FR & WHR & WHHR News

And I hope if he didn't pay full whack, it was due to his using a life members' privilege trip with his name on it.

 

well he is a better person than most if he can figure out an actual timetable from the wanderers,explorers and venturers!! and even better if he can pony up the eyewatering fares. As a "turista" yes I will pay the 25gbp return to Tan-y-Grisau but when you consider that with the new 1bws fares I can get from Ruabon to Porthmadog for 5.90gbp and return(in a day) it does indicate the premium that we pay for Heritage NG.

 

Just click on the "Train Services" tab at the top and there's a button marked "booking for a specific day" - choose that and it shows you. Next to that tab is a tab marked "easy to read timetable" button https://www.festrail.co.uk/pdf/timetable_2022.pdf

 

All I can say was that Porthmadog station was a very busy place to be last Thursday, with many families opting for a trip.
A couple of substantial coach parties filled a good portion of the Blaenau Ffestiniog service, which I also enjoyed - the first full line trip I had done in 3 years. And what a trip, the views were outstanding, better than I can ever remember - can't be better scenery on any heritage railway in the UK.
No doubting it would have been very expensive for us had it not been for my membership card, but the shop saw my patronage instead!
The staff were incredibly helpful in ensuring people were on the correct train, especially given some FR trains departed from the WHR platform.

 

We're staying in Porthmadog in a couple of weeks and planning on at least one trip. Might be a couple depending on the weather, the wife is happy to spend the day on trains if the weather isn't great!

I'm not a fan of fixed itinerary days out, but it seems to work for 99% of FR/WHR's passengers, and it looks like it'll work for us as well.

 

Hope you are blessed with the same weather we had!

I feel it does work for the FR and definitely WHR which is an experience in itself (much the same as The Jacobite).
The schedule gives around 45mins at Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is enough to walk into town and get a drink etc.

Enjoy!

 

Pre-booking isn't too much of a hassle, and in any case I've found that there has always been enough room to hop on and hop off as an individual or couple, even on the busiest trains,

Harbour station has the air of a major terminus when three fully-booked trains on two platforms are loading at the same time. Rather thrilling to be almost back to normal!

Life is expensive now, unfortunately. I could get from London to Aberdeen for half of the cost of a WHR round trip - it's apples and oranges. As mentioned upthread, there is a clear timetable available on the website.

 

Moving Pictures No. 70 [30'22"] is up. Despite the best efforts of Merddin Emrys's now half century (plus) old Hunslet boiler, work still continues on James Spooner (slowly!) and Funkey diesel Castell Caenarfon, the fibreglass nose now looking very fetching in a rich medium green.

Of the 'home fleet' Linda puts in an appearance, with improvements still being made to this nearly 130 year old stalwart. At the back end, Alco fans will find something to smile about .... as will several who find Blodge can get a bit hectic, due to Mountaineer's strip down happening at Glan-y-Pwll!

Outside contract work features, with progress on the bogies for the three new TR carriages, plus another broad gauge job .... two carriages worth of roller bearing fitted wheelsets for the IMR.

 

I missed the notice that Mountaineer was to be overhauled. Hopefully the several pages of noise made about it translates into backing for it.

 

Right now, I'm not certain I'd go further than saying the Alco will definitely be pulled across the Cob by madmen (and the very best of British to 'em!), thence removed to G-y-P for a strip down and thorough assessment of it's condition, before reporting back to produce costed options.

I may be wide of the mark, but get the impression pending hard evidence from that exercise, no-one is too sure exactly how knackered different bits of the old loco are, let alone decided the objective (and therefore the scope) of repairs. All I do know for certain is that under the agreement by which it arrived on the FfR, it cannot be 'disposed of' without the formal consent of the estate of the original donor.

At this point, I'm uncertain funding is being allocated by either FRCo. or FRT, or whether this is the product of ringfenced project-specific funding from the kind of people who drag dead locos across tidal estuaries. I sincerely hope they find nothing terminal, as Mountaineer is a firm favourite of mine. I well remember it from the early seventies, when it definitely wasn't a favourite of too many crews .... with only 'The Ladies' truly reliable back then (having recently been fitted with leading pony trucks) the line always seemed to be teetering on the edge of a loco crisis, probably because it was.

OK, so Mountaineer will never win any prizes for graceful design, but it's always looked as though it meant business .... even when it was only bluffing and unlike another favourite of mine, the sadly long lost (2'-6" gauge) 2-6-2T Pioneer from Pentewen, it's still with us ... and long may it remain so!

 

Welsh Pony was seen as just another small locomotive surplus to requirements and a waste of resources, but is now one of the harder working locomotives in the fleet. Who knows how Mountaineer may pan out?

 

Indeed and given what they found when Welsh Pony was stripped down .... one lives in hope!

 

Mountaineer has a dedicated fund within the FR Society. This has been quietly built up by supporters paying in monthly and by selling merchandise. As far as I'm aware no funds from the company or the trust have been requested as of yet. Anyone is welcome to donate to this fund.

Unlike Welsh Pony, the loco is complete and has run in recent history. It would be feasible to just repair the boiler and put it back in traffic. However it could do with a full strip down and a comprehensive overhaul rather than piecemeal repairs. So this is what will happen. With the engine in good condition it is a relatively straightforward thing to maintain.

Tim

 

I'm very much looking forward to seeing it back in steam.

 

Amen

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

YEY!

 

20 people seems like a lot. I think 8 of us pulled a small/ medium small airplane when I was Air Cadets.

 

It needs remembering that aircraft do tend to have weight savings measures inbuilt as perhaps the overriding general consideration throughout their design. Not too sure you'd get an Alco airborne under it's own power ......

 

Locos don’t take much force to pull them once you get them moving if they are on level track. The latter is the critical thing. Introduce any sort of adverse gradient and the pull required rapidly increases.