Cwm-Mawr (Drefach) to Kidwelly line

[narrowman]

Unfortunately, we (SWMBO!) decided to stay in the Aberporth area, with the exception of a trip to the delightful Teifi Valley Railway, so never got near the Gwendreath Railway project or the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway.

The scenery at the coast was very nice and we even had a Coastguard/RAF helicopter rescue on the cliffs at Aberporth one evening!

Tony

[tomparryharry]

One of the cut down 03's is at Blaenavon. Don't know what the owner is doing with it.

 

Ian

[tommo68]

I've just acquired a copy of "Past and Present West Wales" which has pictures of the line from Burry Port to Cwm Mawr, including some of the stations.

Plenty of ideas for a model of the line...

I've also got a copy of the DVD of the last week of running of the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr railway, with 37s on the coal trains.

Hi, i was quite intrigued to read that you have a copy of the DVD of the last week of the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr railway. My parents lived next to this railway until i was about 11, and as such i have fond memories of the 37's that hauled the coal trains. It would be really good to get a copy of this DVD, would you be kind enough to advise me where i can find one please. Thanks Paul

[narrowman]

Since emailing you, I've found a leaflet from the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway (www.lmmrcoltd.com) (not updated since July 2014), giving a summary of the 30 minutes DVD:

Chapter One: BR Blue 37248 heading north from Llanelli with a rake of HAAs, then runs around at Cynheidre Colliery for the return working.

Chapter Two: Railfreight 37696 takes another rake of empties north to Cynheidre from Llanelli, then runs around before following it south as far as the main line in Llanelli.

Chapter Three: Bonus chapter with a selection of unidentified 37s working the branch.

All footage was filmed in the fianl weeks before closure on 24th March 1989.

 

Perhaps of you contact them, they may have a copy for sale - or know of someone who does??

 

Kind regards, Tony

[narrowman]

http://www.llanellirailway.co.uk/contact.htm

[tommo68]

Does anyone know what type of loco/shunter NCB used to move coal wagons in Cynheidre Colliery pls?

[Fat Controller]

Does anyone know what type of loco/shunter NCB used to move coal wagons in Cynheidre Colliery pls?

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/cynheidre has quite a few shots of locos at Cynheidre. The Brush-Bagnall shunter is not from the colliiery, but from SCOW Abbey Works, and is now owned by a preservation society based at the colliery site.

Prior to the diesels, there were several steam engines, including an RS&H-built Austerity (7170 of 1944), which remained as a spare until 1976 and an ex-BR 16xx pannier. This latter only lasted for a few years, until it was condemned with a cracked frame.

[corneliuslundie]

Does anyone know of a drawing of the cut-down o8s? We have found one of the O3 but the O8s were apparently done at Landore and it may have been a case of "Take six inches off the cab, Dai". But I live in hopes.

BTW it is wanted for a book the locos and rolling stock due to be published some time in the future by the WRRC, based on drawings by Mike Lloyd but supplementd where necessary.

Jonathan

[montyburns56]

Incoming...

 

The front loco is the Pontyates pilot....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[br2975]

I don't know which 'front loco is the Pontyates pilot'............Pontyates is the village through which the train is passing, and there was only a level crossing there by this time, with no shunter duty that I'm aware of, unless you mean the Burry Port pilot ?..

.

The 'Noddies' coupled "cab to cab" are working in multiple, the third Cl.03 in the first picture will not be in multiple, and would have had its' own driver.

.

The multiple working gear (where fitted) was only fitted on the rear wall of each cab and was a cats cradle of pipework, and was based upon the system originally fitted to North Eastern Region Cl.03 and Cl.04 shunters during the 1960s..

Edited February 22, 2021 by br2975

[Fat Controller]

Further to Brian R's comments; Pontyates had been plain-lined since 1964/5, so wouldn't have needed a pilot.

[montyburns56]

19 hours ago, br2975 said:

I don't know which 'front loco is the Pontyates pilot'............Pontyates is the village through which the train is passing, and there was only a level crossing there by this time, with no shunter duty that I'm aware of, unless you mean the Burry Port pilot ?..

.

The 'Noddies' coupled "cab to cab" are working in multiple, the third Cl.03 in the first picture will not be in multiple, and would have had its' own driver.

.

The multiple working gear (where fitted) was only fitted on the rear wall of each cab and was a cats cradle of pipework, and was based upon the system originally fitted to North Eastern Region Cl.03 and Cl.04 shunters during the 1960s..

 

Someone skipped their Sunday School lessons. It was an attempt at a pun which seems to have fallen rather flat. Actually you have answered the question about whether they worked in multiple as I wasn't entirely sure.

[corneliuslundie]

I described to my wife the Pontyates image and accompanying caption and she groaned.

Jonathan

[Ben B]

I've loved this line ever since I read about it in an old issue of either Rail or the Railway Magazine in the early 1990's; it was a piece on the railway from just before it closed I think.  Lots of fascinating shots of the 08's squeezing under bridges down the old canal bed.

 

I gather three cut-cab 08's survive?  One of the ex-Burry Port cut-cab 08's is preserved on my local line, the KWVR, where it is normally in use as yard pilot at Haworth shed- I've a feeling this might be the only one in running order though.  It does occasionally get to stretch its proverbial legs and run further afield on the branch; some of these are shots I've posted elsewhere on RMweb in the past, there's a few newer ones, but I'd gathered a load of my pictures together recently to send to the railway's archivist, so thought I'd post them in this topic, just in case they're of interest...

 

 

After a bit of fettling, and a repaint into its EWS colour scheme, the shunter was launched into traffic on a day of special trains with the resident 08 (which also received a repaint for the occasion).  Interesting to see just how chopped-down it is compared to the standard model.

 

 

 

08993 "Ashburnham" in it's usual habitat, shunting Haworth engine shed/yard.

 

 

 

When the railway did the work to replace Bridge 11 at Ingrow in 2020, the little 08 was one of the fleet used on the work, moving the breakdown crane on the south bank of the river.

 

 

This was when work was being halted for the first lockdown, and the works trains were being removed for safe storage whilst the line was closed.

 

 

After the first lockdown, work resumed in late-Spring; the 08 (and the class 20 with which it was usually paired for the Bridge 11 work) leaving Damems Loop.

 

 

At Damems, beside the river.

 

 

The last time I saw the loco, back at Haworth sheds just before Christmas 2020 whilst it was repositioning the S160 for maintenance work.

 

 

[montyburns56]

9 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I described to my wife the Pontyates image and accompanying caption and she groaned.

Jonathan

 

That's the usual reaction to one of my puns.

[9C85]

I think at least one of the cut down shunters went to work around Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) Cardiff?

[Bryn]

On 22/02/2021 at 18:52, montyburns56 said:

 

 

A quick request, does anyone have any other photos of this Ruston 165DS? Ideally from the rear. I'm struggling with finding any using the usual search engines.

 

Thanks in advance!