FR & WHR & WHHR News

I'm staying in the area next week and have booked tickets... my first visit in over 10 years! Just wondered if anyone knew what the loco roster is likely to be next week?

 

DLG and Blanche on the FR. 130 and 87 on the WHR. Subject to the usual disclaimers.

Tim

 

Wasn't too clear in GM's announcement. Is the short WHR service from Caernarfon running to Waunfawr or Rhyd Ddu?

 

It will go to Rhyd Ddu probably using Lyd. I don't think that is intended to start until the school holidays though.

Tim

 

Update from Barrie. Faceache users would seem likely to get more from this one than me, but the photo of Russell, with WHHR test train heading for the 1:40 is something else! Remember one of Welsh Pony's first duties was delivering a very nice brake composite to Pen-y-Mount? Well, here's that great advert for Blodge's coach building skills out in the wild .... and it looks fantastic.

http://isengard.co.uk/#News

 

July update from the team working on NG15 No.134. This is a project beginning to have a sense of entering, if not the home straight, then somewhere close to the final lap:

https://ng15-134.co.uk/Restoration/WPNews.html

Am I the only one wondering whether, come No.133's turn (always assuming it does!), this restoration will be the template?

Also, this weekend saw Russell and WHHR rake heading from Pen-y-Mount to Dinas for the WHR100 event. The intention is to turn the loco at Dinas to attack the climb to Rydd Ddu chimney first. Some very nice photos here:

www.isengard.co.uk

 

much of what he said must apply to all heritage railways

 

No arguing with that. Have you seen today's announcement from Minehead?

Watching webcams here and there, even before covid I'd been increasingly concerned for some time that several railways have been running services with too many empty carriages. Some of the events and end of season bashes might be great fun for members, but am I alome in wondering which even cover their costs?

We need to be hideously aware what actually works and what we'd just like to kid ourselves is working. That means being ever more careful about record keeping and even cannier concerning marketing.

 

If you decide to double your fares and run half as many trains it's definitely a lot easier to cover your costs in the short term. Quite what the knock on effects of this will be are not yet clear.

The dissponting ticket sales for the upcoming WHR specials suggest there is a limit to what you can get away with.

Tim

 

I'm getting a definite vibe generally, that people are deeply uncertain as to how things stand. To judge by news reports from ports and airports, a lot of pent up foreign holidaying is being released, but beyond that I've a strong impression that for many, there's fear that as bad as things are, they only look set to worsen and belts have been tightened in anticipation.

Down here, those two heatwave days left things with something akin to that odd feeling of the lockdowns.

 

You have to survive the short-term to make it to the long-term.

At the moment, the only certainty is uncertainty.

I'd be interested to know how much of the current transport rush is people using up 2020's paid-for and postponed holidays. Also the total chaos at the airports is at least in part down to reduced capacity.

Whether next year there is the same level of people able to afford holidays will be an issue, and where it will be cheapest for them to go will be another.

 

Agree completely with all of that post, but the bit above stood out. I'll be honest .... this point hadn't occurred to me. If it's a hight percentage, yes .... there are bigger problems.

 

I think the trouble with this event is you’re basically charging £60 for a max of two trips to Rhyd Ddu with Russell. The timetable doesn’t allow for much else. To get the first Russell train, you need to be at Caernarfon to catch the 8:45 bus as there’s no parking at Dinas either which I imagine will make the second Russell train very busy. Even then, £60 is very expensive. Any idea why it costs so much?

 

I happened across a clip mostly shot at Blodge within the last month. I understand the rationale of the current FfR service pattern, but am wondering if it's succeeding in it's aims. Is having the BF and T-y-B departures so close together spreading the jam too thin?

From what's been said about the heaving fleshpots of Blaenau Ffestiniog, it sounds as if that end of the line can't be relied to swell the coffers too much, any tike soon. It has to be as much of a concern for the town as for the railway.

At the other end of the combined system, I sincerely hope the market from Caernarfon improves sufficiently to justify the expanded service.

I really want to post something justifiably upbeat, but right now it seems treading water is about the best which can be hoped for.

 

One of my regular bookings is delivering off road experiences at Mercedes-Benz world- they are certainly still seeing reasonable pre covid postponement bookings coming through the system- holidays are probably even more so due to the limitation of school holiday periods.

Chris

 

To judge by report after report, it seems fairly general across the leisure sector, which is obviously a concern. I've just remembered something I clocked a couple of weeks back .... one of the trip boats from Brighton Marina up for sale as part of a 'going concern' .... and that from a pontoon containing at least three less trip boats than last time I was there, a couple of years back. Mid afternoon on a very warm and sunny midweek day, would never be the busiest outside late July and August, but the entire marina, other than the big supermarket, was noticeably quieter than you'd expect.

 

A few photos from a good couple of days on the WHR. The weather really improved on Sunday night, unfortunately we were on the train at that point - but no doubt some nice photos & videos of Russell heading back to Porthmadog yesterday

 

One from yesterday evening of 'Russell' passing through the Aberglaslyn Pass with the returning ECS.

Excellent weekend, thanks to everyone that made it happen. Video to follow.

 

Lovely photos. I just wish that I could have been there too. Perhaps I'll be able to arrange things better for next year's event. In the meantime, I shall just have to content myself with other people's photos and videos.

Ron.

 

Brilliant day out yesterday, enjoyed a run behind Russell, and then a wonderful evening following it back towards Porthmadog.