TWO brothers from Trefeglwys had risen in the boom of the industrial age and become pioneer rail builders.

Robert and Benjamin Piercy were born at the end of the Georgian Era and beginning of the Victorian Era in a time of peace and colonial expansion.

Robert was born in 1825 and younger brother Benjamin two years later.

The first railroads line were laid between London and Birmingham in 1838, giving rise to a steam powered railway boom and further fuelled the Industrial Revolution.

Robert served as an engineer and constructed lines to Ruabon from Acrefair and joined his brother Benjamin in the construction of the Montgomeryshire railways and a line linking Oswestry and Newtown.

Benjamin also built the first line between Shrewsbury and Welshpool.

Benjamin earned a growing reputation for the Shrewsbury to Welshpool line and became a prominent voice in the future rail projects across Wales.

Benjamin was engaged in the construction of rail between Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch while also extending the line from Newtown to Llanidloes and Machynlleth as well as Welsh coast railways linking Aberdovey and Barmouth to Pwllheli.

The Vale of Clwyd line between Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen and the Mid Wales line between Hereford, Hay and Brecon and the line between Wrexham, Mold and Connah’s Quay were also built.

The brothers earned a reputation for their feats in engineering while their bridges over the Severn, the Mawddach and Traeth Bychain estuaries earned them much respect among their peers.

Much admired stations were also built in Oswestry, Welshpool and Talerddig.

Benjamin had even planned a viaduct to connect Ynyaslas and Aberdovey but it was abandoned and the line passed to Dovey Junction.

Benjamin had joined fellow Severn Valley native and rail industrialist David Davies in Italy in 1862 and would spent much of the next two decades surveying and constructing the Royal Sardinian Railway

From 1870 to 1879, Benjamin was joined by Robert in Sardinia.

The brothers did much to improve the lives of people on the island, including improved drainage and planting trees while also encouraging the native breeding of cattle, horses and sheep.

Benjamin became a great friend of Guiseppe Garibaldi, the great unification hero of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Benjamin became a teacher to Garibaldi’s son Ricciotti and was made a Commendatore of the Crown of Italy after building a canal network and the Aqua Marcia which had supplied Rome with water.

Benjamin also engineered the Napolean-Vendee Railway from Tours to Sables d’Olonne in France before reuniting with his brother Robert in India where they worked on the Assam Railway from 1879 to 1884.

There Robert discovered and opened out an enormous coal deposit and petroleum springs which had ensured his wealth for the rest of his days.

Benjamin remained involved in north Wales railway projects for the rest of his life and died in London in March, 1888.

Robert spent the rest of life in Switzerland and London and died in Caergwrle in 1894, aged 59.