STEEL, STEAM & STARS II - Llangollen Rly - 18 to 26 April 09

only day I can make it is Thursday for the 4-4-0 day and the night shed shoot

are there any freights that day or passengers only?

john

PS
mike - I e-mailed Broomhalla a couple of days ago and got a reply the same day and got my place booked !

 

Thanks John, I'll try another pm.

 

I am planning on taking the 9.30am freight departure on Saturday 18th. Would it be possible, on the return journey, to leave the train at Glyndyfrdwy at 10.52am?
I really need to know, can someone please tell me?!

 

Not pre booked because I didnt know when I would be about. Will probably be down tomorrow...

 

In reply to Lewis Maddox, on reading the timetable a down passenger train is due in Glyn at 10.55, so the freight will be held in the up platform for token exchange.

Bob.

 

That is the problem with Gala's, in that I appreciate who they are for, can be costly to put on and you want to make a profit but some may only want to hear or have time for a single song so do not really want to pay for a full concert.

I know this to my cost as I am have a reasonable interest in hertigae lines running steam I am by no means a die hard enthusiast. My family certainly not, we will use the train or have a ride as part of the day out but it is part of the day not the be all and end all. Getting clobered for Gala fairs when all you want or have time for is a brief ride can be a bit galling as I know to my cost when I turned up a Carrog with the family in toe on the way to Liverpool too catch the boat to the IoM. We thought it would be a nice way to break the Journey have a bit of lunch and have a brief ride. It was a bit of a shock to discover that the only tickets available were all day rover tickets when all we wanted was the ten minute shuttle ride. It was even more galling that the shuttle went with my wife and kids but without me as I was still paying at the booking office so I did not even get a short ride for the ticket I bought. I have to admit we passed on our tickets to another family who were arriving when we left.

This is not having a go at the Llangollen, rather I think it is important that the industry remembers and caters for the ordinary punters during Galas as well. I had a similar if different experience on the Bluebell which is near my parents. As a family we and the Grandparents for a day out tend to park at Horted Keynes, get a train to Shiefield Park where we will probably have a bite to eat before going over to the National Trust Gardens. The only problem we had with that in the Bluebell Gala was not the price rather the timetable was not published. I think you had to buy it seperately but it certainly was not on the website and ringing up all they said was there are "frequent trains" apart from gala programme. Result we went somewhere else for the day.

I apprecaite that it is not easy to please everybody all of the time but sometime I think we forget that not everybody travelling is an enthusiast

 

I know its a bit late for this sort of question (what with 7 hours before we set off for Llagnollen) but if i need to collect my tickets from the marquee at Llangollen, where do I park? assuming there will be an unpressidented lack of space in the majority of the town and possibly all surrounding villages...
will there be a marquee for collecting tickets at every station?

 

Parking in llangollen.

If you are coming early try the public car park (pay & display) . Turn right from A5 at traffic lights in Llan then 1st left.
If no go, go down to t-junction at station ,turn left & go about 400 yds to Eisteddfod ground. Another alternative is Dinas Bran school on the hill above the station- they open up their premises for parking normally. For this turn right at t-junction by station then 1st left up steep hill. I'm sure that the lads have also organised a park & ride on the Ruabon road which is about one mile out of town with a shuttle bus.

Good hunting ,
Bob.

 

I note that 80072 is still listed on www.6880gala.co.uk. Can anyone confirm whether this loco will be running at the gala? (Sorry if this has already been mentioned here, but I gave up try to keep up with this thread several months ago and have the time not the will to plough through 54 pages of chit-chat to dig out the useful nuggets of info).

 

Well we as, ARISE are all sitting just above Berwyn Station, after watching Dukedog on th 8am train...Just for those joining the Nat Pres train later, ARISE shall be there and more than likely holding and 'official' ARISE meeting \/

The MODs have already met the Tanfield and Foxfield MASSIVE and I think are now worried............

 

Weather forecast seems to be good in Llangollen today. I will be there from 11am onwards, here's hoping for a good day to be enjoyed by all.

 

The weather is gorgeous. The locos are too was a pleasure seeing them yesterday been too busy today so far relieving you all or your ticket money. Just off to get ready for our train.... If you're reading this, you'll miss it!

Get your arses down here, there's tonnes to do / drink

 

Well the 6am start from home for the first train of the gala was definetly worth it, my highlight probably being the downhill run from Carrog with 5199, sitting in the rear brakevan, easily worth every penny of the fiver supplement.

Overall an excellently organised event from what i saw of the first day, just one question - why is 6100 deflectorless again ?.

Here's my pics from the opening day of the gala: http://david1984.fotopic.net/c1684425_1.html , after picking my location for photting after having a ride i decided not to move too far for fear of missing something the timetable was so jam packed so im afriad the middle 5 pics are a little repetitive.

Nice to meet Phil Jones and poss Belle1 (?).

 

Great show, dont miss it.

9017 is the star by a mile, sounds great working hard solo or pushing another 4-4-0.

When you have all got over it remember that the Foxfield Gala is on 18th / 19th July, look forward to seeing you all.

 

You also saw me as I was the one wearing a white shirt as I hanged out with Phil all day.

Truly all round excellent day. Went to locations that I hadn't even been to before, so can use for future events.

Also nice to meet belle1 at Carrog towards night-fall where took some night shots of 5526 with the freight.

Jeff

 

A huge thanks to Pro cast for the headboard, and getting to us in time and thanks to those members who joined us in the thompson buffet on 'our' train. The mods present had a great evening and there's still 8 days to go yet. If you buy at Ticket at Llan, its probably me who will part you from your cash!
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The light was fantastic this evening, I hope someone got some good shots of us up the valley!

 

Just arrived back after an absolutely fantastic 2 days down at Llangollen, a sincerely well done to all involved a marvellous effort and a really good selection of locos, also managed to do the Natpres special, nice to meet up with a few of you guys and many thanks for the invite =D> .

 

I did wonder, nice to put a face to the name James.

 

without going into the politics ( what with 6100 ?? ) i believe it has been decided to run withoutsmoke deflectors for the first weekend and with smoke deflectors for the second.

Knowing the 6880 gang I'm convinced this is another of their stunts to encourage repeat business over the nine days; now if they can only do something about maintaining the sunshine [-o< [-o<

 

talking to one of tjhe chaps involved with the Scot, I believe the livery reflects its condition as new without winnies, and I was told over time the locomotive will carry alls its previous liveries right upto BR days as 46100. It did look absolutely fantastic in the sunshine with the B and C coaches behind, it looked like a model from the distance.