Joseph Charles Victor Mitchell (1 March 1934 – 18 January 2021) was a dentist, inventor, and pioneer railway preservationist.
The father of one of his schoolfriends was chief engineer at the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge Hampton & Kempton Waterworks Railway.
After the holiday,[1] he spent time at his local railway station, Hampton,[2] assisting the staff with their work and being rewarded by cab rides on steam locomotives, visits to the signal box and being allowed to issue tickets in the booking office.
[1] Mitchell married his wife Barbara in 1958, whilst doing his National Service in the Royal Air Force.
They initially lived in a caravan parked in a nearby field, later moving into converted farm buildings.
[2] In 1972, Mitchell invented a dentist's tool, the Illuminated Probing Handpiece, which won the United Kingdom a gold medal at the Exposition de Innovation in Geneva, Switzerland that November and was also shown on the BBC television programme Tomorrow's World.
[2] Their golden wedding anniversary in 2008 was celebrated by travelling on a special train on the Festiniog Railway, hauled by Palmerston and carrying the nameboard The Half Century.
There was a proposal to preserve the Talyllyn Railway and readers were encouraged to write to publicity officer Tom Rolt to pledge their support.
A Daily Express reporter visited the line, and the three volunteers appeared in a photograph accompanying the story that was printed.
[1] An article in the January 1951 issue of Trains Illustrated magazine reported an application to the Ministry of Transport for the abandonment of the Festiniog Railway.
Mitchell helped the Festiniog Railway achieve its aim of reaching Blaenau Ffestiniog, from which it had been cut off by the construction of the Llyn Ystradau reservoir.
The town council at Blaenau Ffestiniog was unsure whether the restoration of the Festiniog Railway would be a good thing.