The Welsh Mountaineer - 26th August 2009

Anyone out for this on Wednesday / travelling on it?
I was going to come down but having seen the weather forecast... I'm most certainly giving it a miss, hope the rest of you have an enjoyable trip and look forward to some interesting photos & videos.

Si

 

I'll be seeing it Blaenau Festiniog after a trip on the Cambrian and Ffestiniog

 

I'm thinking of venturing out but it depends on the weather, supposed to be horrible with heavy rain and gales....they've been known to be wrong in the past though. Shame as I had a few spots in mind.

 

I’ll be on it from Preston. I see from the tickets it will be a five coach formation with 4 passenger carrying vehicles. I will post regular updates on this thread for anyone out to see it.

Seems my phone is not able to load the new forum set up so I will be unable to provide updates via the forum.

 

I shall be on the bridge parapet across from llechwedd slate mines

 

Ditto.....

 

Ventured out this morning, here's a still from the forthcoming video taken near Moore.

 

Video now uploaded from this morning, scenes at Moore, Dunham-on-the-Hill (Thanks to Ralph for the directions to the overbridge) and Chester, crossing the Roodee Viaduct.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Vze8owE5Y

 

Anyone any news on how this is running?

 

Just heard was only a little down at BQ.

 

I was on the Welsh Mountaineer, and it was excellent.

Detaching two coaches at Llandudno Junction took longer than booked as the shunting coincided with the arrival of a number of service trains. Departure was at 1250, 50 late. But 45231 made a faultless run with load 5, and reached Blaenau at 1345.

Many of us were booked on the Festiniog, and we made the connection. (The late departure from Llandudno Junc had put it in doubt.)

The return was trouble free, and there was some very spirited running on the WCML from Warrington.

Many thanks to all who made the day possible.

Photos will follow in a couple of days.

Cheers

AN

 

Just a shame a few others missed the return of the Cambrian because of this.

 

http://railways.mjspencer.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2626

The Black 5 arriving at Blaenau Festiniog

 

Finally back from the tour, and I have to second wcmlbls1846's comments on what was a fantastic trip. 45231 performed faultlessly and could be heard singing away throughout the day.

 

Ditto, had my day pretty much ruined due to the Ffestiniog acting like a bunch of amatuers and holding a service train for 45 mins due to 45231 being late, 20 mins at Minfford each way should of been plenty of time to allow for late running but holding a train for 45 mins is taking the proverbial!, im not blaming RTC for wanting a Ffestiniog ride option, but in that case the Ffestiniog should of put on a special for them rather than throwing the timetable out the window, hence i had to pay extra for a 158 back to Machynlleth, and if my friend haden't had the good idea to drive there rather than take the train we could of been stranded in Mid Wales for the night, whats the point in having a timetable if your not going to stick to it ?, hardley going to encourage people to use public transport if you see to it that they miss their connections for no good reason (granted i wanted to see 45231 but getting home is a bit more important!), before anyone says it i know delays can happen, loco's can fail etc, but holding it to phot a Black Five is not a valid reason, nor was any annoucement made up on the up trip that the train could be held for the tour, allowing us to avoid such a cock up, the Ffestiniog basically expected all it's non railtour customer to be happy with an unexpected and totally unannounced 45 mins delay, totally ignoring the fact many would have connections home.

Very poor public relations by the Ffestiniog and a strongly worded letter will be on it's way to the GM once im back off holiday, after this debacle when im in North Wales in October the Ffestiniog will now not be getting a penny of my money.

I'll add my pic of 45231 tomorrow as i needed to get that off my chest first.

Very poor