Recent content by Rogercas

Managed retreat at Fairbourne? Bit strange when the Welsh Government are now spending £5+million to prevent flooding there. http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/environmentandcountryside/2013/130304spendingprioriites/?lang=en Left hand and right hand???

Yes, I use the B5430 every visit to Wrecsam and agree the 'bottom' half should have a speed limit. Having said that, it's a better road than those parts of the A470 which are being reconstructed. I'm not pro road, but the good doctor Beeching left me without a direct rail service. Machynlleth...

Probably won't provide any more jobs but it will improve access to the coast for tourists. So some spin off by way of more visitors is possible. That particular stretch of road (Maes yr Helmau re-alignment) has been a nightmare accident spot for years and the work has been deferred for nearly...

According to the current timetable the Barmouth split of the early morning train from Mach to Pwllheli no longer occurs. There is a second short working to Barmouth following the Pwllheli train which then forms the 06.48 return to Mach.

Back in 1980 I worked near to Earlsfield station and we had a senior staff member who was overfond of drink and who used to commute daily from Brighton changing at Clapham Junction. We were amazed one morning to see him appear wearing one shoe and a slipper. It transpired that on boarding a...

When rebuilt in 1932 to allow heavier trains there was no strengthening of the road section, and indeed at that time there was little point in doing so, given the weight of motor vehicles. So the rail bridge can still take 2 x Class 37s and 8 coaches whilst some road vehicles are banned...

With consent having now been given to remove the old bridge, the only appeal can be made to the Welsh Government. This will no doubt receive short shrift as this vital economic road link has been awaited since the 1960s. One of the downsides of living in a NP is that outsiders sometimes...

Point of order Bob. In the National Park the County Council have no mandate whatsoever, the SNP being the sole planning authority. I'm fairly certain that the application to remove the old bridge was published a couple of months back. Whilst Cadw are obviously involved, I believe that they...

Some ambiguity about the old bridge. National Park have given permission for it to be demolished in due course. http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/i/22174/

I believe that an attempt was made to cost this out as a possible re-opening but failed because the trackbed has been utilised for the Dolgellau bypass and there is no other land corridor on which you could put a railway through the town or valley. As for Aberystwyth to Carmarthen one...

Sure, but most of the extant trackbed is in private hands although as others have pointed out you can walk the Cwm Prysor to Trawsfynydd section by courtesy of the landowners. Again, the section south from Blaenau is now designated for the Velorail project (pedal trains!). A major deviation...

Best travelled in early spring or autumn when the trees are bare. It has to be said that 100k+ visitors per year do not find the Festiniog boring, and many are repeat visitors. And Blaenau a dull place? Never! Someone recently published a book of photographs which show the true grandeur of...

I think you will find that this is a fairly recent innovation from ATW. In any event Lloyd George's home station was Criccieth further up the line.

Apologies, I stand corrected and you are indeed correct. I had confused the situation with that on the Cambrian Coast line where seasonal restrictions apply to use of concessionary passes. However as a word of warning, you need to produce a Gwynedd or Conwy travel pass on the Conwy Valley...

Sadly for the future of the line, Express Motors have introduced a weekday commercial bus service (X1) between Blaenau and Llandudno running at approximately hourly intervals and taking fractionally less time than the train. The 'over 60's' free travel is available on this service throughout...