Britomart and Moelwyn turned up in the WHR platform light engine after the Garratt had left. Lyd departed on time shortly afterwards at 14:36. Blanche then shunted The Quarryman rake to the FR platform for the 15:05 return service. The two light engines were back in the WHR having run round each other at 15:30 as Blanche departed 30 minutes late at 15:34.

First of the returning services was No.130 on The Harbourmaster at 16:22 and 10 minutes later the ECS had already departed for the depot. The Woodland Wanderer returned at 17:17 behind Welsh Pony though it is uncertain how and where this loco took over the train as it definitely left behind Lyd at lunchtime. This could be the reason why Blanche was delayed by half an hour starting from Porthmadog. Welsh Pony ran round at 17:40.

Timetable 8/7/23-14/7/23

Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright F&WHR

Loco roster w/c 8/7/23

There's a little more variety in the Loco Roster this coming week - with a total of NINE locos due to seen in action on passenger trains.
On the Ffestiniog Railway: David Lloyd George, Merddin Emrys and Blanche will again be in action on our regular train services - while Welsh Pony, Lyd and Britomart can be seen on a couple of private charters. It would appear that Merddin Emrys has been repaired.
On the Welsh Highland Railway: All three NG/G16s - Nos.87/130/143 - will be working the service train roster between them and may on occasion exchange duties at Beddgelert.
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NOTE: This information is provided in good faith, solely as a guide, but could be subject to change at any time.

YouTube of WHR100

Lee Davies has kindly provided details of his YouTube which shows some of the many special trains featured across all three days of the WHR100 event.

Click on the YouTube link to watch 38 minutes 37 seconds of video covering many of the special trains including WHHR trains run over the 3 days of WHR100. This video was published on 27/6/23 and is best viewed at 1080p with Chrome. This video was produced by Lee Davies (F&WHR) on a professional Betamax 4k camcorder.

FO Aberystwyth wood train rolls again 30/6/23

The Short Term Path for the occasional Fridays Only Kronospan wood train from Aberystwyth to Chirk Kronospan Siding was used on Friday 30/6/23. Colas No.56078 took over after leaving Cambrian metals and reversed at Chester. The wagons were back at Aberystwyth on Friday 7/7/23 but the train did not run.

GVT 150th Anniversary Gala 8-9/7/23

This weekend the Glyn Valley Tramway at Chirk is having a Gala event. Track has been extended through the platform and under Station Road Bridge to the depot area. Some wagons have been borrowed from the TR which has the same gauge. They will give horse drawn rides in the platform area. It is 88 years to the day since the GVT stopped operations on 6/7/1935. Eighty eight sleepers have been laid in the platform to celebrate the anniversary. Also open between 10:00 -17:00 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the railway's opening are the old Glyn Ceiriog Station and museum, Pontfadog Waiting Room and the Old Coal Wharf with a heritage bus shuttle between the locations. Remains of a Baldwin are stored at the Glyn Ceiriog museum.

Llangollen receives Class 25

The LR which opened to its new Corwen station June will be operating a Class 25 diesel over the summer holidays, a very appropriate diesel for the route. Waterman Heritage Trust is sending green 25309 (D7659) to Llangollen after the G&WR Diesel Gala. The loco will arrive at Llangollen on 17/7/23 and stay for the Diesel Gala 16-17/9/23.

Barmouth Bridge steelwork disruption

Considerable disruption was caused to the road network of Mid Wales recently when large sections of completed steelwork for the Barmouth Bridge were brought in by road. This is quite surprising when the original steelwork for the bridge was most likely transported by rail to the site in 1867.

Class 230 borderlands problems

It has now been confirmed that one of the problems leading to frequent failures of these units is down to 'the wrong kind of pollen'!

F&WHR 6/7/23

The weather forecast for Thursday 6/7/23 was for an overcast day with temperatures of 16-18C. Five FR trains were planned including The Quarryman and the two through trains on the WHR.

No.130 was on the 10:05 The Harbourmaster and managed to depart just before the delayed exceptional load came across Britannia Bridge with its huge transformer for the National Grid connections at Trawsfynydd development. The transformer for the original Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station had been delivered by rail up the Conwy Valley line and a YouTube video shows the difficult movement that took place in the early 1960s. David Lloyd George hauled the 10:45 Mountain Spirit and Lyd the 11:10 Woodland Wanderer both leaving on time. At 12:06 Upnor Castle emerged light engine from Minffordd Yard an at 12:08 the loco ran through Minffordd reversed towards Porthmadog.

Blanche arrived at 12:50 with The Quarryman and the loco soon ran round and propelled the ECS into the yard to clear the FR platform for later arrivals. No.143 arrived on the Snowdonia Star into the WHR platform and the loco had refuelled by 13:10 and rejoined the train ready for the 14:05 return working. Lyd propelled the Woodland Wanderer out of the station at 13:25 and hauled the ECS back into the sidings to clear the FR platform. Blanche propelled The Quarryman back into the FR platform at 14:56 ready for the 15:05 return service to complete rush of midday movements.

The Garratt returned first on The Harbourmaster at about 16:25 and departed with the ECS at 16:38. Lyd was second back into the WHR platform at 16:57. The loco ran to the yard 3 minutes later. Lyd returned at 17:10 and the ECS departed just seconds after the Fairlie rolled in at 17:24. The Fairlie ran round at 17:38 and departed with the ECS at 17:42 to close the day's activities.

Small loco shed update 4/7/22

The so called 'small' Loco Shed (the future 9-11 roads) will be able to take a Garratt loco in roads 10/11. Road 11 could even take 2 double Fairlies or an NG15. Road 10 could take 2 Penrhyn Ladies. This begs the question about the necessity to provide a large loco shed next door over the Garratt pit.

With the walls and roof now complete the shed is a dark cavern until lighting and power sockets are provided There are no clear panels in the roof as photocells will be provided at some stage on the west face to help keep down Boston Lodge's electricity bill. Rails have now been fitted across the pit and Brunswick Ironworks Caernarfon will provide the walking grids to make the pit safe.

Pedestrian doors will be fitted this week, the windows are being made, and the large roller doors for tracks 9-11 will be fitted later. Volunteers will be laying the remaining tracks this Autumn and the shed should be available for use this Winter.

Boston Lodge Update YouTube 5/7/23

Click on the YouTube link to watch 6 minutes 13 seconds of video covering progress at Boston Lodge as part of the NLF Project. This video was published on 5/7/23 and is best viewed at 1080p with Chrome. This video was produced by John Wooden (F&WHR) on a professional Betamax 4k camcorder.

Abnormal load congestion 6/7/23

Another abnormal load was landed at Black Rock Sands and transported to Trawsfynydd. This is another large transformer to upgrade the National Grid connection facilities at the former Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station. The transporter lorries and escort vehicles were scheduled to leave the beach at 09:00 - travelling through Porthmadog and along the A497/A487/A470 to Trawsfynydd potentially causing congestion in High Street.

WAG relieved there will be no Investiture

The new Prince of Wales has said there will be no Investiture on the scale King Charles had in Caernarfon in 1/7/1969 when Prince Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales many years after the accession of Queen Elizabeth. Plans to reopen the Bangor-Caernarfon railway must have been on the back burner for many years for just this occasion but have been gathering dust. In 1969 the Royal Train came to the closed Dinas BR station and various specials were parked on the section of line retained for the purpose between Caernarfon and Dinas.

Local pressure groups such as TRAWS have been pushing for the Bangor-Afonwen line to be reopened as well as Aberystwyth-Carmarthen line for many years now and a full feasibility study for the latter has been published. It is clear now that WAG will do nothing towards reinstatement of Bangor-Caernarfon, especially now the interim report by the North Wales Transport Commission (see below) suggests an improved bus service would be more appropriate for Bangor-Caernarfon.

Ceredigion consider footpath on Aberystwyth-Carmarthen trackbed

Ceredigion councillors have discussed the 97% vacant Aberystwyth-Carmarthen trackbed and having heard that WAG is unlikely to proceed to reopen the line in the next 30-40 years they considered turning it into a long distance footpath/cycle as some sections between Aberystwyth and Lampeter already have. This generated controversy in local papers as the route has an active pressure group, TRAWS, seeking to reopen it as a through railway. See South Wales Guardian news story.

TRAWS responded to the challenge to its rail revival plans and within a few weeks gathered over 11,000 signatures supporting a petition to reopen both Bangor-Afonwen and Aberystwyth-Carmarthen rail routes which will now lead to a debate in WAG after the petition closes on 23/10/23. See TRAWS press release. To read and sign the Petition click here.

F&WHR 5/7/23

The weather forecast for Wednesday 5/7/23 was for an overcast day with temperatures of 13-16C. Five FR trains were planned including The Quarryman and three trains on the WHR, two Aberglaslyn trains and the Gelert Explorer.

First up today was No.143 with the ECS for The Aberglaslyn arriving into the WHR platform at 09:43 due to depart at 10:15. At 10:00 a school party appeared to join the train. David Lloyd George appeared in the FR platform ar 10:11 with the ECS for the 10:45 Mountain Spirit and ran round at 10:20. Once the Garratt had left, Lyd approached with the ECS for the 11:10 Woodland Wanderer across The Cob into the WHR platform arriving at 10:22 and running round at 10:25.

At 12:54 Blanche was running round the recently arrived The Quarryman and preparing to shunt it to the yard. At 12:56 No.143 arrived back with The Aberglaslyn. The Garratt also shunted to the fuelling point at 13:07 to prepare for the afternoon working of The Aberglaslyn. The Garratt was back by 13:25 ready for the 13:40 departure which left on time. The Mountain Spirit was back at 13:50 and the Fairlie ran to the yard to refuel before returning at 14:15. The train departed about 7 minutes late. Blanche left about 5 minutes late with the 15:10 The Quarryman.

The final returning train was the Mountain Spirit with David Lloyd George which arrived back about 17:20. The ECS about half an hour later closed the day's activities.

Baldwin No.590 test trains

Many visitors to WHR100 will have been disappointed not to see No.590 is action. The loco was tested extensively by the F&WHR/WHHR in the days up to its WHHR launch and again up to the day it's failure was announced with a hot box. Dave Mellor (WHHR) videoed one of the test train on 23/5/23 on a test trip with Van No.7 and a B921 loaded with loco ash on a trip to Beddgelert and back and other runs until 21/6/23.

Click on the YouTube link to watch 28 minutes 42 seconds of video covering the tests on No.590 prior to WHR100 Gala. This video was published on 29/6/23 and is best viewed at 1080p with Chrome. This video was produced by Dave Mellor (WHHR) on a camcorder.

Rescue diesels project abandoned

The Regenerative Railway booklet recently sent out to F&WHR supporters reveals that the Rescue Diesels project to equip the FR and WHR with a loco capable of rescuing a failed 11 coach train has been quietly dropped. Instead in these decarbonising times, the F&WHR will be looking to battery electric locos such as those recently built by Clayton for the standard gauge. in the meantime, both Funkeys remain as rescue locos although underpowered for this purpose.

Surprisingly, about half the train miles worked by the F&WHR are works trains, mostly operated by diesels. In the interests of decarbonisation, the F&WHR is working with expert volunteers and institutions to provide an alternative and a budget of £3 million has been allocated for this purpose.

New Carriage Shed Solar success

Almost 50,000 kWh of energy was generated by the photovoltaic cells on the roof of the new Carriage Shed at Boston Lodge last year. The energy can be used to illuminate the shed, provide power for carriage battery chargers or power tools for repair and maintenance or feed back into the National Grid thereby reducing the Works electricity bill!

Dinas investment

A few hundred thousand pounds of investment is to be made at Dinas to improve facilities. Plans are underway for a new Carriage shed in the North Yard with access at both ends to ease train disposal at the end of the day. This may be a reworking of the existing shed where recently the north end doors have been opened and surveys taken for pointwork that might lead to the headshunt. The crossover would need to be moved to a point just north of the north end of the shed. Loss of the headshunt/stabling siding would mean moving siding space for infrastructure machines and PW wagons to the South Yard, where a new Running Shed is planned along with a volunteer workshop and messing facilities.

F&WHR 4/7/23

The weather forecast for Tuesday 4/7/23 was for a day of sunny periods with temperatures of 12-17C and sunny periods and showers. Five FR trains were planned including The Quarryman but just the two through trains on the WHR.

Fist up was blanche with a light engine run to Glan-y-pwll passing Minffordd at 09:32. The loco was set to haul the ECS for the Quarryman service into Blaenau Ffestiniog. The 10:05 Harbourmaster which was standing in the WHR platform at 09:45 ready to depart.

This westerly view (4/7/23@09:32) shows Blanche heading west light engine to pick up the ECS The Quarryman from Glan-y-pwll depot. This image is courtesy F&WHR web camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

By 10:20 the Fairlie had arrived and run round the 10:45 Mountain Spirit in the FR platform. Lyd arrived at 10:26 in the WHR platform with the 11:10 Woodland Wanderer. Run round came at 10:30. The Tan-y-bwlch webcam was off line for a while during the morning. The Snowdonia Star arrived by 12:30 and the loco worked to the fuelling point. The loco returned and coupled up again at 12:45 ready for the 14:05 return working. Blanche arrived at 12:49 with The Quarryman. At 12:53 the loco ran round and dragged the rake out before shunting it into the sidings at 13:00 to leave the FR platform clear for the Woodland Wanderer to return. Lyd left about 10 minutes late on the 14:35 Woodland Wanderer.

First of the retuning trains was No.143 on the Harbourmaster arriving at 16:24. Lyd was back at 16:45 allowing the Garratt depart with the ECS a minute later. Lastly the Fairlie returned about 17:15 and closed the day's activities when it hauled the ECS back about half an hour later.

Baldwin No.590 repair

It seems it may be some months before Baldwin No.590 is repaired. The WHHR will want to look at all the bearings so will need to lift the loco. The disassembly will be complicated because of the bar frame design adopted for these Baldwins. Let us hope that one or the other Baldwin might be ready and able to travel the whole length of the WHR by the time of the WHRS AGM/Members' Day on 16/9/23.

F&WHR 3/7/23

The weather forecast for Monday 3/7/23 was for an improving day with temperatures of 11-16C and sunny periods and showers. Four FR trains were planned but just the Gelert Explorer on the WHR, a copy of Sunday's services.

David Lloyd George was on the 10:45 Mountain Spirit followed by Lyd on the 11:10 Woodland Wanderer. At 11:35 the Vale of Ffestiniog arrived wrong line in Minffordd with the 6 wagon rake from yesterday's transfer working from Dinas. However this time many of the wagons were filled with fencing materials. The train was shunted into the yard at 11:40 and the loco returned light engine at 11:49 before continuing light to Porthmadog at 11:52.

Both the afternoon workings were on time and retained the same haulage. Lyd returned on time followed by the Fairlie, which was delayed by almost 15 minutes by the need to hand crank the points at the Mineral Line junction. Lyd departed Porthmadog with its ECS at 17:20 a minute after the Fairlie's arrival. At 17:32 the loco shunted to the seawall siding to remove the Observation car that failed during the WHR100 Gala. This was shunted onto the front of the train before it left ECS at about 17:45 to close the day's activities.

North Wales Transport Commission report rejects 'Rolling back Beeching'

The Interim report from the North Wales Transport Commission formed in 2022 has delivered a blow to those hopeful of rail reopening. Instead it favours more buses which won't do much for the congestion over the Menai Straits with a third crossing also recently rejected. This is further evidence of WAG's bias against North Wales when it comes to Transport Policy. They reject both Afonwen-Caernarfon-Bangor and Amlwch re-openings, in the later case suggesting a long distance cycle route! Instead they focus on Wrexham - Chester where the only meaningful increase in capacity could be obtained by re-dualling throughout up the Gresford Bank which will involve an expensive second bridge over the A483. It also refers to the possibility of through services to Liverpool on the Wrexham-Bidston Line using MerseyRail Class 777 battery-electric trains.

The report very parochial and does not consider services outside Wales. The through services to Manchester and Birmingham airports lost over the years get no mention. Although paths through Oxford Road are at a premium these days, the proposed 3 mile extension from Mobberley to Manchester airport would allow another route into Piccadilly and provide good employment opportunities and international travel for the people of North Wales.

Dealing with specific proposals, rationalisation at Chester now impedes development of the new services the Commission would like to see so 'capacity improvements' at Chester are a major aim to facilitate improved services on North Wales to Crewe for connections e.g. HS2 and north south routes such as Shrewsbury to the Northern Powerhouse network. Signalling from the Cardiff ROC should be extended to Llandudno/Holyhead allowing three phases of service improvement:

• Llandudno - Crewe
• Llandudno - Bangor
• Bangor-Holyhead

Llandudno used to receive long distance services from England, e.g. Manchester to Llandudno, and the Commission would like to see these reinstated. The issue will be examined in the final report.

The Borderlands Line is referred to and the conflict with freight services which NR has identified as needing resolution, particularly the new rail access to the Padeswood Cement sidings and signalling renewal to allow improved frequency.

Signalling improvements at Gobowen are prioritised but also required at Chirk, Ruabon and Wrexham to improve service frequency on this route.

On the Cambrian Coast and Conwy Valley lines, reinstatement of passing loops is suggested to improve service frequency. Additional services should be run in the holiday season. No mention is made of the ERTMS debacle that restricts visiting excursions on the Cambrian.

New stations are supported at Deeside Industrial Park (ex Shotton Steelworks) and improved interchange at Shotton between High Level and Low Level platforms. Other new stations such as Holywell Junction are not supported as 'they might lead to increased journey times'.

For full details see North Wales Transport Commission Interim Report. The fact that the report uses a small 'n' for North Wales rather spells out the attitude of the production team even though they allow the phrase 'North Wales Main Line'!

Railway Magazine WHR history essay prize winner

FR Board Member Stephen Murfitt has won the £500 prize to commemorate the history of the WHR in this 100th anniversary year. The essay subject was The Saint's Way, an abortive project to join all three Welsh National Parks using the WHR and other closed trackbeds. Fortunately for the WHR the project did not succeed!

F&WHR 2/7/23

The weather forecast for Sunday 2/7/23 was for an improving day with temperatures of 11-17C and sunny periods in the afternoon. Four FR trains were planned but just the Gelert Explorer on the WHR.

At 10:00 Dinas was a hive of activity with No130 being coaled ready for the 11:30 service and Caernarfon Castle shunting a rake of B and DZ wagons which were left on the Goods shed siding after WHR100. The rake was propelled into the bay and the loco used the new crossover to run round the 5 wagons. Eventually the train pulled forward into the platform and departed towards Waunfawr at about 10:30. While this was happening No.130 extracted the rake from the Carriage shed into the bay platform and used the new crossover to run round. Normally the Funkey takes the rake down to Caernarfon while the steam loco is prepared.

This northerly view (2/7/23@10:12) shows Caernarfon Castle collecting six wagons from the siding outside Dinas Goods shed. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

This northerly view (2/7/23@10:12) shows Caernarfon Castle running round the wagons using the new bay crossover after propelling the rake into the bay. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

This southerly view (2/7/23@10:28) shows Caernarfon Castle about to depart towards Beddgelert an hour ahead of the service train. The slatted seats on the left were removed from a former open carriage that was converted to a Service Car. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

This northerly view (2/7/23@10:12) shows No.130 running round the service train in the bay platform via the new crossover after drawing the rake out of the Carriage Shed. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

This westerly view (2/7/23@10:56) shows Caernarfon Castle crossing Plas-y-Nant bridge with the rake of 6 wagons. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

The train was noted passing Plas-y-nant at 10:56 and departing Rhyd Ddu towards Beddgelert half an hour later but then had not appeared at Ynysfor Crossing by 12:30 so probably waited at Beddgelert. At midday a member of staff gave a thorough examination of all the signage at Ynysfor level crossing.

David Lloyd George was on the 10:45 Mountain Spirit. Lyd was noted on the 14:35 Woodland Wanderer departure from Porthmadog. The Fairlie arrived back in Porthmadog about 15:15 to close the day's activities.

This northerly view (2/7/23) shows scaffolding around the former Snowdonia Flour Mill. Various projects have tried to make a go of this building over the years. The Snowdon Street level crossing is in the foreground. Click on the image to enlarge. This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Canon EOS2000D digital camera. Image post processed and displayed at 96dpi.

Timetable w/c 1/7/23

Click on the timetable to expand. Image courtesy F&WHR.

F&WHR 1/7/23

The weather forecast for Saturday 1/7/23 was for an improving day with temperatures of 12-18C and sunny periods in the afternoon. Five FR trains were planned but just the two through trains on the WHR.

First out was Harlech Castle which emerged from Minffordd Yard at 08:00 propelling a works train and the FR Mess wagon. David Lloyd George was on the Mountain Spirit with Lyd following on the Woodland Wanderer. Blanche was on The Quarryman.

Lyd arrived back about 16:50 from its second trip followed by David Lloyd George at about 17:20 to close the day's activities once the ECS trains were disposed.

Locos roster 1-7/7/23
After the frenetic activity of the 'WHR 100' event, things have gradually settled back into the familiar pattern of train services. As a result, the coming week's Loco Roster features just five different locomotives on passenger turns.
On the Ffestiniog Railway: David Lloyd George, Merddin Emrys and Blanche will be in action on the regular train services.
On the Welsh Highland Railway: NG/G16s Nos.130/143 will be covering the service train roster…
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NOTE: This information is provided in good faith, solely as a guide, but could be subject to change at any time.