Going Down the Twist

On 26/o5/09 Paul Wood and I set out to take the twist out of the track between Bangor Road LC and Moles Hill bottom end point this involved cutting foot long sections of 2x1 then drilling through the steel sleepers every so often and screwing the sleepers to them. We do this because the steel strip sleepers have proven to be too thin to pack. We finished installing sleepers along the whole cutting by the end of the day but had no time to begin packing it this will take place in the near future. Once this has been completed we aim to dig out the old ballast on the road side on the balloon loop, fit batons to the track there then relay it with new ballast, we aim for this to take place June/July in preparation for the main 2009 running day to take place in August, which should also include the operation of a new electric loco addition to the fleet, with drawings on show of the future bodywork.

So with the main 2009 running day on the horizon (and I have some very exciting locos in mind, hopefully something which'll excite every Penrhyn Railway enthusiast) you may be interested in attending? Well the easiest way to attend is to give us a day or so of your time to help reballast the section of the balloon loop, the more there is of us the quicker we can get it done, and perhaps even have people on other jobs such as Moles Hill points which with a little machineing could be getting close to being linked up with the lever frame. So e-mail me on williamchigh(at)gmail.com replace the (at) with an @, to register interest.

Signalbox Working Party

A post preservation volunteer was staying at the caravan site this past weekend so the decision was taken to run some trains for him to relive happy memories, it also marked Dave Mills' 'Welsh Pony's entry to traffic following the running in last weekend, I'm hoping that perhaps one day we'll see an official naming ceremony. During the course of the day he and a few others took the opportunity to begin dismantling Stokerton Signal box, we would have worked at Moles Hill as it is smaller, has been dismantled and new parts all ready machined, but the need for a milling bit prevented this. all parts needed labelling so this was done, and the lever frame had to come out which was most impressive.

Lever Frame

Welsh Pony at Work

Easter Running Day

Paul Wood reports:
Well, where to start? What a busy day 18/04/09 was. I was the first to arrive at Bethesda, the sun was shining and everything was quiet, but not for long. It soon became 11am and we had to start getting ready. I went up to the tunnel above Moles Hill with Meg to get the empty coaching stock. Once back at Stokerton, we briefed all the drivers on how to use my walkie talkies and Harry’s temporary signalling scheme, very similar to that of the F&WHRs. I can report that the signalling worked very well, but the walkie talkies could be a tad annoying at times. It was hoped that two steamers would visit the line, however only arrived and it was soon discovered that the Tich’s springs hung too low and caught on the check rails, meaning it couldn’t run. So with no steam we turned to the petrol, finally after many days of trying Dave Mills’ Welsh Pony burst in to life, it attempted a couple of laps but as it was the first proper run some bits vibrated loose but following some tweaking it completed its first true lap of the line, a loco designed and built for the railway about 10years ago finally doing the job. And doing that job incredibly well what a sight, smell and sound (something for the senses!), riding behind it was incredible but being allowed to drive it was even better. You could hear it working hard on the gradients near Highfield from Stokerton. With the reliability of Welsh pony much improved, we started a two train service with Meg on the other set. Trains crossed at Moles Hill for the first time in preservation so there was plenty of action. I think I can speak for everyone when I say it was a very enjoyable day. Thanks to everyone involved, sadly though as we were so busy not many photos were taken, but check back soon as I may have some.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi 09

On the 28/02 & 01/03/09 Simon's Miniature Railway came back to the railway with Tinker and their Trojan to celebrate St. David's Day (or Dydd Gwyl Dewi). A nice relaxed couple of days playing with fine trains on a fine miniature railway. As well as night running we also saw Dave Mills' fine petrol loco roar in to life for a lap, but sadly failing with carburetor troubles, but he's getting there. Photos here www.joflrailway.fpic.co.uk/c1662373.html and a video:

East Anglian's Running Day

On Wednesday 18th of February we had some 16mm East Anglian modellers come over for an afternoon, one of whom brought a 3 1/2" loco, it wasn't putting the power down well enough so the solution was to sit on it creating a ride on 3 1/2" loco, perhaps a first?
Paul Sherwood produced this fine video:

Waggon Under Construction

I'm currently building myself a 5in gauge wagon as part of my GCSE in Resistant Materials, it is likely that it'll spend most of its time at the railway so I thought it would be relevant to this blog, below is a photo of it in its current state, a rolling chassis.

The Stokerton Snowman

Yesterday the smallest working party I've ever organised took place, there was one happy soul, me, I'll be honest in saying that I got so excited by the snow that the only work I did was oil the points for the East Anglians who are visiting during half term. This was after I'd cleared the track of snow and made sure all the track was willing to work, which it was, so I played trains! My photos are available HERE.

Better Packing

Prior to the 08 Open Day Ieuan one of the railway's owners spent days clearing back vegetation along the whole railway, this meant that with a little feteling the full length of the railway could be used. While majority of the Moles Hill - Highfield section ran remarkably well for a railway that hadn't seen intense service for 7-8 years there were a couple locations which some stock disagreed with, the decision was therefore taken to re-ballast the section of the furthest section of the balloon loop where some rail joints were nearing on an inch between the rails. Luckily on this section the track panels were removable so we were able to lift them and dig out the ballast, pegs had been fitted when the railway was built to keep the track alignment true, but in order to realign the panels and thus removing the rail joint gaps the pegs were taken out, should the track not keep its alignment it is likely we will reinstate them.

The geotextile needs trimming back

We have been having problems with the ridgety of the track panels and as the sleepers are not very deep a twist in the panels has become apparent, my idea (seriously mine!!) to solve this was to screw batons of 2x1 wood to the underside of a few of the sleepers in order to give more of an area to pack. We have trialled this on the balloon loop and it looks as though it will work, when the new ballast was first put in there was a obvious reverse cant which was almost impossible to pack out, however now with the batons in place it appears the packing will now hold. It is proposed that we shall now work on using this system in the Bangor Road LC - Moles Hill cutting as the twist is very evident there.

During a break from all of this the opportunity was taken to beat back some of the brambles on the outside of the loop so access could be gained to some new photographic vantage points. Such as these:

I feel it'd be nice to strip back some of the moss as the walling is rather beautiful

Thanks go to Ellis Morey for these photos

MEG - A New Loco

Prior to the 2008 Open Day the railway's owners purchased a new loco for operation on their line, it's a Ride on Railway 'Hercules' Class it is to be named 'Meg' after one of the owners previous dogs. 'Meg' is very well suited to the railway as there is a motor for each wheel set making it a powerful beast!

Open Day 2008 - How it Went

I cannot believe it has taken me so long to report back on the 2008 Open Day, well it has and I'm sure that really there is no point in a long report as it was so long ago, instead I shall just post the video and the link to the photo gallery encase you've missed them. I shall say however that it went very well, 'Tinker' showed it's true strength hauling roughly 6 adults at a time up our somewhat steep gradients, there was inevitably quite a large amount of derailments, mainly on the balloon loop, and given that it had received only a minimum of feteling before the heaviest service it had seen for about 8 years was run it was to be expected. My heartfelt thanks go to everyone who made the day so special, Ieuan & Wendy for allowing the event to take place and clearing the shrubbery, Simon Pugh of Simon's Miniature Railway for bringing his stock, the guests for making the running of trains more worthwhile, but most of all to our group of volunteers who have got the railway up to scratch. Photos are HERE. Coincidentally, if the 1998 leaflet for the railway is to be believed 2008 marked the 25th year since Terry Robinson began construction of the railway, lets hope it sees another 25 years!