UK BBC2 8pm this evening. Episode 1 on the FR and in North Wales:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07lpm6c
Brian Meldon
Thanks for the hint. Will record it.
Gerhard
Thanks for the reminder; I've set the machine...
:)
I hope I'm not doing a spoiler on this but the BBC several times showed shots of the Aberglasyn Pass and the WHR when referring to the gravity slate trains working down from Blaenau Ffestiniog. Still at least we get to see some proper trains rather than that shown on BBC4's "Transporting Live" last week :)
There was also a shot of a WHR train hauled by an NGG16 -a bit of superpower for a slate train perhaps, but I was too polite to mention it..................
It got a big slating in the Daily Mail by the TV critic for Ruth Whassername's catering prowess, or rather lack of it and in particular the charred beef joint and boiled "baked" potatoes after she had ladled about half a gallon of water into the baking tray.
However, all things considered, I thought it was an excellent programme compared to the trainspotting series of a week or two ago, which would have been better placed on the CBBC channel.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Mick
To be fair the two programmes are totally different, FSA is a documentary, Trainspotting is live TV so I would not expect them to be the same.
I thought it just the same as those other docs that the presenters presenting it have produced in the past, it was OK but certainly nothing special and went over things that have been covered elsewhere, though the slate section was very well done. However I thought many of the pre-recorded parts of Trainspotting (i.e. the documentary parts) were actually better than much of FSA. Some of the so-called "links" to the way the railway "changed things" seemed a little contrived to say the least.
Both suffered from the same modern disease of over-excited presenters though. The thread on NGRM referred to the older Docs and Live Programmes where we had presenters who delivered in measured tones and didn't get all excited at the drop of a hat... If I want that I'll watch a footie match on the box thanks!
Everyone's tastes are different, it was a reasonable documentary with some interesting bits on railways but not really my cup of tea, it just seemed to be regurgitating things that have been covered elsewhere, but that's just my opinion.
Still puzzling over how - if the slate trains run down by gravity without the locos - the locos got back down to the bottom to haul the next train up?
Maybe by road? ;)
David.
Surely the empty slate wagons went back on the rear of a passenger train.
They normally had an England loco at both ends of the line for shunting.
Stan.
On the 21st December 1889 John Sylvester Huges the then FR Company Manager and Engineer stated the following:
Presumably there was no requirement for continuous brakes on passenger stock at this time? I know that in later years it was normal practice to marshal passenger coaches next to the loco so that the vacuum brakes were in use, most goods stock not even being piped.
Peter
As it happens the extract above was from a letter requesting exemption to the Board of Trade notice requiring continuous brakes.
This was not successful and the FR did indeed have to fit continuous brakes to passenger trains but not the slate wagons. There were minor concessions like the fact that four of the four wheel coaches, or five quarrymen
I had a look at a website that adjusts historical prices for inflation. It gave
Quote from: engerth399 on July 29, 2016, 11:03
I had a look at a website that adjusts historical prices for inflation. It gave