Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway

...........And the second train of the day heading for Welshpool, hauled by Zillerthal, here approaching Hydan Fawr.........




Cheerz,

Alan

 

The latest (November 2023) issue of The Railway Magazine contains a five-page feature about the W&LLR.

Titled 'The need for flexibility', the article has at its core an interview with Steve Clews, the railway's chairman, which focuses on current and future challenges. Topics covered include volunteers and rolling stock, as well as commercial and operational matters. A personal touch is a panel/box headlined 'Growing up on the railway' in which the author (yours truly) shares some reminiscences of being a young volunteer on the line.

Incidentally, the W&LLR is also due to be under the spotlight in the magazine's Practice & Performance column in a forthcoming issue – expected to be sometime during the early part of 2024. Columnist John Heaton welcomed my suggestion of 'doing his stuff' on No. 822 and was impressed with what he saw during what was his inaugural visit to the railway.

The magazine is available from all good newsagents. Alternatively, order your copy at https://classicmagazines.co.uk/issue/View/issue/RM202311/november-2023 – or subscribe and save at https://classicmagazines.co.uk/subscription/RM/source/digital22 .

 

Some of my photos from 1967:

 

Some interesting news ...

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...t6QypgZC2l&id=100067109622864&mibextid=Nif5oz

 

That is good news. Good to see this sort of collaboration too.

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"Zillerthal" and "The Earl" were the rostered locos for Bank Holiday Monday's services:
















Cheerz,

Alan

 

Vintage (GW and Austrian) trains this weekend.

https://wllr.org.uk/events/vintage-weekend/

 

I'm assuming Dougal is on its way to Sittingbourne. It's currently at Ruislip Lido Railway on the back of a lorry, while Sherpa from Fairbourne Railway is being unloaded for the RLR gala.

RLR Livestream:

 

And the sun shone too.

 

Is there any update on how long ZB No. 2 will be staying at the W&L? I'd love to see her before she goes back to Austria but I may struggle to fit it into my diary this year...

 

End of the year I was told. Hopefully, whatever is keeping Sir D out of action will be sorted by then, I don’t think it’s run yet this year.

 

As I understand it Sir D is having its final paint finish applied which has inevitably required a degree of disassembly to achieve (and presumably couldn’t really be done until the weather warmed up enough!)
So I don’t think it’s a case of anything needing “sorting” as such, just the final step in the restoration process.

 

I gather the option to extend is there but its performance isn't really good enough.

 

That may be a subjective opinion. I think views are somewhat split.

 

It's certainly noticeable that 822 seems to be doing the bulk of the work at the moment. Is this because the staff don't have faith in ZB2? Or is it to minimise hire fees?

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This is what @Richieboy wrote here a couple of years ago, comparing ZBs performance with 85 and Joan. I don't know if anything has changed since then.

ZB is a bit more powerful, I think she has done 7 unit, off the top of my head, but has had a bit of bearing work since it’s been with us. It also hasn’t had front end mods, so doesn’t steam quite as well as it might if it had and it suffers from being light on its feet in the wet.

 

The work to do a front end lempor would be significant and beyond economic for a hire locomotive.

 

I understand that ZB2 is now becoming a little “tired” and so is being used more sparingly prior to it’s return to Austria in due course. Still had a good run with it on the last train of the beer festival a couple of weeks back.