• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Preservation -- concern about how much is, physically, the original?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Harbornite

Established Member
Joined
7 May 2016
Messages
3,627
railway enthusiasm and common sense do not mix :s ...

Indeed. Rather OT but the 'enthusiast' part of me wishes we still had class 47s and mark 2s on Crosscountry services, the other part understands that Voyagers are better from an operational point of view (higher top speed, no runarounds etc)
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,689
Re Moel Tryfan, in at least two of the books by Peter Johnson about the Festiniog it's mentioned that after being cut down to fit the loading gauge it worked regularly to Blaenau Ffestiniog - although apparently there are no known photographs of it beyond Portmadoc - so it seems that wouldn't have affected the decision to not restore it.

I never knew that, about MT 's being cut down to fit the loading gauge -- or if I had read it in the past, it was long forgotten. I know that that was done to Russell -- "uglifying" her in the process (and she still wouldn't fit to go through the Moelwyn tunnel); but any other locos, no.

I'm afraid I have a rather unfair and unkind prejudice about Peter Johnson's writing: for me, he can make even the most fascinating subject-matter, dull.
 

Merthyr Imp

Member
Joined
24 May 2016
Messages
616
Location
Merthyr Tydfil
I never knew that, about MT 's being cut down to fit the loading gauge -- or if I had read it in the past, it was long forgotten. I know that that was done to Russell -- "uglifying" her in the process (and she still wouldn't fit to go through the Moelwyn tunnel); but any other locos, no.

I'm afraid I have a rather unfair and unkind prejudice about Peter Johnson's writing: for me, he can make even the most fascinating subject-matter, dull.

And of course they didn't bother even trying to cut down the Baldwin engine! The Festiniog did have its own single Fairlie (the original Taliesin) so I assume Moel Tryfan wasn't much bigger than that anyway.

Yes, Peter Johnson does seem to devote a lot of space to quoting and reporting from minutes of directors' meetings and similar.
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,689
Going further off-topic vis-a-vis the thread: my lack of keenness on Mr. Johnson can be attributed partly to circumstances long ago, which can't reasonably be held against him. A few decades back, the Ffestiniog Railway Society's quarterly magazine for all members, was edited for a good many years by Dan Wilson and his deputy Norman Gurley; who were witty, lively and talented writers, and -- in literary terms -- lifted the FR Magazine a good way above most of its preservation-society counterparts. It was (for many members, most of the time) a delight to read. Some of the more staid folk in the Society, didn't always agree (and one can see their point): they wrote in now and again, begging for less in the way of "Look at me, aren't I clever?" abstruse written-word acrobatics, and more in the way of universally comprehensible accounts of what was taking place on the railway.

It ended up with Dan Wilson over-reaching himself with a particular creatively cheeky comment; one gathered that the "high-ups" basically required him to resign as editor. He and his "sidekick" thus stepped down, and Peter Johnson succeeded to the editorial position. I found Johnson's "straight facts" approach, and "neutral" writing style, dreary in comparison with what his quirky predecessors had delivered; and have ever since, been unable to avoid comparing him unfavourably, with them -- though they were "rare birds" indeed on the scene concerned.
 

Merthyr Imp

Member
Joined
24 May 2016
Messages
616
Location
Merthyr Tydfil
Funny you should say the above, Calthrop, only a couple of hours ago I was reading Peter Johnson's recent book 'Festiniog Railway From Slate Railway to Heritage Operations 1921-2014' (which is one of those where it mentions Moel Tryfan working to Blaenau) and he has this to say on the magazine editorship:

'The directors' unhappiness with the society magazine's editorial approach, which had been festering away since 1982, came to a head in 1990. Editor Dan Wilson had acquired a reputation for writing editorials suspected of containing hidden meanings, which probably existed more in the reader's mind than in his, but the directors had made several attempts to control what was said. An alleged libel of Alan Pegler in an editorial gave them the opportunity they needed, with Pegler apparently threatening to resign his position of society president. Wilson resigned instead and was replaced by the author.'
 

341o2

Established Member
Joined
17 Oct 2011
Messages
2,014
I never knew that, about MT 's being cut down to fit the loading gauge -- or if I had read it in the past, it was long forgotten. I know that that was done to Russell -- "uglifying" her in the process (and she still wouldn't fit to go through the Moelwyn tunnel); but any other locos, no.

I'm afraid I have a rather unfair and unkind prejudice about Peter Johnson's writing: for me, he can make even the most fascinating subject-matter, dull.

Indeed, Moel Tryfan was cut down along with Russell, can anyone identify the following article where a team was sent to perform the necessary work. With the Fairlie being on the slender side, this was OK, but with Russell in vain, especially as the locomotive still could not pass through the FR tunnel. They were provided accomodation which turned out to be infested with bed bugs which eventually won. Was he still itching when he flanged that dome?

Also, the WHR was requisitioned for scrap during WW2. The Ffestiniog had Moel Tryfan, Baldwin 590 was scrapped, while Russell was sold, ending up on the rebuilt Fayle's china clay railway, Norden Dorset, before being rescued for preservation in 1953. It was totally worn out before arriving in Dorset, and removing the leading pony truck reduced derailments by half
 
Last edited:

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,689
Funny you should say the above, Calthrop, only a couple of hours ago I was reading Peter Johnson's recent book 'Festiniog Railway From Slate Railway to Heritage Operations 1921-2014' (which is one of those where it mentions Moel Tryfan working to Blaenau) and he has this to say on the magazine editorship:

'The directors' unhappiness with the society magazine's editorial approach, which had been festering away since 1982, came to a head in 1990. Editor Dan Wilson had acquired a reputation for writing editorials suspected of containing hidden meanings, which probably existed more in the reader's mind than in his, but the directors had made several attempts to control what was said. An alleged libel of Alan Pegler in an editorial gave them the opportunity they needed, with Pegler apparently threatening to resign his position of society president. Wilson resigned instead and was replaced by the author.'

I'm surprised to read the dates given here: I'd imagined this "business" to have taken place at least a decade earlier -- maybe memory playing me false in that. Johnson seems very fair in his recounting of what went on: it strikes me as ridiculous to suspect Wilson of sinister intriguing in his writings -- I'm convinced that he was just an exuberant wordsmith who sometimes got carried away with the joy of doing such stuff. From what I recall, his fatal mis-step was to refer to Pegler -- because of the latter's rail-enthusiasm-related doings -- as the "wastrel railwayac son" of a -- more sober? -- father: surely, affectionate / mildly-satirical "joshing" on the part of a "licensed slightly mad bard" -- "libel", by no sense-making stretch of the imagination. Clear indications of political machinations afoot. Poor Johnson is just a dull, run-of-the-mill writer in comparison with those who went immediately before him -- as the great majority of people would be.
 

Calthrop

Established Member
Joined
6 Dec 2015
Messages
3,689
Indeed, Moel Tryfan was cut down along with Russell, can anyone identify the following article where a team was sent to perform the necessary work. With the Fairlie being on the slender side, this was OK, but with Russell in vain, especially as the locomotive still could not pass through the FR tunnel. They were provided accomodation which turned out to be infested with bed bugs which eventually won. Was he still itching when he flanged that dome?

Bed bug sagas: I seem to recall tales of problems in that line at the Goat Hotel, Beddgelert, with Ffestiniog / Welsh Highland employees the sufferers, most of a hundred years ago. Were the "loco-trimming" team concerned here, among those who had this kind of bad time at aforementioned hostelry?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top