The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:08 pm

philipy wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:45 am That is a wonderful looking train, Andrew. Well done.
Thank you! I am pleased with how it looks - I think it helps that every wagon is different, even if only subtly so...

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:15 pm

Trevor Thompson wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 12:32 pm I do appreciate a long train of empty slate wagons! Very Ffestiniog.
One of the good things about having a small garden is that it makes 14 wagons look like a decent length slate train!

The combined rake does have a very Ffestiniog feel, despite containing some WHR wagons - no doubt the England at the front helps! For New Year's Day I'm thinking I might go for WHR train. I've got 4 WHR "crate" type wagons, but they also used opens for carrying slate, and pinched Ffestiniog wagons too. With the Baldwin in the front and a WHR brake van on the back, I should be able to make a fairly accurate train...

Cheers,
Andrew

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon Dec 19, 2022 8:48 pm

Very atmospheric

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by StuartJ » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:19 am

Very nice. Shades of Princess in the last few months of working in 1946.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun Jan 01, 2023 6:48 pm

Hello all - and Happy New Year!

I'm not sure how many years it is now that I've run a train on New Year's Day, but I kept up the tradition this year, and with a first for me too - a reasonably accurate Welsh Highland slate train. Unlike the Ffestiniog, the Welsh Highland used open wagons as well as the familiar "crate" type for the conveyance of slate, which I replicated in my train. I included a "borrowed" Ffestiniog wagon too, another fairly typical feature of Welsh Highland goods trains.

In truth, the train looked better than it ran, with some under-weighted wagons, debris on the line and "Russell"'s rather track-shy pony trucks contributing to some fairly erratic running, but nothing that can't be cured - and it felt good to start the year as I mean to go on.

All the best,

Andrew.

NYD 23 A.jpg
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NYD 23 B.jpg
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NYD 23 C.jpg
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NYD 23 F.jpg
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:37 am

Happy New Year 🥳 Andrew. :wav:

Looking 👀 good your 🚂.

All The Best

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:13 am

Full marks for keeping up the tradition. I 'once' many years ago ran my trains on Boxing Day and a couple of years ago ran a train on New Year's Eve. But have never repeated either experience.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Fri Jun 02, 2023 10:33 am

EXCELLENT ARRANGEMENTS: PUNCTUAL TRAINS

That's how the Cambrian News reported the opening of the completed Welsh Highland Railway, on 1st June 1923, recording the departure of the first train from Porthmadog at 8:10 am.

Naturally, yesterday morning, EXACTLY a century later, I was in the back garden...

WHR 100 1.jpg
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The first train was pulled by Ffestiniog Small England loco "Princess", and comprised three carriages - all FR ones, I'd guess, from photos of early WHR services. I recreated it as best I could, with my own Small England and the closest rake of carriages I could muster, and am pleased to report that the train left bang on time...

WHR 100 2.jpg
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WHR 100 3.jpg
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WHR 100 4.jpg
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The train sat in the garden all morning while I got on with other things, but further celebratory trains ran in the afternoon - more photos to follow!

Cheers all,

Andrew

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by ge_rik » Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:09 pm

Excellent! I do like a running session with a back story.
:thumbup:

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Sat Jun 03, 2023 8:39 am

Great bit of history Andrew and some nice photos of some of your stock also. :thumbright:

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sat Jun 03, 2023 4:45 pm

Thanks chaps, glad you enjoyed my early morning efforts!

In the afternoon I got back out in the garden to play trains some more, starting with a further run of "Palmerston" and the FR rake:

WHR 100 5.jpg
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As the England cooled down, "Russell" raised steam, and some WHR carriages appeared, giving Trefechan an unusually busy appearance:

WHR 100 6.jpg
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"Russell" headed up to Penlan with two of the Ffestiniog carriages (where "Palmerstone also magically appeared), before trundling back down to head a mostly WHR rake, completed by an FR brake composite, which it duly pulled back up the line:

WHR 100 7.jpg
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WHR 100 8.jpg
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On its journies to and from Clarach, it passed "Palmerstone and train, creating some pleasing pictures quite reminiscent of the old WHR, I thought:

WHR 100 9.jpg
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WHR 100 10.jpg
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WHR 100 11.jpg
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WHR 100 12.jpg
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All in all, a really rather pleasant afternoon in the sunshine. I hope to do it again soon - but I need to buy some more butane first!

Cheers,

Andrew

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:54 am

Nice photos again Andrew. Too hot to be out here at the moment. It gets over 35degs in our garden in the full sun, can't manage with the heat now.... :lol: :lol:
Last edited by FWLR on Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:48 am

They are lovely images Andrew, you know how to get the best out of your stock placed in the landscape.
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Old Man Aaron » Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:31 pm

Good weather, beautiful modelling, and a centenary to the minute. Can't beat that. 8)
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by StuartJ » Mon Jun 05, 2023 1:23 pm

Excellent photos. Most atmospheric!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon Jun 26, 2023 1:49 pm

Hi all!

No garden action to report, but here's some full-size inspiration (for me, if no-one else!) courtesy of last weekend's Welsh Highland 100 gala. A trip to Porthmadog is long and expensive, and I hadn't been for years, but a gala specifically setting out to recreate the same scenes I'm trying to reproduce in the garden was too good to miss!

I couldn't afford to travel on all three days, or to stay for that long either, so I spent the Friday watching the trains, and Saturday riding on them - and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, the WHHR's newly-restored Baldwin failed just before the event, but there was still loads to enjoy.

Here's a selection of photos, largely taken through mist and rain!

WHR gala 1 (2).jpg
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WHR gala DF (2).jpg
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WHR gala Russell.jpg
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WHR gala 4.jpg
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WHR gala 5.jpg
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WHR gala 6.jpg
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Travelling through the misty mountains up to Rhydd Ddu behind Russell was really quite magical, and I loved travelling in carriages I've built models of - it felt quite surreal. I spent some time hanging out with the lovely Lilla too, and find that my mouse wants to keep taking me to the Roundhouse website today, which is worrying...

Cheers all,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jun 26, 2023 1:56 pm

Super atmospheric pictures Andrew, so glad you made it there for the special occasion.
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Phil.P » Mon Jun 26, 2023 6:37 pm

Andrew, Peter,

As you missed the Baldwin running, some video put together from it running in the past few weeks:

https://youtu.be/g4_ZImI88NM

Phil.P

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jun 26, 2023 7:42 pm

She's a cracker!!! At first I wondered about the planks in the cab back sheet, but then I realised they were not on the wartime prototype (unless fitted by crew of the day) so they are to protect crew of the present without adding a permanent metal panel, thus altering (and spoiling) the appearance.
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Phil.P » Mon Jun 26, 2023 8:15 pm

I like they have kept the works plates of 794 on the loco..

After all, it is a monument to the service of both locomotives.

Phil.P

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