FR & WHR & WHHR News

Cheers Tim. Probably none too popular with the local goat population either. How on earth they get to one slightly proud slate on an almost sheer wall, a good 50ft above the next visible foothold down is one of those memories from Blaenau which stays as fresh as the day I first saw it!

Not too surprised to hear removal is a no-go. The biggest thing either way would have to be a degree of certainty. Hard to plan what to do in a mountain town if some of those mountains are disappearing faster than the rain can wash 'em away.

I do hope some day the plans to reinstate the Dinas branch come to fruition, if only coz I couldn't dream up a better excuse reason to reinstate the second line, which was such an iconic feature of the old FR at Blaenau. With so many more pressing practical issues right now, I couldn't imagine any rumblings in that department being too far up anyone's priority list for a fair few years tho' more's the pity.

 

Never say never. The areas that are still worked are not "nominated property" in the UNESCO site. So the Oakley or Llechwedd tips could potentially be complely dug up and shipped out. I feel it would be a tough sell though. Small scale extraction does still take place there and at Manod.

Some areas like Cwmorthin both above and below ground are nominated property. So any development must be in line with what UNESCO say or you get into problems like they did in Liverpool. Incidentally the whole of the FR trackbed and buildings are nominated property. This includes the deviation (for fans of the 70s) and the old formations where they exist.

New slate extraction in recent years has been done by un-topping. This is where the top of chambers are removed and the good slate in the pillars that would have held up the roof is used. As you can imagine this is very destructive and it is a great shame that many features that survived into the 80s have been destroyed by this process.

The Dinas branch is an interesting prospect and certainly has a lot of atmosphere. It also has a lot of bridges to replace. So not an easy project. It is a shame that so much of that end of the railway was lost. It is difficult to imagine how different it was in the 1880s.

Tim

 

Thanks for sharing. Great to see K1 getting some service trains.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

Stumbled across this gem (posted by "Jack Flash vintage motoring") from the first couple of years of preservation. It's silent, with overlaid music. At 15'56" the usual mobile data warning applies.

Services then were to Penryhndeudraeth only, but fully painted double loco Taliesin (LT) is present, confirming the date. There's a brief overhead shot from the bridge of a Pwllheli bound CCL service at Minffordd. If you can peel your eyes from the locos and stock, just look at the surrounding infrastructure. Seeing the creative typewritten captions, you realise just what wonders computers have worked for presentation. Boy, have things come on since then!

 

Splendid stuff!

 

Something a little different:



Hwyl fawr,

Ron.

 

Moving Pictures Fifty-Nine is out. Waggons, waggon storage and waggons at Blodge.

 

Well worth watching.

 

Really good to see one of the often unsung departments in the spotlight. At some point, I'd love to see S&T & PW Depts given a decent airing. On the infrastructure side, I'm probably in a minority in finding the unglamorous but vital drainage work fascinating.

 

Now that's something to think about while there aren't any trains to be filmed...

 

Somewhere in my video archives I might have some footage shot on a London Area Group Drains Gang working party. I shall have to see if I can find it!

 

I'm glad you like it and that people get a chance to see it. It was huge undertaking for a predominantly young team and something that was badly needed. It's also provided a use for a lot stuff that would otherwise be discarded in the undergrowth like 150 year old sets of double head points.

Unfortunately 10 years building that has caused a bit of a maintenance backlog. We're powering through it though and looking forward to getting the toys out the box soon.

Tim

 

Had to give up after a few minutes due to the host's execrable pronunciation of Minffordd. So little effort needed by English speakers to get an almost accurate pronunciation (after all, only the trilled-r is a non-English sound in this name), but Mr Wilkinson clearly couldn't be bothered to make that effort. If he doesn't respect our language enough to do this then maybe he shouldn't be chosen as the public voice of a railway in Y Fro Gymraeg!

 

The introduction of pre booking for the Snowdonia National Park and the increased hostility towards external property ownership in Gwynedd should reduce English visits and interest in the FR and gradually weed out non native volunteers anyway.

 

Not a unique situation. You'd be amazed how many native Dutch (including TV reporters) have the same problem as English speakers with the name of Amsterdam's airport!

Perhaps some introductory guide to basic pronunciation in volunteer orientation might be a good idea? Certainly for public presentations. It amazes me that so many Saes can spend time in Wales, year in year out, without so much as twigging Cymraeg is, to all intents and purposes, a phonetic language, with only a couple of sounds utterly alien to English speakers.

There was another MP release, a while back, where the presenters announced they wouldn't attempt to pronounce 'Penrhyndeudraeth' for fear of causing offence and the quarries at Blaenau stayed 'the quarries at Blaenau'. I ask you ... What's so hard about pronouncing Votty or Greaves?

I would suggest though, if English speakers mangling your language grates, most YouTube clips now feature closed caption text. The way the auto generator goes into total meltdown with Welsh place names is hilarious. That's as true for the German language version as English .... and that one comes up with some mighty 'interesting' attempts at English place names too ..... so, take heart, it's not just Welsh!

From the point of view of a learner, with precious little prior knowledge of Cymraeg, the biggest problem isn't spelling or pronunciation, it's Y Treigladau, where there's literally nothing analogous in Teutonic or Romance languages. It's somehow reassuring to have heard, from multiple sources, that non-native speaking Welsh learners have the same issues!

 

I'm sure he would be equally annoyed at how you pronounce Slaithwaite.

One of the things that is great about the modern world is the ability make and distribute videos cheaply. The only downside is that people who are knowledgeable about things are expected to become TV presenters overnight. This sort of thing isn't easy, and if you're concentrating on something your regional accent will inevitably creep in. You are correct, people should try harder to get things right. It isn't always that straightforward though.

Tim

 

Absolutely agree. It does have to be said though, that the differences between the individual 5 (6?) dialects of Cymraeg go well beyond mere 'accent'.

Round here, we've a village called 'Hurstpierpoint', where the correct pronunciation of the name, like 'Corris Uchaf' is a frequent bone of contention ..... among outsiders. A bit like 'Top Corris' (which appears on no map I've ever seen), locals just call it "Urst" and that appears on no maps, either. Herstmonceaux, a few miles east, causes a few issues, too. And don't get anyone from Sussex going about Ardingly and Hellingly (if you read those as Arding-lee and Helling-lee .... WRONG!!)

 

Give the guy a break - he's on a railway video speaking about railway issues, not a language lesson.

 

I would suggest that many of us pronounce Minffordd in the way that Iain does. So perhaps we're getting it from each other. I could have complained about Iain's pronunciation of 'bath', but I didn't!

 

OK. As a very infrequent visitor if you can supply a translation for "Where is the nearest decent Pub" you will have done a service to punters from beyond the principality