Pwllheli next stop

[cambriancoaster]

Hi CC, went to Pwllheli Town Centre today, and here is the old Bon Marche building, now the new Weatherspoons pub "Pen Cob"

 

Many, many thanks Craig - it is extremely good of you to take the photo of the new Weatherspoons pub for me and to post it here.  Much appreciated.

 

The refurbishment looks to be a distinct improvement on the run-down condition of the building l saw last year.  It should give the whole Station Square area a lift so I hope it does well.  I also hope that you get the chance to partake of a little festive cheer there in the next few days....

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

I have put a request for a Railways of Wales Special Interest Group in the forum questions, if you would like one please declare your interest there. I will post a link tomorrow, can't do that on my phone

[cambriancoaster]

I have put a request for a Railways of Wales Special Interest Group in the forum questions, if you would like one please declare your interest there. I will post a link tomorrow, can't do that on my phone

 

I see that Andy Y has already set up a new special interest group today at:

 

 http://www.rmweb.co....lways-of-wales/

 

Well done in persuading Andy to do that.   Now all we will have to do is to set up a new topic for Cambrian Railways in the SIG.

 

Regards

 

CC

 

 

[5982]

Hi CC and all ...

 

Been somewhat busy on my own Cambrian layout for quite a while and can't remember the last time I looked in. Putting to good use a boring couple of hours in a hotel in Paris on a business trip, I stumbled across your thread.

Of special interest as I am also modelling Pwllheli - in N.

In my case, I only have room for the passenger station (nominally 9 feet by 9 inches) but with a bit of distortion at the stopblocks to get the lengths I need. Priority was on getting the track to look at least half decent, I just couldn't bring myself to use Peco for a steam era  Cambrian. so this is all hand-built using 2mm scale copper clad and code 40 BH rail. Typically, I was too far into it to swap when FiNetrax appeared. I don't anticipate ever getting around to a half-decent model of the station buildings, etc (took me 2 years to make the signal box) so decided to simplify the buildings and put a different name on it - but how many Cambrian "might have beens" were there that would justify this sort of terminal?

 

I eventually twigged it - Caernarvon ... built as a branch off the Cambrian by the regular Cambrian contractor but snapped up by the LNWR when the Cambrian was too strapped for cash, and only some years later actually joined up with the LNWR. So; suppose that the Cambrian had managed to keep the LNWR out? Caernarvon would have had the same sort of space problem as Pwllheli, with passenger facilities where the WHR station is, divorced from freight / loco. Even the harbour was in the same place ... I get the bonus of a branch to Llanberis into the bargain!

 

Hence my layout follows Pwllheli as closely as possible but with "Caernarvon" on the nameboards - though I have added a loco spur from the up side run round road to minimise the number of movements going off-scene to the shed. 

 

One question keeps bugging me about Pwllheli - though you won't need to worry about it as it is before your era.

Where did Pwllheli turn locos before the new shed opened in 1959?

The old shed didn't have a turntable. The nearest was at Afon Wen - but that seems to have gone before Pwllheli got theirs. Barmouth lost its table some time earlier - so the nearest turning facility seems to have been the triangle at Barmouth Junction. But how many photos on the Coast lines do you see with a loco (even a tank engine, other than the Dolgelly shuttle) running anything other than chimney first? I don't think there are any in my collection of Cambrian photos and I don't remember ever seeing any when I have been there.

Anybody know?

 

Thanks

Regards

Brian

[cambriancoaster]

Hi CC and all ...

 

Been somewhat busy on my own Cambrian layout for quite a while and can't remember the last time I looked in. Putting to good use a boring couple of hours in a hotel in Paris on a business trip, I stumbled across your thread.

Of special interest as I am also modelling Pwllheli - in N.

In my case, I only have room for the passenger station (nominally 9 feet by 9 inches) but with a bit of distortion at the stopblocks to get the lengths I need. Priority was on getting the track to look at least half decent, I just couldn't bring myself to use Peco for a steam era  Cambrian. so this is all hand-built using 2mm scale copper clad and code 40 BH rail. Typically, I was too far into it to swap when FiNetrax appeared. I don't anticipate ever getting around to a half-decent model of the station buildings, etc (took me 2 years to make the signal box) so decided to simplify the buildings and put a different name on it - but how many Cambrian "might have beens" were there that would justify this sort of terminal?

 

I eventually twigged it - Caernarvon ... built as a branch off the Cambrian by the regular Cambrian contractor but snapped up by the LNWR when the Cambrian was too strapped for cash, and only some years later actually joined up with the LNWR. So; suppose that the Cambrian had managed to keep the LNWR out? Caernarvon would have had the same sort of space problem as Pwllheli, with passenger facilities where the WHR station is, divorced from freight / loco. Even the harbour was in the same place ... I get the bonus of a branch to Llanberis into the bargain!

 

Hence my layout follows Pwllheli as closely as possible but with "Caernarvon" on the nameboards - though I have added a loco spur from the up side run round road to minimise the number of movements going off-scene to the shed. 

 

One question keeps bugging me about Pwllheli - though you won't need to worry about it as it is before your era.

Where did Pwllheli turn locos before the new shed opened in 1959?

The old shed didn't have a turntable. The nearest was at Afon Wen - but that seems to have gone before Pwllheli got theirs. Barmouth lost its table some time earlier - so the nearest turning facility seems to have been the triangle at Barmouth Junction. But how many photos on the Coast lines do you see with a loco (even a tank engine, other than the Dolgelly shuttle) running anything other than chimney first? I don't think there are any in my collection of Cambrian photos and I don't remember ever seeing any when I have been there.

Anybody know?

 

Thanks

Regards

Brian

 

Hello Brian

 

I returned last night after a month away (without my computer) so I have only just seen your post.   I must therefore apologise for the delayed response.

 

I am delighted to learn that you are also modelling a station based on Pwllheli - what a good idea it is to extend the Cambrian to "Caernarvon"!  

 

I have been most impressed with the 2mm FS layouts I have seen at recent shows and so I am certain you will be able to produce a superb layout of the relocated Cambrian terminus.  Have you taken any pictures of your layout?  If so I would love to see them and I'm sure that other RMWeb Cambrian enthusiasts would  too.  So what about starting a new thread on RMWeb for your layout?

 

Unfortunately I cannot answer your query about how locomotives were turned at Pwllheli shed before the installation of the turntable.   However the turntable certainly existed before 1958/9 (when the loco yard was remodelled and the new loco shed was built).   There is a photograph (numbered 105) of it in the book "Barmouth to Pwllheli" by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith taken on 23rd July 1956 showing the turntable surrounded by small WR Prairie tanks.  I  do not know the date of its  installation but it is missing on the 1918 survey map shown immediately above it.  Presumably (and as you suggest) the locomotives were turned at Afon Wen before its installation.   Perhaps if we can find the date that the Afon Wen turntable was removed it might provide a clue. 

 

Incidentally I have an ex-engine driver friend who was stationed at Llandudno Junction shed (6G) for a couple of years around 1959 - 1961 before returning to Stoke (5D).   He sometimes used to drive steam locomotives on heavy special holiday trains from England from Llandudno to Penychain. 

 

He tells me that when he first started at Llandudno he drove a Black 5 4-6-0 chimney first to Afon Wen not knowing that it was standard practice to drive them chimney first on the route back to Bangor. Since the Afon Wen had been removed he rose to the challenge by turning the loco on the Pwllheli turntable - much to the amazement of the Pwllheli enginemen who considered  that the Black 5 was too large to turn on their turntable.   

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[Jaakko]

^{Presumably (and as you suggest) the locomotives were turned at Afon Wen before its installation.   Perhaps if we can find the date that the Afon Wen turntable was removed it might provide a clue.} 

 

 

 

 

The Afon Wen turntable was removed in the 1930s (according to D. J. Lowe, Return to ... Pwllheli ... please, p. 91)

[cambriancoaster]

The Afon Wen turntable was removed in the 1930s (according to D. J. Lowe, Return to ... Pwllheli ... please, p. 91)

 

Thanks Jaakko - so presumably the Pwllheli turntable was installed around that time.  If anyone can put a more exact time on the installation I would be grateful if they could let me know.

 

Dukedogs are once again running into Pwllheli station!  (see picture below).

 

 

Bachmann Dukedog 9022 shunts a parcels van into Platform 1 of Pwllheli station.

 

Although Pwllheli is quite a small station it was kept very busy during summer months with holiday specials as well as with the normal scheduled trains.   Stephen Austin in his book the Cambrian Coast Express records that on summer Saturdays there were no less than 42 loaded train movements.  Busy days during the summer merited the use of a dedicated station pilot and according to Austin on summer Saturdays one was rostered from 9AM to 5PM and from 6.50PM until 9PM.  There are a couple of photographs of a Dukedog fulfilling this role in the book "Return to Pwllheli please"  by Derek J. Lowe.   9017 on 19th August 1959 (see page 95) and 9015 in August 1958 (see page 96).  

 

So I have abundant justification from the prototype to indulge in lots of lovely shunting in the Pwllheli station area with my Dukedog (soon to be joined by another Dukedog no. 9017).

 

Regards

 

CC

[danstercivicman]

This is a great layout!  It is inspiring my own- Harton and Hopeguard!

[cambriancoaster]

This is a great layout!  It is inspiring my own- Harton and Hopeguard!

 

Many thanks for your very kind comment and good luck with your own layout.

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[Quarryscapes]

Keeping my eye on this, Pwllheli being my hometown and local station after all. 

[5982]

Hello Brian

 

I returned last night after a month away (without my computer) so I have only just seen your post.   I must therefore apologise for the delayed response.

 

I am delighted to learn that you are also modelling a station based on Pwllheli - what a good idea it is to extend the Cambrian to "Caernarvon"!  

 

I have been most impressed with the 2mm FS layouts I have seen at recent shows and so I am certain you will be able to produce a superb layout of the relocated Cambrian terminus.  Have you taken any pictures of your layout?  If so I would love to see them and I'm sure that other RMWeb Cambrian enthusiasts would  too.  So what about starting a new thread on RMWeb for your layout?

 

Best wishes

 

CC

 

Hi CC

I'm now back in that Paris hotel again so catching up! Guess what - I haven't had a chance to catch up with this site in between, so hadn't seen your reply - or the other comments re the TT. The only comments I have seen on the date were that it was installed with the new shed - obviously that must have been incorrect if there was one there in '56. I'll go back to the research!

 

With track laying complete on phase 1 (first two boards, taking me to the entry to the long shunt neck / siding) the visible portion  my next job is to wrestle with point operation.

 

I will take some photos of the track as it is and drop it on with an outline of some of my ideas for the layout when I get the chance. I'll probably get a few photos ready and sort out posting next time I am in this (or some other) hotel. 

 

The time question tends to mean that I have a maximum of one day a week available - including time spent on the web - and even that goes out of the window when I am travelling, so progress is slow, and the web takes a low priority except when I am travelling.

 

Catch up when I can - look forward to seeing continuing progress.

 

Brian

[cambriancoaster]

Hi CC

I'm now back in that Paris hotel again so catching up! Guess what - I haven't had a chance to catch up with this site in between, so hadn't seen your reply - or the other comments re the TT. The only comments I have seen on the date were that it was installed with the new shed - obviously that must have been incorrect if there was one there in '56. I'll go back to the research!

 

With track laying complete on phase 1 (first two boards, taking me to the entry to the long shunt neck / siding) the visible portion  my next job is to wrestle with point operation.

 

I will take some photos of the track as it is and drop it on with an outline of some of my ideas for the layout when I get the chance. I'll probably get a few photos ready and sort out posting next time I am in this (or some other) hotel. 

 

The time question tends to mean that I have a maximum of one day a week available - including time spent on the web - and even that goes out of the window when I am travelling, so progress is slow, and the web takes a low priority except when I am travelling.

 

Catch up when I can - look forward to seeing continuing progress.

 

Brian

 

 

Hello Brian.

 

Nice to hear from you again.  I look forward to seeing some photos of your layout in due course. 

 

I think there might be some clues as to the date of installation of the turntable at Pwllheli in some of the documents held by the National Archives in the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives.   I have done a search and the following documents seem to be relevant (note the dates).

 

Wiltshire and Swindon Archives

Great Western Railway Company [2515/405/072 - 2515/408/0223]

 [no title]  2515/410/0852 ms  1946

Contents:

Subject No. 18 [see fonds level scope]

Pwllheli: Locomotive Yard

White Print

[no title]  2515/410/1290 ms  1924

Contents:

Subject No. 5 [see fonds level scope]

Pwllheli: 55 ft. Turntable & Coal Stage

Linen

[no title]  2515/403/1731  1925

Contents:

Subject No. 20 [see fonds level scope]

Pwllheli: Land for Turntable

Linen

[no title]  2515/403/1733  1950

Contents:

Subject No. 18 [see fonds level scope]

Pwllheli: East Goods Station - Proposed Engine Shed - Chief Civil Engineer Drawing

White Print

 

I may purchase copies of these documents at some stage in the future.

 

Meanwhile I'm still trying to get my head around the programming needed to enable the Arduino microcontroller to control the stepper motor for the turntable on my layout.

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[cambriancoaster]

Ever since I obtained the 1970 version of the 1:2500 Ordinance Survey map of Pwllheli goods yard and loco yard I have been intrigued by the extensive coach sidings situated on the Afon Wen side of Pwllheli East Signal Box.  These appear to have been considerably extended in the 1950s and I presume that the powers that be envisaged that they were needed to cater for accommodating and servicing the many special trains which ran on summer weekends to the recently opened Butlins Holiday Camp at Penychain .  

 

It occurred to me that if ever there was a prototype for a fiddle yard on the real railway this was it!  So I have now begun to think how I might eventually extend the existing layout to include these sidings as a fully functional (and prototypically correct) fiddle yard. 

 

The only pictures I have ever seen of the sidings are those in the ARCHIVE images collection and I recently took the plunge and purchased the three images from them (copyright free).  These are shown below:

 

 

This is the most easterly of the shots and shows the three way signal providing access to the sidings to the left and right of the main line.  There were three sidings to the left hand side (seaward) and two the right (landward).    The DMU in the picture is on its way to Afon Wen.

 

 

Another view of the signal which provides access to the sidings.  You can see the sidings branching off the main line in this view.

 

 

A view of the sidings themselves.  Note the veritable forest of yard lamps.

 

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post there was a fairly large and spread out goods/locomotive yard at Pwllheli - as befits the end of the long (essentially branch) line of the Cambrian Coast Railway.  Land was obviously cheap (mostly sand dunes) so BR didn’t stint things when it came to the final expansion of the facilities.  Indeed it is somewhat over a mile from Pwllheli station to the eastern end of the sidings.  

 

After pondering things I realised that if I dispensed with Testby station and used a mirror image of the layout of Pwllheli goods yard I could include a reasonable representation of the yard facilities without having to undertake many changes on existing baseboards A & B.   So I set to using Anyrail 5 to see if I could scheme out a suitable extension.   The result is shown below.

 

 

This potential expansion is unlikely to materialise anytime soon as I want to detail the existing layout and at the moment I am totally embroiled in trying to motorise and install the turntable.  However the existing layout is working well and is very enjoyable to operate.   Perhaps sometime next year?

 

Details of the exact date of the expansion of the carriage sidings at Pwllheli and how they operated in the 1950s/early 1960s are extremely hard to find and there is virtually no information available on the internet.  Has anyone any information they are willing to share?

 

 

[cambriancoaster]

I have been trawling the internet for images of Pwllheli in steam days and recently came across some excellent photos taken by Alan Smith in August 1960 on the Leeds Model Railway Society website (LMRS).  I have since been in touch with Alan and he has kindly allowed me to post his photos here.

 

 

Pwllheli station frontage, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli station platform sign, August, 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli station approaches from near Pwllheli West Signal Box, August, 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli West Signal Box, August, 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli Station Down Home Signal, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli East Down Starter.  August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli East Signal Box. August 1960.

 

 

Grounded Iron Minks in Pwllheli Goods Yard, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli Goods shed and Petroleum store, Pwllheli Goods Yard, August 1960.

 

 

Permanent Way open wagon, Pwllheli goods yard, Aug 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli Toad Brake Van, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli Goods Yard Weighbridge, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli Goods Yard Crane, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli loco shed August, 1960 with 2251 Class 0-6-0 2255.

 

 

Pwllheli loco shed August 1960 with 2255 and standard 2MT 2-6-0 78007 in view.

 

 

Another view of the loco shed roads with 2-6-2T 5553, standard Class 2 2-6-0 and another

2251 class 0-6-0 in the picture.  August 1960.

 

 

A view looking inside the shed with standard 3MT 2-6-2T and 2MT 78003 stabled there.

August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli loco yard parachute water tower, August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli MPD turntable.  August 1960.

 

 

Pwllheli MPD water tower, August 1960.   Note the almost new Provender store

to the left of the picture.

 

Although the track plan of my proposed extension of the Pwllheli layout (see previous post) has been turned through 90 degrees and would be a mirror image of the prototype Pwllheli goods yard, Alan’s pictures will be invaluable reference material if I decide to extend the layout.

 

At the moment work continues on motorising my model of the turntable with the help of Tender’s extremely informative thread “DCC controlled Peco turntable project" at:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78578-dcc-controlled-peco-turntable-project/

 

At last I have got the stepper motor controlled through an Arduino micro controller but I have yet to fathom out the code which Tender used to get his turntable to operate via DCC.  My next job is to build the DCC interface board and learn a bit more about programming with the C  (language) based Arduino code Tender used  to control the indexing of his turntable.  Talk about learning new skills!

 

 

[alanbuttler]

Fantastic set of photos CC, I'm sure they'll give you plenty more inspiration  I'd be interested in how you get on with the Arduino, I've had one in its wrapper for 2 months now without being touched....!  Really need to get on with it and give it a go.  Good stuff, I always look forward to updates on Pwllheli next stop!

[cambriancoaster]

Fantastic set of photos CC, I'm sure they'll give you plenty more inspiration  I'd be interested in how you get on with the Arduino, I've had one in its wrapper for 2 months now without being touched....!  Really need to get on with it and give it a go.  Good stuff, I always look forward to updates on Pwllheli next stop!

 

Thanks Alan.  If you are interested there are a collection of Alan Smith's excellent photos ( mostly taken in the early 1960s) on the LMRS website at:

 

http://www.leedsmrs.org/gallery1.html

 

The photos show several locations including Crewe, Doncaster, York, Wolverhampton etc. - plus other locations along the Cambrian Coast railway (with some of PenyChain.which was not often photographed).

 

I'm very pleased to learn that you are another convert to the Arduino.   Although I am very much a novice user I can see that it has many potential applications for railway modellers.  Currently I can get it to rotate a stepper motor continuously at 3200 steps per revolution at low speeds suitable for a turntable (e.g. 2rpm) .   However I'm still trying to fathom out how to position and stop it correctly which means trying out various permutations of the AccelStepper (library) functions without much success so far.   Patience is a virtue they say!

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[muddys-blues]

Hi CC, good to the updates are back on, what a great set of Photo's showing Pwllheli  in 1960, truly inspirational .

 

Happy modelling

Craig.

[two tone green]

Its incredible just how magnetic the Cambrian is. I have just bought The Cambrian Main Line and Return to Pwllheli books by Derek Lowe and find myself not being able to put them down.

 

Barmouth and Barmouth Junction are incredible with Pwllheli lending itself to a lovely layout.

 

Will keep an eye on this as it is very interesting. Thanks

[steve22]

Excellent stuff!  A very good example of a layout built with attention to prototype, period, and all the associated research involved - including help from fellow RMWebbers. Great to read their input as well and see how you then make it all come together - then you go further and computerise the lot!  I like the Cambrian coast myself though I never holidayed there until in fairly recent years.  I do though vividly remember seeing the Cambrian Coast Express as a 10 or 11 year old running through Meole Brace on the outskirts of Shrewsbury with 7802 or 7803 hauling it with their white painted buffers.  I knew nothing of Pwllheli until reading this; thanks for a very interesting enlightenment. 

[cambriancoaster]

Its incredible just how magnetic the Cambrian is. I have just bought The Cambrian Main Line and Return to Pwllheli books by Derek Lowe and find myself not being able to put them down.

 

Barmouth and Barmouth Junction are incredible with Pwllheli lending itself to a lovely layout.

 

Will keep an eye on this as it is very interesting. Thanks

 

Yes the Cambrian is an iconic railway and the Cambrian Coast Line is one of the most spectacular lines in the UK.   It is a pity that West Coast Railways don't run steam along the coast any more during  summer  months (although I keep seeing rumours that it may resume when they have incorporated the latest signalling equipment into one of their locos).

 

The more I find out about the Cambrian Coast the more interesting it becomes and it seems as if you are becoming a Cambrian addict too!  There are quite a few of us on RMWeb.

 

Incidentally I am fascinated by your own model of the fictional terminal at St. Davids .  Of course you will know that a line was planned to be built to St. Davids as late as the 1920s and that the terminus was to be on the A487 by the school (Ysgol Dewi Saint).   What a wonderful line that would have been.

 

Regards

CC

[two tone green]

Hello CC,

 

There is so much that is fascinating and interesting on the Cambrian that can hold your attention for hours. The scenery alone is so varied that any modeller can find an area to suite their taste. .

 

As for my layout, yes I was aware that the railway was heading our way in days gone by but never arrived. What is now the Grove Hotel I believe was going to be the station hotel and its why the ground around that area is so flat. Quite a bit of earth works were carried out between here in St. Davids where I live and up the line towards Letterson.

 

My layout will be based in the valley that leads to the cathedral with a good dose of modelling licence involving a slight rewrite of history and what went where and why.

 

And hopefully some flavour of the Cambrian will be included. Well its on the same coast you know. !

 

I have the history of my version in mind and will put finger to keyboard and post it on my thread.   

 

Keep up the excellent work.

[cambriancoaster]

Hi CC, good to the updates are back on, what a great set of Photo's showing Pwllheli  in 1960, truly inspirational .

 

Happy modelling

Craig.

 

 

Hello Craig

 

I'm pleased to learn that you enjoyed the pictures of the railway in your home town 50  odd years ago.   If I come across any more I will post them on this topic.  If you find any I would be most grateful if you could post them too.   That way we should build up quite a collection!

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[cambriancoaster]

Excellent stuff!  A very good example of a layout built with attention to prototype, period, and all the associated research involved - including help from fellow RMWebbers. Great to read their input as well and see how you then make it all come together - then you go further and computerise the lot!  I like the Cambrian coast myself though I never holidayed there until in fairly recent years.  I do though vividly remember seeing the Cambrian Coast Express as a 10 or 11 year old running through Meole Brace on the outskirts of Shrewsbury with 7802 or 7803 hauling it with their white painted buffers.  I knew nothing of Pwllheli until reading this; thanks for a very interesting enlightenment. 

 

hello Steve

 

..and many, many thanks for your very kind words for which I am very grateful.   Seeing the Cambrian Coast Express on the outskirts of Shrewsbury being hauled by a Manor Class must have left quite an impression.   Were the coaches at that time chocolate and cream or maroon?  (You must have a good memory if you remember!).

 

Best wishes

 

CC

[cambriancoaster]

I must admit that it is slow going at the moment whilst I attempt to construct a working turntable for the layout on the lines described by Tender and contributors in the topic:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78578-dcc-controlled-peco-turntable-project/

 

Much though I would like to I am resisting the temptation to start detailing the layout and constructing models of the buildings at Pwllheli until I have the turntable - the final item to allow  full prototypical operation - in place.

 

However I am making some small progress as this Utube video I made recently shows (note the references to the variables in the video are explained in my post 117 on the turntable project): 

 

 

 

Of all the 00 gauge Cambrian Coast layouts around at the moment the one providing the most inspiration for me is Phil Greaves' model of Rhyd-y-Clafdy - the fictional station on the proposed extension of the Cambrian Coast Railway from Pwllheli  to the north coast of the Llyn Peninsula planned in the 1870s and 1880s.   Phil's level of detail is unbelievable and is something I aspire to.   His layout has been on the exhibition circuit for some time now and I made a video of it at last years' exhibition at Hull in November.  This was to have been its final showing before retirement though I now understand that it is likely to make one more appearance next year.   Anyway I have just posted a video of it on Utube which you might like to view at:

 

 

 

CC

[cambriancoaster]

I recently came across this excellent, and probably unique, photograph by John Hobbs on the North Wales Coast Railway Notice Board (www,nwrail.org.uk) taken from the cab of BR Class 4 4-6-0 on the 1st July 1964 as it reverses back from Pwllheli station with the stock of the e 7.35am train from Dovey Junction.  John has kindly allowed me to reproduce his picture in this post and I'm very pleased to be able to share it with you.

 

John records that "seconds later there was a loud bang , the cab filled with steam as the gauge glass burst; quick action by the Fireman soon brought things back under control.   It was my first experience of how things can go awry on the footplate".