News from FR/WHR

Hello Andrew,

That's fine, I hope that the crews can enjoy the video too. I will upload a video of the Garratts' train tonight.

Cheers

Alan

 

Travelled on the "opening train" CFN-PORT on Sat and the "first" ord public train from CFN on sunday. The round trip was about 6hrs with 45mins at Port.

K1 + 138 hauled 9 bogies incl 2 pullmans

Absolutely FANTASTIC. AWE INSPIRING

Cannot make a useful comment other than "WOW" + THANKS. Solid garratt action in stunning scenery

RAY MASON

 

On the video I saw I was surprised that train seemed fairly lightly loaded. Presumably people waiting for he cheaper public trains on Sunday or maybe the departure from Port was just more popular. Certainly the video posted above of Blanche & Merddin at Beddgelert seemed to show a well filled train.

On a second point I was watching the trians at Port today via the web cam. What seemed odd was both Lyd and K1 attached seperatly from different roads after the coaches had been pulled out onto the cob. Seemed slighly odd but presumably K1 and the Garratts are limited to where they can go at Port. Presumably they are of gauge for the platform road and the refueling/rewatering areas?

 

The NG/G16s cannot use the platform road as they are foul of the canopy. The faffing about today was due to a minor glitch with the couplers, meaning it was easier for Lyd to go inside K1 for the down (to Caernarfon) journey. At present, arriving WHR locos detach from the train on the Cob and when the station pilot has drawn the consist into the platform, they use no 6 road to access the water tanker in 5 road.
It all sounds more complex than it really is.

 

The premium-rate 'First Day Specials' run on the 19th February were never expected to be fully-loaded.

However, appearances can be deceptive... I've not seen the videos, but from my own photographs I can well understand your interpretation.

Passengers for these trains had to book and reserve their seats in advance. The train consist was two Pullman carriages, a Service Car and six Third Class carriages.

The last time I checked, all but two of the First Class seats were sold. The Third Class reservations were allocated carriage by carriage, from the rear of the train to the front.

Checking my photographs, the rear three Third Class carriages were fully booked, with the fourth carriage three-quarters full. This obviously means that if you see video/photographs concentrating on the locomotives and front carriages the train appears virtually empty!

Your comment about the Porthmadog departure being more popular is correct, but rest assured the trains more than covered their running costs by a very large margin.

The timetabled service trains are also loading very well, with Porthmadog departures maintaining a slight lead in popularity. ALL First Class seats from Porthmadog for the half-term week have SOLD OUT in advance...

Correct - Welsh Highland loading gauge locomotives are serviced on 6 Road (the one nearest the sea) at Porthmadog. Lyd - being to FR loading gauge - was serviced beside the water tower.

 

Why thank you sir... At least I managed to keep out of shot as I ran across the field behind you while you were filming...

I've just uploaded my photographs of this train, which followed me from Porthmadog to Caernarfon.

Why do we say 'train-chasing' when in reality we're ahead of the train, 'cos if we weren't we wouldn't get any photographs...?

Anyway - the journey included the most spectacular climb from Beddgelert that I've ever seen.

Check out the photographs - here - to see if you agree...

 

Some very evocative photos there Roger, thanks for sharing. It was indeed a spectacular climb.

I have posted another video of the Garratts, K1 & 138 on the afternoon train from Porthmadog from the same location, it can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZx2veasTeQ

Cheers

Alan

 

Not living quite as close to Porthmadog as Roger, I have taken rather longer to get some of my pictures from last week and the weekend onto Fotopic. I haven't sat up until half past three in the morning to do it, either!

Anyway, the first selection of my pictures is now on the www and although they might not be up to maestro Dimmick's standards some of you might find them of interest :

http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1907221.html

Here's the first one as a taster :



Clicking on the picture will enlarge it and also take you to the others.

As usual, they are currently in the 'Stop Press!' collection which is where all the new ones go to start off with. In due course, however, I shall transfer them to the WHR collection and they will then be found here :

http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1729153.html

Hope that they are of interest. There are plenty more still to come!

 

Morning All,

You might be interested in the second batch of pictures that I uploaded to Fotopic last night.

I still have some of the captions to finish, but if a picture is worth a thousand words you'll know what you're looking at anyway!

Same place as before :

http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1907221.html

Here's the first one to start you off :



Clkicking on it will enlarge it and take you to the others.

More pictures still to be added next week as time permits.

 

A picture is only useful if it draws the reader's attention to the 1,000 words that accompany it. And is of no use whatsover in a half hour radio programme containing lots of words about the railway...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00ym7yd/Country_Focus_27_02_2011

 

Thousands of words now added Andrew. (Well, it seemed like thousands when I was typing 'em!)

 

Excellent work Ron.

 

Any details yet on the Fairlie/Garratt/Mallet competition? Even some rough dates would be useful ...

Richard

 

The Railway Performance Society has agreed to particpate as the official timekeeper for the trials and is working on a methodology to enable us to compare a wide range of locomotives in a meaningful way, which would also enable us to test other visiting locos in the years to come. We don't have any firm dates yet.

 

Andrew, I'm surprised! No mention on here yet of THE significant event of the year so far on the FR. Linda took her first trip into Port today since 2004 (is it really so long?!). I was fortunate to enough to see her chuff up and down at Boston Lodge a couple of weeks ago so I'm pleased to see she has made it across the Cob.
Andrew has put photos on the FfR/WHR website and eagle eyed readers will notice certain original features have been restored, most notably the return of the Ramsbottom safety valves to the cab. This will enable the brass dome cover to be restored as originally built and will return her to a condition quite close to her 1960's early FR form (don't ask about colour!) but in a much better state given the thorough rebuild she has had.
Completion won't be rushed (I have been informed by those working on her) but it will be well worth the wait when she finally emerges finished.

Karl

 

I saw the pictures on Facebook from my phone - unmistakeable outline of Linda even on a mobile.

 

Most excellent news Karl,

I am really looking forward to seeing her back in operation - can't believe it has been that long! !

Best regards,

Richard.

 

Here you go - the view out of my office window:

 

I would post a picture of the view from my office window but it would not have the same effect.. She looks lovely. Complimenti as they say here.

 

This is probably the best condition Linda has ever been in since it was built, and it has been accomplished almost entirely by volunteers at little cost to the company. Much work has gone into restoring original features and sorting out the many bodges it accumulated over the years.

Still lots to do and some bits are only temporary so the valve settings could be tested. It's still burning oil at the moment so its performance can be compared to its pre-overhaul condition and Blanche.

Tim