Brecon Mountain Railway

Not sure what the state of play really is on the BMR. The website said they were hoping to open on July 19th. Then that changed around the 10thJuly to "opening 1st August". Went to the site to see if it is possible to book for sunday, it now says "hoping to open on 10th August". This will only leave about 3 weeks of the school holidays to catch up a lot of lost revenue.
I wish them well, and I hope they can navigate successfully through whatever they are facing.

 

It does seem odd to pass up on half the peak season, especially after the damned lurgi all but totalled last year too. In the specific case of the BMR though, I can't help but wonder whether workshop and/or pw activities might be taking precedence? They do have a bit of form for springing surprises on us.

 

10th August is after the date that restrictions (should) be lifted in Wales so presumably the BMR have decided that it isn't worth operating before that date.

 

With their proximity to the valleys towns (where I recall stubborn clusters of the dreaded lurgi on the Beeb's covid map, first time around), perhaps so.

S'pose it could be that their balcony stock has a particularly tricky layout to adapt to conditions? As pretty much all else has managed some sort of services, including the Corris with it's longtitudinal seated stock and the VoR with the unique layout of theirs, it still seems a particularly cautious approach.

In honesty, I'm just relieved not to be burdened with such decisions myself, under these circumstances.

 

Well, on a much more positive note, the bookings system is up and operating. Operating tuesday to saturdays inclusive from 10th.
It lists number of bubbles available -I think 28 bubbles on a train, but I can't quite work out how they've done that. It appears that the minimum price of a return bubble is £50, which is about the same as two adults, two halves and most of a dog. More travellers and the price goes up, which is fair.
Now I just have to get my son to commit to a particular date. I think we'll avoid the saturday

 

My footage of the BMR's Baldwin 4-6-2 No. 2 slogging past Pontsticill Reservoir bound for Torpantau earlier today, filmed in conjunction with travelling on the line. A spectacular experience!

 

Announced in the last 15 minutes, the Vale of Rheidol is set to acquire the Brecon Mountain Railway, with them taking over operations from Spring 2024.

 

So..

• BMR bought VoR from BR in 1988.
• Unified management until 1996, then split into separate entities.
• Now VoR buys BMR and re-merge.

Confusing!

 

Given that the lines were bought initially by two men with rather different interests the split made some sense, in the same way that bringing them back together now also seems sensible

 

This could work since a shared engineering base can be a good thing and it may speed up the construction of the two sandy river locos as well. plus if will give a place to run some of the Indian stuff once it has been restored. a great move by all concerned.

 

Wow that is going to be a major project to join up the two. Which route do you think they will be taking?

 

Manchester & Milford, I'd suggest

 

I thought that that route was earmarked for the crayonistas magnum opus, going to Caernarfon. Dual gauge, anyone?
Pat

 

Given that the beginning and end sections are already 2ft gauge, just make it narrow gauge all the way to Caernarfon? Branches off to Blaenau Ffestiniog and Devil's Bridge...

Steve B

 

Crayonistas

 

With the 2 Vertical Boilered locos now transferred to the VoR museum, does that mean there are no locos on display at Pontsticill?

I wonder if any locos are going to be transferred to the BMR as it is now under the VoR umbrella?

 

Its a thought, and not the first time it has crossed some minds. Most are too small, but maybe the Dabhoi Gwalior Railway pacifics or perhaps the Fowler 0-6-0+T would fit in in the current roster. Sadly I think the NG6s wouldn't have the power for what they need, but I would love to be proven wrong.

 

I must admit, I had wondered whether the BMR might look to create a new display facility as an 'overflow' for the Aberystwyth museum, since the Rampton collection is clearly too large to be displayed there all at once. That would clearly be something for the longer term, however!

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I would not be surprised to see locomotives turn up at the BMR for storage / display purposes. Although the new museum in Aberystwyth has created more space I don’t think they have enough storage for the all the collection that has been located in Surrey. Obviously they have the long term plan to rebuild the London Bridge roof to create a larger museum facility but this will take time. Mind you as has been seen by the changes recently in the current museum they have been hiding stuff away for a while!
As for working loco’s, whilst the Rheidol is a charity it appears to be worked more as a commercial concern to maintain profitability. They do not seem to maintain a steam fleet greater than they need to; this is demonstrated by the fact that nr9 has not been returned to steam as quickly as it could (although this may also be down to the fact that they had external contracted work from the likes of the WHR). Personally I cannot see them returning other locos to steam unless previous ones are out of traffic and then it will be small engines (for the driver for a fiver operation) or engines equal to the capacity of the baldwins / GWR tanks. One of those Bagnall Pacific’s would fit the latter so we can live in hope!