Ffestiniog t shirts and food overpriced?

I will be most interested to see how an NG15 works the line. I suspect that performance will be quite similar to the NG16s with less wheel slip and I think there will be a big saving in operating costs.

I just wish the Welsh would get on with it without us. As long as part of our English taxes goes to supporting Wales, I shall continue to visit Portmadoc.

Teaching physics, biology and chemistry in Welsh really prepares students; after all, Welsh is truly international. The Welsh themselves cannot even agree what language it speaks along with the Bretons.

 

But also speak from arm chairs and don't put the effort and sweat involved in running and maintaining such...

But also your unwillingness to say your name in posts merely suggests you are just a troll...

Rich

 

How come you dare to speak about people when you don't know them and i have put my name in my profile for all to see !!

 

And luckily there are also people with the courage to rebuild 25 miles of the finest railway in the world...

 

Because yet again this is another thread aimed at causing mischief... What the FR have done is create something fantastic, so why won't people let them get on and run it?????

Rich

 

The WHR is not the finest railway in the world, far from it, even further when you consider it's image !! without making the slightest effort i could go on to name many. Come back down to earth !! Even the Snowdon mountain railway beats it and that's not counting the rest.

 

I quote "The sexiest ride in Britain" Sunday Times... Nuff Said!

Rich

 

The 'point' of using NGG16's is simple - there's really very little choice when you need to move such heavy trains up gradients twice as steep as the Ffestiniog. Im really looking forward to the day when the NG15 2-8-2 tender loco's are used, which are almost as powerful, but the Garratts were modern, available and British built as well.

Its a nice thought, but you cant compare the WHR to the FR, let alone the Severn Valley - it never had much infrastructure to begin and the National Park restrict what you can build new (for example Beddgelert has to blend in with the housing estate). IMO it would be a waste to spend large sums of money on trying to make the WHR look like something it isnt when it could be spent on the FR's real heritage - the WHR's selling point is seeing Snowdonia by steam train and thats what it should concentrate on.

That said, it isnt true to say 'no attempt' has been made to give an historic feel - i think the wooden shelters in the old WHR style look great; Dinas and soon Tryfan Junction will have restored station buildings and Waunfawr should have its rebuilt in due course; new metal fencing to the original design is used throughout the pass and at Beddgelert station where there's also a replica of the lamp hut and soon the water tank, and the three river bridges have been replaced with near replica's. Im sure that list will grow over time, but more carriages, sheds and basic station facilities need to come first.

Chris

 

Just to put the record straight, it was you who used the words ''belt up'' which wasn't needed, it was you who accused me of being a troll when all i did was have a different view to yours. If you can't discuss without being aggressive then why do you come on here ? Dave

 

I like the joke about sheep not putting in help with restoring stations, but it would be a good way of keeping the red light district out in the cuds.

I get what was said about 'snobs' not meaning the volunteers as well. Its a shame the WHHR could not reach a proper accord with the FR just yet but things are improving. Someone said elsewhere on these forums that the WHHR had been established in 1961 and had only managed to achieve half a mile, whereas the FR restored a whole railway. Its hard to argue with that kind of thinking. Although they did have an extra half mile, until it was unfairly taken away in exchange for rights that never seemed to materialise.

 

Your starting to resemble the attitude and posting style of our dear friend renovator...

 

!! sorry, don't follow that one, explain. Dave

 

Snowdon Mountain Railway is of course for the truly wealthy.

Its packed out much of the year, I couldn't afford to go on it without missing out on other things I wanted to do.

However the cost of fuel for those steam engines on that incline is 3 times for the diesels and people want steam. Moreover its exclusive, only one coach per train. I was jealous of other people going on it. Would like to ride behind 'Culdee'. I'm not sure that the WHR is the finest of anything.. yet. I saw much of the scenery driving through the area in the Vectra. I'm willing to accept I may have not seen the best bits but for me a heritage railway can't just trade off scenery. The rest of the experience has to count for something. For example at the SVR we have the Engine Shed at Highley, and the signal box set up in the museum at Kidderminster, (that bit is a lot of fun, like an old worlde computer system with various levers not working unless set and reset in a specific order.

Diversification perhaps needed?

 

You mean like this - Our Heritage Journey

 

Spot on (not creeping) totally agree. Vectra reminds me of Vetra who did superb NG electrics.

 

So are you trying to say that the WHR has not preserved anything?

On another note, Should we be using flat bottom long welded rail on railways or bullhead with wooden sleepers? Should railways around the country run big engines on little railways? A Garratt on the WHR is no different to a King pulling 6 Mark two coaches on the Mid Norfolk Railway, or industrial engines on mainline railways... Really if you going be pedantic about the WHR then lets get whole heritage railway movement into context here!

Rich

 

That looks spot on! A+

As for the Garretts on the WHR, they look fab. I just wonder if they could ever have appeared on the old WHR if it had been an actual success? Or were they always a more European design?

As for Rich's comments about the Garratts, I don't think he gets the point. Many heritage railways run various locos but the 'home' locos are generally ones that were seen in the lines original hey day. Frankly I think the Garratts are superb locos and maybe the only type up to the 1 in 40 with the loads expected for cheaper fares and accessibility to summer crowds. However for the purist maybe 'Lyd' or 'Russell' would be good ones to add to the mix? Maybe double headed if need be? On weekends? I'm not condemning the choice of engines, just asking if there will be a core of originals, in much the same way one Fairlie and Prince are mainstays of the FR.

Incidentally this thread was not meant to be in any way anti the FR, WHR, or even WHHR (Museum - *cough*). It was a question about pricing that has been well answered here. The conversation now seems to sit between people who have had good or crap experiences on the railway, people who have a link with it, or just plain love it. For my part I am only curious now about why the engines for the WHR were chosen and where in the UK they used to be used. I don't have a big problem with them being used but they seem... anomalous?

Oh and I'm a fan of the FR so I'm not really out to bash a trip I really enjoyed.

 

10 pages to discuss the price of a t-shirt?

 

No *cough* apparently other axes were ready ground. As I've said, I think I've been answered by the chap who knew about wholesales.