The Welsh Mountaineer

Caught Her Near Sandycroft on the outward leg

 

Hi, does anyone know/have a gradient profile for the Blaenau section? ive got one to Llandudno Jnc but nothing from there onwards. Any info much appreciated!

 

If you are on the tour, there is a gradient profile in the tour brochure.

 

This info is taken from Larry Goddards excellent book 'The Conway Valley Line' No actual profile but this may be of use;
From Betws-y-Coed most of the climb is at 1in 60 and 1 in 50 with the steepest part at 1 in 47 before reaching Pont-y-Pant lower tunnel. The line climbs away from Dolwyddelan at 1 in 62 following the valley side to Roman Bridge. The climb on the return from Blaenau is at 1 in 43.

 

Thanks for the info acw71000! much appreciated

 

I think the gradient profile in the tour brochure (I've not got it in front of me) shows the steepest gradient as 1 in 36 soon after Betws-y-Coed, although the profile appears to have been drawn by hand so could be wrong. Certainly the most difficult part does seem to be the bit leading into Pont-y-Pant tunnel - that's where 80079 (twice) and 45231 (I think) have come to grief on previous tours.

 

A few from today, some outstanding sound effects from the front end

 

It was about 10 early for most of the return it seems. Caught myself and Hunslets Finest out at Rhyl when it appeared almost without warning!

Managed one reasonable shot crossing the Weaver this morning. Rubbish shot at Roman Bridge due to not being able to get to the location in time. At least seeing all four steam locos working at Snowdon Mountain Railway made up for it. Watching the sparks being thrown 40 feet up in the air was quite something!

 

Train arrived Preston 5 mins late. It was routed S/L from Golborne Jn and directly into the down loop platform [6] at Wigan NW where it stood for 8 mins to allow a Pendolino to overtake. It was also routed S/L beyond Balshaw Lane Jn and was stopped again just south of the Ribble Bridge on the approach to Preston this time to allow a Voyager to pass. The climb from the standing start at Wigan was extremely noisy and took 6 mins to top Boars Head at 33 mph, although with a load of only 6 had no difficulty.

 

It's an interesting thought that even with only load 6, the Welsh Mountaineer had more coaches than most of the trains cluttering up the network ... and we wonder why there are no paths for steam.