Hobby Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 45mins to an hour according to the timetables. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted April 26, 2013 Author Share Posted April 26, 2013 The 'original' WHR certainly used Beddgelert as a sort of frontier station; indeed, it seems to have been quite common for Ffestiniog trains to work up there with the little England engines in charge, and there are documents which show that even WHR staff tended to regard everything to the south of Beddgelert as being part of the Ffestiniog! The 'five valleys tour' (up to Blaenau on the Conwy Valley line, then down the Ffestiniog and up the Welsh Highland and then home along the North Wales coast) often paused for an hour at Beddgelert to let passengers wander around the village, to the despair of the operating department who missed a decent LMS connection at Dinas as a result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickinwestwales Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 The `Branch lines around Portmadoc` volume has pix of this frontier working-one nice one of an England engine running round with 590 following it into the loop with the ex-Dinas service..-simpler & happier days.......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Part of the problem with trying to develop Abergynolwyn and Llyn Talyllyn as mentioned earlier is you would be dealing with the Snowdonia National Park as planning authority. If Gwynedd Council have a bit of a reputation as a "can't do" authority, it's even worse dealing with Snowdonia. Trying to turn Abergynolwyn into a tourist honeypot will not happen if Snowdonia have anything to do with it. You'd be better off trying to do more at Tywyn which is in Gwynedd's tender care (I'm being ironic there). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted May 18, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 18, 2013 Since this story broke, I have been re-posting messages on Facebook about the Talyllyn to further promote the railway and have again become a member. If everyone on RMweb did the same, the railway would be out of its difficult period! Regards, Neal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 While caravanning in the area we visited the Talyllyn last week partly to use a Daily Telegraph 2 for 1 offer voucher. Enjoyed it so much we went back another day and paid full price! I suppose that is the reason that the TR took part in the scheme in the first place, it gives visitors a taster and hopefully entices them back. Plenty of people saying how friendly the staff are, and they enjoyed the journey. I checked the cost of membership this morning. If I comprehend this correctly, if planning more than one visit it would be cheaper for us to be members than to pay full fares for two days as members are allowed free train rides. If visiting for longer than that there is no question that membership can enable a great saving with the addition of a quarterly magazine. All in all a very enjoyable experience. Edit: forgot to say that upon buying the tickets we were given a voucher to spend in the TR shops or cafes. At £4.30 it was a tidy saving on the 0-16.5 Peco Talyllyn in the shop. Alternatively, my wife pointed out it was the price of a chicken, bacon, and mayo baguette in the cafe. Guess which one we went for? I'm not usually a big fan of mayo but it was very tasty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted August 9, 2013 Author Share Posted August 9, 2013 I gather that after a slow start the season has been generally good on most lines, though I've heard suggestions that traffic on the Corris isn't as good as it might be. The WHR late afternoon train to Port last night seemed to be well-loaded on arrival - the queue to use the station gents was quite something! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 The Corris is in a Catch 22 situation. Until it can build a reasonable length of track it will remain a museum line with fewer visitors, if it could attract more visitors it could afford to extend the line. We visited last month and it is similar to the WHHR with a short run and a visit to the museum/workshops as part of the trip. Not wishing to decry them in any way but there must be a limit to how often a non-enthusiast visitor will pay for this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 It's not just the cost but the paperwork and regulatory whatnots. The Corris extension is I believe now one of the longest planning and works/services orders sagas in the history of British penpushing. At the moment the Corris is a train-ride which actually to some appeals - its relatively cheap and its over by the time junior wants the toilet and is bored of trains again 8) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 9, 2013 It's not just the cost but the paperwork and regulatory whatnots. The Corris extension is I believe now one of the longest planning and works/services orders sagas in the history of British penpushing. At the moment the Corris is a train-ride which actually to some appeals - its relatively cheap and its over by the time junior wants the toilet and is bored of trains again 8) I suspect then that the paperwork mainly relates to obtaining land and - presumably - planning permission. Having been involved with some of the paperwork for extending a public narrow gauge railway in the fairly recent past the technical/railway/construction side of it isn't really too onerous and shouldn't take too long if competent folk are involved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 I suspect then that the paperwork mainly relates to obtaining land and - presumably - planning permission. Having been involved with some of the paperwork for extending a public narrow gauge railway in the fairly recent past the technical/railway/construction side of it isn't really too onerous and shouldn't take too long if competent folk are involved. ha.. that depends on so many things going right at the government end of it. In this case it took seven years because it crossed the boundary between two bodies (Gwynedd and the Snowdonia National Park) and along the way things like some of the bodies with a say in it were variously abolished or invented, it came close to a road so the Highways Agency was involved and touches the edge of a flood plain. Be glad yours was simple 8) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomag Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 ... it came close to a road so the Highways Agency was involved ..... Be glad yours was simple 8) Unlikely given its in Wales Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Part of the problem for the Corris is that in places the trackbed has been encroached upon for road widening. As the road and railway run up one side of the valley, there must be places where a new trackbed will require substantial earthworks to raise the level. This is not going to be a cheap railway to construct. Despite this the Corris is pressing on with fund raising for another new steam locomotive, and building coaches to the original design. If the line is ever completed it will be quite a pleasant trip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Moss Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Was in Wales myself last Thursday until Sunday afternoon. Stopped in Abersoch on a little campsite. £6 a night and 20p for a shower. We visited Tywyn on Friday, catching the Cambrian coast service from Pwllheli to Tywyn on a family day rover (Two adults, three children) was a pleasant ride down and we got a day rover at Tywyn for £4.10 (HRA Pass) Was a most enjoyable day with plenty to do despite visiting many times before. Also was given a gift aid voucher which paid for two cups on tea at Abergynolwyn. Spent far too much on model stuff in the shop back at Tywyn. In contrast, we went on the welsh highland on the Saturday and about half way through the return trip I was wondering when it was going to end. Far too long for my liking. Also visited the Welsh Highland Heritage on the way back to Abersoch and was greeted well there too. Got a more in depth shed tour when we mentioned we were from Butterley and found them very accommodating. Also spent too much in their shop.......can see a trend here Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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