FR & WHR & WHHR News

Wish I'd been there to see that restart on the gradient at Nantmor, and the climb up through the tunnel. Perhaps as well it wasn't raining.
Russell must have been a brute of a loco compared to the Vulcan Fairlies.
I guess the next "challenge" is a run all the way up the hill to Rhyd Ddu, and perhaps a full line trip to Caernarfon.
I'd love to see Russell in tandem with the L & B's Lyn - good for 10 carrs I reckon!

I know that Russell has been restored to "original" condition, but are there any plans to fit vac. brakes as before?
It would open up a lot more possibilities on the F & WHR.

 

Many thanks re:Russell's curvature capabilities.

Looking at the several remarks about crowding at special events (back in the late 60's/early 70's, such 'crowding' would've just been 'another successful day'!), I find myself wondering whether the combination of better relations between RhE/RhFf and WHHR, line capacity, as the regular timetable stands, mightn't permit a few such (perhaps smaller) events along the lines of 'historical montages', peppered throughout the year.

Pondering the possibilities .... what with plans for 100 waggon gravity workings on RhFf, plus the imminent return of Welsh Pony, restoration of the first of the 'Kalaharis' (NG15 No.134) on the horizon, and let's not forget, there's KS 4415 in the pipeline too, plus the likelihood of repairs to the Alco (and while Gowrie, let alone a recreated Moel Tryfan may be a little way off yet), that's an awful lot of potential for marketable 'happenings'. If experience has taught us one thing, it's never to say never!

 

Skip to 12.20 to see and hear it! Russell stopped on top dead centre hence the controlled roll back to get a restart.

 

Awesome acceleration, and mighty fine enginemanship (if that's a word)!

 

I will pass your comments onto Mark the driver on that run. We were both grinning so hard when we exited T4 at the end of the climb. You can hear the first slip in the tunnel, but she went on to slip twice more before we hit daylight.

 

Glad I went!

 

Hopefully all those who were putting the event down last week will have realised it was an excellent event and are either counting their blessing that they went, or kicking themselves that they did not!

 

The expansion plans at the mining museum are now part of a much larger scheme involving both the Swanage Railway and Dorset Council to redevelop Norden Station. It will therefore be a few years until Russell will be invited to run across the narrow gauge bridge over the branch line with Corfe Castle in the background. That is not to say that a visit before then would not be on the cards, but with limited resources, the museum needs to ensure that the visit will be worthwhile for all.

 

Well I'm glad I went! I've got lots of pictures to edit as time permits, but I've put a few of RUSSELL at the top pf the Aberglaslyn Pass on Flickr. This is the first one in the Photostream if anyone would like to have a look:

RD20359. RUSSELL. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

The rest will follow in the fullness of time.

 

And maybe the K1 could be restored to steam...

 

Strewth! .... 'ow'd I forget to include K1 in my post???? The boiler's not all that old, is it?

 

Boiler on K1 was new from Israel Newton and has only done one ten year ticket.

I think it's time is likely to come again, however I would think NG16 overhauls will be taking priority as the railway needs a running fleet of them for the core services, while K1 is essentially a toy (if a rather large one!).

 

Having just read the latest updates from Blodge (in http://insidemotion.co.uk/2019/07/04/past-present-and-future-weekend/ ) a question occurs: Fairlie Bogies: .... I've tried to keep abreast of design developments (Musical Bogies, indeed!), but the photo of James Spooner's cradle, sitting on what I assume to be the service bogies ex-EoM, makes me wonder if the latest edition of the 'standard 4w Fairlie bogie' - assuming there is such a thing! - is doing all expected of it, or are further refinements in the pipeline?

Although the 0-6-4t single Fairlie Gowrie recreation is in it's early stages (https://m.facebook.com/groups/906858619368479/?ref=group_header&view=group), quite how lessons learned on the 'Spooner bogies' will translate into what's needed for the 'Hunslet' 6w bogie (obviously from a very different school of design) will be fascinating to watch, as the project unfolds.

 

Click here for my photo gallery from the WHR Past, Present & Future... http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/ffestiniog… Some highlights below:

 

Prior to the last overhaul Russell was dual fitted braking wise, then at the overhaul the vacuum side of it was removed. Then for this gala she had to have a control valve reinstated and use Prince effectively as an ejector. My questions are these:

1 why was the vacuum removed? (As it turns out would have been rather useful)
2 I thought the intention was to run Russell with the whhr air brakes stock and had been tested as such?

Whilst I appreciate the amount of money it would cost, surely wouldn't it be beneficial to share a common braking system across both railways to aid interoperability and maybe even share spares?

 

It was tested some time ago, as you say, and ran from Portmadoc WHHR via Pen-y-Mount Jc. to Beddgelert with WHHR air braked stock on the evenings of Fri 21st and Sat 22nd June. Several videos of the trips on Youtube.
Ray.

 

I find the disconnect between the locomotive policy on the FfR and on the WHR slightly odd.
On the FfR, they are spending a lot of effort to restore Welsh Pony, a loco for which there is no traffic demand at all. Heritage is taken very seriously and locos and stock restored meticulously. Not only pre-preservation FR heritage either: the Penrhyn ladies, the replicas, these all have their place and are (rightly) much valued.
On the WHR, there seems to be no interest in running anything except the NGG16s on long, infrequent trains. Even the NG15 is still years away from running, and K1, one of the most important locos in the FfR/WHR fleet, is largely ignored.
Essentially it seems to come down to viewing the FfR as the heritage outfit and the WHR as a modern scenic steam-hauled journey, run along fairly commercial lines.
Don't get me wrong, I like an NGG16, and quite understand the advantages of a compatible fleet.
I know K1 isn't ideal for peak season service trains, but frankly neither is Welsh Pony (or Linda, or Palmerston....). I also know it's been problematic at times (as have other locos, of course). But it would be wonderful to have it in (occasional) traffic, and in the meantime on static display somewhere accessible (Caernarfon station?) as it is such an important historical locomotive.

 

Welsh Pony, Linda, Palmerston, KS4415, 134, C2, Lilla, Hugh Napier, Prince all have volunteer groups providing a lot of input at overhaul. The K1 group have all but disappeared. The staff at Dinas and Boston Lodge are swamped with work at the moment, so K1 isn't going to magically re-tube itself.

Tim