The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

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tom_tom_go
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:37 pm

If you search for that camera on YouTube there are review videos including footage showing the quality the camera can record.

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FWLR
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:50 am

Brilliant video Andrew, though like you say, the blooming dog is a nuisance though.

A bit of a yappa...

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by LNR » Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:27 am

Never realized the extent of your line, video shows it to good effect. Was going to suggest a slow goods might have been better than the Express, but I read your explanation so understand.
Grant.
PS I'd be running a battery loco up and down the fence line till either the dog owner got sick of the barking, or the dog may get fed up!! Just a thought.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Thu May 07, 2020 11:00 am

Morning all,

It's another fine day here in Bristol, so I took advantage of my present more flexible working arrangements to run an early morning goods train. It's the only time of day when Penlan bank and station get much light, and I fancied making the most of it.

I've not run the Baldwin for ages, possibly several years, so it was a pleasure to get it out of its box and finally run it with a fairly accurate Welsh Highland goods rake. It seemed a little stiff after a period out of use, and the batteries in the transmitter are clearly on their last legs (the second half of the run was accompanied by the beeping presumably designed to warn you that your model Spitfire's about to crash into a primary school playground), but it went pretty well, and I was pleased with the photos, particularly the last one.

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It's taken ten years, but I reckon I'm getting there with the Welsh Highland atmosphere. Might try for another run after work...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by LNR » Thu May 07, 2020 11:41 am

That is a lovely used looking consist, and loco. That last pic. is a beauty I agree, I can feel the radiant heat of the sun.
Glad you got your priorities right and enjoyed the sunshine.
Grant.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Thu May 07, 2020 11:43 am

Beautiful, Andrew. I agree the last shot really does it.
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Thu May 07, 2020 1:49 pm

Thanks, glad you like the pictures.

I fuelled, oiled and watered 590 at lunchtime, ready for another run after work.

In the meantime, here's that last photo again, but with a filter (called "burlesque"!) applied:

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Quite nice, I thought...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Thu May 07, 2020 7:27 pm

HI Andrew,

Lovely shots, all of them. The railway has settled into the landscape.

I love the filtered shot. It really does remind me of photos of WHR stations, the proportions look spot on. I've got 'The Welsh Highland Railway: A History' by Alun Turner on the chair beside me and the cover picture proves the point.

Andrew
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"'cause I can't manage on three gaffer!"

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Thu May 07, 2020 8:54 pm

Thanks Andrew, glad you like it. And thanks too for the mention of the Alun Turner book - I thought I had a copy of all the Welsh Highland histories but didn't know about this one, I'll track down a copy.

The fun carried on after work...

590 and its goods train had finished the morning's duties at Clarach, where steam was raised once more...

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...before taking the goods down to Penlan and depositing it in the siding there...

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...and heading light engine down to Trefechan, where a passenger train awaited.

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The rest of the afternoon's running consisted of a return working to Clarach:

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On the return trip I felt a few drops of rain. The sky looked threatening, and I was keen to to get the rolling stock away. It lives under the house, in a storage space accessed through a little door next to Penlan station, so I performed a speedy run round followed by a very fast run through the tunnel and up the bank. Highly unprototypical, but lots of fun, and it sounded great. And you can't grow up on Thomas the Tank Engine without wanting to recreate The Express every now and then!

Hope you enjoy the pictures,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by LNR » Fri May 08, 2020 12:44 am

Soar Valley Light wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 7:27 pm Hope you enjoy the pictures,
I did, thank you.
Grant.
PS I think you're going to be reluctant to return to normal work !!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Mitch stack » Fri May 08, 2020 1:29 am

hey Andrew, is your line end to end or a loop?

mitch
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Fri May 08, 2020 7:47 am

LNR wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 12:44 am
PS I think you're going to be reluctant to return to normal work !!
Yep!

Clearly there are some awful things going on, whether in hospital wards or tiny garden-less flats, but I must confess that aside from not being able to see family and friends, the slow pace of life kind of suits me as it is right now!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Fri May 08, 2020 7:56 am

Mitch stack wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 1:29 am hey Andrew, is your line end to end or a loop?
Hi Mitch!

It's sort of both - it goes all the way round the edge of the garden, but climbs all the way, so the two ends don't (can't!) meet up. It's actually just about a spiral, because the upper terminus sits on top of the tunnel that leads from the lower one. In the second picture in the sequence above, the tracks at the top of the picture are the upper station, while the one at the bottom is a siding from the lower one, about a foot below. There's a map of the line on this thread somewhere, five or six pages ago, maybe.

Sometimes I wish I had a continuous run, but I was thinking just yesterday that I miss it less and less. The set up I have really lends itself to the sort of running I was doing yesterday - short-ish, defined and pre-determined operations, designed to finish well before the gas runs out!

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Fri May 08, 2020 9:59 am

Brilliant shot photos Andrew. You're weathering of the rolling stock is superb. A real working environment scenes I would love to run.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by sjrixon » Fri May 08, 2020 7:56 pm

Really nice Andrew.. Love the loco.. :)

Could you take some wide shots of the line and share? Sounds quite interesting layout you have there.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun May 10, 2020 1:01 pm

sjrixon wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 7:56 pm Could you take some wide shots of the line and share? Sounds quite interesting layout you have there.
I'll try to remember to do that - will need to tidy up the garden a bit first though!

In the meantime, here are a few shots of a post-inspection run yesterday evening...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by sjrixon » Sun May 10, 2020 2:56 pm

Good pictures, thanks.. It's going to take that bolster wagon a while to load up all the wood in the background!! :)

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun May 10, 2020 3:10 pm

sjrixon wrote: Sun May 10, 2020 2:56 pm Good pictures, thanks.. It's going to take that bolster wagon a while to load up all the wood in the background!! :)
I fear it may end up somewhat overloaded!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun May 10, 2020 3:43 pm

Eeek! Just went outside to sort a few things out before the rain starts and found that I'd left poor Russell in the garden for all of last night and most of today! In its box, but in the middle of the lawn! It's a good job the neighbours are honest...

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Mon May 11, 2020 6:38 am

Flipping heck, that could have been a very costly mistake Andrew. Still alls well now and your Russell is safely back in the house. :thumbright:

I have done that with my cordless drill when we lived in our bungalow in Longton, like you, luckily it was that really hot summer in 2018.. :roll:

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