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FR & WHR & WHHR News

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by AndrewT, Jul 17, 2012.

  1. RLinkinS

    RLinkinS Member

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    How would creep affect a plastic sleeper? For creep to occur in metals there has to be a significant stress. I judge that the stress levels in plastic sleepers are quite low but could the fasteners come loose?
     
  2. paullad1984

    paullad1984 Member

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    I think by creep he means movement due to rail expansion and/or movement due to vibration from trains passing.
     
  3. ilvaporista

    ilvaporista Part of the furniture

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    It's the fastners you need to keep an eye on. The zone around these tends to creep over time leading to loosening. I was surprised by the relatively low loads at which creep occured.
     
  4. black5

    black5 Well-Known Member

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    Video and pictures from an excellent weekend, visiting for the Vintage Weekend. A really good show, with good timetable, food at Spooner's to usually high standards. Really enjoyed the shunting at Minffordd. http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/ffestiniog…


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  5. andrewshimmin

    andrewshimmin Well-Known Member

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    Will we ever see an NG15 running on the WHR? 134 seems to be making incredibly slow progress, with no "official" support. Indeed, in some ways the project seems to be being frustrated by disinterest and obstruction from the WHR at Dinas, e.g. inaccessibility. Meanwhile yet more NGG16s are being restored. I understand the arguments for standardisation and the more powerful locos, but it seems slightly at odds with the apparent "steam everything" approach to FR locos.
     
  6. Felix Holt

    Felix Holt Guest

    Hear, hear!!
     
  7. meeee

    meeee Member

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    The answer to that is probably yes eventually. However i think you are missing the bigger picture. The main issue at the moment is space. The FR is about to undertake a major redevelopment of the facilities at Boston Lodge. This is going to very disruptive particularly to 4 road which is the fabrication and welding bay. In order to fulfill several outside contracts such as tanks for the Std and Dunrobin, as well as build new coach frames for the FR. A temporary welding bay has been set up in the shed at Dinas, reducing the space available for 134. It makes no sense to have a loco that is worked on one weekend a month taking up valuable space all the time.

    Secondly a generous individual has bought and is paying for the overhaul of an NGG16. Prioritizing this is a no brainier for the WHR. It needs more locos, the money is on the table, it is a known quantity, and can be running within two years. 134 isn't the only loco to suffer from being pushed down the que. Staff at Dinas have been trying to reassemble 140 for about 10 years now.

    Your suggestion that there has been no official support for this is disingenuous. The FR has provided machine shop/workshop time and staff when it can, but this loco isn't a priority and they a have a lot of work on. 134 has had until recently a dedicated space for it in both the clip shed and the engine shed at Dinas. As someone who as worked on many volunteer projects on the FR i can say this is luxury most of us don't get.

    Tim
     
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  8. Herald

    Herald Member

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    Does that perfectly logical explanation indicate that if 134 is to have a future in its supporter's lifetimes a different approach is required? Is there enough support to move from a very small once per month project to a more intensive work programme with if necessary a suitable rented base? As a relatively unique project could it be packaged in other ways to accelerate it but would the engine when finished have a real use? Could it work elsewhere? Unfortunately preservation is full of wouldn't it be nice projects but finite workshop space and resource will always need to be allocated according to the sorts of priority outlined above so maybe some rethinking is needed if the work done already is not to be undone by time and weather.
     
  9. acw71000

    acw71000 Member Friend

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    Autumn shades at the Ffestiniog on 27th.October 2016

     
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  10. Rosedale

    Rosedale Member

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    Seen on the TyB webcam just now: three fire engines in the car park, lights flashing. A lineside fire, or something more sinister?
     
  11. Herald

    Herald Member

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    Large fire on hillside beyond TyB which led to last train of the day terminating at TyB. Sad end to the usual enjoyable Ffestiniog gala. Many thanks to all who brought exhibits along and the hard working staff and volunteers who made the gala happen and overcame various operational glitches.
     
  12. lostlogin

    lostlogin Member

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    I think they actually started terminating at TyB earlier in the afternoon. I hope trains were all below TyB at the time as not great to have train set unable to return to Port although I presume they can securely secure a loco overnight in the sheds just outside Blaenau

    There is a bit of video on YouTube but not clear how close it is to the Fez
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2017
  13. black5

    black5 Well-Known Member

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    Linda and Prince (and carriages) where indeed tucked away in the Carriage Shed at Blaenau at the end of the day.
     
  14. steamingyorkshire

    steamingyorkshire Well-Known Member

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    A fantastic day yesterday at the Ffestiniog despite the fire, very dry on the hills which wasn't helped by the breeze yesterday. The fire started after the 11:25 ex Porth with 'Prince' & 'Linda'. Both afternoon trains terminated at Tan-Y-Blwch and were hauled by DLG.
     
  15. NGChrisW

    NGChrisW New Member

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    I'd echo the thanks above to those who supported the gala with their exhibits as there was certainly some interesting stuff on show. (every railway needs a Steamplex" and "Chuquitanta is the very definition of "cute"!)
    However, (And I'll probably get shot down for this) my enjoyment of the weekend was definitely tainted by the operational issues and what I thought was some distinctly "user unfriendly" timetabling if you actually wanted to travel behind the visiting locos. My experience was limited to Friday afternoon through to Sunday evening but I think "operational glitches" is a bit of an understatement and my experience was that few of them were particularly well managed /overcome.
    After heavy delays to services on Friday afternoon stuffed what turned out to be our only opportunity to do a shuttle on the WHR, on both Saturday and Sunday, for no obvious reason, the timekeeping was already slipping after the first couple of trains of the day and steadily got worse as the both days went on, making it increasingly difficult when travelling on the trains to actually work out what would be appearing when and would it still make a connection where it was supposed to, not helped by few of the available staff at hand having much in the way of useful information to pass on in terms of what "adhoc" adjustments were being made to the advertised timetable as the day progressed. The attitude I encountered of several of them appeared to be "Well it's a gala, so it's bound to go wrong" which they appeared to think was quite humorous. This was frustrating enough for me but for the "non-enthusiast" members of the public travelling, a significant delay to your train and lack of information as to why and when it might turn up is not exactly going to encourage a return visit is it?
    The situation at Minffordd on Sunday afternoon when the 14:55 was terminated after a door on one of the bug boxes came open en-route was a prime example of how not to manage a situation.
    (As an aside to that one hopes that an enquiry will be taking place as to exactly how that managed to happen, as not only couldn't the door have been locked before we left Boston Lodge as it should have been, but clearly the door wasn't shut correctly or the door latch was faulty as well, as that should have held it shut even if not locked. It was extremely fortunate that it came open at a location with sufficient clearance to do so without hitting the wall, as it coming open at a tight spot at speed would have had far more serious consequences. It could well have derailed the vehicle, not an attractive proposition at most locations on the FR. A VERY lucky escape.)
    As it was, there were only a few scrapes to the inside edge of the door and you'd have thought after a quick inspection at Minfford the logical thing would have been to lock that coach out of use and continue, or erring on the side of caution, quickly shunt it out of the train and continue. Instead, we sat there for over 20 minutes with no information before the train was eventually terminated. We eventually continued on the following service train with an intention to change trains at Tany-Bwlch and return to Port, only to pass that train at Rhiw Goch which meant an unplanned trip to BF and back.

    Much of the operation appeared to be somewhat lackadaisical to me. Whilst the loco crews did their bit with some good runs experienced there seemed to be little visible sense of urgency in trying to recover any of the delays at the stations. Coming along the platform trying to sell ice cream at TB appeared more important than trying to recover some time by getting the train out smartish!
    As an example, we visited Minffordd on Saturday morning. Left Port on the 9:00 which eventually left at 9:10. Arrived at Minffordd at 9:20, ready to transfer to the 9:20 yard shuttle from the other platform.
    That however was conspicuous by its absence. It sauntered in around 9:30 but missing its "quirk". Sat for another 10 minutes for reasons unknown and eventually set off at 9:40. So a 20 minute delay on a 25 minute journey! When we did get down into the yard which was advertised as opening at 9:00, there was also very little actual activity from any of the locos etc. present until virtually 10:00.

    I also mentioned the timetabling.
    On Saturday for example, apart from the same loco on the Minffordd shuttle all day, there were no opportunities to travel behind any of the visiting locos .
    On Sunday it was much the same, and even the two shuttles up the WHR used the goose with it's very limited passenger accommodation rather than a coaching set as was used on the Friday. Why not have used a visiting engine on one end of the 3 Port to Minffordd shuttles that ran (as has been done regularly at past galas), rather than using 2 members of the home fleet?
    This was particularly frustrating as we'd fully intended doing at least one of the Friday afternoon shuttles but our plans were thwarted by the heavy delays on the FR delaying our return to Port.
    Monday, again used the goose as accommodation on the WHR shuttles rather than proper stock, and the 18 seats on those (and indeed the Sunday ones) had long gone when we'd made enquiries on the Friday.

    So we cut our losses and headed home via visits to the Talyllyn and Welshpool. No quirks present but the trains were more punctual!

    I heard somebody on the train describe the weekend as "lacklustre" and I though that was a fair summing up.
    Maybe I was spoilt with the likes of the "Hunslet Hundred" and "All our yesteryears" galas in the past, and whilst I have no doubt that I'll be back for any future gala's including a future Q&C III should it happen, I think there are quite a few lessons to be learnt from this one.
     
  16. Platform 3

    Platform 3 Member

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    Sunday was my first visit to a Ffestiniog gala and I rather enjoyed it. I wasn't aware of the problems on the Sunday afternoon as I was on a trip to BF with Linda at the time. Timekeeping wasn't great, but the points failure at Porthmadog clearly couldn't be legislated for. During the morning trains seemed to be about 10 minutes behind, lengthening to 25 minutes in the afternoon.

    Given how rarely the Victorian stock and engines such as Prince and Palmerston are seen on the line that was enough to satisfy me. The 'quirks' were fun, but there is no way that most of them could have worked passenger trains so no issues on that score from me.
     
  17. black5

    black5 Well-Known Member

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  18. black5

    black5 Well-Known Member

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  19. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I note with a sense of depondency a report on Barrie Hughes' (http://isengard.co.uk/) website of the theft of substantial takings from the WHR at Caernarfon last weekend.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2017
  20. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    @NGChrisW

    “If you really were unhappy with the event then I take it you have contacted the railway directly about it – I am assured that the door incident is being fully investigated and there would have been no chance of a derailment should it have occurred in one of the tighter areas of the line. There are no doubt many operational reasons that you will not be aware of as to why the train was taken out of service (coupling issues etc) rather than being allowed to continue – you appear to put the guard at fault, but yet you don’t know the full facts of whether the locking mechanism was at fault or not – that could only be determined by a fitter. Likewise, the majority of the trains the other days ran late, but in the same path as before. It was only the Sunday where things were altered (and with good reason). The majority of timetabling issues were down to equipment failures rather than anything else and you have to remember that it takes a little while for information to filter through to the people on the ground as they are not equipped with Company mobiles which automatically give updates.



    I am sure the FfWHR will be having a debrief on the event and from what I have seen your comments are one of the few negative ones around.”
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2017

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