Vale of Rheidol Railway, 13th August 2013

[Rlangham]

Despite being one of the furthest away from where we were staying, the Vale of Rheidol Railway was the narrow gauge line I was looking forward to visiting most - and it certainly did not disappoint! As well as the fantastic looking 1923 GWR built locomotives, and the carriages dating from the 1920's-30's, the entire line was wonderfully scenic and the stations all appear to be undergoing a lot of work to bring them back to original condition. A very large workshop has been built at Aberystwyth and fitting out/window fitting etc appears to be in progress, and of course there is the planned narrow gauge museum using parts of London Bridge station. The cafe at Devil's Bridge was superb - and to top it off, Phyllis & Rampton Trust restored Kerr Stuart 'Wren' Class 3114 of 1918, built for the Ministry of Munitions, was giving driver experiences for £5 at the Devil's Bridge - my first experience of driving a locomotive (and, barring a cab ride in a 40hp Protected Simplex, my only ride on a footplate), great fun!



Start of the day - No 8 in original Great Western Railway livery leaves the shed (built in the 1930's for the standard gauge line)



Baguley-Drewry No 10 0-6-0 moves the carriages into the platform





No 7 'Owain Glyndwr' boiler and frames, in queue for overhaul (the money raised by the Kerr Stuart at Devil's Bridge went towards this)



The pump on the front of the locomotive makes a very nice 'bang-BANG' exhaust beat even when static



Climbing to Devil's Bridge - it's hard work for the little engine (well, not so little compared to other 2 ft locomotives....) and makes a very pleasant noise too







Footplate crew at Devil's Bridge



My 'steed' - briefly!



Here I am , many thanks to the chap who supervised the temporary drivers



No 8 sat awaiting the return journey





Original 1902 corrugated iron station building







Evidence of the recent effort being put into the stations





The tight curves afford plenty of opportunities to get a good look at the locomotive hauling you







No 9 'Prince of Wales'



Engineering vehicle aptly named 'Thunderbird 4'!



No 8 Coalling at Aberystwyth



As does No 9 later in the day

[1H was 2E]

Here's a photo showing the original engine shed and a loco. I am sure that any Cambrian Railways enthusiast was pretty upset when the original attractive livery (yellow and brown, I believe, in the case of the VoR) was replaced by the dull uniformity of GWR green. So they at least might like this livery as a change. I did....

[Rlangham]

From what I can gather, the two original 2-6-2T's were in a two tone lined green - then one of them, No 2 'Prince of Wales' was painted in LBSCR 'Stroudley's improved engine green' simply because the guy running the railway liked it and ask the LBSCR if he could have some - by the time the Cambrian took over just pre-WW1 they were both in lined green, and sometime around 1916-18 when the coal bunkers were enlarged (making them look even more like the GWR 2-6-2T's), they were painted plain black with 'CAMBRIAN' on the sides. Have the CC Green book which i'm starting to go through so not all of the above may be 100% correct! The BR Blue looks fantastic, suppose there could be a possibility of No 7 going into it when back in service...