Great Little Trains of Wales 29th June - 5th July

Finally, three weeks after returning from my holiday to Wales here are some links to short articles about the railways I went on with some photos and videos to accompany them. It feels quite strange looking at them now and seeing all these people walking around in coats..........

On Saturday 29th June I paid my first visit to the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway. It was delightful little railway, all the better for the carriages - two of which were from Hungary and others from Austria - with balconies at the front and back so you could see what the driver was doing. The line has an interesting collection of foreign locos, but it was good to see one of the two Beyer Peacock 0-6-0Ts built for the line in 1902, 'The Earl'.
Article: http://www.totally-transport.co.uk/great-little-trains-of-wales-june-july.html
Video (13 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yph2BND6JMQ&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j
Photos (22): https://plus.google.com/photos/115609395788457768316/albums/5898994084969046417

I stayed overnight at a hotel near Welshpool and enjoyed a full English breakfast before travelling on the Bala Lake Railway which runs narrow gauge trains on the trackbed of an old standard gauge line next to Wales' largest natural lake. The loco was a Hunslet 0-4-0ST 'Holy War', built for the Dinorwic slate quarry in 1902 which became the last steam engine to work in a British slate quarry.
Article: http://www.totally-transport.co.uk/great-little-trains-of-wales-june-july.html#bala
Video (13 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuqwzGfPrs8&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j
Photos (14): https://plus.google.com/photos/115609395788457768316/albums/5899708083251728497
I travelled on to Porthmadog and camped at the Forestry Commission's excellent campsite (well, apart from the midges!) just outside Beddgelert which has its own station on the Welsh Highland Railway, though I didn't actually see any trains there because by the time they got there I had either already left the campsite or hadn't got back yet!

Ffestiniog Railway. My return to this firm favourite did not disappoint and had a pleasing symmetry to it. In operation was the first engine built at Boston Lodge in 1879, double Fairlie 'Merddin Emrys', and 'Lyd' which it was good to see for the first time.
Article: http://www.totally-transport.co.uk/great-little-trains-of-wales-june-july.html#fr
Video (13 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAdiU0eG0c&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j, featuring an exciting encounter with some sheep!
Photos (26): https://plus.google.com/photos/115609395788457768316/albums/5900115425385486113

Welsh Highland Railway - I didn't actually ride on this one, but filmed their trains at several interesting points including street running in Porthmadog. The whole operation on this long line was very impressive, especially when we were at the mid-way station where the trains pass each other and they arrived simultaneously!
Video (13 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgzyQRwE3k0&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j

On Wednesday I travelled to Llanberis and went on the Llanberis Lake Railway in the morning and then attempted to walk up Snowdon in the cloud in the afternoon and turned back halfway up as I was in the cloud and getting wet. Though I was able to see the last train on the Welsh Highland Railway at Caernarfon - and in the sunshine which was good.
The Llanberis Lake Railway runs on the trackbed of the now closed Padarn railway where it runs alongside Padarn lake. The Padarn Railway is very interesting not only because it was built to the unusual gauge of 4ft (standard gauge is 4ft 8 3/4 inches) to carry slate from the quarry to the company's docks at Port Dinorwic but also because it carried the narrow gauge slate wagons from the quarry on special transporter wagons! (There's a picture of one such wagon in the photo album below on the Talyllyn Railway which have one in their Narrow Gauge Museum). I was pleased to find that the engine running was actually the same loco that was in steam many years ago, last time I visited- 'Dolbadarn's whistle was just as loud as I remember it being, but at least this time I wasn't (so!) frightened by it!
Article: http://www.totally-transport.co.uk/great-little-trains-of-wales-june-july.html#lr
Video (10 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_LSq-l49fs&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j
Photos (21): https://plus.google.com/photos/115609395788457768316/albums/5902001651079288769
I had a problem before my ascent of Snowdon even began - my 16gb memory card in my camcorder was full! Fortunately I was able to buy a new card at the Snowdon Mountain Railway's shop and we were able to set off, full of hope and expectation that the cloud covering the peak would lift during the afternoon as the forecast had said it would. True to form, as with the wretched weather forecasts in 'Three Men in a Boat', the cloud did not lift. It only came down lower! Still, it was great to see, and hear, the Swiss built steam locomotive slogging up the hill out of just out Llanberis, as you can in the video. It was also interesting to see it coming down on the viaduct into Llanberis again a few hours later, especially as it still seemed to be chuffing - it has to work hard to keep the train from running away down the mountain; as the opening train did back in 1896 when it 'lost' the rack on the rack and pinion system, destroying the engine and killing one person. This fact is conveniently omitted from the 'official' history of the line on the railway's website - that loco is 'no longer in service'........
Video: (8 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69oLTJ7q-0k&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j
(there are links to the photos from the video, but in this case I think the video is best).

Talyllyn Railway Victorian Train - 4th July
We took a trip on the Talyllyn Railway's original passenger train from the 1860s in a very special day out which included photo stops, run pasts by the train, the services of a very knowledgeable guide, a cream tea (part of the ticket price!) and a guided tour of the narrow gauge museum. It was probably my favourite day inspite of what I melodramatically describe on the website as the 'camcorder calamity'! I'd better explain. Before hand I felt really well prepared for the holiday - I had a big memory card (which I filled up) and a three hour battery with a spare and an in car charger thingy - what could possibly go wrong? I'd switched to the spare battery on Wednesday and was happy I could charge this up on the way down to Tywyn; the camcorder said it had 55 minutes of battery time left when we left Beddgelert. I duly plugged the camcorder in and the charging light came on and, as I'd noticed before on the holiday it turned off again after about a minute but I plugged it back in, determined that this was going to charge up. We arrived at Tywyn. We got our tickets. I set myself up to record a lovely scene of 'Talyllyn' (the engine) simmering at the station. I turned the camcorder on. 6 minutes of battery remaining! How did this happen?! It seems the reason the camcorder kept stopping charging was because the charger didn't have a high enough power output to charge the camcorder and so, somehow, was actually discharging the battery. Knowing this, the camcorder kept stopping this from happening. And I kept plugging it back in! No matter, I was able to switch to a spare camcorder. Ah - something happens then - you'll have to watch the video to find out what, but suffice to say that it explains why there are a lot more photos from this day than video! No:1 'Talyllyn', built in 1864 was on the Victorian train. Though after being rebuilt in 1957/8 (the frames, wheels and parts of the motion were reused) and having been modified again to improve its performance, not that much of the 1864 loco can actually be left! All the same, it was great to see the railway's original loco, at the head of its original passenger train, rather than on a plinth in a museum.
Article (giving a bit more detail about the day itself!): http://www.totally-transport.co.uk/great-little-trains-of-wales-june-july.html#tr
Video (4 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45BoaRZF0hk&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j (I have noticed on the video title I've managed to misspell the name of the railway......should check more carefully next time)
Photos (57): https://plus.google.com/photos/115609395788457768316/albums/5902346498020181057

I camped overnight near the waterfalls at Devils Bridge and then had a look at the Vale of Rheidol Railway. The loco running was built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon in 1924. Unfortunately having to get back for other commitments prevented me from riding on this line, but we were able to see the first train of the day leave Aberystwyth:
Video (4 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgxJqrAEyF0&list=PLYI8Iy30JK3BMINol7uFkk2kGmzsSyz8j (we were able to recharge the spare camcorder using the in car charger).

All in all, a fantastic week away - I do hope you enjoy these articles, videos and photos as much as I did filming, producing and writing them.