Hi Mike. Great footage and update. Thanks for sharing. Watching your departure from Rhymney reminded me of a conversation I once had with my dad as a young boy in the early 1970s. I asked him, "What's that for?" whilst pointing to Cefn Coed viaduct. "That used to carry the old Rhymney line" (or 'Rummey', as he would say it in his colloquial valleys dialect). Now as I grew up and started to understand a little more about the old lines in and around South Wales in general and Merthyr in particular, this remark puzzled me, as the viaduct was part of the route from Merthyr to Brecon. It was only when I did a little more research and understood that it was also part of the former LMS route from the Midlands that I realised that for my dad travelling in the late 1940s & 1950s, this would have been the best way to get from Merthyr to Rhymney, as there used to be a station known as Rhymney Bridge on that Merthyr to Abergavenny line, situated just north of Rhymney station, from which you could either catch a train to take you down the valley, or walk into Rhymney town. Those 67 / DVT consists look very smart. PS: I see there is OLE in the Rhondda & Merthyr valleys, but none at Queen St or Pontypridd (wonderful station!). I'm assuming trains will run on batteries through these stations?
Thanks for your detailed comments, always appreciated. If only we had good cameras, let alone video, back in the 50/60s. I had a Brownie camera back in the 1950s but steam etc was so common I only took a few pics with my 12 exposure film.
The solid bar at Caerphilly is for recharging the tram trains. Interesting annoy announcement at the start of the video about the supervisor reporting to the carriage shed, I assume it is code for some sort of emergency.
It's for charging the tri-mode Flirts. The tram trains won't be going to Caerphilly. The announcement is an emergency test announcement. It used to always go off at 10am on a Monday
Interesting video, but what a shame to see all the uncontrolled trackside vegetation around the network. It was particularly bad between. Cardiff Central and Canton depot - doesn’t anyone care ?
Yes they do care, about the environment and the wildlife...that's why it's left to grow to provide habitat, trackside vegetation is a huge nature reserve
@@TheMichaelWilcock2016Railways I was thinking more of the journey time - it runs at 90 mph (I think) when a 67 will do at least 110 and the Mk4 s 140 - why can't the infrastructure be improved to speed up arguably TfW's premium train service?
Thanks Mike enjoyed that.
Nice captures Mike
Hi Mike. Great footage and update. Thanks for sharing.
Watching your departure from Rhymney reminded me of a conversation I once had with my dad as a young boy in the early 1970s. I asked him, "What's that for?" whilst pointing to Cefn Coed viaduct. "That used to carry the old Rhymney line" (or 'Rummey', as he would say it in his colloquial valleys dialect). Now as I grew up and started to understand a little more about the old lines in and around South Wales in general and Merthyr in particular, this remark puzzled me, as the viaduct was part of the route from Merthyr to Brecon. It was only when I did a little more research and understood that it was also part of the former LMS route from the Midlands that I realised that for my dad travelling in the late 1940s & 1950s, this would have been the best way to get from Merthyr to Rhymney, as there used to be a station known as Rhymney Bridge on that Merthyr to Abergavenny line, situated just north of Rhymney station, from which you could either catch a train to take you down the valley, or walk into Rhymney town.
Those 67 / DVT consists look very smart.
PS: I see there is OLE in the Rhondda & Merthyr valleys, but none at Queen St or Pontypridd (wonderful station!). I'm assuming trains will run on batteries through these stations?
Thanks for your detailed comments, always appreciated. If only we had good cameras, let alone video, back in the 50/60s. I had a Brownie camera back in the 1950s but steam etc was so common I only took a few pics with my 12 exposure film.
The solid bar at Caerphilly is for recharging the tram trains.
Interesting annoy announcement at the start of the video about the supervisor reporting to the carriage shed, I assume it is code for some sort of emergency.
It's for charging the tri-mode Flirts. The tram trains won't be going to Caerphilly.
The announcement is an emergency test announcement. It used to always go off at 10am on a Monday
Thanks for the info, I had forgotten about the Tri Modes.
Fire alarm test
How often do the Electrostars make it to Cardiff?
Normally once a day, this was a surprise !
Like France in the 50s.
Look on the bright side, you get heritage rolling stock without a premium price.
@@letrainavapeur Ha Ha😄
Interesting video, but what a shame to see all the uncontrolled trackside vegetation around the network. It was particularly bad between. Cardiff Central and Canton depot - doesn’t anyone care ?
Yes they do care, about the environment and the wildlife...that's why it's left to grow to provide habitat, trackside vegetation is a huge nature reserve
Quite agree, it's the same roadside now. So maybe the team that used to cut the grass can pick litter in Cardiff ?
@@TheMichaelWilcock2016Railways I completely agree !
Too much red tape prevents it being cut down and the litter picking is done by contractors
0:50 what a waste of a train
22:48 how ofter would a West Country Pacific be seen in Cardiff in steam days i wonder?
The 67 may stop at New Inn when the car park/bridge open, 1 year late, in November 2024
@@TheMichaelWilcock2016Railways I was thinking more of the journey time - it runs at 90 mph (I think) when a 67 will do at least 110 and the Mk4 s 140 - why can't the infrastructure be improved to speed up arguably TfW's premium train service?
Footbridge at Taff's W totally out of keeping with country station. 7gly
They're all the same now, have you seen the extra large one at Abergavenny!