Well after Saturdays bad weather, Sunday was much better. It was cloudy but it wasn't raining, and time for day two of Ffestiniog Railway 150 Years of Passenger Trains.
The first train to depart was Simplex loco “Mary-Ann”, a diesel powered loco, not used on everyday trains. It departed with the “Tan-y-bwlch Or Bust” train that only contained one carriage.
Before collecting its one carriage, it was helped by No 2 “Prince” with some shunting of the carriages, to get the correct carriage for Mary Ann.
Once Mary Ann departed Porthmadog bound for Tan-y-bwlch, it was time for Prince to get ready for departure. This involved some more shunting, the train was a shuttle to Boston Lodge Works, where members of the public got to see the Carriage Works. In addition Prince would be acting out a “chain shunt”, it is how the locos ran around their trains when the railway only ran to Boston Lodge.
Its carriages for this trip consisted of 2 carriages, with a theme of 1955 era, “Early Preservation”. The last carriage was an old First Class Observation carriage.
Then they was a bit of delay, due to the Garratt coming off shed. This pushed the next 5 trains on at least 20 minutes. Whilst we were waiting for the Garratt, No.4 Palmerston came across the cob, to prepare for the 10:50 “Flying Flea”. The Garratt and DLG both came across The Cob together, with part of the 10:10 service train. After DLG had arrived, I thought it was time for a spot of Breakfast, same as yesterday in Spooners. The rain had a little drizzle, but I went out and videoed the Garratt and DLG depart each for Caernarfon and Blaenau Ffestiniog respectively.
Luckily the rain stopped after the Garratt and DLG had departed, so I got chance for more pictures and video to be taken.
Alan Garraway Memorial Train
The next train to depart was the delayed Allan Garraway Memorial Service, this was a memorial service train for the ex General Manager. The service was held at Tan-y-bwlch. The Special was Hauled by Prince and Linda. Linda was always said to be Allan Garraway's Engine. Prince had a set of flowers for the Special to commemorate the work done by Allan Garraway, who sadly passed away on the 29th December 2014.
Then it was the turn of Palmerston to depart with the “Flying Flea” service to Minffordd. This train was a “Late 50s Relief Train”. Not a particularly long train, but one you don't see everyday. This was delayed, but nevertheless it departed.
Merddin Emrys was next to depart, this train was the 11:35 service train to Blaenau Ffestiniog, but it had to wait for the Flying Flea to arrive back at Porthmadog from Minffordd first. So I got chance for a few pictures of the Double Fairlie first and with Palmerston when it arrived back.
Flying Flea
Once Merddin Emrys had departed, Palmerston departed for Minffordd again with the Flying Flea, then The Garratt then arrived from Caernarfon. Surprisingly, the trains were now almost back on time. Once the Garratt was in the platform, it wasn't long until DLG arrived back from Blaenau Ffestiniog. It arrived 3 minutes early, which almost caught me out! At 13:15, it was time for the Garratt to depart bound for Caernarfon.
Quick break for Lunch, and it was time for DLG to make its second trip to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Leaving on time, it was cloudy but the rain was still holding off. About 25 minutes later, Linda and Prince arrived back with the memorial service, which had made a service train at Tan-y-bwlch, on the train towards Blaenau Ffestiniog, it arrived back with full load. Prince ran around into the siding to take on coal, shortly followed by Linda.
Due to the lateness earlier in the day, Mary Ann waited at Minffordd whilst DLG departed Porthmadog, then came over to Harbour Station, which meant time for some pictures.
Y CYMRO
Once Mary Ann was out of the Platform, Prince ran around into Platform 2. Complete with headboard “Y CYMRO” , which translated means “The Welshman”. This was a 1960s era train to Tan-y-bwlch, it wasn't due to depart till 15:00, but it connected to carriages in platform 2, for some pictures to be taken.
Palmerston, back from Minffordd, took on water and coal, then departed for Tan-y-bwlch, again with the Flying Flea. It did good job of illustrating how things worked in the early days of preservation. Penryhn was even a station with a loop to run around trains at one point.
Merddin Emrys then arrived from Blaenau Ffestiniog, with the service train. Now the line Minffordd was clear. Prince departed for Tan-y-bwlch, it was non-stop run up to Tan-y-bwlch.
End of A Great Day
Sunday of ‘Ffestiniog Railway 150 Years of Passenger Trains' event was slowly drawing to a close, but some departures were still left, as well as some arrivals. The next arrival was the Ex-Caernarfon train, pulled by Garratt 138. Linda was in the siding, with Merddin Emrys waiting for departure, meaning The Garratt could go for water and coal.
It was now time for Merddin Emrys to depart with 15:48 to Blaenau Ffestiniog, as Palmerston was back with the Flying Flea. After this, Linda collected its Carriages, and formed the 1960s train, which was due to depart after DLG had arrived back from Blaenau Ffestiniog. DLG arrived back and took on its bit of coal, ready for tomorrow and shunted a few carriages into the siding. By this time, Linda had departed with the 16:20 service to Tan-y-bwlch.
With no more duties, DLG and Palmerston double headed back over Boston Lodge sheds for the night. At 17:10, Prince arrived back from Tan-y-bwlch. Again with no more duties till tomorrow, Prince also resorted to going back to Boston Lodge, shortly after Linda arrived back, but Linda had a duty to pull the Jazz Train later that evening, so went to prepare for that train.
Within 2 minutes, Merddin Emrys and Garratt 87 arrived at Harbour Station, both with no more duties, they left for Boston Lodge. I also left Harbour station, but to see Linda later that evening at Minffordd and Penrhyn.
Id like to say a big thank you to Ffestiniog Railway for another Great day.
Thanks for reading the Sunday episode of Ffestiniog Railway 150 Years of Passenger Trains.
