The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways will debut a brand new train valued at £600,000 with a VIP trip from Tan y Bwlch to Beddgelert and back on Thursday, April 28.
VIPs including Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Liz Saville Roberts, MP, Baron Dafydd Wigley, the High Sherriff and Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd and Gwynedd County Councillors will join the railway’s senior management and members of the team responsible for the design and building of the carriages.
It's not often you get the chance to ride in a brand new train even on the national network. But this year, the Ffestiniog Railway is rolling out a luxury new train, allowing passengers to enjoy a journey through the heart of Snowdonia in unparalleled comfort.
With the opening of the Welsh Highland Railway throughout in 2011, it became clear that the gleaming new WHR stock rather outshone the carriages of its older sister. But in 2016, all that is set to change.
The Ffestiniog will not simply get a new carriage or two; it will get an entire new train, with a specification matching or even exceeding that of the Welsh Highland stock.
Taking pride of place is the £250,000 luxury Pullman observation car 150 which builds on the railway’s expertise with Glaslyn, one of the Welsh Highland’s Pullman cars named by Her Majesty the Queen in 2010.
Designed and built entirely in-house, 150 will take to the tracks this spring, together with its companion service car 125, which will enable Ffestiniog Railway passengers to enjoy the standards of service offered on Welsh Highland trains.
Along with the new observation car, two new standard class super saloons - offering what would be considered first class accommodation on most heritage railways - will form the core of the new train, which will eventually consist of 10 carriages capable of running over the entire 40-mile route between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Caernarfon. Each of these carriages carries a £100,000 price tag.
The railway has built its own carriages since the dawn of the restoration era 60 years ago. The reason is simple: standard gauge heritage lines have an ample supply of ex-British Rail carriages awaiting restoration, but narrow gauge railways have no such luxury.
There is no strategic reserve of narrow gauge rolling stock and certainly none that meet the standards of comfort and safety demanded in the 21st century.
Since the Ffestiniog reopened for traffic in the 1950s, it has steadily introduced new carriages and their design has evolved over the years. The railway has been at the forefront of passenger carrying innovation for more than 150 years and it is now one of the leading carriage makers in the UK.
In a few years’ time the F&WHR will boast two full sets of the larger WHR stock, while the FR will have two made up of slightly-smaller carriages and a third capable of operating on both lines.
Rather than an appointment with the scrapman's torch, the old FR carriages replaced by the new builds are being refurbished and finding a new lease of life at other UK narrow gauge lines.
Picture caption:
The new train carriages.
ends
For more information contact Andrew Thomas, Media Relations, Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, Phone: 01766 516072, Mobile: 07919 414871, Email: athomas@ffwhr.com
No comments:
Post a Comment