Steel Steam and Stars III

Berwyn is now Killin.

Seems like this morning the group are making a statement about what they are making ?

That or maybe it's not the safest station on the line...

Or maybe it's a Scottish country branch..

 

Thanks for that - just the sort of info that should have been available on the SSS3 website last week,

One small comment though - you show the trains that don't stop at Berwyn as "n/s", but for the autos to Bonwm, you show the Carrog passing times in italics. It might have been better to show "n/s" for the latter as well to avoid confusion.

I was there on Saturday. Managed to get a full round trip with 828 (my main reason for visiting) and at least a short ride behind all other locos except 5199, but when I look back and realise that in the 10 hours I there, I only did one full round trip to Bonwm, one round trip to Carrog and two short trips to Berwyn and back, I have to say that £22 for a day rover + £5 for a glossy A4 brochure (which was quite tatty by the end of the day) was not the best value for money gala that I've ever been to.

 

If your at the gala, come say hello at the Thompson Buffett, Cheers!!

 

Good to see that the timetable is out on the public domain, at last. Hope the lack of TT has not had a detrimental effect on the gala. Lessons to be learnt

 

Really cannot wait for next weekend after Saturday! Had such a wonderful day in the sun/rain/sleet/wind infested Valley with a perfect combination of locomotives!

Few more of my photos up from the first day too:


70000 Britannia by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


828 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


6430 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


70000 Britannnia by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


828 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr

Thanks,
Lewis

 

Martin,

I'm 1706 - 1705 was the other one which was treated to a trip through the burning tunnel in the late 80's !
Thanks to Lewis for the fine photo also.

Bob.

 

Whilst not wishing to put a downer on the gala, but the timetable is causing chaos. It is simply not maintainable, and given that not all trains stop all stations, and others don't go all the line... There's large gaps at Berwyn between trains... And minutes between them at Glyn, and 20-30 minutes on most trains counting sheep at Deeside loop, where you cannot detrain. For Bronwm... You must get on at Glyn as it doesn't stop at Carrog... !!!
Our experience was the most reliable train was the freight.


828 caused upto 2 hours delays to some services.. But the timetable was already 90 minutes late beforehand and Sunday headed the same way, being around 90 minutes late before they canceled the last train.... Ergo I had to finish 1 train early, as I was told the last from llan to Berwyn, will be waiting at goods junction.. Thereby missing the connection from the superD going in !!

Many passengers, myself included have had to watch and wait for an hour or more whilst trains running anywhere upto 2 hours late at one point whistled non stop through the station at Berwyn..

On Sunday a group of 20 or so (including my wife and daughter had to walk 2 miles to Llangollen), only to have the heavens open on us part way there.. As our official tickets were not permitted unless we had a home made "sticker" in red arial font saying 6880 on our rain soaked jackets! Not available at Berwyn)... Only to be waved through at Llangollen and told our tickets were ok....so wasting 90 minutes of the day...and then refused readmission again Glyn by an over officious gate keeper for the same reason..We finally complained and got the red sticker, but not before a few words were exchanged.

I have spent culmulative of hours sitting in dee side loop, this weekend..knowing that the time to Glyn was in reality minutes, and then not having enough time to see the events at Glyn because the next train was arriving in unknown minutes back to llan for the right train to stop at Berwyn..via Llangollen (as the up didn't stop there)..... Only then to spend 20 minutes in the loop at dee side again ! Agh!!!! My wife had enough and left to the hotel at that point walking back from Llangollen along the canal.

It caused us grief no end on Sunday and tempers frayed a little as a result.

Great event, can't fault the locomotives, and there are some gems amongst the staff... But something's were ugly this weekend in the customer service department in some areas.. The timetable is very unforgiving for those who want to do something specific.. Like ride a particular loco.?. What ever your plan add 90 minutes to it, and a book to read at dee side.

Dont let our experience put you off what is without doubt a spectacular gala.... I'm sure our problems are specific to Berwyn station, but the time tabling is a mess...the engines, beer festival, display at Glyn are fantastic... Just make sure you have a sticker on your coat... as most Non-train staff don't recognise the tickets being sold !

 

All these comment re the chaos being caused by the current timetable are NOT filling me with confidence for next Sunday, It's the first time I will have been ( and could more than likely be the last) and I'm taking my old man (he's in his seventies), he will not be too pleased at just hanging around going nowhere fast ( he will become unbearable).

So a plea ( if this message can get through to the powers that be) can somebody please change the timetable for this coming weekend so that things run smoothly and to time?.....................................

 

I think that problems are being caused by certain locos being loaded beyond their abilities. Combined with low water capacity with the need for un-scheduled water stops, the delays soon mount up.
Perhaps for S,S & S 4 the people who prepare the timetable should consider loadings when allocating locos to trains.
To the best of my knowledge this chaos did not happen in the first 2 galas although changes in personnel since then have probably not helped.

Bob.

 

Hmmm, not convinced by this tbh. If these locos can't comfortably manage 25mph load 5-7, there must be some serious issues! We're not talking small Pecketts here, these are 0-6-2s and bigger! The N2s and 51XXs coped fine with fast commuter work and the coal tank's not a weak machine - and as for the Brit, etc, I think that goes without saying. :lol: Water capacity much more of an issue, but in terms of performance I'd expect little struggle - if the timetable's asking for speeds that the smaller (and not particularly small at that!) locos can't manage, then I'd say it's asking too much of any crews to maintain it.

 

I seem to remember there were some pretty serious delays on, I think, day 1 of SSS1. We were staying the the Chainbridge hotel and heard the last train of the (previous) day go past well after midnight.

 

Part of the problem may lie in the 1st train from Carrog is timed to leave on the Glyn section several minutes before the 3rd train from Llangollen arrives at Carrog from Glyn in the same section...

All of which was delayed by a late running ecs. (on both days). (why wasn't it sent earlier, or as a service train... Or even before the day began ?)

 

There is a lot of negativity on this forum, yes the timetabling isn't great but don't let this put people off attending. I had a a very enjoyable day on saturday and would hate to think people would not attend due to what has been read on the forum. I hope they do achieve their targets (there certainly wasn't a shortage of people on Saturday) and lessons will be learned for the future. It would be a shame if this was the last mega gala due to lack of support from us enthusiasts.

 

I rode behind the the coal tank on saturday and it could cope with the load (it re-started it on Berwyn bank) but did seem to make several unscheduled stops and didn't get much above 20mph. Also the position of the water column at Glyn means the train stops a quater of the way up the platform and blocks the points meaning nothing can pass until watering is complete. It goes without saying that this is an unexpected issue as watering certainly isn't timetabled!

 

I thought i would sign up to this forum following meeting a few forum members over the weekend - an excellent forum by the way!

The loco line up was good, a shame about the problems with the coal tank, was the loco not load tested before the event to prove the water capacity etc??

The beer festival was good with a great variety of beers which made the event flow a bit better!

I wish the betton grange group the best with building 6880 however i think this gala may have been a step too far. The gala on the whole seemed to very poorly organised and seemed to be running on the chaos theory. I sincerely hope that changes are made prior to the final weekend as it may well put a lot of people off, it was probably one of the worst galas that i have been to for a while, it wasnt a patch on the WSR, SVR, CVR or ELR galas, some lesson need to be learnt and quickly!

Maybe it would be a good time bring back some of the heros from the 1st & 2nd SSS to save the day and show them current grange board how a gala should be run.........................

Best of luck for the rest of the event.

 

With the amount of staff at Llangollen, including an operations manager, how come the timetable wasnt graphed before hand as a test, or passed to a number of folk for double checking?

 

I agree with acorb here..
the event needs everyone's support...If it were to fail it would be very bad for 6880.


the positives of the event are the variety of engines and the efforts to present realistic trains and formations..
It's a photographers dream and well worth the ride.
There is a great range of beers and the field at Glyn is worth the visit.


Post mortems can go one long after the event is over, just make sure you go with an open mind regarding the timetable and get the all important sticker on your coat ! The TTIs on the train recognise the tickets.. It's just the gate staff at stations who only recognise the sticker.


The trains were well loaded, even with the weather..

Not sure, the timetable this coming weekend has the same error, it could be a misprint but then it means a timetabled 3 minute sprint between Glyn and Carrog.. ?
http://railways.national-preservati...1335133288-steel-steam-stars-iii-sss3-ptt.pdf


The 10.01 arrives Carrog 1008, but there's a 10.05 from Carrog to Glyn..
3 minutes doesn't sound a lot, but add in releasing the token, setting the points, route, returning the token and a being ready to depart...( and a 15 minute delay by the ecs... Your quite quickly upto 30 minutes delay before the 1st return train departs from Carrog...)

 

There were entrance tents at Llan, Glyn and Carrog. I parked at Glyn on both Saturday and Sunday and had no problems getting a sticker.

I'm not surprised there were none at Berwyn - I suppose that the organisers don't expect people to start their days there, forgetting that there's a hotel on the other side of the river. The first time I went to a Llangollen gala I parked at Berwyn (on the opposite side of the river). The line was only open to Berwyn at that time. I went to the ticket office and asked for a day rover. "Sorry, sir, we don't sell day rovers here, you'll need to get one from Llangollen." "I want a day rover, and I am here, so what do you expect me to do?" To be fair, when the next train arrived, a member of the station staff introduced me to the guard, told him the problem and that I would buy a day rover when I got to Llangollen. "No problem, sir."

On Saturday I got stuck at Llan for an hour an a half, as the service I intended to go back on we passed at Goods Junction, and the following one was cancelled.

During a spell of counting the sheep at Deeside, I came up with a theory as to how to make the timetable work. Basically, don't cross full line services at Llan and Carrog. Use Goods Junction and Glyn. The timetable allows no more than 45 minues, and often less, to run a service from Deeside to Llan and another back again. Most services didn't manage to do this.

Apart from this, it is an excellent event, and, along with other posters, I would not want the comments regarding late running, rain, mud and the odd over-officious individual to put anyone off going along. I will certainly be back on Friday for the last three days.