Trawsfynydd and Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway

Mr Dale thinks he has an agreement, NR thinks he doesn't.
You don't think that Colin Dale is really Wayne J**ns in disguise.....???

 

Hmm dreamers and recluses society if it is mr j

 

I would actually quite like to see the FBR (Festiniog & Blaenau Railway) restored as a 2' gauge railway one day - basically a short (2 or 3 mile ?) extension to the Ffestiniog Railway taking it from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llan Ffestiniog. After all, it was historically narrow gauge. And that would bring attention back to the FR once the "northern extension" (i.e. WHR!) has settled down - so this would be a project to start thinking about say 10 years after the WHR has reopened completely through to Porthmadog. Of course it would need to be dual-gauge as far as Llan Ffestiniog if Network Rail still require the standard gauge route for Trawsfynydd Power Station decommissioning. And we could build replicas of the two Manning Wardle 0-4-2ST locomotives "Nipper" and "Scorcher" to complete the picture! All we need is a Euro-Millions Lotto win! One can daydream anyway... !!

 

Blaenau & Trawsfynydd railway.

If Network Rail have plans to reopen this line surely it is better to let them upgrade it then take over when their last train has run.You would only then need to add stations & signalling.

Bob.

 

and as well as that, an branch to Dinas to the Llechwydd slate quarries inclins...I think thats was planned once but never happened.

 

Well, its a very beautiful stretch of line and personally i very much hope it can survive in some shape or form, i think it would be good to have another preserved standard guage line in wales, especially one with such scenic potential. Of course it would be lovely to strike out back towards bala as well especially through the mountainside section just before Cwm Prysor viaduct and station, but i guess that really is going into the realms of dreamland

 

I agree it is a lovely stretch, and a good length for a preserved line with a GWR Branch feel. Mainline connected, and with the NR stretch from Llandudno very scenic in its own right, even better. It might lead to some tourist regeneration at the Traws end - water recreation being the obvious one with the lake. A heck of a lot of work to bring that track back to use. Vegetation does a lot of damage - mostly beneath the surface, and roots take hold strongly in the ballast, ash and clinker of railway formations.

 

My dream is to one day see a FR train running along that ledge near Cwm Prysor - i dont think its completely impossible, but it would probably need a millionaire backer or two, and obviously the FR/WHR would need to have gone through a lengthy period of consolidation, and volunteer numbers would need to be holding up, and there would have to be a strong business case...

Like i said, its a dream!

Chris

 

Waving my own magic wand, reinstate the turntable at Tan y Manod and invite excursions up the Conwy valley. Of course the original 'table was only 45' long so that would require a heck of a long pair of outriggers to turn an 8F! Mind you, you might squeeze a 2-6-4T on to something that length....

 

My parents have a holiday home in Trawsfynydd so I'm quite familiar with the area and I don't really think a preserved railway would work. If this scheme does happen it'll probably end up a bit like the Weardale line, running mainly DMUs and the like. There isn't really much happening in Trawsfynydd itself; it's a fairly small village and although road traffic for Bala, Porthmadog and Dolgellau all pass through it's not any kind of tourist stop-off point. It really is just a residential village. Blaenau of course is a much more substantial town so it would be a somewhere-to-nowhere type of railway, plenty of which have succeeded in the past, but as somebody else identified there'd be major difficulties with running into Blaenau station and there isn't room to construct a new one unless you terminate a good way out of town. Also (and no disrespect to anybody who lives in or loves the area) I don't think the stretch on the Blaenau side of Trawsfynydd is particularly scenic. It's very pleasant but it's mostly cuttings and rolling fields once you get out of Blaenau and there are plenty of railways which offer that. That of course is all subjective though.

It's a bit of a tough one though because whilst the railway might not be a success it does seem like a shame to pass up on the oppurtunity for a preserved line where there are already rails in place and which will probably just be left to rot otherwise. Still, I'd much rather see the restoration of the Trawsfynydd to Bala line although unless they could find a way of avoiding the resevoir which would surely be costly they could never get into Bala at which point it would be a nowhere-to-nowhere line. Who knows though. Perhaps somebody with more money than sense will realise the potential one day and offer to build the whole thing, deviation and all!

 

Any more news from Mr Dale?

 

is it just me but dont you think wales has enough preserved railway schemes. it is in all fairness a tiny country and every month we seem to read a new schem or other being proposed. surely its overkill!

 

The new website for the Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynedd Railway Society is now up, including some fine photos of the line in operation and contact details for the Society: http://www.bftr.co.uk/

There is also an active Facebook group for the Society, with dates of working parties.

I was looking at this stretch of line on the map in a quiet bit of the Christmas holidays, thinking "Wouldn't it be nice if someone was to think of a way of bringing it back into use...", so it is great to find that other people have been doing while I have been idly chewing it over.

There are obvious risks for this project which are associated with it being next door to the towering preservation behemoth that is the Ffestiniog:
- It might struggle to attract visitors, compared to its extremely well known neighbour;
- it might suffer by comparison with the Ffestiniog, unless it offers a similarly high quality experience to its customers. The Ffestiniog is one of the most polished heritage railway operations in the UK. It runs through some beautiful scenery, and in addition is extremely well managed and resourced;
-it might be seen as a competitor, and face opposition from the Ffestiniog as a result.

I think the way to make this work is to use the standards set by the Ffestiniog as a benchmark, and work towards offering an equally high quality visitor attraction. Professionally operating the line should be the focus; rolling stock preservation should be less of a focus (except in as much as it is necessary to provide clean, well looked after stock for the line).

At the same time, I would try and differentiate the railway from the Ffestiniog in terms of its appearance and rolling stock. Good relations with the Ffestiniog are going to be important, and it would not help to appear to be a competitor. I would focus on making sure that the re-opened railway fitted in with the efforts that are being made to make Blaenau into an outdoor / adventure sports destination, which is a strong focus of the Chamber of commerce's visitor website: http://www.blaenauffestiniog.org/home.php. I would promote the line as a link to walking and cycling trails around Llyn Trawsfynedd. I would make sure there is space for bikes to be transported on every train. I think the idea of allowing pedal powered trolleys on the line when service trains are not running sounds great, and is a good fit for the kind of people who might come to Blaenau for the mountain biking, or zip wires...

I was in Snowdonia last summer, and I loved the incredible drama of the mountain scenery. I think that the railway needs to exploit and complement that. I thought that one way of doing this might be to aim for a similar look to the beautiful Thamshavn Railway in Norway, with vintage steeple cab electric locomotives pulling open balcony, wooden carriages: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...kken_Meldal_Sor_Trondelag_Central_Norway.html. Places like the National Tramway Museum and the Seaton Tramway have the expertise to help with the power supply, and some of the electric locomotives from the Harton Electric Railway and Kearsley Power Station are languishing at the Tanfield and Coventry's Electric Railway Museum without any prospect of running at their current homes.

 

Wrong link (you've used the same link twice in your post).

 

can't help but think they should have left the Ffestiniog out of their title, if that's not linguistically incorrect

 

Fixed (hopefully) - thanks!

 

These people had better start fund-raising, as they probably have no idea how much a T.W.A.O. with its associated legal fees costs.
Following this they will need lots of cash for coaches - if they can find any.
Locomotive hire fees seem to be escalating & there is a shortage of locos available for hire to contend with.
The big killer is trying to reopen a line next door to a highly successful line that is well established.
If they want to create a new railway in North Wales they should drive down the road to Bala & help with their extension into town.

Bob.

 

Apparently, clearance of vegetation continues, and there are plans evolving for various 'pinch-points', e.g. developing station facilities at Blaenau (depending on level of cooperation from other parties); some will see all of this as pie-in-the-sky, others as having potential.
As mentioned, though, the financial side will be a considerable concern for a new scheme (@Thompson1706, post #38), and the recent crowd-funding for a tired 08 didn't quite reach the target...
Isengard.co.uk carries regular updates of goings-on.

 

As I've said elsewhere, IF the area was not already saturated with heritage railways, they had a USP and a rich benefactor willing to bankroll the whole scheme then they might have a chance but I fear that this is one of PH's WIBNs and will, sooner or later, just be remembered as another 'failed scheme'.
There is no doubt that the handful of volunteers have done a great job in vegetation clearance but it is a huge leap from cleaning up a local eyesore to developing a fully equipped heritage railway and I don't think they have realised the enormity of the task. These chaps are obviously keen to get involved in a practical way - it's just a pity that they have chosen not to support one of the already established lines in the area - after all there are plenty to choose from. This scheme has been the subject of much discussion, recently, over on RMweb and the same old "if the pioneers of the 60's/70's had listened to the nay-sayers...... etc etc" were repeated. Times have changed since then and half a dozen enthusiasts with a shoe string budget don't cut it any more.
Ray.