Saturday 16 September - Vale of Rheidol Railway at Aberystwyth

The Vale of Rheidol Railway (1 foot 11 1/2" gauge) in Aberystwyth was holding a 20s and 30s weekend event at Aberystwyth. All staff were dressed in period costume and the workshop was open. I took the train from Shrewsbury, just under two hours through pleasant scenery through Welshpool, Caersws and Machynlleth. There was nothing to see as we passed the Ospreys nest at Dovey Junction, I believe they had three chicks this year.

The VofR was running two types of train, the regular service trains to Devils Bridge, using two of the ex-Great Western 2-6-2 tanks while visiting locomotive Britomart worked a series of short run shuttles.

Britomart working a short turn shuttle

This is no 9 with its GWR number 1213

2--6-2 tank no. 8 was the second "main line" locomotive in operation

However, the main reason for my visit was to see the recently acquired Beyer Garratt ex-South African Railways no. 60.  Paul and I had previously seen this last year in Switzerland in a garden centre, the Scnitznacher Baumschulbahn near Brugg.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinchurcher/albums/72157674836362446
The locomotive was too large for some of the curves and has now been acquired by the VofR. It was difficult to photo in Switzerland and, although better in Aberystwyth, if was still difficult here.

2-6-2 was under repair/rebuild

Much of No. 7 looks new

The machine shop is well equipped and the VoR does a lot of work for other preserved railways

I watched Britomart switching and being serviced while the Devils Bridge trains came and went. The narrow gauge trains can be readily observed from the standard gauge platform.

A diesel was standing by but was not used

Click here to see all pictures taken at the Vale of Rheidol Railway

Standard gauge train to Shrewsbury and Birmingham

The train coming back was on time as far as Sutton Bridge, Shrewsbury where we were held for five minutes while the signallers found a route for us into the station.  The trains are fast and the countryside is very pleasant indeed.