Llangollen Railway

Remembering the often glacial pace of early (usually al fresco) Barry restorations, I'm still always amazed by many of today's turnaround times, measured in months rather than years.

 

I get that (you talking some who is awaiting for engine which is originally planned to be finished 7 years ago and its still nowhere near being finished) I just wondering out aloud if the supply issues were bigger then I rerealised. Tom's reply obviously highlights it is but not just that on its own.

 

Castings especially seem to be on a relatively long delivery compared with pre-covid so, if cylinders need a liner, that is going to be a fairly long wait. Piston rings, likewise are of cast iron but many railways make their own so, as long as they have a suitable sized pot of the right material available, it should not be a supply chain issue.

 

I don’t remember a date being set for it to return to traffic, so not sure why you think it should be ready yet. As mentioned in another post about piston and valve work and lead times, the 38 is / has had the valves rebored. The new valve rings couldn’t be made until the measurements were taken following machining. Unfortunately this all adds to the timescale.

I’m sure the owners don’t want it out of traffic longer than it needs to be, but like all work on locos it’ll be ready when it’s ready.

 

Valves being re-bored this coming Saturday so i've heard.

Bob.

 

Full page article on troubles at Llangollen Railway in the latest issue of Railway Herald does not make for easy reading.

"Llangollen cease steam operations after resignations"

 

The Llangollen Facebook page states that they are only operating "Heritage Railcars" at the moment and this weekend the services will be operated by diesel locomotives:

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

Luckily the panoramic qualities of the 1st gen DMMUs (especially low density 2+2 seating) pretty much sell themselves. Were it my job, I'd definitely be looking to include 'line ahead' and 'line behind' shots on the website and Facebook to prove it.

Let's hope whatever issues beset steam operation are resolved with alacrity. The LR has had more than it's share of the wrong sort of headlines for one decade!

 

I heard that 5619 been withdrawn awaiting repairs and 3802 was still away, thus explaining the lack of steam What does the Herald say?

 

The heads of the Steam and the Motive Power Departments have both resigned. There are problems within and between the departments. Also, other issues are detailed.

 

And it paints a rather bleak picture for steam usage for the next two or three years, citing reduced demand for steam, coal supply issues, costs etc. suggesting even if current issues are resolved no more than 60 or 70 steam days per season would be needed, and no more than 2 locos.

 

Are you able to clarify that point please? Is it being said steam is no longer the principal selling point at Llangollen attracting customers? If so, that's something of a seismic shift.

 

Sorry, I can't, it's just what was quoted and it puzzled me too. I rather got the impression that whoever was being quoted was making a general point rather than one specific to Llangollen, but it made no sense to me.

Edit: The passage says " It has been estimated that the demand for steam has dropped by 50% - 60% across the whole network as a whole, due to coal shortages and costs, environmental concerns and societal cost of living pressures"

So IMHO not really a lack of demand per se, more an observation of current difficulties facing all heritage railways

 

Very very difficult to generalise. With the weather having broken a bit in recent days the IOWSR was absolutely crowded yesterday. Hopefully, other places will have been the same

 

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Two critical staff have left (post 2230) , 5619 out for unplanned repairs (post 2229) , 3802 off site for a short term fix that appears to be rather extended given that the boiler ticket is running (post 2225) , Austin No 1 away on hire (website) so diesel only services. Perhaps the company comments about;
" It has been estimated that the demand for steam has dropped by 50% - 60% across the whole network as a whole, due to coal shortages and costs, environmental concerns and societal cost of living pressures" are more to do with making a virtue of a necessity.

 

Thanks for taking the time to come back on that point. The mystery remains!

I certainly echo @Paulthehitch's sentiment [post #2234] and keep everything crossed for a month of two's worth of heavy intermittent overnight showers. That's "heavy" as in Birmingham, not "heavy" as in Blaenau Ffestiniog!

 

Interesting. The article cites a statement from the LRT Board; if it's the Board that makes the decisions and issues the statement, who else should be taken as an authority to say any different? Too much of the Railway Press seems to quote unofficial sources and publishes rumour and speculation - while the article obviously quoted from a very vague statement, I'd rather that than see the inclusion of the typical 'wibble' that is usually published! If you've got a source with more accurate info, please share it with us!

 

Robert/68067 has arrived to help out with steam services for the time being.