Summer sun on the Llangollen Railway...
I am incredibly lucky to call Glyndyfrdwy my home - we have a beautiful location here in the Dee Valley and with the Llangollen Railway passing a stones throw from our home I get to here the trains even when I don't see them...
This weekend was three days of diesel running with the visiting 25 on the Friday and the first trip out for 31271 for a few weeks now on the Saturday and Sunday turns. My partner and I walked down on Saturday afternoon to see the diesel come through the village - but Sunday's weather was wonderful so a bike ride to Carrog rewarded with a few books from the 80072 shop and a lovely vista as 31271 arrived from Llangollen with the first train of the day.
Later on my way home I stopped off at the village station to watch the first return trip of the day heading to Llangollen. Some will dislike the 31 in it's slightly shabby Railfreight Construction livery, BUT for me this is the look of trains I remember from my childhood and surely I've as much right to see my heritage on preserved railways as those that remember BR green diesels? Wouldn't it be a real coup to have a blue and grey rake of carriages - or even just a DMU! Perhaps I should save up and buy a Pacer to donate to the railway for use in the winter months! I'm sure many would shudder at the thought but they were my day to day bread and butter when the 1st generation DMU had all been retired.
As well as these photos I also caught a little video of the locomotive and train leaving Glyndyfrdwy, and whilst not opened up she sounded great burbling away across the crossing and beyond to Llangollen.
This was a wonderful warm up to the diesel gala in a few weeks time, at which I will be displaying some models and a layout on the Saturday - more on that another time, but for now I hope you enjoy the feeling of a warm sunny weekend through these images. Until next time, more soon...
Donate
I love writing and creating material for the blog. If you enjoy what you read and engage with I would be appreciative of any donation, large or small, to help me keep it advert and restriction free.
Morning, James!
ReplyDeleteI think that in the end, the various rail heritage groups will do as they see fit in terms of what they preserve. I remember a time when BR blue was almost universally derided, yet it's now accepted and looked upon fondly; the sector liveries date back 30 years or so now, so why not run locos in those liveries? I'd quite like to see a rake of Mk.1s in Regional Railways livery, too...
The Bluebell Railway was always purely steam operated until fairly recently and of course prior to closure by BR had rarely, if ever, seen much diesel power, and yet now it's beginning to see quite a bit of non-steam.
I went for a ride on the East Kent Railway yesterday; the run from Shepherdwell to Eythorne is fairly short but very pleasant...in a Pacer! There was a family on board with two teenaged lads, they were quite enthusiastic about it and seemed to know a bit about where they used to run, etc. I guess they'll perhaps get a different reaction down here as they never actually worked in the South East.
As I was on the last train of the day, I hung around to see the train being stabled, and also watched a shunt move by one of the line's resident EWS liveried 08s. They've even got a Brett Aggregates liveried ex-NS "Sik" shunter with outside driving controls!
That East Kent Pacer sounds interesting, the Cambrian centre in Oswestry do something similar. I’d love to see a Provincial light blue one up here in the valley, it would look lovely. Regional Railways on coaches, now you’re talking! I wonder if Locomotive Services will do a rake having seen they have Intercity and Scotrail Mk3 rakes!
Deletebeen camping at carrog station camp site a few times lovely scenery and great to watch the trains
ReplyDelete