Every year, ICRTS organises a volunteering tour to the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highlands Railway. This is an opportunity for us to partake in all sorts of hands-on maintenance and engineering work at a railway, and more importantly and an opportunity for us to forge and maintain links with enthusiasts and veterans of the industry.

We are extremely grateful to the dedicated staff and volunteers at the FfWHR, who welcome us to the railway and make this experience such an enriching and rewarding one.

For those of you who want a quick glimpse of our trip, this is a beautifully detailed (albeit highly informal) entry of the things we’ve encountered during the trip. And for the twelve of us who’ve endured the laborious volunteering work, this will hopefully serve as a memorable lookback of our trip.

Read on!

Just a quick chuckle before we start

I’m pleased to announce that this year, a record high of 12 members had joined our annual Wales Volunteering trip (14 signed up). While this might not sound like a lot, it’s a significant increase compared to previous years, and the number is very close to the upper limit as the hostel only has 14 beds.

Every year the committee is charged with bringing the entire group’s share of safety boots and high-vis vests to Wales (and of course to depot visits or other sorts of events that entail entering a restricted area). This time around it was no different. Except 12 boots is actually quite a bit of weight and bulk, considering that they are steel-toed and each weigh upwards of 3lbs.

So we had to come up with a nifty solution to carry all this to Wales. So our sensationally creative treasurer Ryan Ma insisted, why not a trolley?

Well there’s non step free platforms, stairs, slopes and all sorts of nasty pavements all throughout our journey. And I could imagine the bags repeatedly faling off the trolley.

No we need this, he insisted.

So after a bit of commotion between us I gave in and decided we might as well bring it on our trip. The first thing that happened was the blue bag tumbled down the steps, right in front of the college entrance. Not a bad way to start.

And throughout the journey we did did encounter non step free platforms, stairs, slopes and all sorts of nasty pavements, as expected. And as expected a lot of things rolled off. So thank you so much for those of you who has helped us with trolley duty.

That said, by the end of the trip I was convinced that it was somewhat effective for carrying a lot of boots and a couple sleeping bags. And besides that, it looked very funny.

A tradition to be continued? The decision is on ICRTS 2022!

On our way!

This year, our journey was slightly different as there was a section of track between Shrewsbury and Machynlleth that was severely damaged during the storm in February. Apparently the storm has completely flooded the area and pushed all the sleepers under the rails out of place. Funny how the area is called Welshpool but people have put little thought into placing a railway through the area.

Therefore, we had to board a rail replacement bus service. Normally I dislike being stuck on a coach, but the views of the sunset was actually nice, and I was seated next to a recently graduated Marine biologist who gave me a lot of insights about the area. Hopefully one day I do get to visit the area, not just for the Heritage Railway!

Interestingly, I noticed that the signage at all the stations have been altered. This is an update that is long overdue, considering that the region’s operation has been handed over from Arriva to TfW quite a while ago.

I like the old sign a lot more — the new signage looks way too clinical, and the colors and iconography just looks hideous. In fairness however, I do have a specific preference for teal and blue things.

And as a treat after our long journey, we headed to the local pub for a couple pints and pool!

The bread and butter: Volunteering at the railway

Each year, we are given a slightly different subset of work at the railway, depending on its operational needs. This year, we:

Gave the fences at a level crossing near the hostel a fresh coat of paint,
Cleaned the the hostel’s exterior walls and scrubbed the mold off the gates at the level crossing,
Painted the walls at the newly build shed at Boston Lodge Depot; and,
Moved tons of heavy rails from the scrapyard to a maintenace cart at the depot, for future use!

A rather peculiar thing about painting the fences was that we were under constant scrutiny from neighbouring residents, who seemed pretty hawk-eyed. Apparently there has previously been some complaints to the railway with regards to “ruining the gardens”!

Simultaneously, another group of us spent the day at the Boston Lodge Depot, helping out with heavy lifting, painting and manual labour work. And while this might sound tediously boring and repetitive, I believe this is actually one of the last few places where a lot of work is still done manually with relatively primitive tools. But at the end of the day, we are working at a railway that is maintained by passionate volunteers, and these are basic practical skills that we should be well equipped anyways.

Furthermore, working in the depot meant witnessing a slew of steam and diesel trains that were being renovated and maintained. Even though the depot might seempretty small compared to typical mainline depots, it is in fact one of the largest depots for narrow gauge trains in Britain!

In one of the sheds, there was a locomotive called C2 that was being renovated. I found the loco particularly interesting as it previously ran in the mountains of China, and was bought when the railway was about to close. When I first heard about this story, I was astounded by the efforts these enthusiasts had in preserving a train that would have otherwise been scrapped! So in case you are interested, a quick read about it at http://c2project.org/index.php?page=home&sp=2.

In addition, as a society first, one of our lucky members, Jayden, had the opportunity to drive a works train within the depot. The few of us spent hours loading tracks on to a cart couple metres away from the scrapyard, while he spent minutes moving them to the other end of the depot (with a train of course).

This is the grin of a very fulfilled rail enthusiast!

Hostel Goodness

Communal living at the hostel is also one of the highlights of the trip. During the trip, we all take part in preparing breakfast as well as sandwiches for lunch. The second dinner consisted of a deliciously cooked fusili bolognese by Madalina, and a very fresh cucumber salad by Jerry!

That cucumber salad was very much an ad-hoc dish created out of the need to use up the 8 cucumbers we bought for the trip. The decision to purchase so many cucumbers in the first place though, remains a mystery.

Another fun pass-time in the evenings is the GWR game. Here’s a quick description of the game that I’ve written in a blog post two year ago:

At the start of the game, each player is given a set of cards, in which the first card determines the starting point of the player. Throughout the game, one collects as many stations as possible. At the end of the game, the player who reaches London Paddington the fastest collects an extra 10 points.

Unlike monopoly, the game appears to require less luck in that there is not a dice involved; you can move at most 9 stops along the mainline (red), 6 stops along other electrified lines (grey), or 3 along the non-electrified lines (black), though you must always stop at a junction (star). If you stop at an unclaimed station, you gain the card; if it is owned by another player, you surrender one of your cards. The most exciting thing is when we get to exchange cards and carry out negotiations in the middle of the game……

We arguably learnt quite a bit more about the history of the Great Western Railway, and it sparked many funny and insightful discussions throughout. A few of us even proposed creating a tube version of this game, and I’m very much looking forward to that!

On a side note, this is probably the place where you would see the slyest and cunningest side of all rail enthusiasts!

In fairness , these images were taken during the most relaxed moments, not when we were scrambling to get everyone’s sandwiches ready before the work train arrives, or frantically cleaning the entire day prior to departure on the last day. But that’s a part of hostel living too I guess!

Closing train of thoughts

This was my second visit to Wales. My second visit to the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highlands Heritage Railways. My second round at getting my hands on a bit of volunteering at the railway.

And yet I still can’t pronounce Penrhyndeudraeth properly.

Not that I managed to pronounce it properly during my first visit, but on this ocassion the ticket attendants were constantly asking us about our destination because of the disturbance of service at Welshpool.