FR & WHR & WHHR News

If you have the opportunity I would urge you to book on a tour of Boston Lodge. It really is a fascinating place plus you will get to see some of the locomotives that are tucked up in the shed.

Sent from my LGN-NX1 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, I definitely intend to. It'll be cool to see all of the new buildings / workshops etc.

 

Coverage of the very ambitious Extreme Steam Extravaganza event, including FR locos in action on the WHR and several scenes featuring NG134 Kalahari at Beddgelert

 

A few from the both brilliant and frustrating Extreme weekend!

 

Whats the yellow vehicle in No 10's train?

 

It's the s&t cherry picker waggon.

 

Taken from the end windows of Carriage 112. Not an everyday sight!!

 

The photos of this event concentrate on the trains, which is OK, but I don't see any people. How well attended was this event? It must have been expensive to put on and I'm wondering if it might be repeated next year.

 

The trains I went on were well filled but never any danger of not finding a seat.

 

What's the rust-coloured box in front of Britomart's cab? It looks like a scaled-up version of something you'd find on a vintage tractor.

 

It's a wooden toolbox the same as the loco carried when it worked in the quarry.

 

Thanks. Brown rather than rust then! And I was about right as I was thinking of the toolboxes vintage tractors often carry. (Mine has one... it is metal, and it leaks, despite having no holes in the top. It's quite impressively useless really.)

 

Following on from the question about Welsh Pony being used in August. It is hoped that Welsh Pony will be the loco visiting the WHHR over the weekend of 1st and 2nd of August. It will operate along side the WHHR fleet with an intensive service of trains and a display of classic cars at Gelert’s farm.

 

August events at the WHHR

Standard fares apply to all events

1st-2nd - steam gala. All available steam locos in operation along with visiting loco from F&WHR. Display of classic cars in the museum.

8th-9th - miniature madness. Mini steam galore on the miniature railway, 3 1/2-5” raised track in yard. Model road steam models.

15th - vintage motorcycle display in the shed thanks to the VMC.

22nd - A chance to look behind the scenes. See inside sheds that are normally closed to the public and see parts of the collection not generally seen.

29th - drive a diesel. Have a go at driving our diesel Glaslyn in the yard under supervision of one of our crew. No extra charge by donations welcome. (No minimum age limit)

 

This is a very good idea. And very well presented/marketed. Hope it goes really well.
James

 

As I mention last month on the thread, I spent a week in and around North Wales based in Porthmadoc. On the Wednesday I took some film on the Ffestiniog which I have uploaded to YouTube. I hope all enjoy it!

 

Info from Facebook: from 23rd July on Thursdays during the school holidays there is an evening service called 'The Sunsetter' which runs from Porthmadog to Hafod Y Llyn. Departs at 1715, returns at 1825.

Sent from my SM-A166B using Tapatalk

 

Hello everyone - I've got a couple of questions about this week's loco roster, just posted on F&WHR Facebook. I have represented it visually below.

Some things are very clear to see - D(avid) L(loyd) G(eorge) and MER(din emrys) alternate over Porthmadog duties. 143 and 87 clearly have their place, as do Linda and Lyd.

My question is about the occasional 'random' seeming diesel haulage. I noticed today V(ale) O(f) F(festiniog) was on the 1040 today, as it will be on Sunday. I also saw a different diesel out the other day on the webcams, but the following service was steam.

The first thing that would spring to mind is that they only have two engines available at Boston Lodge - DLG and Merddin Emrys - but only the former was out today. Exams etc? Where are Prince and Taliesin on Sunday? Lack of crew?

Is anyone able to suggest any specific logic as to the diesel-hauled trains, so I can do my best to dodge them to some extent when I visit! I understand possible fire risk though.

If there are only two main Boston Lodge engines, what will happen when one of the Fairlies needs a washout? Is that a week of diesel?

Perhaps even more confusing is Castle Caernarfon on the Gelert Explorer on Sunday - is 87 not available for one day?

I appreciate there are loads of factors and it's probably quite random, but I want to get my head around it and basically reverse engineer the loco diagrams!


Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

 

87 isn't available one day because it is working a race the train special. 130 is still not back in traffic presumably 134 is also not available/no crew or not ideal with the fire risk.

Diesels are being used to mitigate fire risk and depending on train load. They are also working water spray trains too. It's putting quite a lot of strain on crew availability especially with the extra trains now being run. So if for example the Bleanau train is 10 coaches on a Friday but there aren't enough crews for two locos they will run the diesel on it rather than risk a steam loco. If it's only 7 coaches the double engine can do solo. If there are enough crews they will run the steam and diesel so the passengers at least get a steam loco.

Washouts are done once a year. The water treatment regime works better if you don't washout. So unless there is a fault both should be available. Generally if a double engine isn't available the train might be double headed or the crews will swap to keep the big engine on the big train. With the current fire risk using things like England engines in anger isn't ideal.

Lyd is working over to Dinas for the summer this week.

The Aberglaslyn service is likely going to be 2 of Prince/Palmerston/Welsh Pony/Taliesin. The Sunsetter is a Taliesin turn.

 

Note: the quoting hasn't worked how I hoped it would, so I've removed it.

87 isn't available one day because it is working a race the train special. 130 is still not back in traffic presumably 134 is also not available/no crew or not ideal with the fire risk.

Ah that would explain it thank you!

Diesels are being used to mitigate fire risk and depending on train load. They are also working water spray trains too. It's putting quite a lot of strain on crew availability especially with the extra trains now being run. So if for example the Bleanau train is 10 coaches on a Friday but there aren't enough crews for two locos they will run the diesel on it rather than risk a steam loco. If it's only 7 coaches the double engine can do solo. If there are enough crews they will run the steam and diesel so the passengers at least get a steam loco.

Right, I wondered if it could be to do with train load. Presumably do they shunt coaches on and off depending on demand? I noticed the Mountain Spirit set was 'missing' the top end observation car yesterday compared to the 10 coach set listed on the Wiki.

Washouts are done once a year. The water treatment regime works better if you don't washout.

Wow that's really interesting, and would explain lots about e.g. how Linda is used 5 days a week all year non-stop!

So unless there is a fault both should be available. Generally if a double engine isn't available the train might be double headed or the crews will swap to keep the big engine on the big train. With the current fire risk using things like England engines in anger isn't ideal.

Lyd is working over to Dinas for the summer this week.

The Aberglaslyn service is likely going to be 2 of Prince/Palmerston/Welsh Pony/Taliesin. The Sunsetter is a Taliesin turn.

I suppose are the Garratts on the Welsh Highland less prone to starting fires than things like the Englands? Are there certain stretches of the lines where fire risk is highest?

How often if at all are the Garratts swapped between Dinas and Boston Lodge? It would be nice to travel behind more than one of them if possible in just over a week.

Also, maybe a tricky question, but are there certain days of the week where volunteer loco crew are more plentiful? For example at my line we really struggle to get Station Staff mid-week.

Sorry to ask so many questions yet again.