From the footplate on the Vale of Rheidol Railway this morning:
And when we arrived at Devil's Bridge:
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Jings …, now you’re shovelling the carbon – literally – the Extinction Rebels will be after you …
P.S. Agreed : )
🙂
Oooooooh – there’ s lovely for you!!
It’s a lovely route.
The Talyllyn remains my favourite though, along with the Ffestiniog – I do hope you get to see those too.
Talyllyn tomorrow – rain or not
Railway cafe tea – fuel for mindmapping chapters of a new book….
Mind you that was not my concern on the footplate this morning – quite an amazing trip
On the footplate!!
Jealousy abounds…………………….!!
(But good for you).
I still think that the view from The Cob at Porthmadog across the estuary looking landwards from the Ffestiniog is one of THE most picturesque views in the world.
I admit I was surprised to be invited on – I did not even ask
But it was fun
Now to Tywyn….
Richard
The only good family holiday we had when I was a kid was to Wales. We stopped one night in Blackpool en route, which for a nine year old was brilliant. My father and I rode the Ffestiniog, which in those days (1972) only went as far as Dduallt. Then the next day we did the Talyllyn one way to Abergynolwyn. My mother had got a bit lost in the car getting to the other end, so she came with me on the Vale of Rheidol, and my father drove from Aberystwyth to Devil’s Bridge. My mother didn’t like the heights above the valley on the Vale of Rheidol!
It took me a long time to realise that we had only done two of those railways one way (and each time with me accompanied by only one parent) because my parents couldn’t really afford for all of us to do return trips on each of them [and they had found the Ravenglass and Eskdale a bit too expensive on the way to Wales…]. The Ffestiniog you had of course to do a return trip in those days.
Have a cracking time in Wales. I know a lot of steam enthusiasts are no longer with us. Us diesel guys are starting to thin out now too. A noted Class 40 basher passed on today, taken by dementia. Whilst we can quite easily be preoccupied by nostalgia, we still need to be cognisant that we need to pass the planet on in decent shape. Thank you for all your efforts to remind us of what is at stake for our descendants.
And when you go back to East Anglia, think about having a day out on the Class 37s to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft!
I should add that, after visiting Aberystwyth many times in the mid-1980s after Class 37s started doing the holiday trains on a Saturday, I stayed there overnight once in 1988. Went to Devil’s Bridge and back. It was of course the same loco (no. 7, Owain Glyndwr) as I had had 16 years previously!
Happy days
And I have been to Norwich for the 37s….
Back in the day when chunks of North Wales was still dry on a Sunday, you had to do a trip on the Ffestiniog railway if you wanted a drink (in the restaurant car).
In the present day my brother makes replica carriages at Boston Lodge – they sometimes come down to London – I’ve seen them parked in the concourses at Paddington and Kings Cross.
glad you’re doing something fun Richard,
I think the preservation of examples of the early technology of the industrial revolution do help us keep everything in context,
bear in mind that in the age of steam locomotion the global population was barely a billion,
the technology was a great boon for development and it’s ecological impact was within the planets scope to accomodate,
I wonder if the carbon footprint of that lovely piece of engineering is less than using coal fired power stations to run electric trains if you take into account all the additional infrastructure and energy conversions required,
just pop in the coal, boil your water and immediately convert the steam pressure into mechanical motion, all contained in one neat little mobile package,
maybe if we could wind the global population back down to around the 1 billion mark again we could justify using steam locomotion again,
always nice to have something to look forward too!
I suspect by itself this loco makes sense
But I see no logic in such thermally inefficient machines in the long term – and all preserved railways are now having to think about this as an issue
I miss my English Electric Type 4’s dearly but I can still see and E.E. Type 1 (20’s ) and Type 3 (37’s) around my nearest mainline station.
I miss the big diesels and steam but to be honest the network should be electrified now in this day and age.
It should be electric….
But in East Anglia Sheds still haul all freight
‘Sheds’
I know – those American loco’s have no personality whatsoever. I heard the unmistakeable sound of a 37 being thrashed out of Derby the other day. Mind you, the Sheds seem a lot cleaner that the older BR diesels.
Here is an EE Type 4 (Class 50) at Derby recently. Not a great advert for diesel but the engine was a development of that in the Class 40. I love the whistle EE engines make but if I’m honest I also like the throaty roar of the Sulzer engine too from the small 24/25s to the majestic Peaks and the everyman Brush 47’s. I cannot remember diesels always being smoky, so preservation maintenance might have something to do with it.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=class+fifty+cold+start+up+Derby&view=detail&mid=0B3192E82C8BB53BE8CB0B3192E82C8BB53BE8CB&FORM=VIRE
I can still in my memory hear a class 40 roaring out of Crewe on the Chester line on a North Wales coast holiday train in the summer of 1980 something – talk about personality!!
I don’t recall that smoke either……
Well well! If I hadn’t been away from Aber I could have bought you a coffee (not in Weatherspoon though…) to thank you for your great blog.
So glad you had fun on the journey up the vale. My girls used to love waving to the chu chu from their school yard. And the old loco always hooted hello back! I understand it’s had a good make over in the last couple of years and intend to find out on my return. Enjoy the rest of your trip, rain or not
I will
At Tywyn now….
Then try to see the beauty beyond the curtains of rain…The rail journey there is usually stunning and the guys looking after the trains are real enthusiasts, quite knowledgeable.
I can’t recall how many times I have done it
Always good for me….
Looks excellent fun and what an engine.
Both true!