Welshpool and back at fifteen miles per hour - flat out

Welcome to a selection of photographs taken at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway 2006 Gala.
This event took place over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd September.

There are twelve pages of pictures. I have tried to keep the page sizes "sensible" so that dial-up internet users will not have to wait too long. If you connection is a bit slow please be patient as some of the pages could take around a minute to load.

Down to Index of 2006 Gala Pages

Saturday 2nd September 2006

The time is almost 7 o'clock in the morning and the first train of the day is ready to depart.

The train is headed by Sierra Leone Railway No. 85. This is a Hunslet 2-6-2 tank locomotive built in 1954. Behind is W&LLR No. 1 The Earl, the replica Pickering coach and the heritage goods wagons.

 Welshpool Llanfair 2006 gala steam loco 85

Those readers familiar with the W&L will know that on most operating days the time table befits a rural light railway with just three trains from Llanfair to Welshpool and back again. The gala is an oportunity to show off and trains run from early in the morning until after dark.

Here is the timetable for Saturday 2 Sept. There were 17 departures from Llanfair during the course of the day. Some footplate crews were on duty well before 5 a.m. whist other did not end their day until after 10 p.m.

Train Set W&L P P P M G   P P G   P M G   P P P P P
Loco 1&14 2 5 1 14 8   2 5 8   1 14 8   2 5 1 14 2
Llanfair C 07.00 08.00 08.53 09.50 10.45 11.20 -- 11.40 12.35 13.10 -- 13.30 14.25 15.00 -- 15.20 16.15 17.10 18.05 18.55
Cyfronydd 07.15 08.15 09.14 10.09 11.04 11.35 -- 11.59 12.54 13.25 -- 13.49 14.44 15.15 -- 15.39 16.34 17.29 18.24 19.13
Castle C 07.27 08.27 09.28 10.23 11.18 ---- -- 12.13 13.08 ---- -- 14.03 14.58 ---- -- 15.53 16.48 17.43 18.36 19.25
Sylfaen 07.33 08.42 09.39 10.34 11.29 -- -- 12.24 13.19 -- -- 14.14 15.09 -- -- 16.04 16.59 17.54 18.44 19.32
Welshpool

07.55

 08.59 09.56 10.51 11.50 -- -- 12.41 13.36 -- -- 14.31 15.30 -- -- 16.21 17.16 18.11 19.01 19.49
                                         
Train Set W&L P P1 P   G P M   G P P   G P P P P M P
Loco 1 14 2 5   8 1 14   8 2 5   8 1 14 2 5 1&14 2
Welshpool 08.20 09.22 10.17 11.12 -- -- 12.07 13.02 -- -- 13.57 14.52 -- -- 15.47 16.42 17.37 18.26 19.15 20.00
Sylfaen 08.40 09.41 10.36 11.31 -- -- 12.26 13.21 -- -- 14.16 15.11 -- -- 16.06 17.01 17.56 18.46 19.33 20.15
Castle C 08.53 09.51 10.46 11.41 -- ---- 12.36 13.31 -- ---- 14.26 15.21 -- ---- 16.16 17.11 18.06 18.55 19.40 20.22
Cyfronydd 09.12 10.07 11.02 11.57 -- 12.15 12.52 13.47 -- 14.05 14.42 15.37 -- 15.55 16.32 17.27 18.22 19.12 19.52 20.34
Llanfair C 09.27 10.22 11.17 12.12 -- 12.30 13.07 14.02 -- 14.20 14.57 15.52 -- 16.10 16.47 17.42 18.37 19.27 20.08 20.50

Key

Train Details: W&L:   W&L mixed train featuring the Pickering Replica coach with limited seating.
  P: Passenger train
  M: Mixed train
  G: Goods Train with no passenger accommodation
Welshpool Llanfair 2006 gala steam loco The Countess An hour later and things have taken a turn for the worse.

It has started to rain a feature which carried on sporadically for several hours.

Look beyond W&LLR No. 2 The Countess and you will see a diesel locomotive, Scooby/Scwbi. The Countess had suffered a vacuum ejector failure and Scooby had to go along to provide the vacuum to work the train brakes.

The defect was rectified later in the day and Scooby only made one return trip to Welshpool.

Contents

Welshpool and back at fifteen miles per hour - flat out (This page)
Dougal At Llanfair
Night Time
Saturday night's alright for ....
Passing trains
Dougal Goods Train
Passing ...... but nothing like ships in the night
Small is beautiful
If Lotus or Caterham's had ever built steam locomotives .... New 13/9/06
Men in Black
Road Haulage -The death knell of the country railway
The End

 

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Copyright © Geoff Gauntlett 2006
Last revised: January 23, 2007.