The Vale of Rheidol Railway - News

Sure, but it was the smoothness of the machine at line speed which stood out to me. Here's the clip [12'41"] in question. Have a look .... do you agree, or am I just imagining it?

 

Is the online loco roster usually accurate? I'd like to visit when the Garrett's working in August..

 

Safest reply has to be to get in touch with your preferred visiting dates:
Phone: 01970 625819
Email: info@rheidolrailway.co.uk

You do know we're keen on piccies? ..... lots and lots of lovely piccies.

 

My understanding is there are two brake coaches and the brake van. One Brake Coach now has the First Class upgrade done and the second is in the works. Until that one is done the second passenger set is using the brake van.

I think they are currently using every available carriage to provide the two train service. IMO they could do with more so as to provide spares for high season and extra capacity for Gala events.

 

In South African ACR an NGG 16 would be rated at 260 tones of wood on a harder line and run at a slower speed. What they’ve been asked to do in the UK is fast running at a small load. The Vof R is under using the power of a 16 and even a 2-6-2 is not stretched as hard as a Welshpool loco. So both VoR types are performing well within their capabilities.

 

An awkward sod points out: No.60 is an NGG13 (one of three in the UK) .... though putting photos up alongside an NGG16 would make for a great 'spot the difference' contest.

 

Likewise putting different makers of NGG16s would make for another great 'spot the difference' contest!

 

The building of the NGG13s and 16s is a tale of incremental changes between successive batches and deciding where one class ends and the other begins is rather arbitrary. The first batch of what would eventually be called NGG16s ran for a while with numberplate marked up as NGG13 before being redesignated. The change that triggered the reclassifation is reported to be the fitting of a different pony truck and the addition of roller bearings to same. Not a particularly obvious change externally.

There were several other changes between batches of both classes as the design was 'tweaked' in the light of experience over time. Some were obvious (e.g. cab size) others where not (e.g. brake arrangements). A side-by-side comparison between batches within a class will probably show up just as many detail differences as between a 13 and a 16!

 

All the manufacturers engines where mixed and matched in SA as needed. The basic dimensions etc are basically the same. Yes the pony trucks went roller bearing and the reason for changing classification. So defining the difference between them is hard and purely in some parts just the boiler cradle being true to its number.

 

Evening All,

While I was on holiday in Wales I also visited the Vale of Rheidol Railway:





Hope you like 'em.

TTFN,

Ron.

 

I certainly never expected to see a Garratt on the V of R, but I did; and here's part two of my video footage:



Further instalments to follow as time permits...

TTFN,

Ron.

 

Just looking at Google maps I can't see any advantage of extending the line to anywhere, I could be wrong, but if it is so easy why didn't the Western or BR think about doing so?

 

The original company had designs on a line to Aberaeron, a coastal village south of Aberystwyth. That's the 'what', although the 'why' has always rather escaped me!

If memory serves, it was to have been 16 miles long and actually got as far as being put out to tender before the Cambrian pounced. Whether it was that event, or original contractor (and major shareholder) Pethicks squashing the extension, no more was heard of the matter, or other aspirations to electrify the line. Beyond that, I've no detailed info.

 

I suspect given the period, belief that building a railway between two linked places was a good thing and to the benefit of both - even if the railway would be terminally insolvent. We are after all in the aftermath of the Light Railway Act, and the many and various oddities that it spawned, some of which even were given birth to.

 

I assume the line would've traversed the (nearly a coastal) shelf to the west of a marked rise in land levels. Such a route must have called for at least five river crossings. Google Earth reveals the sparsity of population ... and I don't think the charming rows of mobile homes in several parks would have blighted the coast existed before WWI.

Given that the village of Aberaeron ("town" really would be stretching it) comprises a very few streets either side of the Afon Aeron at the junction of (what are now known as) the A482 (which approaches from the SE) and A487 (at this point, the coast road, further north, the companion of the Corris between Mach and just above Maespoeth), it has to be said, although the tidal portion of the river acts as a fairly restricted harbour for small vessels (the basin on the North bank, within the village couldn't have handled anything of consequence after the demise of commercial sailing vessels) it can't have been seen as highly desirable, even at the height of the railway age.

The VoR had a branch connecting it to the more substantial harbour at Aberystwyth, for all the traffic that ever generated. Pretty much moribund by grouping, after withdrawal of Bagnall 2-4-0T No.3 (GWR 1198) around that time meant the annual requirement of running a 'train' along the branch to preserve right-of-way was reduced to a wagon shove in either direction. With it being almost certain there'd be a lot of accumulated detritus to remove from the rails, I find myself wondering whether that near pointless ritual was seen as some strange "punishment duty" or some early "team building exercise" ? Whatever, it most certainly isn't indicative of any more significant traffic to or from the harbour at Aberaeron.

Unless there was some untapped mineral vein I'm unaware of, or the locale was/is massively more bountiful than anywhere else between the heaving fleshpots of Aberystwyth and Aberteifi, the only thing which makes any sense of so large and frankly questionable an outlay would have been if there had been some grand scheme to develop the village, likely for tourism. Maybe I'm missing something which would've made what looks like a surefire way of bankrupting the line.

 

I quite agree - the one time I’ve driven that way suggested no plausible traffic flows. But that didn’t stop promoters promoting schemes in the 19th century, despite their obvious lack of potential - and the aftermath of the 1896 Act saw a final flourishing of doomed proposals.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

One can only presume the railway's promoters didn't quite get the drift of the old maxim about how to end up with a small fortune from their scheme!

 

They were in a long line...

 

Of course in the fulness of time there was a standard gauge line to Aberaeron (branching of from the line between Aberystwyth and Camarthen), which in spite of the sparseness of the population in the area made a bit more sense than an extension of the VOR, being a through route with the branch tapping into a small but significant populated area.

We should also remember that South West Wales did have some mineral wealth, in addition to agriculture and fishing. And poor roads at the time - prior to the railways it was horse and cart, or by sea.

Steve B

 

Posting duplicated and deleted (see below)