Llangollen Railway

It’s a shame Green Lane couldn’t be diverted up towards the Nursery, and a level crossing installed nearer to Corwen original. As Bob mentioned though, whatever would take money that isn’t there, and suspect what we have now is going to be the best we see. TBF it’s not the worse location, and the volunteers have achieved an awful lot.

 

One needs to be a little cautious of supposed "grandfathers rights". Much wishful thinking I fear

 

It used to be 1 in 300 but is now 1 in 500 and straight for new stations on heritage railways. however, where trains don't terminate, steeper gradients are allowed, subject to agreement with the ORR. (RSP5.)

 

Just read the statement, and you wonder how those who have had recent contract work undertaken, feel about the situation.

I can think of a beautiful blue engine in the NRM that had contracted boiler work done, do they have a recourse if work proves unsuitable, as already proved with another LNER loco.

Know the A4 boys had a contact on site, watching repairs be carried out, so in effect should be Ok.

 

They've had a couple of people keeping an eye on progress, and as I far as I'm aware, no concerns have been raised about the quality of the work. Both have decades of experience with the loco so I'm sure anything untoward would've been flagged up.

 

I think the Gresley boiler contract showed the importance of proper project management. Rather than just hand the boiler over to the contractor and leave them to get on with it as they see fit, the A4 boiler overhaul was monitered as it progressed and the inevitable problems were sorted by agreement with both parties as they arose.

Peter

 

That sounds dangerously like a practical application of common sense to me.

 

I would not want to be on the new Llangollen Board nor one of their creditors. They have a right old mess to sort out, but let's all hope that they succeed. The squabble about the design of the new station, and the columns in particular, will have to be put aside for the time being, and can be reassessed when other matters have been resolved.

 

Do this type of stairlift work in the down direction without electrical power? A controlled decent of some type or hand cranking maybe?

 

Isn't the Corwen station squabble really a smokescreen ejected by the departed board/GM to deflect attention away from their shortcomings? Faced with a couple of years of monumental losses, the destruction of the enginneering department and now it would seem faults with the track and a bridge they probably needed something to try and divert people's attention away from the real crisis. If I was the former GM I would stop digging and look for work well away from the railway industry.

 

I must say, the cynic in me thought along very similar lines but not knowing any inside details I didn't voice those thoughts.

Whilst Corwen might be an issue, it does have all the hallmarks of fiddling whilst Rome burns.

 

Here's an update for all of the doom and gloom spreaders out there :-

Despite the cancellation of trains over Christmas it gives us a chance to complete the planned work to the Dee Bridge waybeams and a partial track re-lay in Berwyn Tunnel.
The reason for the bridge appeal is that we had originally budgeted for partial replacement of the timbers as required, but common sense dictated that it was better to do the job in one hit.
Our volunteers will carry on with vegetation clearance and station maintenance.
The team at Corwen were busy this morning with removal of surplus materials stored in the new subway and doing general tidying of the site.
The new Corwen signal box has now had its windows fitted and awaits its new stairway and timber cladding.
The main jobs left to ready the new station for opening are ballasting, and joining up the ground frame installation once ballasting and levelling are completed. The new building and canopy have yet to be erected, although the steel frame to support the canopy within the building ,and all services are in place, the footings being ready for brickwork to start.
We hope to open the station in Spring 2021 - coronavirus allowing !

Bob.

 

Good news indeed, despite my nit-picking I still look forward to a trip to Corwen, indeed a trip along the whole line as I still haven't managed it thus far, avoiding Thomas has proved impossible on previous attempts!

 

Although the Corwen station anomalies might not be everyone's cup of tea. I think we should be grateful that when the first train arrives, it will be (to all intense and purposes) to a near complete station! There are a lot of railway extensions that focus on trackwork and getting trains running - which is understandable when there are big costs to recoup, but some of the finishing touches seem to take an age to complete!!!

Well done to everyone concerned!

Will

 

Blaenau Ffestiniog springs to mind here.

 

Which side? To my mind, the ATW arrangements on the SG look decidedly less enticiing than those of the FR. Right now, of course, a chance to run anything above T-y-B would be most welcome.

 

I was thinking how many years it took to get the FR side to the state it is now after 1982.

 

There’s also the WHR garden shed technology until finances permit for improvements. Get the railway built then improve when you can afford too worked for them, why is there so much criticism when others do that.

 

The new Corwen station layout is very unusual. The photographs I have seen don't really show the site properly- and it is ten years since I was at Llangollen-. How wide is the site at the top of the embankment? What were the circumstances that made the island platform the chosen solution, as opposed to, say, two tracks in a more normal layout with one platform, as in many typical terminii, or perhaps two platforms-Greenford halt springs to mind.
I'm not implying what has been chosen is wrong, I'd just like to better understand the choice that was made.