[peter bunce]

Hi,

Yesterday the Ffestioniog Railway and the new Welsh Highland Railway, in Wales, were joined together with a 'Golden Bolt' ceremony: we use bolts to both fix the rail chairs and the rails together - think of it as a Golden Spike ceremony

Well two, on one side, were used!

A video of the ceremony is available on 'Youtube' at the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvynkpIz70

A lot more work is still needed on the railway, but the track is now complete, so stock can now be moved at a much cheaper cost by rail; the first item is likeley to be the just completed (at a rumored cost of £250,000, provided by an anonymous benefactor) Garratt shown in the video. The dispute over some momney owed (again a quarter on a million) is almost settled, so signalling contracts hopefully will soon be sorted out - the signalling at Porthamdog being the most complicated set on the whole railway.

Finally note the huge difference in size in one of the views towards the end between Palmerston, One of the surviving FR loco's and the new Garratt!


EXTRA, there are also some still photos of the event at the following website http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/goldenbolts09.htm

Enjoy.

 

[thekollector]

Peter,

What a fantastic event! It is a great pleasure to see this rail history not only preserved, but also restored and renewed. Thanks for the video.

Jack

 

[tacfoley]

Posted By peter bunce on 03/01/2009 5:33 AM
Hi,

Yesterday the Ffestioniog Railway and the new Welsh Highland Railway, in Wales, were joined together with a 'Golden Bolt' ceremony: we use bolts to both fix the rail chairs and the rails together - think of it as a Golden Spike ceremony

Well two, on one side, were used!

A video of the ceremony is available on 'Youtube' at the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvynkpIz70

A lot more work is still needed on the railway, but the track is now complete, so stock can now be moved at a much cheaper cost by rail; the first item is likeley to be the just completed (at a rumored cost of £250,000, provided by an anonymous benefactor) Garratt shown in the video. The dispute over some momney owed (again a quarter on a million) is almost settled, so signalling contracts hopefully will soon be sorted out - the signalling at Porthamdog being the most complicated set on the whole railway.

Finally note the huge difference in size in one of the views towards the end between Palmerston, One of the surviving FR loco's and the new Garratt!

Enjoy.


Peter - thanks for posting that clip! What a wonderful achievement the whole thing is - we shall be riding on it this summer, that's for sure.

Best

tac
www.ovgrs.org