Union of South Africa at Bridgnorth, SVR.
Photo: R J Heron 17-Jun-06
Photo: R J Heron 17-Jun-06
The 2006 Bristol Group Annual Mini Roadmotor Group Outing - The Cambrian Coast Excess 2 - took us for a short excursion on the Severn Valley Railway, followed by visits to three Welsh narrow gauge lines: The Welshpool and Llanfair, The Talyllyn and the Corris.
It was a somewhat smaller that usual crowd that set off on a warm June day for the 2006 group road motor outing, a second visit to the Great Little Trains of Wales but taking in some of the lines we had missed in 2003. Sadly, one of our regulars, Eric Gould, had passed away over the previous winter; his contribution to our outings will be much missed. Also, young Benjamin had thrown an 11th hour wobbler and decided not to join us. So, instead of one mini-road-motor we took two carloads, which in the end proved to be much quicker and less fuel-thirsty overall.
Of course, the natural place to start a tour of Welsh narrow gauge railways is… on a standard gauge English one! So late morning saw us at the Severn Valley Railway’s northern headquarters at Bridgnorth. – and it would have been a bit earlier had not both drivers missed the overflow car park entrance! The plan was to ride to Highley and back, and our train engine for the down trip was the A4 “Union of South Africa”. This locomotive’s efforts in departing from Bridgnorth served only to underline why the GWR did not persist with the “Pacific” type after no. 111… On arrival at Highley time was taken to inspect the big ‘ole that is destined to become the SVR’s loco display area.
The unmistakeable clank of an “8F” soon heralded the arrival of our return train to Bridgnorth; we were most impressed by the train staff calling out to us to tell us where our reserved accommodation was as the train entered the platform! A quick lunch in the station buffet, then it was off to the wilds of Wales…
It was of course but a year from our visit that the SVR suffered devastating flood damage. We would like to add our sincere best wishes to those already expressed within the preservation movement.
The first mistake of the tour was to allow group chairman Andrew Hook to be navigator in the lead car. Remember the 1-in-3 hills of North Yorkshire a couple of years back? Let’s say we took a rather imaginative route from Bridgnorth to Welshpool, involving some interesting overtaking and a close encounter with Mid-Wales Airport. No, me neither. (I was subsequently told by a pilot friend that as the place is surrounded by mountains, low cloud, rain and mist it is particularly difficult to find and embarrassingly so if it’s the object of your cross-country navigation exam…) However, time was fortunately on our side and we were able to fit in two grices of the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway train between those two termini – one at crossing level and one from the main road above the line.
After the obligatory cup of tea and ice-cream at Llanfair Caereinion we took our seats in the newly-outshopped composite coach. We were very much at the “working class” end, first class accommodation being distinguishable by the carpeting. On the seats. For additional entertainment we were raced (and beaten) most of the way to Welshpool by a Foden steam lorry which was participating in a local transport festival that weekend. It is often forgotten that, although not a climb from the coast like many other Welsh lines, the W&LLR does have some quite taxing gradients and train engine “The Earl” was seen and heard to be working hard.
We had arranged for our overnight halt to be in Machynlleth, the White Lion Hotel to be precise. This was judged to be one of the better places we have stayed at on our travels! After an excellent evening meal we took the half mile or so walk out to the station. This at least is being sympathetically treated by its new owners although of course but a shadow of its past glories. And it was pleasing to note that the largely roofless engine shed is still being used for its designed purpose, albeit the servicing of DMU’s. The young lady who asked us if there were any trains to Shrewsbury at that time of night (after 10’oclock) was to be sadly disappointed. It was, however, still possible to make a return trip to Aberystwyth, generally regarded as a better journey than a single one!
The warm sunshine of Saturday gave way to a miserable overcast Sunday, and by the time we had driven down the Dovey estuary to Tywyn a few spots of drizzle and materialised. Our first stop was at Pendre station for a quick inspection of locos being prepared for the day and a visit to the signal box, always of interest to Bristol Group members. Then it was on to Wharf station to ride the first train of the day to Nant Gwernol. The slight downside was that the TR likes to run “Duncan” (complete with face) on this diagram. The upside was that the driver was a GWS member and allowed our party rides that are best described as being better than the first class accommodation! A few weeks later, said driver turned up at Didcot (which is actually reachable from Tywyn as a day trip by rail) on a day when I was signalling in Radstock box. We were able to repay the courtesies granted to us by offering a box visit and allowing his young grandson to pull a couple of levers.
After retuning down the hill and taking lunch (note: the station buffet does not serve chips on Sundays) there was time to visit the recently completed (and royally opened) Narrow Gauge Museum of Wales. This has many interesting exhibits and tells the story of the development of railways and slate mining in north Wales. We were impressed by the most efficient use of the space available.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent with our old friends at the Corris Railway. Did they remember us from our last visit three years ago? Unfortunately yes...
Despite that they still welcomed us, subject to our not attempting any speed records with their new replica loco No. 2. We left with the impression that the CR will be a major player on the Welsh narrow gauge scene as soon as their expansion and signalling plans come to fruition.
So, finally home, via the mountain roads of mid-Wales and the excellent Honey café, where one of our number declared he hadn’t been in ten years. As he was on the “Cambrian Coast Excess” of 2003 which stopped here, we thought not. And another challenge for the organiser – where to next year? Watch this space, as they say.