Ffestiniog Railway Quirks & Curiosities Weekend April 30th - May 3rd

Hello,
The latest update on the Ffestiniog Railway Society website provides a round up of what will be happening at the May Day Quirks & Cuiriosities event on the railway.
www.ffestiniograilway.org.uk/index....quirks-and-curiosities&catid=3:news&Itemid=50
As you can tell it's THE event to be at, especially if you want to see some of the lesser seen fleet and more!

Keep your eye on the Ffestiniog Society website, because the Quirks are comeing!

 

There was also a video posted on the Festiniog and Welsh Highland's facebook page and is also on youtube of the boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jP7uTC6FIc

Regards
Duncan

 

More curious and quirky details on the main FR website and the special microsite.

 

Lyd's set to be there, right?

 

Yep. First public steaming.

 

What will be working full line services and what timetable is being used for those?

 

The event details britomart and blanche but i suspect Prince will be out a fair bit and possibly palmerston on up gravity trains. Not sure which of the double fairlies would be. This is only an educated guess and no doubt we will know in due course which locomotives are rostered.

Regards
Duncan

 

Well at the moment Blanche, Prince, Palmerston and Merddin Emrys are all available.
DLG is very worn out but somehow refuses to die. See here http://tiny.cc/bogieappeal
Taliesin is having its external boiler exam and a stay replaced but will probably make an appearance.
The Square would be a long shot with the bottom end bogie being overhauled and the top end still needs repairs after a coupling rod disintegrated late last year. New forgings have arrived though.
Lyd hopefully will be in steam but not pulling trains
ALCO is out of sight out of mind.
Linda is progressing
Welsh Pony will be on display for the first time since 2005 (i think).
Princess is in the pub.
LT is in retirement at York old peoples home.

Moelwyn is fresh out of overhaul and looking great in its new livery.
Mary Ann will be running and consuming vast quantities of fuel in the process.
Criccieth Castle hopefully won't be running as that means something has broken.
The Funkey has been exiled up the coast again.

That about covers the sideshows. For an update on one of the main events, the other working compound loco in the UK after K-when. See here http://tiny.cc/leary

Tim

 

And the Mallet at Statfold Barn.

Here's another of my photos of the Leary (britain's newest steam loco) taken during the first mile, it does ride beautifully.

 

I thought Vale was staying on the FR this year given Caernarfon is hopefully running again.
Thanks for the update regarding the FR locos. Bit out of the loop of which ones are where regarding tickets and works.

Regards
Duncan

 

They need them both at the moment because the only capable locos they have at the moment are 87 and C'fon, and Easter is in a week, there's going to be plenty of Funkey double heading for any diesel fans.

 

It would be nice to have the ALCo at Blaenau in the spare platform and have a donation box for it i would put a few quid in for the old girl.

 

It would be nice i thought however that the old platform was out of use and we where barred from using it

 

Not the case at all. The signalling doesn't work so for a passenger train the route has to be set before the train enters the T-Y-G to Blaenau section and can then be signalled in with a green flag. You can also easily get in via the top end for drive an engine etc.

Nothing in the rules about it being barred from use, it just take a bit of planning.

Tim

 

girl?????

 

When did the Alco last run 2005? 2006?

It seven years away but 2017 is obvioulsy its centenerary and it would good to see if that could be the push required to get it back in traffic as if that year is missed presumably as it is a long down a list of the priorites it could be many many years before it sees the light as the paid staff have enough to do keeping the main running fleet going and the volunteers in looking after Blanche/Linda, Palmeston, Lillia etc

I presume funding is also a question and with appeals to fund the WHR locos and cylinders for the fairles there is a limit to how many appeals can be made to the members. It is a shame as one ofthe pleasues of the NG lines rather than the standard gauge was that a loco might be out for a whilst but you new it was probably coming back within a few years

 

It last ran in February 2006 and burst a superheater on it's last trip!

There is no point starting an overhaul on it now. No money, no space, no volunteers and the management don't seem to want it. I wouldn't expect much to happen untill Linda, Prince and even the C2 are done though.

We have plenty of other stuff to be getting on with in the meantime such as, keeping the slate wagons going, restoring more slate wagons, new wooden wagons, more vintage coaches, disc signals, Linda, Pamerston, Prince, Welsh Pony the C2 and all the other stuff that sets the FR apart from other railways.

Still this has nothing to do with the excellent upcoming Gala where you will be able to see most of the above but not Mountaineer in action.

Tim

 

Welsh Pony? What's happening there? I take it you didn't mean she's being restored, unless of course I've missed something...

Surely Mountaineer would be a useful engine to have in service once Blanche bows out? I know there'll be Linda and Taliesin also capable of working most services but with the WHR fully open by that time you might think there'd be enough running dates for all three...

 

Yep it will be running at the gala. Surprise!

Only joking. Some work has been done such as the tender rebuild and a coat of left over Darjeeling blue to keep it looking respectable, but there are no plans for anything major at the moment though.

Providing the boiler is ok i doubt Blanche will be out of traffic for very long. You also forgot that for better or worse Lyd exists.

Tim

 

...what the dickens is the C2???