WHR General Discussion.

Why would you want to do that when you can see them on the FR?

You being what you are wouldn't understand how easy it is to lift tarmac from steel....

 

Well, I'd like to see it mainly because if the WHR is twice as steep as the FR.

If the two railways maintained their current respective ruling gradient relationship and the WHR was one in eighty, as the FR is now, the FR would be level.

 

As has been mentioned previously, does anyone know what the date of the planned move across the Porthmadog CTRL is?

 

I'm sure Bob Branch will be happy to advise you further - on receipt of a cheque towards the cost of the photo-charter...

 

Any stock movements outside the time of the photo charter are of no concern to Mr Branch.

 

Perhaps, but it seems quite reasonable for the railway not to openly post the times for the positioning moves - they might not be be part of the charter itself but they will still have been paid for by the participants and wouldnt otherwise be happening.

Chris

 

Correct... and, if you've paid for something to happen, it is not unreasonable to want to keep it to yourself...

 

It's not going to make much more noise especially on a train of 4 or 5 empty coaches. While photo charters are good from the money point of view, it is a bit like cheating, surely part of the thrill of photography is getting an awsome photo as it goes through rather than just makeing lots of attempts?

 

I think your confusing the appeal of the photographic charter with what i (and Andrew?) hope to experience at a future WHR gala. If people want to recreate something possibly not witnessed by anyone still living, and are prepared to pay for the priviledge as well, then i really cant see how anyone can have a problem with that.. however, not being an avid photographer means standing in a field waiting for the sun to come out isnt really my cup of tea!

Chris

 

Indeed. For me, the pleasure of photography is in capturing a real moment when action, light, weather and camera angle all magically come together - maybe one out of 100 shots if you're really lucky. To pay to stand in a field and to be able to control the action is totally artificial.

Having everything laid on for you strikes me as being photography for the terminally-lazy. Why not get someone else to take the pix for you?

But if there are people daft enough to pay for this sort of thing, it would be churlish to refuse to take their cash. Just don't expect me to stop taking pictures of the railway I've helped build over the last four years because some blokes with more money than sense have tipped up.

 

There are some who would say that those who built the railway have more money than sense, and too much time on their hands.

 

You almost sound as if you don't approve of their efforts

I certainly am glad that those who allegedly "have more money than sense and too much time on their hands" actually spent their money and time to build the WHR.

 

......and what's worse, it was done with public money chucked in !! Pure disneyland, plus the fact that with that no one has the right to say anything against this allmighty white elephant. It's total hypocrisy.

 

Hmmm.... well, I used to drive trains there!

I was just giving an alternative view point held by critics of the WHR, most of whom have absolutely no interest in railways of any kind, and pointing out that people are (still mainly) free to spend their own money on whatever they like.

 

Care to back up that very provocative statement?

A recent study showed that the combined FR/WHR put £9m into the local economy every year, which would likely be even higher this year with the increase in traffic on both lines. The public money given to the project, while substantial, has led to £20m+ in private finance plus the millions of millenium commission and european funds; much of which has gone directly into the local economy.

Chris

 

Any public money going into the WHR/FR project should of been in the form of a loan and not otherwise. Giving public money to this private project was a mistake, a big mistake, point made.

 

The money from such grants, which it should be pointed out are hardly unique to the WHR, is effectively 'repaid' through the benefits it provides to the local economy and the extra employment (direct and indirect) that its construction and operation results in - which also provides an increase in tax revenue. Most importantly though, it results in a much larger amount of private money also entering the North Wales economy, which is probably one of the biggest factors involved.

Regardless of how its repaid though, its proof of the Welsh Highland's strong business case, and the success of phases 1 to 3, that such a large amount was given to finish the rest of the railway.

Chris

 

The fact that the WHR supposedly did well this year and that the tax man will reap the rewards changes nothing to what i wrote before. In principle it was wrong to have given the money as time i am sure will show. To have lent the money would of been a way of keeping control over the WHR so it did not end up with a free reign as it has, this would of helped with such things as the relations with the WHHR for exemple. Things would of been to say the least, more humble, now it's too late.