FR/WHR questions

Surely there must be longer platforms on the metre gauge and 3'6" in places like Africa and South East Asia?

 

Difficult to say as many of the narrow and metre gauge lines, in India for example but also in places like South Africa, have closed or been converted to broad gauge or have no platforms at all. By my recollections and of the lines I have visited over the years the platform at Dabhoi on the 2' 6'' gauge lines in Gujarat would have been longer. 240m is still an impressive length though.

 

Most places outside the UK don't have platforms at all - carriages have steps.

 

But, in fairness, the FR platforms are of that 'ilk'.

 

They are surfaced though - most places have a dusty yard with no raised section.

 

Not all though - see below some examples from Poland and India. The first survives as a preservation project and the second and third as operational public lines AFAIK [but not with steam!].

1] Piaseczno Miesto. 2] Dabhoi 3] Bilimora 4] Ranchi

 

When complete, the FR platform face will be 285 metres long and will be signalled allowing two trains to use it simultaneously - a full-length service train at the station building end and a shorter one on the Cob for heritage shuttles and so on.

 

I visited the FR in 68-69 ? as a young boy and recorded Linda, Blanche and Earl of Merioneth running, I understand the current Earl of Merioneth was built around 79, can anyone explain the late 60's engine....??

Thanks !

 

Late 60s engine?

FR Locomotives - Festipedia

 

The Earl you saw in the 1960s now has a different name. I'll try to explain - recycling of names has taken place place a few times on the FR! A Double-Fairlie called Livingstone Thompson was built in 1886. In 1932 it was renamed Taliesin (taking over this name from a recently withdrawn Single-Fairlie. In 1961 it was renamed Earl of Merioneth. After it was finally withdrawn in 1971 the name and the bogies were re-used in the new Earl of Merioneth which entered service in 1979. Livingstone Thompson finally got its original name back (together with bogies assembled from scrap parts of other locos) in the 1980s when it was restored for static display. It is currently in the NRM.

 

It was renamed EoM in the hope that The Duke of Edinburgh would pop along to unveil it (EoM is one of his honorary titles). He never showed up until 2010 when he travelled on the WHR with his wife.

 

Thanks for your replies !

 

Sounds like a narrow gauge Gloucester.

 

I have been recently reading through Boyd's FR and WHR books. He mentions the procedures were a double-engine to become stuck in the Old Moelwyn Tunnel:

"Should a double engine stall in the tunnel and the fireman not be sanding at the the time, the poor wretched man was obliged to crawl out through one of the spectacle glasses (which were suitably large for this eventuality) and find his way along the tank and boiler top to the front of the engine"

From appearances the spectacle plates look too small for this to be feasible - just out of interest has anyone actually tried to exit a loco by this route? (I understand that with the new tunnel it is now possible to pass down the side of the loco)

Best wishes,
Gareth

 

Not everything in Boyd is 100% accurate. However the firemen at the time were often young boys rather than men. So it probably would be feasible but not exactly easy with the spectacle folded flat. I've had to get in a double engine firebox though the fire hole door before now and that is not much bigger.

I've not heard of anyone having a reason to do this. The spectacles on Merddin and DLG wouldn't open that far these days anyway.

Yes the new tunnel is much larger. Most of the rolling stock would not fit through the old one.

 

That oddy Gwarnedd tunnet again! when , o when this damned tunnel will be widen???I know the cost would be prohibitive but it as been always a thorn in the big feet of the FR (and WHR too!) time to act maybe?
regards
Noel

 

Thankfully we've almost passed the days of mindless vandalism of FR heritage such as what you suggest.

 

What benefit would the railway gain from such an incredibly expensive and disruptive piece of civil engineering?