The final video from my trip to North Wales earlier this month, and a rather grand finale as we end with the Welsh Highland Railway's 'Super Power Weekend'. Held from the 12th to the 14th of September, this mega gala showcased all of the WHR's operational fleet, including visiting locomotives from the Ffestiniog Railway, working a variety of passenger, mixed and freight trains. With the recent completion of 'Phase 4' of the WHR's rebuilding, the gala was mainly focused along the Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog section of the line. We visited on the Friday and Saturday of the event, although a few clips have been added in from normal service days, extra clips that didn't have their place anywhere else or in their own video, being taken before or after we'd spent a day on either the Ffestiniog or the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.
Locomotives in action during the event were:
- Prototype Garratt 0-4-0+0-4-0T 'K1' (Her last 'Super Power' event before her boiler certificate expires in November)
- NG/G16 Garratt 2-6-2+2-6-2Ts nos.87, 138 and 143.
- FR no.2 0-4-0STT 'Prince'
- FR no.10 0-4-4-0T Double Fairlie 'Merddin Emrys'
- FR no.9 0-4-4T Single Fairlie 'Taliesin' *
- Lynton & Barnstaple Railway 2-6-2T no.E190 'Lyd' *
- FR Bo-Bo 'Vale of Ffestiniog'
- WHR Bo-Bo 'Castell Caernarfon' *
* Does not feature
Shots included:
138: Rhyd Ddu and the Aberglaslyn Pass on the freight. Leaving Porthmadog and at Pen-Y-Mount Junction on passenger workings.
143: Cambrian Crossing on a passenger train. Cresting 'The Summit' and Beddgelert Cemetery Crossing on the freight with 138. Making noise on the climb to Nantmor Tunnel on the freight and back at Cambrian Crossing on a passenger train.
87: Near Hafod y Llyn on the steep climb to Nantmor Tunnel, approaching 'The Summit', dropping down the other side at Pitt's Head, passing through the Aberglaslyn Pass and dropping down from Nantmor near Hafod y Llyn.
K1: Passing through the Aberglaslyn Pass and speeding out of Rhyd Ddu on a mixed train, and near Pont Cae'r Gors (Both ways) with 'Vale of Ffestiniog'.
Prince: Passing through the Aberglaslyn Pass, cresting 'The Summit', heading back through the Pass and passing through the loop at Hafod Llyn on the vintage set.
Merddin Emrys: Passing through the Aberglaslyn Pass, climbing up to Nantmor Tunnel, accelerating away from Beddgelert Cemetery Crossing, near Pont Cae'r Gors, approaching 'The Summit' and leaving Rhyd Ddu and passing over 'The Summit' all on the vintage set.
Filmed on a Panasonic HS900 with a Pro Sound L92AA microphone.
Enjoy.