Steam on the Cambrian Coast

[jlancasterd]

I went into Porthmadog this afternoon to do some shopping and was somewhat surprised to see a proper British Railways steam train standing in the station - then I remembered that Arriva Trains is running a regular series of steam excursions between Macynlleth and Pwllheli during August. Today's return run had been held up by one of the regular DMUs running late (the line is single track throughout).
The locomotive is a standard British Railways class 4 2-6-0, built at Horwich Works near Bolton in 1957. I lived near Bolton in my youth and visited Horwich Works several times in the 1950s. I may therefore have seen this locomotive being built... I certainly remember seeing several of the class under construction. The 'shed plate' at the bottom of the smokebox door reads 26D, which was at Buckley Wells in Bury, opposite the playing fields of the Grammar School where I did my secondary education.... Happy Days!

R8+DMR+Vario-Elmar 21-35

[ejd]

Splendid! Made in 1957. Does that make it one of the last steam engines made in Britain? Real steam engines and 'Arriva Trains' make very odd bedfellows!

John

[jlancasterd]

Originally Posted by ejd

Splendid! Made in 1957. Does that make it one of the last steam engines made in Britain? Real steam engines and 'Arriva Trains' make very odd bedfellows!

John

It was certainly one of the last hundred or so - this particular class went up to No.76114. The very last BR-built steam loco was the 9F 2-10-0 'Evening Star' built in 1960. Regular BR steam trains ceased in 1967. However, big steam is still being built in UK by enthusiast groups - notably the replica LNER A1 Pacific (4-6-2) 'Typhoon', due to be finished in the next year or so, which is intended for main line excursion work and will have cost well over a million pounds by the time it is finished.
IMHO Arriva and trains make very odd bedfellows...!

[cardinal]

Nice Photos.

[andybarton]

These deserve to be posted with much less jpg compression.

Don't forget that the file size can be up to around 235 kb for each image. Each of these is only 55kb or so in size...

(And, don't forget the tip re posting multiple images, which is included as an announcement on the photo forum. It might help those who continue to suffer Internet Explorer on a PC view the photos more easily.)

[jmr]

John,

you certainly capture the atmosphere in these shots. If you compress to just below 244k we'll see a lot more of the quality which is undoubtedly in there.

[jlancasterd]

Originally Posted by andybarton

These deserve to be posted with much less jpg compression.

Don't forget that the file size can be up to around 235 kb for each image. Each of these is only 55kb or so in size...

(And, don't forget the tip re posting multiple images, which is included as an announcement on the photo forum. It might help those who continue to suffer Internet Explorer on a PC view the photos more easily.)

Thanks for the tip Andy - I'd forgotten to adjust my web software after sending some thumbnails.

Is this better?76079-2a.jpg

The train standing in the southbound platform at Porthmadog station



76079-3a.jpg

The 'Gubbins' - Walschaerts valvegear



76079-1a.jpg

Bored fireman waiting for the 'off' - just been told that there's a 30-minute delay.

[john79456]

Lovely steam shot.

[hamey]

John.

Thats much better. lovely steam shots.

You had me worried about the DMR-Quality.



Cheers.

[elansprint72]

The man goes shopping with his DMR! I like this attitude!

Great photos- aren't you glad that you had the pocket camera with you? What a pity that they left on the crudely-welded lifting tabs on the cab roof, they were never put on by Horwich and would not pass current HSE regulations anyway!

Grammar Schools..... coats for goal posts....... isn't it, eh?

Porthmadog.... shopping for waterproofs? That seems to be what they sell in every shop

Hope you can make the Manchester shoot-out, whenever it happens.

Cheers,
Pete.

[biglouis]

I can almost smell the steam. You can tell the average of the posters in the forum just by the responses. I'm deeply envious that you were this close to a working steam engine - especially in its natural habitat. Thanks for capturing and sharing the experience!

LouisB

[jlancasterd]

Originally Posted by elansprint72

The man goes shopping with his DMR! I like this attitude!

Great photos- aren't you glad that you had the pocket camera with you? What a pity that they left on the crudely-welded lifting tabs on the cab roof, they were never put on by Horwich and would not pass current HSE regulations anyway!

Grammar Schools..... coats for goal posts....... isn't it, eh?

Porthmadog.... shopping for waterproofs? That seems to be what they sell in every shop

Hope you can make the Manchester shoot-out, whenever it happens.

Cheers,
Pete.

I almost always take the R8 and DMR when I go into Port these days (It lives in a LowePro single strap sling bag that goes into the car boot). As editor of the Ffestiniog Railway Magazine (The FR's Harbour Station is at the other end of town from the standard gauge station) I never know when I'm going to be asked to perform 'Company Photographer' duties. Yesterday it was a mug shot of the retiring FR Society Chairman and a record shot of a large, expensive, lump of brass at Boston Lodge Works (a newly-cast top feed for a Garratt)

WE don't buy waterproofs from the *shops* in Porthmadog - we go to the new Gelert factory shop on the Criccieth Road...