Vale of Rheidol - Rheidol Steam Festival 2024 - 24-26 August

Save the date https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/events/steam-festival-weekend/

 

Oh hello...!! Looks very interesting!!

 

VoR have posted on Facebook that Palmerston will be the guest loco.

Info from https://www.facebook.com/share/p/7CFKHHDDgyvXSkuX/

Sent from my SM-A137F using Tapatalk

 

Brilliant, missed it last time around so will definitely make sure I am there for this event!

 

For those who can't see Palmerston at the Steam Festival, additional running dates are on:

• 26 July - 12:15
• 2 August - 12:15
• 9 August - 12:15
• 16 August - 12:15
• 23 August - 12:15
• 28 August - 18:00
• 6 September - 12:15
• 20 September - 12:15

Info from the Loco Roster page

 

Timetable is up https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/steam-festival-weekend/

Gwalior pacific 762 will be on display at Aberystwyth
https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/2024/08/19/first-public-appearance-of-gwalior-pacific-locomotive/

 

Had a cracking time at the Rheidol steam festival yesterday (despite an 0620 start from New St).

Got my first ride behind the Garratt and Palmerston was in cracking form on the climb up from Capel Bangor to Aberffrwd. Would have loved to have done the evening trip all the way to Devils Bridge but had to be back at Aberystwyth for the 1728 train if I was to get home that night!

The double-headed Rheidol tanks was also a definite highlight!

Weather was fantastic, especially given the storm a day earlier which had trees down all over the Cambrian line. A few spots of rain first thing and then sunshine all day, apparently it was much better than at home in Banbury.

Got a drive on Margaret as well, so can finally tick 'drive a Quarry Hunslet' off my bucket list!

Trains seemed pretty busy all day, a mix of the usual Bank Holiday tourist families plus lots of extra enthusiasts brought in by the extra festival attractions.
The cafe staff at Devils Bridge were being rushed off their feet, dealing with hungry/thirsty trainloads, visiting bikers and the turnarounds for some trains being only 20mins rather than the usual hour.

Hope it proves a success for the VoR and they run more events like this in future!

 

A few clips from Saturday at the Vale Of Rheidol, featuring No.7, No.8, No.4 'Palmerston' and No.60 ‘Drakensberg’.

Video Available Here

 

A fantastic day out today, thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hats off to the staff and volunteers, each time I visit this line I leave feeling really impressed. Immaculate locos and stock, superb scenery and the facilities they now have at Aberystwyth are superb. My first visit to the museum as well today, what an amazing facility.
Also my first ride behind the Garratt, an impressive bit of kit. Very dismissive of the gradients up the line and Ferrari like acceleration! Palmerston was at the other end of the scale - a heroic performance that left all of us in the open coach showered in cinders - great fun!!
As per previous posts, the trains were well filled with both enthusiasts and holiday makers - I really hope the organisers feel encouraged to put on another enthusiast event. This line really should be on everyone's bucket list, especially with some more exotic motive power now arriving in West Wales. That Indian Pacific loco looked incredible and posed very tantalisingly outside the museum!!

 

Lovely weekend in Aberystwyth, as others have said everything beautifully turned out, lovely loco performances, great display of locos in (and outside) the museum and nice to bump into @Sidmouth and others. I wander if the lines halts have ever been so well used as this weekend, I think some trains managed to call at each station.