Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to Railex to see the Dduallt action this weekend as we had a family holiday booked. Alongside the usual beach activities, gardens etc we managed to fit in trips to the Brecon Mountain and Teifi Valley railways.
The Brecon Mountain was scored as the 7th best line in the UK and using this track below the ‘soon’ to be opened 2 mile extension would likely push it higher.
The Baldwin ex SAR No.2 was our loco (good choice indeed). What a model that would make! It was previously owned by Mike Hart and expected to run on the WHR but is a little underpowered perhaps?
Other things we liked: the balconies allowing views like this…the viewing platform allowing you to see the works and the play area for the kids.
The Teifi Valley scored as the 17th best in the country on a par with say Launceston. It was all a little ramshackle, with various huts and sheds meaning a rather disjointed experience and the carriages were really showing their age. The two steam locos they have are well looked after though and the line has a good deal of potential if only they can solve the missing bridge problem (below). The guard reckoned £200k was needed and that raising that would be a stretch – gosh have some imagination (!) - £28m found for the WHR! However as you can see from the shot, the abutment on the far side is in a bad way and the bill could be way more than £200k.
On the one wet morning we visited the Swansea waterfront museum and (unexpectedly) we ran into some FR related bits. Firstly a beautiful model of a Porthmadog slate ship and in the adjacent displays… a 7mm double engine and a video of Porthmadog past and present.
Further into the exhibition and I also found this collection of model locos…
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