August 2010
EDITING Narrow Gauge World can be an occasionally-frustrating business. Oh extremely enjoyable, don?t get me wrong, even with the major computer issues that blighted the month of August for me, but also, occasionally, frustrating?
Regular readers will know that one of my priorities since taking the helm of NGW has been to strengthen the news coverage, and in the latest issue, no 71, which will be in the shops from Friday 27th August, there are plenty of solid news stories.
Yet the news never stops, and major stories seem to break just after I go to press. Literally one day after I sent this issue to the printer, the Rail Accident Investigation Bureau published its investigation into a collision between two trams on the 3ft 6in gauge Great Orme Tramway in Llandudno, north Wales, that left one person with minor injuries. Then a day after that, and on a much happier note, the South Tynedale Railway in Cumbria announced the securing of a ?75,000 grant that will help fund the track on its extension. So yes, editing can be frustrating?
The cause of the Great Orme collision was identified as the points at a passing loop moving as a tram passed over them, sending the vehicle?s rear bogie along the adjacent track and into the path of the second tram. The point operating mechanism was found to be worn and the operators were criticised for not having a suitable risk assessment programme.
Serious stuff and another reminder that all of us involved in the heritage railway business are not simply playing trains. Certainly in the training I?ve undergone as a loco fireman on the Welshpool & Llanfair, and my wife and eldest son have undergone as guards, safety has been the prime concern all the time. Health and safety is an oft-criticised phrase these days, but there are times when you are reminded why the more relaxed times of the early days of preservation have gone, not to return. We still have a lot of fun, but we are a little more careful these days?
The South Tynedale?s news is excellent. The grant will be used to purchase hardwood sleepers, rail and 900 tons of ballast to help extend the line 2.5 miles up the South Tyne Valley towards Slaggyford. The project will make the line much more accessible from the A69 and M6, increase passenger numbers and has already created eight jobs.
In a timely example of scheduling by the NGW editorial department, we have a feature on the South Tynedale in the new issue, where we hear all about those exciting plans to extend northern England?s highest heritage railway.
Your editor had to smile this week when he saw the new issue of one of the country?s leading railway magazines, proclaiming the steaming of Lynton & Barnstaple replica ?Lyd? on a cover which looked remarkably like NGW?s of two months ago. We consider it a compliment? Lyd will be star in a month of galas coming up, its planned appearance at the Lynton & Barnstaple at the end of September probably the hottest ticket to have.
We won?t have Lyd at the Welshpool & Llanfair Gala on 3-5th September, but we will have a visitor, ?Chevallier?, the attractive Manning Wardle 0-6-2 ex of Chattenden, Sittingbourne and Whipsnade. I?ll be around all weekend too, so do say hello if you spot me, and perhaps tell me what you want to see in the pages of NGW. I won?t be on the footplate that weeend, although I am now a qualified fireman on the W&LLR ? you can read all about that in the new issue too? Enjoy your narrow gauge.
28th June 2010
Highland High
Your editor has just returned from an enjoyable weekend in north Wales, officially to drive new cars in my 'other job' but also a cast-iron opportunity to plug a gaping hole in my Narrow Gauge World life by riding the newest-opened section of the Welsh Highland Railway.
The length opened at the end of May runs to Pont Croesor, just a couple of miles outside the goal of Porthmadog, but your Editor humbly admits that due to various work pressures in the past, he hadn't actually ridden a Welsh Highland train through the Aberglaslyn Pass. Having walked the Pass back in 1988 when indoctrinating Rosemary, my then fianc?e, into what she could expect of married life, taking a train through the pass was obviously something that needed doing, which is why we deposited ourselves at Rhyd-Ddu station on a Sunday morning.
Now I do share Rosemary's view that Garratts are not the most attractive of locomotives, though they are technically fascinating, and, as it arrived with the 11am ex-Caernarvon, no
87 certainly looked the part in its shade of midnight blue, a colour familiar to us as it was once worn by our Hunslet no 85 on the Welshpool line. Unofficially it's known as 'Linda blue' because it was originally applied to the Ffestiniog's ex-Penrhyn Hunslet Linda, and I understand about to be applied to it again!
To be asked if we wanted refreshments just after boarding was impressive, though sadly the 'tea' that resulted was rather less impressive! Still no matter, soon we were on the reverse curves into Beddgelert ? if you are knowledgeable you soon realise just how much height is lost round these curves.
The highlight, however, awaited on leaving Beddgelert – the traversing of the Aberglaslyn Pass lived up to expectations, from clinging on the edge of the gorge to the rock tunnels with their pretty narrow clearances. There really is no better way to see the Pass.
Now many have offered the view that after Aberglaslyn and the twists around Natnmor, the final stretch across the flat fields towards Porthmadog is the least interesting bit of the WHR. I'm not convinced – what it does do is give the loco a chance to stretch its legs on the fairly straight run. A line speed of 25mph is planned though I'm told at present 20mph is being adhered to – can't say if felt that slow, it was certainly very un-narrow gauge!
I was very grateful too to the fireman of no 87 who on our return to Rhyd-Ddu invited me onto the footplate to have a look round. As someone who is hopefully soon to qualify as a fireman at Welshpool, I was surprised at the lack of room in which to swing a shovel on this coal-fired Garratt. We complain at the cramped cab of our Romanian Resita loco, but the Garratt's was no better, and with a distinctly larger firebox to tend...
What is not in doubt is that the reborn Welsh Highland is a magnificent undertaking, one that when I was a member of the 1964 Company at Gelert?s Farm, Porthmadog back in the 1980s, I could scarcely have imagined happening.
Sadly, however, when we should be celebrating this achievement, the headlines are instead all about the continuing arguments between those that run the Welsh Highland and the incumbents of Gelert's Farm. Correspondence seen by the writer does leave one wondering whether one or two people simply don't want a solution, but instead are entrenched in their positions, never to move.
What possible good does such an attitude do for anyone? The fact is that the Welsh Highland now runs over its entire length, and passengers will likely be able to travel all the way from Caernarvon to Blaenau Ffestiniog by train by the end of the year. This is something not even the most ardent WHR preservationist back in the 1980s could ever have foreseen, certainly this one didn't. Meanwhile the Gelert's Farm Team have created an excellent museum which is always worth a very good look. All parties involved should be enjoying what these two organisations have achieved. But crucially with the millions spent on it, now is the time to get behind the new WHR and ensure it flourishes, because if it does, everyone connected with it benefits...
Elsewhere in the narrow gauge world there is plenty of news at present, but not all of it good. The awarding of £300,000 by the Welsh Assembly to the Vale of Rheidol Light Railway is particularly welcome in these times of austerity, enabling the railway to build its long-desired new workshop.
Across the Atlantic, however, fire has devastated the second highest trestle bridge on the 64-mile 3ft gauge Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad in Colorado and already, just days after the event, tourist bookings in the area are plummeting. Let us hope a solution can be found quickly.
We'll be reporting fully on both these stories, and all the other news, in the next issue of Narrow Gauge World. Meanwhile in the current issue there is plenty to savour, the news including photos of the Welsh Highland's opening to Pont Croesor detailed above, the features including some highly historic material from the Welsh coast and the Spanish hills.
Full details of what's in NGW 70 can be found elsewhere on this site. You will find the magazine on sale in the High Street, but a far better idea is to subscribe, particularly with the exciting plans we have for future issues... 
5th May 2010
THERE are 30 wagons in the gravity slate train in which I am now rolling from Dduallt towards Porthmadog, at what at times seems considerable speed. Each loose-coupled wagon, I am told, has around a foot of slack between it and the next one, and as I am seated near the back of the train, that's around 30 feet of slack by the time any braking effort reaches me.
It's a case of watching closely the head brakesman, seated up on the front wagon, and bracing oneself as soon as he raises his red flag indicating the other brakesmen should apply some stopping force, as when it gets to us, the jolt is, well quite a jolt!
By the time I reach the end of the run my bones ache with the beginnings of what feel like significant bruises, and my behind is wet through having rested for over an hour on a thin seat cushion that appears to have been left out in the rain overnight. But my first words, "Can we go again?"
My gravity slate run, organised by Ffestiniog Railway Press Officer Andrew Thomas to whom I am very grateful, was the highlight of two days at the Ffestiniog's 'Quirks & Curiosities' Gala over the May bank holiday, two days that also produced many other highlights. And it seems a very good way to introduce my first blog since taking over the helm of Narrow Gauge World, because while the run recalled the very earliest days of the Ffestiniog, it took place during an event showing off the busy, vibrant line that we have today – such a combination, balancing I equal measure history and what is going on today in the world of the narrow gauge, is what I intend Narrow Gauge World to be all about.
There will be a full pictorial report on the gala in the next issue, July/August, out at the end of June, but I can preview it by saying that I was surprised at just how much there was to see at Porthmadog. Yes, a fascinating collection of locomotives and rolling stock had been imported, demonstrating the sheer variety of our subject even on this one gauge, and reminding me, as if I needed it, why editing NGW can never be dull.
But there were also many aspects of the Ffestiniog itself that impressed me. I admit that I've in the past had an arm's length relationship with this railway, seeing it as the ultimate paid-staff preserved line, a transport system now far removed from the traditional image of narrow gauge preservation as portrayed in Rolt's Railway Adventure, and of course painted as the villain in the battle over the Welsh Highland Railway with its neighbour across the town.
What do I see now, however? The Welsh Highland has been rebuilt, which many did not expect when the Ffestiniog won the trackbed battle. The Ffestiniog of today is indeed a major transport operation, yet one that seems to have rediscovered its heritage – no-one can have been in any doubt of this viewing the superb 19th century rolling stock, especially the early four-wheel carriages, at Porthmadog at the weekend. And, as I discovered by reading the last couple of issues of the Ffestiniog Society magazine, it is a line that yes, has a large permanent staff, but also relies on a very large number of volunteers. Crucially, the permanent staff recognise this fact, those volunteer efforts praised by all from the General Manager downwards.
I commented to Andrew Thomas that there seemed to be a large Society presence at the Gala, to be told, I admit to my surprise; "That's what the event is all about, increasing Society membership." An enlightened view, and one that some other lines, perhaps even my own, could learn from.
Meanwhile I'm looking forward to next weekend. Son James will have his second day of training on a Welshpool & Llanfair footplate, the Mrs will be in the railway's tearooms, giving me the perfect excuse to escape from this computer for a whole day to the railway's workshops. We're expecting the new boiler for our Antiguan Kerr Stuart 0-6-2 Joan to be delivered soon, and there is much to do. Hopefully this blog will now be updated every couple of weeks or so, so check back soon. And if you have any suggestions for future features in Narrow Gauge World. Then please get in touch – my contact details are on this website.
