Brecon Mountain Railway - extension?

Hi folks, can u help me, is the BMR presently extending its length of line and if so when it is going to open to public trains.

 

IIRC as well as increasing the operational locomotive fleet to allow for two trains and a spare.

 

Thank's guy's.

 

Or even, "thanks guys" - the curse of the greengrocers' apostrophe

 

Stumbled accross this line today almost by accident whilst driving for work. Has been one of the railways that I have always meant to get to, but never made it. Has to be said that it runs through some fabulous scenery and the Baldwin is a very impressive looking loco. Is there any progress on the extension opening and what are the long term plans for this railway? There is a mention elsewhere on the net (not sure of the truth in the comment) that it was an aspiration to extend further towards Talybont, is this achievable or viable? If it did make it there it would become quite a rival for the Welsh Highland in terms of gradients and scenery..

 

Their Website could do with an update.No mention of the extension at all. I think the extension is going through to the
other side of Torpantau tunnel .Does anyone know more?

Keith

 

There was a discussion about this on another narrow gauge forum which I can't find now. Somebody who worked at the railway was saying that it's in a bad way, the management had their chief engineer fired despite him having been on their payroll for years and hired somebody with considerably less experience and there's no hurry to begin using the extension for reasons I can't recall now. The trackwork has been completed for years now anyway with no sign of trains so I wouldn't even be thinking about potential further extensions in the future!

 

Sounds like politics is getting in the way of common sense then. What shame, it has terrific potential.

 

Chatted to a couple of people on the railway last year, and as far as I can remember, they said, (very unofficially) that an extension would require another set of coaches, in order to maintain a reasonable service without massive intervals between trains, and also another working steam loco. Although the track is in place, they were under the impression that a lot of work was required before passenger trains could run over it. I'm fairly sure there is no platform or any facilities whatsoever at the end of the track either.
The railway seems to survive on day trippers and families from the local area, for whom the current journey is probably the right length, especially with small children.
I've only seen one other enthusiast when I've visited, and that was in January when steam is hard to find elsewhere, so we are not really their target market.
All in all, don't hold your breath would seem to be the (unofficial) message.

 

Im sure the conversation was on another thread on this forum?

 

That might have been me in January. I spent a very pleasant weekend filming the Baldwin pacific,great winter smoke effects and less vegitation in the way. Their Baldwin remains my
favourite 2' gauge locomotive. If they extend the line and bring one of their other large engines into service then this will be a bonus.If they stay as they are then it is still a very attractive
line to visit.

 

Frankly I don't see the point to extend(since 8 years at least) and not to run frains!the PW is downgrading slowly but surely!where isthe interest of BMR?? sheer stupidity!:frusty:
regards
noel

 

Just been sent a nice postcard with the Baldwin on it. My relatives had a good day out on the railway .
They were told the extension would be ready in about two years ,but they needed another locomotive
to cope with the gradients.
Keith

 

Yes, I was told that the Baldwin can handle the gradients on the extension but the Jung can't so if the Baldwin failed they would have to substitute it for a diesel and that wouldn't be popular. So until they have two locos that can handle the gradients they won't be using the extension.
Seems an odd reason as I don't suppose the Baldwin fails that often but there we are. As far as I know public passenger trains have never used the extension although I visited the terminus recently and there were lumps of coal by the track so something has been up there.
I wonder if they could be persuaded to use it for a one off day?

 

The last time I visted the BMR they had someone's elses NG15 in bits, I was told that, that particular loco needed a new boiler, plus they had the second Baldwin in bits plus some of the parts for the two replicas in the workshop.

Which leads to one other question where is the BMR own NG15?