NEWS UPDATE No. 113
STOP PRESS! Rumours are rife that Bala Gold, our 50th Anniversary commemorative ale is to return very soon.
The first delivery sold out surprisingly quickly, hence the re-introduction in time for the BLR 50th Anniversary and Bank Holiday weekends.
We are grateful to General Manager David Jones, in a break from his hectic workload of running the BLR, for providing us with the following update showing some of the detail into which he and the engineering team has to go into almost on a daily basis.
July must have been drier than normal or else our crews are hardy souls. It does not happen very often these days but one of our locos, Winifred, worked every single day during July. The footplate crews normally have a choice of at least two locos, one with a cab and one without, so the fact that the cab-less loco was out all month is a good barometer to the fine weather we have been enjoying.
The other reason that Winifred saw so much action was that George B, the other cab-less loco, had developed leaks between the tubes and the tube plate in the firebox. Read more about the work that has taken place to return George B to service by clicking here.
On the subject of passenger numbers, we have to accept now that the bounce back from Covid last year provided us with exceptional passenger figures. Having said that, we were not so far behind last year’s figures for July as well as being over 13% up on the previous best for the month (2018).
The BLR is indeed so fortunate in that we have three salaried staff, David Jones, Rob Houghton and Dan Laidlaw, and all three are highly experienced and particularly ingenious engineers.
There is quite a theme of engineering prowess this month with two other topics to explore. But before those, the annual Alice Day took place on the 30th July where famous author and artist Pauline Hazelwood took her usual place on the platform and delighted children of all ages with readings from her ever-popular and growing series of books on narrow gauge locos. The day was mostly sunny and was busier than last year. As well as drawing crowds intent on hearing her latest stories, she also did her usual sketching and painting of the atmosphere around.
Sadly, the real Alice is still in pieces during her 10 year overhaul (her frames are now painted in gleaming black) but her ‘sisters’ were on parade and visitors were treated to seeing the real thing puffing happily past the station. As always, it was a most enjoyable day for all.
Looking ahead, as there is always something brewing on the BLR, we are delighted to announce that for our August Bank Holiday Weekend Gala, we will have two ‘guest’ locos, kindly loaned by our friends at the Statfold Barn Railway in Staffordshire. One is a fascinating French loco called simply Minas de Aller No. 2, built by Corpet Louvet in 1884 for the coal mines at Minas de Aller which is found in the area of Asturia, just to the south of Oviedo in northern Spain. This intriguing loco features indirect drive which is similar in principle to a reduction gearbox on a Land Rover. This feature means that the loco can haul an enormous weight more easily than a ‘normal’ loco but at reduced speed and is a characteristic seen on mountain rack railways where the initial motion runs gears which reduce the speed of the main motion and driving wheels. Anyone who has visited the Snowdon Mountain railway will recognise this feature.
The second loco coming to visit the BLR is special to us as she is Liassic, the Peckett-built sister loco to Triassic which lives in our Heritage Centre. As a typically inspired idea, the 16.00 departure each day will involve Liassic double-heading with Triassic which will be a unique sight as Triassic has not run for a number of years but to witness the two Pecketts together will be very special, albeit with Triassic not in steam.
Day Rover tickets are available online so please book quickly to reserve your seats.
Our 50th Anniversary day on August 13th was a resounding success, the whole idea being to re-create the first trains to the first termini on the line 50 years ago.
The first train travelled along to the first terminus at the tiny halt at Pentrepiod behind our small R&H diesel, Lady Madcap, thus replicating that first trip behind the railway’s first diesel. She pulled the railway’s first two carriages and was ‘top ‘n tailed’ by our other R&H Chilmark. Originally, there was a point and short spur at Pentrepiod where the loco could get out of the way whilst the carriages were pushed past by hand! This spur was taken up as soon as the next terminus was reached.
The second train used the same two carriages and proceeded to the second terminus, Llangower, behind Meirionnydd, our diesel which was purpose-built for the BLR. Llangower has its own permanent passing loop.
The third train was hauled by Maid Marian, not the first steam loco to use these rails but is the earliest applicable example from our stock. This train went as far as Pant-yr-Hen-Felin, that glorious stretch of track which runs between the lane and the lake. Again, there was briefly a passing loop thus this service was ‘top ‘n tailed’ with Chilmark which then piloted the train back to Llangower where Maid Marian took over once again.
The fourth train was to the current Bala terminus and back thus in one day, 50 years of traction and termini along the line were covered, a memorable achievement.
Continuing the engineering activity, a lot of the work on carriage no. 4 is coming to fruition. Her colour scheme of gloss maroon and cream is gleaming and her newly fitted air compressor has been installed. Indeed every guard’s van now has an air compressor to keep the air reservoir filled and every carriage now runs on new bogies built in-house, a beautiful piece of work by our team. The finished carriage was gleaming in the evening sun on the 10th August when it was coupled to our diesel, Bob Davies, and taken for a test run after the last passenger service of the day. Apart from a minor adjustment, all was, perhaps unsurprisingly, in perfect order. No.4 re-entered service (after 27 years out of action) on the 13:30 Anniversary Special to Pant-yr-Hen-Felin on the 13th August. The bodywork has been totally rebuilt in similar style to coach 2, but in a first for the Bala Lake Railway, the carriage features an observation end window, which we are sure will become very popular with our passengers.
The Avonside re-build progresses and owner John Moorhouse sent through some photos on developments. At his base in the Peak District, work continues on cleaning and repairing as required the valve and brake gear before painting and assembly on to the frames.
Closer to ‘home’ in Wales, the fire box and boiler are now taking shape, after a lot of preparatory work, at Berwyn Boilers. The major parts are being tack-welded (which precludes heat distortion), clamped and bolted together for inspection by the Certification Body prior to final assembly.
In the meantime, the first wheel-set is having the treads re-profiled at Llanuwchllyn as well as some serious cleaning up of the journals.
Everyone is looking forward to the day that frames and boiler are united but there is quite a way to go.
And finally……… talk about ‘hands-on’ management. Apart from dealing with the myriad day-to day detail, we show a photo of our GM getting down to some serious work on carriage no. 4 with the new beading.
A comment was voiced about the appeal of the BBQ trains. Apart from a lovely journey along the beautiful lake, with minimal trees obscuring the view, driver Ben Nelson’s photos from the footplate illustrate the sheer, shall we say, majesty of the location and show how fortunate we are to have this on our doorstep.
