WHR Superpower Weekend - King of The Hill- 10th & 11th September

[cough] Press release from last month:

Slate returns to the streets of Porthmadog

Porthmadog, August 30, 2011: The Ffestiniog Railway will once again go back to its roots for the Vintage Weekend event on 14-16th October.

Taking advantage of the newly-commissioned Britannia Bridge crossing on the Welsh Highland Railway, the event will recreate the days when the living, breathing heart of Porthmadog was the export of slate and the Ffestiniog Railway was one of the most successful in the UK.

Most of the slate used to bypass the railway’s terminus at Harbour Station and rumble across the bridge to the wharves – a sight which is now almost beyond living memory… until October, when wagons will once again cross the road and head off to other parts of town. It is even thought that flour traffic could make an appearance on its way to Snowdon Mill.

 

As the vintage weekend is suggesting that Slate Waggons will be going onto the CTRL I am sure they have some inclination to see it happen. I would be interested to know how far the Slates will go? Gasworks siding? Will they cross cae pawb? Pont Croseor?

I am just sorry I will not be around in Port that weekend to see it.

 

Posts must have crossed (great minds etc...)

 

But they don't cross Cae Pawb or go up a 1:40 gradient, do they? So the circumstances are quiet a bit different.

 

Penrhyn Ladies crowned Queens of the Hill

Porthmadog, September 13, 2011: The results of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway's inaugural King of the Hill competition are in. And scrutineers from the Railway Performance Society report that we have not a King, but two Queens in the shape of Hunslet sisters Linda and Blanche.

The fastest run over the timing section from LC 44.31 Coed Mawr to LC 41.16 Pont Cae'r Gors went to Garratt No. 138 with a time of 6 min 36 sec which required an equivalent drawbar horsepower (EDHP) of 460.

On the unrestricted more open section from LC 42.54 Hafod Ruffyd to LC 41.34 Cae'r Gors the EDHP increased to 508, rather more than the 437 EDHP developed by No. 87 on the Bronze special last autumn, which holds the overall record for the fastest start to stop time from Beddgelert up to Rhyd Ddu of 17m 47s, but had the benefit of the lighter FR stock.

"But the real interest was in the locos from the Ffestiniog and further afield," says chief timekeeper Sean Emmett.

"The Fairlies covered the timing section in 7m 13s and were faster than the other single headed Garratt runs, but were eclipsed by the ladies in their second run which covered the section in 7m 04s at an average of 16.6 mph - although they were a couple of seconds adrift of the Fairlies above Hafod Ruffydd. For the ladies to have eclipsed their bigger stable mates on a slightly heavier train was a truly astonishing performance in less than ideal conditions.

"Comparing outputs from different types of loco is notoriously difficult. One of the yardsticks used is to relate the EDHP produced to the grate area. There is a further complication in that the ladies,138 and DLG are oil fired and with more consistent steaming may be expected to produce better outputs than coal fired engines of the same size, though this is not always the case as dirty oil and clean coal may switch the advantage the other way.

"Nevertheless, by considering the EDHP developed in relation to their grate area the ladies eclipsed even the efforts of No. 138 and I therefore declare them Queens of the Hill."

Sean adds that L&B replica Lyd performed better than in earlier runs timed over Easter 2011, maintaining a steady 14 mph up the grade increasing to 17 mph within sight of the summit.

Comparing this with a run from Single Fairlie Taliesin at Easter 2011 it would appear that Lyd is slightly the stronger.

Adds Sean: "The Statfold Barn Mallet is a strange beast with a very quiet exhaust. It overcame its previous tendency to run hot and produced some respectable runs, particularly its second run on the Saturday.

"The Darjeeling B class had one run alone with its own two replica carriages, which I am amazed to discover weigh in at only four tons tare each. Needless to say they were full, and I timed the runs standing in the brake van. I have compared this with a run with Prince from 2009 with three carriages. The locos produced similar runs, but with Prince having the edge.

"The B Class and Mallet teamed up to make an attractive sight and their runs got better though unfortunately we did not have a timer available for their Sunday morning run.

"The wooden spoon goes to diesel Castell Caernarfon, pressed in to take a standard WHR set whilst the three Garratts were heading off to Porthmadog together. Its times were slower than everything else, including the B class."

/ends/

 

Few pics, best of a bad bunch to be honest! Number 87 in the Aberglaslyn Pass on the Saturday during a rare dry spell, the Garratt line up on the Sunday (with a Fairlie for good measure!) and with one of the final runs of the gala a Darjeeling / Mallet double header roll over the Glaslyn river into Pont Croesor. Interesting to read the results of the timing runs, thanks for posting!

 

Two nice videos here (not mine):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aePvfj46E0Y (including pacing of a 2xFairlie + Darjeeling triple-header)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxwOLKyS-d0 (including Garratt triple-header)

The Darkjeeling loco sounds a bit "off" - valve timing?

Richard

 

Thanks for posting the links to those vids, I make an appearance @ 10.40 on part 2 with my head out the window behind the Garratts! Both superb videos. Also enjoyed the sequence of the Darjeeling / Mallett double header which i was also on, that thrash will remain with me for a VERY long time!

Couple more pics, Darjeeling train accelerating away from Nantmor and the Double fairlies climbing to Rhyd ddu.

 

Interesting stuff about the ladies, were they crowned as a pair or individually? Will all the data be made available for each run, so I can how the trains I was on performed?

 

Yep. I'll sort it in the morning. The spreadsheet went out with the press release.

 

Have finally sorted & uploaded my pics from an excellent weekend. Despite being a big FR/WHR fan this is the first event I've been to since FR50 and certainly wasn't disappointed! Highlights definately the Darj tank and Lyd. Also rode Phase 4 for the first time on the Friday - definately worth a ride for anyone who hasn't done it

Four pics below, the rest (including two on the FR and a few at the WLLR) are at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24236352@N02/sets/72157627538914975/

 

The RPS spreadsheet for King of the Hill is now up at http://www.festrail.co.uk/docs/KingOfTheHill.xls

 

Great pics Jon! Glad to see some people managed to combat the worst weather Snowdonia could throw at us!

 

Thanks I did need a change of trousers after waiting in the rain for the DHR tank at Snowdon Ranger!

 

Thanks, fascinating stuff. The EDHP of the garratts is impressive as is the time of the ladies. According to the figures the Mallett doesn't look that impressive as I thought it was expected to deliver a similar performance a double fairlie. Was it performing below par or were the original estimates a little high?

James

 

This video clip of the Ladies is pretty impressive too...

 

The Mallet did do a good share of the work it was given but it is a compound and so it's exhaust is very much quieter than a simple engine especially one as loud as the accompanying B class. It is also still less happy above 17MPH. Bear in mind it was never intended to go that fast even.

 

I think youve hit the nail on the head there Owen!

Did you get to fire the Mallet?

Henry