If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway - News

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by ValeOfRheidol, Nov 12, 2014.

  1. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2005
    Messages:
    9,635
    Likes Received:
    8,303
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Alderan !
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Last week 30742 Charters enjoyed a very good day on the Vale Of Rheidol using No.8 on a mixed train

    The railway has been seeing a quiet transformation returning the line to Great Western era condition and the results are really quite stunning

    My thanks to Will Smith, Jac and Peter Smith and all involved on the railway for making us so welcome

    [​IMG]30742 Charters - No.8 at the Vale of Rheidol Railway by Martin Creese, on Flickr

    [​IMG]30742 Charters - No.8 at the Vale of Rheidol Railway by Martin Creese, on Flickr

    [​IMG]30742 Charters - No.8 at the Vale of Rheidol Railway by Martin Creese, on Flickr


    Full gallery here

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/martincreese/albums/72157688377490341
     
    30854, kscanes, big.stu and 8 others like this.
  2. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Bluenosejohn likes this.
  3. rheidol

    rheidol Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2006
    Messages:
    343
    Likes Received:
    82
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Railwayman
    Location:
    Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    No 15 last ran around 1990 - returning it to traffic has long been our objective. The overhaul is well advanced and a launch into traffic in the Spring is on the cards. Once completed it will provide ramped access for wheelchair users, something not previously possible in the other carriages in the fleet.

    Once No 15 in traffic, the plan is for No 14 will come out of service and move to the workshops for similar treatment.

    ^Will, VoR
     
  4. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Often seen as something of a sleeping giant, progress on the VoR has been remarkable in recent years and I'm particulary impressed by the way the emphasis on it's rooting in the local community and involving today's generation across the board.

    I can readily forsee passenger numbers continuing their steady increase past the capacity of current stock in the not too distant future. Are there any plans in hand for additional stock when (not if!) passenger numbers reach this point?
     
    Goldie, SpudUk and HY_4273 like this.
  5. rheidol

    rheidol Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2006
    Messages:
    343
    Likes Received:
    82
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Railwayman
    Location:
    Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    No current plans for additional stock. As things get busier, we'll inevitably run the existing stock, just with a higher annual fleet mileage. In the high summer service, several trains are booked to run with 7 carriages - the maximum permitted with a Rheidol tank loco.

    ^Will
     
  6. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    @rheidol ..... and when a regular 3 train peak service becomes neccessary? Perhaps that's not as over-optimistic as it may have seemed a few years ago and after all, that Garratt's going to need something to get it's teeth into, even if your namesake loco (old No.3) doesn't get recreated any time soon.

    Call it a vote of confidence in the line's future. :)
     
  7. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
  8. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,186
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Just taken at Aberystwyth this morning - and about time too!

    upload_2018-4-1_7-39-25.jpeg
     
    zoot horn rollo and ilvaporista like this.
  9. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    That's just how I remember 'em .... along with carriages featuring seat backs designed by Torquemada .... and just to add insult to injury, they called it 'second class' back then. Thank Bob the present owners have put some cushioning in the carriages.

    Some stuff has improved over the past half-century. Count the VoR among such stuff. :)
     
    Bluenosejohn likes this.
  10. CLN_WVR

    CLN_WVR Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2017
    Messages:
    628
    Likes Received:
    751
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hamsphire-Surrey border
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    For thos that are interested - I posted some images from the VoR taken over Easter 2018, to this Flickr Album

    https://flic.kr/s/aHsmdHMsMh
     
    30854 likes this.
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
  12. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    The latest VoR online newsletter has just popped up. No.7 will be done when it's done, but is looking a lot more like it's old self on it's FB page.

    Hat's off to the gardening team. The splashes of colour at the well kept stations are a joy to behold. I'm chuffed to bits to hear pine martens are back in Cwm Rheidol. (I've mentioned the VoR's support for local non-railway causes before).

    Perhaps rashly, they're inviting suggestions for 2ft gauge locos we'd like to see running on the VoR. Do any of those Brecon Mountain monsters fit? It'd be nice seeing a gesture or two between two lines formerly under common management.
    Does 'Lyn' go without saying?

    Over to you! :)
     
  13. MuzTrem

    MuzTrem Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2011
    Messages:
    937
    Likes Received:
    1,225
    Top of my list would be Russell and Lyd...preferably at the same time! It would be a 2' gauge "battle of prairie tanks" :p

    (Of course, ideally Mountaineer and Felin Hen would join in too, but I fear that may be unrealistic!)
     
    Goldie likes this.
  14. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Well the original VoR locos were allegedly based on the L&B design, so there's a connection to justify the choice ..... but who the hell needs an actual reason? :D

    As the Ffesterbahn's Alco can't come out to play (in steam at any rate) ..... how's about it's sibling paying a visit from France? If Felin Hen can make it too, that's two US builders represented, before looking at 4-6-0's. I quite like the notion of Sea Lion piloting a Rheidol Tank. Take a B&W photo and from certain angles, you might even convince some gullible soul that VoR No.3 Rheidol hadn't been so much scrapped as just shrunk a bit.

    I wonder ... is the VoR's carriage stock gonna need some reinforcement for the occasion?
     
  15. SpudUk

    SpudUk Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2009
    Messages:
    1,732
    Likes Received:
    593
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Project Manager
    Location:
    Wales
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I'd love to see Brecon's big American Baldwin on the VoR, equally Lyn and Lyd could be a lot of fun. I'm sure some fun could be had with a lot of the Statfold collection too!
     
  16. Martin Perry

    Martin Perry Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2006
    Messages:
    16,510
    Likes Received:
    7,753
    Location:
    1012 / 60158
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Are there not gauge issues? Small but enough to make a difference?
     
  17. taliesin1999

    taliesin1999 New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2008
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    16
    All of the above, plus Adrian Shooter's Darjeeling tank and the Lawleys and Hong Kong Bagnall from the museum collection! And somebody should probably mention the articulated locos in the Rampton collection in Surrey.....

    Palmerston a few years ago was pretty special and I endorse everything said about the current VoR; the restoration of intermediate stations and footpaths has been wonderful.

    Peter Hayward
     
    SpudUk likes this.
  18. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Are we up to a cavalcade which will reach Llanbadarn before the last loco leaves Aberystwyth yet? :D

    Not sure tbh. Not even sure it's anything more than a suggestion at the mo. I do seem to recall mutterings about back-to-back dimensions and check rails. I guess that's one for whoever's actually origanising it, if the VoR run with the idea.

    My OP did include the words 'perhaps rashly' ahead of reporting the idea! ;)
     
    SpudUk likes this.
  19. garth manor

    garth manor Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2009
    Messages:
    1,690
    Likes Received:
    450
    Currently closed due to forest fires, diesel has been assisting fire fighting logistics.
     
  20. Crocodile414

    Crocodile414 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2018
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    Cardiff
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    The Brecon Baldwin definitely gets my vote!! Had several wonderful trips behind it on the BMR and the chime whistle on it is stunning!

    Linda and Blanche would be a good pairing as well.

    And we've still got the NGG16 to look forward to as well.......

    Exciting times ahead, I look forward to the the developments
     

Share This Page