Before taking the shot of 5043 heading the Welsh Dragon at Old Colwyn, much of the day was taken up by paying a visit to 2 of North Wales' Heritage lines; The Llangollen Railway & The Ffestiniog Railway. Llangollen were holding their annual DMU gala on this weekend which featured no less than 5 classes of first generation DMU and the familiar 'Auto train sandwich', formed of 2 auto coaches & Pannier No.6430 in the middle. We begin at Glyndyfrdwy with the first train of the day, formed of Gloucester RCW class 122 'Bubble Car' No.55006, which was visiting from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, and seen arriving & departing a few minutes behind. Following this shot we moved on to lineside shots; firstly 6430 is seen with the Auto Train Sandwich at Garthydwr, followed by 55006 again heading back towards Llangollen. Next to pass by was a 6 car formation which featured the 3 main liveries worn by first Generation DMU's; BR Green, BR Blue & Blue & Grey. The Blue livery was carried by the Birmingham RCW class 104, Blue & Grey by the Derby class 108, and the green by a hybrid unit of classes 108 & 127, the latter also being a Derby product. 10 minutes later the Wickham Class 109 headed west towards Carrog, before a final shot sees 6430 accelerating away from Glyndyfrdwy heading back towards Llangollen. After finishing at Llangollen we headed west to the Ffestiniog Railway and despite the Met Office forecasting rain, the weather didn't seem too bad-until we got to Blaenau. By the time we parked at Tanygrisiau, the first station out of Blaenau on the Ffestiniog line, the rain was coming down pretty heavily, and so we were thoroughly soaked on the walk up the the first viewpoint, at Penstock Road crossing. Thankfully, the rain did stop about 2 minutes before Double Fairlie 'Merddin Emrys' accelerated hard away from Tanygrisiau station working the 1330 Blaenau-Porthmadog, but 2 minutes after the train had passed, the cloud had come down and visibility was down to about 50 metres. In the following hour the cloud level rose and fell, and visibility had improved slightly by the time Double Fairlie 'David Lloyd George' burst out of the tunnel from Dduallt with the 1335 Porthmadog-Blaenau; less than a minute later the cloud had lifted entirely, which meant an extra shot was possible of 'David Lloyd George' departing Tanygrisiau in the distance. Returning with the 1505 from Blaenau, the Double Fairlie then absolutely stormed up the 1 in 78 out of Tanygrisiau heading south. Needless to say, although this was the first time we had taken pictures etc. on the Ffestiniog, it certainly won't be the last...

• published: 21 Jun 2015
• views: 49