Steel Steam and Stars 4 - March 6, 7, 8, 13, 14 and 15 2015

Yes.

Bob

 

thanks very much

 

You sure?
Find it very odd that the last train of the day was cancelled and persons left behind...

 

Action from Day 1 & Day 2. Thanks to, Betton Grange Society & Llangollen Railway, for two great days.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed Friday and Saturday, but took one look at the weather this morning and decided to head for home! Was great to travel and phot...leaving the car in the hotel car park. Met some really nice people on trains and at the lineside. Even the crowd in the coach remained mostly cheerful during the '45231 failed incident!' Hope the damage is not too serious and expensive to fix. Bet the buffet car sold out! THANKS to everyone who was involved and made this happen (the event that is...not the 'five' failure!).

A handful of my shots can be seen here...

http://johnleyland.smugmug.com/CD/Heritage-Railways/18814037_v8JNgX#!i=3918234951&k=Q2ZFsLF

 

Why, instead of 5199 doing a straight swap with 45231, did 5199 take over from 3802 and 3802 take over from 45231 today? Fabulous light this evening and some great clag and thrash from 1450 dragging 4270 and 5 coaches out of Berwyn and away from slowing down for the token at Deeside.

 

It was easier doing it that way with the order of locos on shed yesterday. Seemed to work better with the 51s water level doing that diagram.

 

45231 is now ruled out of SSS4, and is to be replaced by 5199/3802 where necessary apparently (which were the spare locos on the remaining days).
Transport being arranged to get '231 back to Carnforth so Bert can get a thorough inspection done. Sad end for her, but by the sounds of things the LR boys quick actions have stopped the damage from being far worse than it could of been.

Timetable wise the event been much better today, first train was roughly 40mins late due to a mixture of rescuing '231 and then forming the 8-coach set up. But by mid-afternoon this was down to 15mins late. Weather miserable first thing, but brightened up for the afternoon and it was like a summer evening as I drove home. Difficult 1st weekend, hopefully next weekend runs a lot smoother for everyone.

 

Really looking forward to a first visit to Llangollen for this on Friday. I haven't done advance booking as I'm all over the place for work in the run-up to the event and there was too much of a risk of tickets and brochure arriving at an address I won't be at again till after the gala, but I get up to the area on Thursday afternoon. Will any of the station offices be open on Thursday to buy a Friday ticket and working timetable? Friday's going to be a case of working from hotel until last second then blatting across for 5 hours at the gala so want to plan ahead as much as I can.

 

I would have thought Llangollen would be open on Thursdys, as the beer festival is open that evening! Hope this helps,

 

The beer festival will open on Thursday night, but that's all. No public train service on the Thursday. So you'll have to get your ticket on Friday, they should have the timetables for sale in the bar though.

 

I've been admiring some of the photo/videos. I am very tempted to ask for a day off on Friday to come over, as I've never visited the line and 34092 in particular is a big attraction - one of my favourite preserved locos. Have downloaded the public timetable, but would be interested to know if there is any sort of WTT giving loco allocations. (I appreciate that bit of hasty revision may have been necessary due to 45231's failure.) Am I right in thinking most locos face Corwen? If so, looks like if I want to combine a trip on the line with some photography, it makes sense to travel AM and take my pictures PM.

I just hope the weather will be as good as last Fri/Sat.

 

It really is well worth a visit! WTT is in the brochure which can now be bought on the day. All locos face Corwen except 3205. I would have thought there will be similar changes to yesterday with 3802 taking 45231's place, and 5199 taking 3802's, although someone else may have a better idea of what is happening!

 

Thank you for your reply, Matthew. Most helpful. I thought that 3205 was the only loco facing Llangollen, having watched LMarsh1987's video. I will certainly give some very serious consideration to a visit if the forecast for Friday stays as good as it is at the moment.

 

Cheers for the replies about Thursday, I'll take a drive round to suss the area out when I get there and head for the bar for a timetable.

 

Footage from Sunday filmed mostly by Monopodman (Joseph). Mark

 

Can anyone tell me what times the shed tours were last weekend? I am going this Saturday!

 

I don't think they're proper tours, you just go in and there's a couple of chaps from the various new build projects in there.

 

As mentioned above, there are no organised shed tours, just walk to the far end of platform 1 go up the ramp and into the works yard.

Both the Betton Grange and Patriot Project had members on hand last weekend to show visitors progress and take donations. I was in the shed with the Patriot most of last weekend and know we will be there next weekend, can only assume the Grange gang will be there as well.

Some parts of the shed are closed off due to ongoing work on locos, but progress can also be seen on 7822 Foxcote Manor, 6430, 45337 and the Night Owl 4709. There is no access to the shed yard.

 

Great time had on Saturday and planning a return this weekend to sample the beer this time as well .

I Have uploaded a few on my website although still work in progress = enjoy

John