Welsh railways on TV, this week.

Looks like a good week on the telly with a short series on Welsh Railways running on BBC2, Monday to Thursday at 7.00pm. Coverage includes the Welsh Highland and Llangollen.

Cheers

Alan

 

My pleasure, Martin.

Cheers

Alan

 

Yes I enjoyed yesterday's programme about the Welsh Highland line, the missus & I had a wonderful journey along there back in the Summer of 2011. Really did have to chuckle when they showed those protesters holding up their boards and saying what they did, for me that was comedy gold!:lol:

 

Yes I noticed the accents too, some sounded quite posh!

 

And no doubt a failure to appreciate that every train-load of visitors to Snowdonia via the WHR means fewer private cars traversing their local roads, in what is after all a National Park, not their private enclave....

 

Yes , I regret to say that the British (or more truthfully the English) are Western Europe's premier old f*rts!

P.H.

 

It was good to see the railway making efforts to accommodate those with, for want of a better word, "genuine" issues - local farmers having to deal with their land being broken up by the railway, for example.

But I think the NIMBY's wouldn't want to be accommodated. I was in Beddgelert in the Autumn, and by chance spoke to a local lady in the Library - she affirmed that there had been a lot of concern and opposition when the line was first mooted and in the building, but it had largely dissipated when it was realised that it brought many thousands more visitors to the village without their cars.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed last night's offering, particularly the Santa stuff and the snow. Good to see a mix of the historical, mechanical and humanistic elements - well blended I thought. Some of the old movie footage is priceless. I'm a little suspicious of the presenters accent, it sounds a little too cultivated to me.

 

Just slightly off-topic, but not much, seeing the WHR Garretts prompted me to do a little research into how many of the ex-South African locos are in the UK. ( There is by the way a useful list of all the NGG16 Garretts and their fate, or otherwise, which you can find via Wiki.)
So, as far as the NGG16's in the UK are concerned I think the situation is as follows: 87, 138, and 143 all operational on the WHR, with 140 as the spares donor. Pete Waterman has 109 under overhaul in Crewe, and the Exmoor steam railway has 115 and 130 stored.

The WHR also have two of the NG15 tender engines, 134 under restoration at Dinas, and 133 stored.

Hope this is of interest, and if someone in the know needs to correct this info, please do so !

46118

 

That of course is on the 2' gauge. I can think of at least three, maybe four locos off the mainlines over there - which were metre of 3' 6", I forget. It would be nice in time to see the Exmoor Garratts head up to Gwynedd, but that's a heart over head comment - I don't know the whys and wherefores of the situation.

 

There are others in the UK, NGG13 77 was at Brecon Mountain but is now at Exmoor, NG15 120 was at the WHHR, and is now with a private owner somewhere in Surrey I think, NGG13 82 and NG15 121 are part of the Rampton collection, NG15 135 is at Exmoor, and NG15 146 is at Brecon Mountain, or at least in storage pending space there for it.

 

Hi - I can assure you that there was no cultivation in the accent. Being in attendance whilst they filmed the scenes whilst we we working at Corlan, this lady was present and there is certainly no cultivation.

 

This link is also very good although its not fully up to date. South African Narrow Gauge Photos Index . It does contain useful information on many of the NG classes and their locations.

 

Moving on from the WHR episodes, the one last night was enjoyable, ie covering Welsh standard guage lines pre-and post-Beeching, with, as they stated at the start of the programme, the inter-lacing of period and modern film. Decent promo for the Llangollen this time. And harking back to earlier comments here, how nice to hear Welsh station names spoken by Welsh people.

I did chuckle at the stills caption on BBC2 advertising the programmes, an Irish 5ft 3 compound I think. Still, they try their best....!

46118

 

What a throroughly enjoyable series, a good well balanced view of the rebuilding of the WHR with some memories and archives footage of the valley lines with a sprinkling of Llangollen, pity they coulden't include other narrow gauge routes, but fitting them all into 4 episodes would of been a squeeze.

 

Always makes you feel a right prat when you finally hear the correct pronounciation of some places, glad when I visited the WHR, it was beyond terminating at Waunfawr or Rhyd Ddu.

 

I met the chairman of the National Park, who also chaired the WHR liaison committee, a few years ago. I mentioned that I had an interest in the FR/WHR and without further prompting from me, he said 'these objectors, you know, they're not Welsh'.
Peter Johnson

 

The local Welsh appeared to be the ones with legitimate concerns - the farmers and suchlike. The NIMBY's seemed English to a man.