Archive for Freesteam For collectors and enthusiasts of all steam engines
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SillyBilly
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Proper PreservationI spent Saturday doing something I've waited 16 years to do, ride a gravity train on the edge of a waggon down the Ffestiniog Railway.
Gravity Trains on the FR are a re-enactment of the way slate trains were run back in the railway's heyday, because of the genius of the railway's designer it was built so that it only climbed in one direction, which allowed trains to simply roll down from the quarries (Blaenau Ffestiniog) to the port (Porthmadog) where the slates were shipped across the world. At the back of the train was a 'dandy' waggon which carried a horse, because when the railway was first built steam locos were still a very new development so the wagons had to be pulled back up the hill by horses, thankfully the wagons were at that time wooden and relatively light having just been unloaded at the port, but horses still had to be changed at regular intervals on the uphill journey. When steam arrived the horses were done away with but the full trains still came down by gravity, newer wagons were then built from iron.
Sadly shortly after the railway's preservation began part of the original track bed was flooded for a hydro-electricity pumped storage power station to be built, the railway was forced to deviate around this, but that involved climbing higher than the railway originally went, so sadly the constant downhill grade was lost. However there is a remote station 9 miles up the line called Dduallt where there is a siding, it is also at the beginning of the deviation, so today re-enactment gravity trains are run from here.
The re-enactment gravity trains that are run today consist of both full & empty waggons as it is impractical to load the waggons at the beginning of the journey & unload them at the end(even if some have tanks of water rather than expensive slate. So on Saturday 'Palmerston' (an original Ffestiniog loco designed for the job) pulled the train up to Dduallt and after a short wait and good bit of banter at this beautiful location a path became available and the train made its way back down to Porthmadog by gravity. It was a bit of a nippy morning, but in the glorious autumn sunshine with clear blue skies I can't think of anywhere in the world I'd have rather been. Then in the afternoon we did it all again!
Sorry if that was a boring history lesson, so here are some pictures of the trian going up.
Rhiw Goch Farm (taken by my dad who couldn't come on the train because lifting my steam engine in and out of his car did his back in)
This is called Leadmine curve which is on the approach to Cei Mawr, we're under a Portable cloud
Cai Mawr Europe's biggest freestanding drystone embankment
Same thing, different angle (thanks to my dad)
Dduallt Tank Curve
Nearing Dduallt
Dduallt Sidings
The question you may ask is 'why?' do we do it? Because this is what railway preservation is all about taking something old, making it useable and playing with it. Would I do it again? Of course I would, I'd like to eventually graduate from being a trainee brakesman to a brakesman. But now I've got some slate waggons that I need to help restore.
(Waggons spelt with gg because this is ye olde FR way)
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Spokesmann
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Fantastic scenery SB, that embankment looks a bit scary to drop off!
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joiner
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Great pics will have to come and see that one day.
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avenger
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Great Stuff !!!
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silverfoxsteam
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.. and the sun was shining - amazing!!!
Snowdonia sunshine is generally liquid.
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Franco
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Great pic's, great scenery, and obviously a great day!! 
Franco.
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