Third Pickering replica arrives at Llanfair

Our third replica of the original W&LLR Pickering carriages, all three of which have been built for us by the Ffestiniog Railway, arrived at Llanfair Caereinion yesterday. You can see pictures on the news page of www.wllr.org.uk.

First opportunity to see all three together is likely to be the Gala on 3-5 September when we will also have visiting loco Chevallier.

Cheers

Andrew Charman
Press Officer, Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

 

They really are absolutely stunning!

 

Probably the most beautiful coaches on UK narrow gauge and an absolute credit to Blodge.

 

If only the Lodge could knock out an un-altered L&B coach

 

Just looked at the provisional timetable and I see the two most interesting trains - to me at least - i.e. the W&L passenger and W&L goods will only run on the Friday. I would have thought these would have been the centrepieces of the whole gala on all three days.

 

I'm sure they could if you send them a fat cheque Spud.

Spamcan, your post works as an example of why it's like this.
Friday will expected to be the quieter day of the gala, if a certain train (and a debut such as this one) that many people will want to see is only run on the Friday then it will encourage those who want to see it to visit on the Friday, thus boosting the quieter day and encouraging people to stay for more days. Similarly I believe the Dougal passenger trains are all on the Sunday because this encourages people to visit that day.

 

The bogie design might need to be addressed. I recall a trip on the VofR in the late nineteen sixties when we were hammering along towards Capel Bangor with the carriage rolling alarmingly. After one particularly violent roll an elderly passenger remarked to her husband "Eeh, it's just like the Lynton line"!

PH

 

No way! It makes me smile when I hear a memory about the L&B!

 

It might just be sleep deprivation, but im sure i read on the L&B group that the bogies under FR 'Barns' are exactly that - a modified version of the L&B design.

Chris

 

At the risk of garotting by the L&B crowd, this might explain why I have always found the 19th. century FR stock to ride better than the recent builds. "Taliesin" also seemed to ride better on the couple of times I rode on her when she was new.

Returning to the original topic of this thread, I have sat in but have not been lucky enough to ride in one the Pickerings but I am told, reliably, that they run beautifully. The secondary suspension is by means of transverse leaf springs. This design of bogie may well be worth examination.

The seating must be about as comfortable as wooden slats can be, better than a lot of uipholstered seats.

PH

 

This misses the fact that many, many people work on Fridays and can't always get the time off. IMHO the W&L set should be the centrepiece of all three days and you could charge a premium for riding them. We've waited nigh on 80 years to see a pukka W&L passenger and now we've got one it will only run on one day of your gala. I wish you well but I think you've made the wrong call on this one.

 

Perhaps those people will just have to wait a little while longer.

 

"At the risk of garotting by the L&B crowd, this might explain why I have always found the 19th. century FR stock to ride better than the recent builds."

I agree but the historic stock does not get a pretty young lady with a trolley!

 

With Countess due to be withdrawn almost immediately after the Gala, that could be a bit of a wait. I still think much mileage could have been made by running a pukka W&L passenger on all three days of the Gala with tickets for those trains at a premium and advance booking available. Perhaps something similar could be done when Countess comes back off overhaul.

 

Pleased to hear it has been finished and looks superb.

 

Are there any photos out there of the three original Pickerings in a train in GW livery? I've seen photos of them in Cambrian colours and they all worked together on the opening day but I haven't seen any photos of them all in GW livery. Did they ever all run as one train as presumably Monday (market day in W'Pool) was the only day all three would have been needed?

 

@spamcan81

" Made on a Mac, does what it says on the pack."

What does it say on the pack? 'No user serviceable parts inside'? 'Made in Taiwan by suicidal slave labour'? 'Just hand over the cash'? 'In the event of malfunction, buy a new one'?

I also note this wonderful machine has inserted an unprintable character in your .sig.

Marvellous.

 

And just what has your post to do with the third Pickering coach arriving at Welshpool? Do try to keep on topic little boy.

 

It says on the pack "No sense of humor required"

 

Apart from the other explanation given it will also be because the passenger capacity is limited (less than 10 on the Pickerings) and the WLLR has discovered from experience that running limited capacity trains during the gala is not a good idea.