FR & WHR & WHHR News

No information one way or another, but the number involved suggests they have sufficient custom to be worthwhile - the WHRS has plenty to do without sponsoring something that loses money. I imagine (I have no inside knowledge) that the sponsorship was necessary to reassure the FR there was no financial risk.

 

All quiet on the Isengard website front...

Will

 

I'd search for Inside Motion on the FRCo's page if you want up to date information about stuff going on. That and moving pictures on YouTube

 

But you miss out on the nostalgic hit from the 1990s retina-searing website design

 

So if the vintage carriages are replaced by modern carriages , the WHHR will be the place to see the vintage trains, except for the "Journey into the past" days or photo event trains on part of the WHR track (jointly by the WHR and WHHR)?

 

Unfortunately since my wife discovered that it wasn't entirely true when I said none of the carriages had heating, she now generally overrules my attempts to sit in the vintage carriages on FfR and WHR journeys.

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Think you've just hit the nail on the head there with the vintage train discussion. The ordinary person looks for warmth and comfort on a journey. When you can sit in a comfy seat, in a warm carriage and have tea / coffee served to you. Why would you want to sit in compartment stock with no creature comforts. Have to cater for the majority - although that doesn't mean you forget the minority of course

 

Inside Motion is no longer so frequent since ms Younger retired. More's the pity!
Pat

 

Anyone got a phone number or email address for the FRS? The registrar and secretary ones on the website keep bouncing.

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PM sent

John

 

Here’s to a fruitful and exciting 2020 on all three railways!

 

Well-positioned ball of cotton wool cloud - could almost be Chigley!

Tom

 

Does anyone know whether Barrie has abandoned the Isengard site althogether, or if he's ill (I hope not!)?
We do miss the updates

 

Watching ch5 with Chris Tarrant highlighted the importance of trains during wartime.
Good to see on the latest Moving Pictures the Alco has been moved into the new shed to give it protection even though no work might be done on it.
With the new replica guess names will have to be sorted or the Alco could revert back to just it's wartime number 1265?

 

Odd though. "Boxer" No.3 Moutaineer served the company from 1863/4 to 1879 (15/16 years), Alco Mountaineer from 1967 to 2006 (39 years). OK .... so some FR locos have been renamed (and renumbered) in the past, but sometimes, that arouses uneasy feelings .....

The post preservation history of the Festiniog Railway (as the company remains the legal entity originally authorised with the Anglicised spelling) seems to count for little in the eyes of some. I feel this runs the risk of marginalising the efforts of those who strove long and hard to revive the moribund line to the vibrant state in which it now exists. Let's please not forget that Alco 1265 has been known to decades of those who've experienced the line as Mountaineer and has surely earned it's own place of honour in that revival.

Already, La'al Ratty has operated as a 15in gauge line in preservation for 15 more years than it's commercial life, the 'preservation history' of the W&L is now longer than it's 'service life' (under it's three previous operators) and even the great pioneer, the Talyllyn, will reach that milestone in just 16 years. I submit that the 'preservation history' of a line is every bit as valid as it's 'service history' .... and to claim otherwise is tantamount to an confession that, as once alleged by Legal Counsel for the CEGB, during a certain infamously lengthy court case involving the FR, the efforts of everyone involved in our movement, over the past seven decades, amount to little more than 'middle aged gentlemen playing trains'.

Well, that's how I feel about it anyway.

 

The Alco arrived at the railway at a good time to help the service and hopefully now it's in the new shed will get checked to see if it can be overhauled?
Hope the Festiniog Railway sorts out something with the naming of the Alco and new replica.
Maybe one could be Moutaineer 1 and the other Moutaineer 2? or even both be called Moutaineer if they don't end up running on the same track at the same time even if the Alco gets refurbished, looks like the replica could be doing trips to other lines?

 

AIUI the replica Mountaineer is being but by an independent group, so there is no obligation for the FfR to rename its own loco. If they ever appear together just use their numbers to avoid confusion.

The Groudle Glen Railway has operated two Polar Bears on the same day on the past (steam and battery-electric) so it can be done!

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What sort of confusion do you think would arise. They are obviously not the same engine.

Tim

 

On a similar note - similarly named engines at the same railway - I recall that the Beer Heights Light Railway has had a "Thomas Jnr" and a "Thomas II" (although not at the same time), but no "Thomas"!

 

From my perspective, it's more about The Alco potentially losing it's familiar identity, after decades of faithful service, than about any confusion.