The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
- Peter Butler
- Driver
- Posts: 5219
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:33 pm
- Location: West Wales
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Beautiful images Andrew, a wonderful collection you have every right to be proud of.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
You guys are lucky with your cooler temperatures showing nice steam atmospherics, down here they're far less obvious most of the time.
Nice shots Andrew.
Grant.
Nice shots Andrew.
Grant.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Love the photos Andrew, they do show off your Palmerston and the coaches look great too.
ROD
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
- Old Man Aaron
- Trainee Driver
- Posts: 795
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:08 am
- Location: Sunshine Coast QLD, Australia
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
It's not just moisture your line is dripping with - it's atmosphere too!
Regards,
Aaron - Scum Class Works
Aaron - Scum Class Works
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Hi all,
Over on my Rolling Stock thread, I mentioned that - having just finished another van - I quite fancied running a Christmas mail train. I've not seen any evidence that anything remotely like it ever ran on the Welsh Highland or Ffestiniog, but I was thinking of pictures I'd seen of standard gauge trains, with a passenger brake and a motley collection of vans, or perhaps even the Night Mail - "the gradient's against her, but she's on time!"
With that in mind, I'd prepared "Palmerston" for the run, the closest I've got to a Scot or a Patriot or whatever, on the grounds that it's red and has a tender and, perhaps, a certain gravitas? And then it snowed, and so I really had to run a Christmas train, but there was no way I was going to pit all that new and expensive Roundhouse hardware against the elements - and so "Daisy", my trusty Regner, was rostered instead.
The first task was to clear the line. I don't have a snowplough, but the Regner's cowcatcher sort of works, in combination with its brute strength and robust construction. Accompanied by just a guard's van, "Daisy" charged off up the line, driving growing piles of snow before it until it could go no further, at which point I'd scoop the accumulated heap out of the way, and reverse the loco a little to charge at the next drift - it all felt a bit "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill". Or Ivor the Engine. Fun, either way.
Here's "Daisy" arriving at Penlan:
With the line more or less clear, it was back down to Trefechan to collect the rest of the train - three goods vans and passenger brake No 2. For the first time that I recall, the loco struggled to pull the train I'd coupled behind it. Those vans contain quite a lot of lead, and the line was covered not just in snow and ice, but in leaf slime as well. The train slipped and struggled its way up the hill, finally arriving at Penlan, where I decided to terminate the working - apart from anything else, the loco had been working hard for some time, and must have been running low on water. The good folk at Clarach will have to wait a little longer for their Christmas parcels.
I got cold, and wet, but I had fun. And "Palmerston"'s still fueled, oiled and watered, ready to go. Next weekend, maybe???
Cheers,
Andrew.
Over on my Rolling Stock thread, I mentioned that - having just finished another van - I quite fancied running a Christmas mail train. I've not seen any evidence that anything remotely like it ever ran on the Welsh Highland or Ffestiniog, but I was thinking of pictures I'd seen of standard gauge trains, with a passenger brake and a motley collection of vans, or perhaps even the Night Mail - "the gradient's against her, but she's on time!"
With that in mind, I'd prepared "Palmerston" for the run, the closest I've got to a Scot or a Patriot or whatever, on the grounds that it's red and has a tender and, perhaps, a certain gravitas? And then it snowed, and so I really had to run a Christmas train, but there was no way I was going to pit all that new and expensive Roundhouse hardware against the elements - and so "Daisy", my trusty Regner, was rostered instead.
The first task was to clear the line. I don't have a snowplough, but the Regner's cowcatcher sort of works, in combination with its brute strength and robust construction. Accompanied by just a guard's van, "Daisy" charged off up the line, driving growing piles of snow before it until it could go no further, at which point I'd scoop the accumulated heap out of the way, and reverse the loco a little to charge at the next drift - it all felt a bit "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill". Or Ivor the Engine. Fun, either way.
Here's "Daisy" arriving at Penlan:
With the line more or less clear, it was back down to Trefechan to collect the rest of the train - three goods vans and passenger brake No 2. For the first time that I recall, the loco struggled to pull the train I'd coupled behind it. Those vans contain quite a lot of lead, and the line was covered not just in snow and ice, but in leaf slime as well. The train slipped and struggled its way up the hill, finally arriving at Penlan, where I decided to terminate the working - apart from anything else, the loco had been working hard for some time, and must have been running low on water. The good folk at Clarach will have to wait a little longer for their Christmas parcels.
I got cold, and wet, but I had fun. And "Palmerston"'s still fueled, oiled and watered, ready to go. Next weekend, maybe???
Cheers,
Andrew.
- Peter Butler
- Driver
- Posts: 5219
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:33 pm
- Location: West Wales
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Beautiful snowy scenes Andrew, I love the wagon train, looks just right!
Yesterday, here in Carmarthen, we experienced 'pebble-dash' ice so solid it wasn't possible to open my car doors. On our journey past Bristol there was snow on the M5, closing one lane, but by lunchtime at Taunton it was cold but clear. You seem to have been 'lucky'? with the snow.
Yesterday, here in Carmarthen, we experienced 'pebble-dash' ice so solid it wasn't possible to open my car doors. On our journey past Bristol there was snow on the M5, closing one lane, but by lunchtime at Taunton it was cold but clear. You seem to have been 'lucky'? with the snow.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
To be honest, I didn't venture beyond the back garden yesterday! It was definitely the "right kind of snow" as far as running trains is concerned, a thin layer of light and powdery stuff. There was rain in the afternoon, and so there's no snow left today.
- Soar Valley Light
- Driver
- Posts: 1451
- Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 5:18 pm
- Location: North West Leicestershire
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Hi Andrew,
Fantastic pictures of a working railways again. I've always had a soft spot for van trains, so I really liked your photos of the 'Santa Special' postal service.
All the best,
SVLR Andrew
Fantastic pictures of a working railways again. I've always had a soft spot for van trains, so I really liked your photos of the 'Santa Special' postal service.
All the best,
SVLR Andrew
"Smith! Why do you only come to work four days a week?
"'cause I can't manage on three gaffer!"
"'cause I can't manage on three gaffer!"
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Yes, as Andrew said great pictures and it certainly sounds like fun clearing the line in the first place. Unfortunately something I doubt I'll ever get to do down here.
Grant.
Grant.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Great photos Andrew, love the train with those vans.
ROD
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Great photos Andrew, love the train with those vans.
ROD
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
They are that good I commented twice...
ROD
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Life is so easy when I run my trains.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11364
https://www.youtube.com/@fairywoodlightrailway
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Hello again,
Having completed another trio of slate wagons, and posed them for their official photos, they needed a test run.
I suppose I could have just coupled the three of them to the battery shunter and given them a quick trundle but I fancied seeing how they'd look in the rest of the slate train AND I still had "Palmerston" prepared from the previous weekend. So here's what the test run looked like:
There was seemingly no-one at work in the quarry (understandable - working slate when it's minus whatever must be particularly unpleasant...), so the train returned empty. I'm working on that though...
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that the wagons ran very nicely. I'm pretty impressed with the England too - individually those wagons are light enough, but I've packed as much lead as I could into them, and the full rake has 28 axles, but the loco pulls them up my 1:40 gradients and round my 3'-ish curves quite happily...
I'm guessing that will probably be the last train of the year - if I keep up my usual tradition, the next will be on New Year's Day...
Cheers all,
Andrew.
Having completed another trio of slate wagons, and posed them for their official photos, they needed a test run.
I suppose I could have just coupled the three of them to the battery shunter and given them a quick trundle but I fancied seeing how they'd look in the rest of the slate train AND I still had "Palmerston" prepared from the previous weekend. So here's what the test run looked like:
There was seemingly no-one at work in the quarry (understandable - working slate when it's minus whatever must be particularly unpleasant...), so the train returned empty. I'm working on that though...
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that the wagons ran very nicely. I'm pretty impressed with the England too - individually those wagons are light enough, but I've packed as much lead as I could into them, and the full rake has 28 axles, but the loco pulls them up my 1:40 gradients and round my 3'-ish curves quite happily...
I'm guessing that will probably be the last train of the year - if I keep up my usual tradition, the next will be on New Year's Day...
Cheers all,
Andrew.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
That is a wonderful looking train, Andrew. Well done.
Philip
-
- Trainee Driver
- Posts: 964
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:30 pm
- Location: South West Wales
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
I do appreciate a long train of empty slate wagons! Very Ffestiniog.
Trevor
Trevor
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
One of the good things about having a small garden is that it makes 14 wagons look like a decent length slate train!Trevor Thompson wrote: βMon Dec 19, 2022 12:32 pm I do appreciate a long train of empty slate wagons! Very Ffestiniog.
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
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Very atmospheric
Rik
Rik
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Very nice. Shades of Princess in the last few months of working in 1946.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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.
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.
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