Palmerston Returns to the Vale of Rheidol

I presume clearances on the Dinas-Caernarfon section of the WHR are somewhat more generous, given it's SG origins. If so, a VoR tank could be used just on that section, but whether it's worth bring one in just for that four miles is somewhat debatable.

 

Better still, how about a visit from Lyd down to Aber? Be good to compare 2 contemporary NG 2-6-2 tanks.

 

Or how about Russell for that matter?

 

Why not go all the way and throw Mountainneer into the mix and have a 4 way comparison although I seem to recall hearing that the Alco had visited in the 80's

 

1986 I believe. Still, it doesn't have to wait 90-odd years for a return visit like Palmerston did..

 

I wouldn't get too worked up about the idea of a Rhiedol tank on the WHR the chances of it happening are slim and it has nothing to do with the loading gauge. Although the chances of that happening are probably higher than the chances of Lyd going to Aber. Palmerston is being hired by the VofR anyway i.e. they are paying the FR when they use so there is no obligation to send a loco the other way. So i'd just enjoy this rare event while you can.

Tim

 

Only pure daydream stuff Tim but the VoR would make a good venue for a 2-6-2 fest given that the home locos have the biggest loading gauge, so by default any visitors should fit!

 

Would love to see a NGG 16 tackle the VoR!

 

Could it cope with the curves on the top end of the line and the length of the head-hunt at Devils Bridge?

 

There were some pretty severe curves on the Port Shepstone - Harding line whence they came. As for the headshunt you could always use another loco to release the NGG16. Ray.

 

A great idea, and good to see Palmerston back on the VoR.

 

I seem to recall there was a plan/proposal mentioned in a previous VoR thread (?) to install a traverser at Devil's Bridge in order to increase the usable length of the run round loop (To facilitate running longer trains?). Has that idea been quietly forgotten?

 

For those interested, my Boyd's NG Rlys of S. Caern. puts the NWNGR structural width at 10', with PB&SSR at 11', including the Aberglaslyn tunnels. The drawings for the present Pont Croesor show the kinetic envelope to be 2374mm, or ~ 7' 9.5". Garratts (edit: I mean NGG16s!), for comparison, are 7' wide.

 

I wouldn't believe what JICB wrote - and I knew him well.

 

Wide, but not quite wide enough! Never mind.

Speaking of Garratts, how about K1 on the Rheidol?

 

I am just glad that Palmerston is on the VofR. It's been close to 100 years before the old friend came back and it is 28 years since a last visitor has run up the valley

 

Just to check - there have been a few posts recently criticising Boyd (some now removed due to being abusive) What precisely is the alleged inaccuracy in his books? Without getting vitriolic... I'm reading one of them now, as it happens.

 

i have virtually all of James I C Boyd's books most first editions going back to the early 1940's.

when you read the early books and have a bit of an engineering/steam loco knowledge you quickly get the impression he knew very little about steam locos! (he was the first to admit this!)

there are very many faults in his seminal work on the Ffestiniog Railway, particularly where the locos are concerned.

he spent very many years researching the pre preservation history of the Talyllyn Railway and unfortunately the resulting book is not very readable and is full of errors. his lack of understanding of legal complexities (that were a product of the Haydn Jones era, and which subsequently bedeviled the TR extension to Nant Gwernol) is apparant, plus again his superficial gloss on the original locos, though the pictures he discovered are priceless.

he also lacked a degree of judgement in assessing the personalities involved when writing about them. as most were by then dead this was rather strange! for example one gets a very strong indication of what John Bate thought of the late Hugh and Herbert Jones in 'Chronicles of Pendre Sidings', quite at variance with J I C Boyd's description's of Hugh and his son in his book 'Talyllyn Railway'.

i get the impression that J I C Boyd kept notes on sheets of paper as time went by, and then had great difficulty assimulating them into a proper narrative in most of his books.

cheers,
julian

 

Spaces are still available on the photographic charter trains running on the 10th and 11th September.


Bookings are available via http://www.timelineevents.org/product.php/48/palmerston-at-the-vale-of-rheidol-10th-september-2014 or by calling the railway Booking Office on 01970 625819.


This will be the very first opportunity for members of the public to travel behind Palmerston on Rheidol metals with the train making photographic stops at many locations along the railway to places inaccessible by public footpaths.


The price of £70 per person includes lunch.

 

This looks a fun day out. I'm in Wales the following week - the photo charter on 18th is presumably not open to the public?

John