales increased for the first time in 100 years, with 20.5% of a population of over 2.9 million claiming fluency in Welsh. In addition, 28% of the population of Wales claimed to understand Welsh. The census revealed that the increase was most significant in urban areas, such as Cardiff with an increase from 6.6% in 1991 to 10.9% in 2001, and Rhondda Cynon Taf with an increase from 9% in 1991 to 12.3% in 2001. However,

5214-468: The project to be suspended indefinitely. Rail tracks were finally dismantled between 1969 and 1974. Nevertheless, by 1975 some rolling stock was still preserved, such as three Henschel & Son locomotives and some cargo wagons. After the closure, some station buildings were used for other activities, such as Trelew and Puerto Madryn (serving as bus terminus ). The former station buildings at Trelew and Gaiman are museums nowadays. while Playa Unión station

5293-642: The proportion of Welsh speakers declined in Gwynedd from 72.1% in 1991 to 68.7% in 2001, to 65.4% in 2011 and 64.4% in 2021. Similarly, in Ceredigion the percentage fell from 59.1% in 1991 to 51.8% in 2001, to 47.3% in 2011 and to 45.3% in 2021. Ceredigion saw a 19.5% influx of new residents between 1991 and 2001. The decline in Welsh speakers in much of rural Wales is attributable to non-Welsh-speaking residents moving to North Wales, driving up property prices above what locals may afford, according to former Gwynedd county councillor Seimon Glyn of Plaid Cymru , whose controversial comments in 2001 focused attention on

5372-478: The railway extended its tracks to Las Plumas. CCR's track gauge was converted to 750 mm ( 2 ft  5 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) in 1922, and later the line was extended from Dolavon to Las Plumas . In 1923 the branch to Rawson and Playa Unión was built. In 1945 another branch from Las Chapas to Florentino Ameghino levee was opened. That branch was used to carry cement from Comodoro Rivadavia , moving around 1,500 ton per month. A project to extend

5451-452: The railway from Las Plumas to Paso de Indios was never carried out. The Government alleged technical issues for that decision. The dismissed project included to extend the CCR line to Trevelin and Esquel (to make a connection with La Trochita to Ingeniero Jacobacci ) and then with Comodoro Rivadavia Railway to reach the city of Comodoro Rivadavia as well. It was also expected that the Government acquired diesel locomotives and built

5530-511: The region; the town was thus named Yuzovka (Юзовка) in recognition of his role in its founding ("Yuz" being a Russian or Ukrainian approximation of Hughes). Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was born in Barry, Wales. After she suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised that it would aid her recovery to live in a warmer climate. This led the family to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide. Track gauge conversion Track gauge conversion

5609-403: The replacement of the wheelsets or the bogies . In May 1892, wagons and coaches were converted when the 7 ft  1 ⁄ 4  in ( 2140 mm ) gauge of the Great Western Railway was abandoned. During or after gauge conversion work, some stations and branch lines may become "gauge orphans". This occurs especially when it is not considered economically worthwhile to go to

5688-567: The results. The foot-and-mouth crisis delayed the 2001 United Kingdom general election ; the first time since the Second World War that any event had postponed an election. In the census, 14% of the population took the 'extra step' to write in that they were of Welsh ethnicity. The highest percentage of those identifying as of Welsh ethnicity was recorded in Gwynedd (at 27%), followed by Carmarthenshire (23%), Ceredigion (22%) and

5767-638: The same census shows that 25% of residents were born outside Wales. The number of Welsh speakers in other places in Britain is uncertain, but there are significant numbers in the main cities, and there are speakers along the Welsh-English border . Even among Welsh speakers, very few people speak only Welsh, with nearly all being bilingual in English. However, a large number of Welsh speakers are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. Some prefer to speak English in South Wales or

5846-650: The term to refer to the Britons in particular. As the Britons' territories shrank, the term came ultimately to be applied to a smaller group of people, and the plural form of Wealh , Wēalas , evolved into the name for the territory that best maintained cultural continuity with pre-Anglo-Saxon Britain: Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Wallonia , Wallachia , Valais , Vlachs , and Włochy ,

5925-528: The urbanised areas and Welsh in the North or in rural areas. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Due to an increase in Welsh-language nursery education, recent census data reveals a reversal of decades of linguistic decline: there are now more Welsh speakers under five years of age than over 60. For many young people in Wales,

6004-431: Was finally closed in 1958 during Arturo Frondizi 's administration. Three years later, part of the rolling stock was sold as spare while the other part was transferred to La Trochita . There was a project to re-open the line in 1964, although it was strongly resisted by local bus companies. While rail tracks were untouched and the rolling stock stored at warehouses in Trelew, 15 coaches were destroyed by fire, which caused

6083-602: Was immigration to Wales after the Norman Conquest , and several Normans encouraged immigration to their new lands; the Landsker Line dividing the Pembrokeshire "Englishry" and "Welshry" is still detectable today. The terms Englishry and Welshry are used similarly about Gower . Recent research on ancient DNA has concluded that much of Britain's Neolithic population was replaced by Beaker people in

6162-607: Was reported as common for an officiant to walk in front of the coffin with a horse's skull, which may be a tradition linked with the Mari Lwyd tradition. The Welsh language is in the Insular Celtic family; historically spoken throughout Wales, with its predecessor Common Brittonic once spoken throughout most of the island of Great Britain. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, with little or no fluent knowledge of English. Welsh remains

6241-500: Was similarly anticipated for the large 1067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow-gauge Western Australian Government Railways V class locomotive (to standard gauge). Of these locomotives, only one R class was converted (when in preservation). Two unanticipated conversions to occur were the ten locomotives of the South Australian Railways 740 class (from standard to broad gauge) and five 1067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow-gauge T class locomotives, which became

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