A few Talyllyn Railway pictures.

Evening All,

I've added a few pictures of the Talyllyn Railway to my Flickr website today. There are 14 pics and this is the first one in the Photostream:

RD14499. TOM ROLT at Tywyn Wharf Station. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Hope that they are of interest.

 

Held off for 48hrs, but as no-one from the TR has posted this.....

Look who's been dipped in woad to celebrate a dual centenary:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155980487715450&id=167680895449&__tn__=*s*s-R

 

A very nice acknowledgment of No 6's original ownership.

However, just to set the record straight the RAF Calshot Barclay's were actually originally green with AMW&B painted on the bunkers.

 

That's what I thought too. For some reason I've a (very flat) light/mid olive green in mind. Did Douglas have a spell in such a colour a few years ago, (or am I merely remembering a model painted that way)?

IMO it's a very fetching splash of colour which (surprisingly) suits the Barclay well and the RAF roundels are a nice touch .... though I find myself hoping it's not applied to Talyllyn or Dolgoch!

 

No 6 did carry an authentic Calshot green livery a few years ago, complete with replica Air Service Construction Corps cast plates. The plates have been fitted with the new RAF "Traffic Blue" livery.
I'm told that the local RAF Association paid for the paint, so they chose the colour.

As a "dyed in the wool" TR Standard lined green enthusiast I'm surprised that I quite like it - certainly better than the previous Tomato Soup and incomplete lining.
It would perhaps be mildly appropriate to add black and white lining next year as an approximation of Caledonian livery in a nod to Barclay (Caledonia Works).

 

@talyllyn1 I'm fond of Talyllyn Green too, even though I thought the lined black suited No.1 extremely well. Can't say I'm too taken with the 'original' livery currently worn by Nos.1 &2, but I s'pose a change is as good as a rest. I wonder whether the original style smokebox door might make a guest appearance at some point? I'd imagine No.2 would be the better choice, given the early alterations to No.1.

Looking at the VoR website a couple of days ago, No.3 looks to be 'nearly there' and it'll be interesting to see in which livery it returns to service. A spell in the 1968 ghost primer would be something different, plus giving photographic types a field day ...... especially if it ran facing west for halowe'en services.

 

When I finally get my hands on a few million quid (presumably ill gotten through nefarious means) I shall bribe the TR whatever it takes to get all the locos in proper TR olive green for a season or two, then camp myself on a bench at Abergynolwyn and watch them all go by (until the law catches up with me).

 

Sounds an eminently worthy aim .... as long as the massive hornet's nest which adorned the west end of the building during July and August of 1972 isn't allowed to put in a reappearance. That did rather spoil my enjoyment of an ice cream on a very hot day!

By the by .... I've often wondered whether there'd be any mileage in restoring the old Galltymoelfre tramway from the head of the Alltwyllt to the foot of the Cantrybedd inclines .... if there's a suitable quantity of otherwise useless bridge rail to be had somewhere .......

 

No 3 will apparently appear in TR lined green. It won't of course, be the 60's lined green that I remember as the TR have standardised on Deep Bronze "Land Rover" Green since.

There were two 60's variants - one being a darker green applied by Gibbons Bros to Nos 1 and 2:-

(Courtesy of the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum)

This is 1963, newly delivered from Gibbons. I well remember it - the finish was absolutely stunning!

Then we had the lighter green applied to N0s 3 and 4, which was supposed to match the above - but didn't!
No 4 appeared in this shade (unlined) just before either the 66 or 67 AGM - I can't remember which now.. There was a heated discussion at the meeting, and it was later claimed that Gibbons Bros had no record of the paint they had used. This was an excuse.
The green livery on 4 and 6 had been getting darker over the years due to the practice of cleaning with cylinder oil. Some TR Council members (including Eric Gibbons) felt that a lighter shade would look better in photos. Livery debates and internal "politics" are not new in railway circles!
The problem was solved in the early 70's when John Bate recommended using Land Rover Deep Bronze Green as a repeatable compromise.



This is a TR postcard of a 1969 scene. The livery on 3 and 4 was more akin to LNER Doncaster Green, and years of cleaning with oil have darkened No 6 a little.
The red rods and cast plate backgrounds also seem to be out of favour these days.

 

It's a pity really that it carried that ex-works livery for only four days in 2014.

 

The TR owes much to John Bate, not least turning Nos.1&2 into decent performers.

My first ever trip was behind No.1 and I can safely say the loco sounds so much better now than 45 years ago. I also recall a distinctive beat from No.3, which seems to have been engineered out some years ago, if the evidence of more recent video clips is anything to go by. I'm greatly looking forward to No.3's return to service. I'm guessing the traffic department are as well!

BTW @talyllyn1 Do you happen to know how much life is left in No.1's boiler (does it still carry the boiler from it's 1958 rebuild)? If the example of No.2's recent-ish reboilering is anything to go by, I'd imagine something more akin to it's original Fletcher-Jennings boiler is in the pipeline next time around.

 

I'm a bit out of touch these days, but I think No 1 had a new firebox with more stays, so that the boiler pressure could be raised in conjunction with fitting an air brake pump.
I'm fairly certain it is still the 1958 boiler. No 1 is due out of traffic when No 3 is back in service, so the condition of the boiler will soon be revealed.

The TR does indeed have a lot to thank John Bate for. He didn't suffer fools gladly but sure knew how to get things done on a shoestring budget. I doubt that this country could produce such a competent all-round, practical engineer these days.
How he has never been awarded a "gong" for his lifetime service to the TR and preserved railways in general is beyond me.

 

But for those few days it looked superb:





At the time there was talk of the centenary lurking just around the corner, with the possibility that it might be put back into the original green once again for a longer period. I think there were those who would have liked to see it remain a little longer back in 2014, but the railway wanted its "children's livery" engine, and agreement for the charter repaint was on the strict understanding it would be returned to royal mail red straight afterwards.

Ok, it's ended up sky blue, not green, but once again those that pay get their say (the same as for the charter). The RAF get an engine which matches the colour of their flag, and the railway still get to keep a "children's livery" engine as well - everyone's happy.

I have to say it looks very smart.
...even if it does need a big yellow "1" on the side to finish it off.

Talking at the railway today, I understand the firebox may need some attention, but it isn't really known until they get a proper look. The railway has recently changed to a different boiler inspector, so that will add an element of uncertainty as well until he's had a good poke around. Mechanically the hope is that it shouldn't need too much attention, seeing as it got a bit of a good going over the other year when it gained new rods.

It doesn't seem that long since it came out from the last overhaul.

 

Great to see more photos of 7 in ex-works livery.

Also no 1 cab-less looks a very different animal to usual. Would be even more spectacular, though difficult without a lot of work, to see it with a horizontally hinged smokebox door and a spectacle plate.

 

There are a few of my other snaps from that charter in <this Flickr album>

I understand one of those actively involved with the railway (including on the footplate) did volunteer to finance the construction of a spectacle plate for it to run in that form (for the TR 150th I think it was). I understand it didn't win the vote, and there were those less hardy footplate crew who didn't like the prospect of a largely cab-less loco given the propensity for Welsh weather to be on the damp side.

When it ran without the cab in '08, before it returned to service, the crew for the charter had their donkey jackets pulled up tight and were still feeling the chill March wind cutting through them!

 

Great piccies (thanks @I. Cooper) ..... I particularly like the one of Douglas in it's Calshot garb on the "night parcels" at Aber .... very atmospheric.

After all the grooviness with the mangled motion a couple of years ago, fingers crossed Talyllyn's overhaul will be reasonably straightforward and see the loco back in service in short order.

 

I suddenly got this image of it with yellow letters 'TR' to the left of the roundel and the number '1' to the right.

 

Thanks. Yes, I was rather pleased with how that one turned out as well. Was a very good charter that year.

That night pic was actually done at Nant Gwernol, but looking again following your comment, you're right that it could have produced a very similar result at AberG, which would have saved the trek round the corner to the end of the line as well.

 

T'was that pool of light which threw me!

 

Some great shots of No.3 at Aberystwyth. The colour will please @talyllyn1 as much as it does me! ..... and there's a really great old shot of the remaining Corris stock at Machynlleth, safely hidden behind the semi-permanent line of std gauge wagonry, courtesy of an outstandingly foresighted BR station master (Does anyone know the name of the gentleman in question? Talk about an unsung hero!):
https://m.facebook.com/No3SirHaydn/