Virtual Railfan Tour UK - Ffestiniog Railway (part 3) - Including Gravity Trains

Yesterday I left you coming back to Porthmadog on a special train hauled by the 1865 veteran "Prince"
The trains use the legal title with one "F" although for publicity purposes it uses
Rhielfordd Ffestiniog Railway.
Throughout its long history there have been many types of fare reductions
Quarrymen were very important to the railway which issued special tickets - for use in special trains. It is interesting to see the use of the term "Lad". For regular passengers the ticket would show "Child"

This is a beautifully restored former Lynton and Barnstable Railway coach. I was able to buy an HO scale one in the Porthmadog station shop.

It is now a common sight to see a FR double Fairlie next to a WHR ex-South African Railway Garratt

The cab of the Garratts is quite roomy compared to the cabs on the Ffestiniog. One interesting labour saving device I noticed is that the shovel plate on the tender is higher than the firehole which means that the fireman moves the coal down. The crews appreciate this immensely. It is a pity the Great Western did not do this. On GWR locomotives the fireman had to lift every shovelful of coal up about a foot. When you consider the number of tons to be moved on a trip this becomes quite a chore.

A Garratt on the run round road at Porthmadog - the platform road is to the left. In the distance can be seen the crossing of the Busy High Street which was a key factor in joining up the Welsh Highland to the Portmadog Harbour station.

I took this video of the High Street crossing. The train is a special hauled by single Fairlie "Taliesin"

This entertaining video "Quirks and Curiosities".. The first cut shows a double Fairlie starting out - note the different blast rate from the two stacks. With two throttles/regulators the driver can set the front engine to slip slightly to dry the rail for the second engine to provide the traction. Just behind the locomotive are some bug boxes.
Gravity Slate Trains
In the beginning horses were used for traction. They would haul the empty train up from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog where they would walk on their own to a flat wagon where they would ride on the gravity movement back to Portmadog. The deviation at Dduallt has altered the gradients such that gravity trains can only be run from Power Station summit to Porthmadog. These videos illustrate these amazing runs.  The first video is taken on the gravity train itself




Absolutely crazy - but my kind of craziness

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