9th July 2010

The wheelsets have been sent away to the Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog Railway. The works there will re-profile the wheels from the South African profile to that needed for the Welsh highland. As well as the gauge profile itself this also involves slight adjustment to the back-to-back dimension to allow smooth passage through pointwork. Pictures are available in the Gallery. 

5th May 2010

The Welsh Highland Railway's annual Rail Ale festival takes place over the weekend of the 7th to 9th May. As there is a Working Party that weekend attendees to the festival are invited to view the work taking place on the loco. If you do attend please remember that the shed is a working part of the Railway's infrastructure and we'd appreciate it if you did not come over with beer glasses (or in a poor state of health!).

November 2009

2010 Working party dates announced.

The dates for the working parties have been announced for the period up to the peak summer holiday. These are much the same as the 2009 routine of them being on the third weekend of the Month:

Jan 23-24th
Feb 20-21st
March 20-21st
April 17-18th Week after Easter
May 8-9th Beer festival weekend
June 19-20th
July 17-18th

After a break in August when there is not working party they will resume in September and these dates will be announced nearer the time.

See the Working Party dates page for more details. 

October 2009

Shotblasting of the Frames

Shotblasting of the frames took place in the first week of October and the following week saw the frames being painted in a rust inhibiting primer. All the main frames were shotblasted together with the frames for the Krauss Helmholtz and rear pony trucks. The work was completed by contractors Campbell Grindlay Engineering of Llangefni, Anglesey.

The shotblasting was done over a number of days as there were many nooks and crannies that took time to fully clean. Once the work was complete the frames were left to dry out whilst members of Team Wylfa cleaned away all the grit from off the floor. They also had to replace all the lights in the shed as they had fallen victim to the grit and water!

The shotblasting is significant step forward for the Loco as it now allows the re-assembly of other components as they become available following their overhaul. However we should still not underestimate the amount of work and cash needed to get those components ready so please visit the Funding page to make a donation to help us.

12th July 2009:

Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon (another update)

We can announce that the fundraising event at Y Maes/Castle Square in Caernarfon is being supported by Brunswick Ironworks. Brunswick's were instrumental in the reconstruction of the Welsh Highland Railway with their construction of most of the steelwork needed. This included for example  the numerous water tower structures and the many bridges to be replaced along the line.

This is continuing with Brunswick Ironworks currently overhauling the rear stretcher of №134. Providing that the 'Scrap to Steam' event is successful it is hoped that much more work can be contracted to them.

The NG15 group are honoured at having Brunswick's as a major supporter of the project and are particularly thankful at having their support for this major fund-raising event.

9th July 2009:

Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon (an update)

Peter Randall, the projects Manager reports: "As has been previously announced there will be a fund raising event for the NG15 in Y Maes, Caernarfon throughout August. In preparation for this, the NG15 Group will be dedicating it’s July working party to the task of preparing 133 for movement. This will involve prepping the Axleboxes, disconnecting the motion, general check and disconnection of the tender (the loco only will go to Caernarfon). The Loco will then be shunted ready to be loaded. Would anyone who is available to help please contact Andie Shaw, so he can put you on the list of volunteers available.
 
"If anyone is free to do a day or two in Caernarfon, then we would be more than pleased to hear from you. Please contact me on prandall@aol.com or Pam Smith (pamelaS636@aol.com) if you can spare some time."
 

3rd July 2009:

Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon

There will be a four week long event  in Caernarfon to promote and raise awareness of the restoration of NG15 №134 and to raise funds for the work. As it will be peak holiday season it is hoped that much interest will be generated  from visitors to the area as well as from within the local community itself. 

It is hoped that sister Loco NG15 №133 will be present as the central item of the display. This will give a good impression of what the 'scrap' condition of №134 was when the project started.

14th May 2009:

NG15 Working Party:

Next weekend (16th & 17th May) the NG15 group will be holding it’s regular 3rd weekend of the month meeting. The stripping down of the main frames is progressing well with the work nearly complete and ready for the next stage of cleaning and painting prior to reassembly. Anyone interested in joining the group will be most welcome and should come to Dinas Station at 09:00 on Saturday; we meet in the Clip Shed which is at the end of the car park.

An Update for all Sponsors!

On Saturday the supporters’ trains are running as well. The team would really welcome the opportunity to let this group know how the project is progressing and what the next steps are. We have therefore arranged to do a couple of presentations, geared around the train times, to allow the Supporters to see our work first hand. The first presentation – aimed for the Bronze supporters will be between 10:30 & 11:30, and the second – aimed for the Silver and Gold supporters will be between 16:00 and 17:00. We are using the Clip Shed for the renovation work, which for those who don’t know it is behind the construction office at the top of the car par at Dinas. We are of course flexible and will watch the running of the train etc.. Please do come along and see what we are doing and the remarkable loco, 134, in its component parts! We all look forward to seeing you at Dinas.

October 2008:

Following the announcement at the WHRS AGM, the Society would like to announce details of the project to restore one of the NG15s at Dinas. The basis of the project is as follows:

• The locomotive, 134, which is owned by the FR, will be restored to working order, for operation on the WHR by the WHRS.
• The WHRS will organise necessary fund-raising.
• The project will be a combination of volunteer and paid work
• The aim is to produce a useful engine and therefore certain alterations will be made to optimise performance for the operational environment of the WHR. These will all be agreed with the FR before implementation.

The WHRS has asked me (Peter Randall) to act as Project leader and I am now looking to establish a group of people to assist with this exciting project. In particular I would like to hear from anyone who could help in the following capacities.

• Volunteers to join the working parties. The first will take place on Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th of October. We will spend time planning the project and sorting the Clip Shed where we will be working initially, as well as starting to get to grips with the loco. We will meet at 09:00 at the Clip Shed (near the Construction Office) for those who can make it.
• There will be a small project team. We already have a lot of help and experience, but more is always welcome. Andie Shaw has already offered to help with the engineering, but I would be particularly interested in anyone who could assist with "Keeping the Books", "Publicity", "Project Planning" or "Fund-raising". Please let me know if you want to help in any capacity.
• If you can't help with either of the above but you would be interested in keeping up with the project then please let me know and I (with the teams help) will do our best.

• If you would like to donate to the project, then email and I will send you details of how to contribute to the project.

I have a new email for use in connection with the project and would appreciate it if all could use this one when emailing about the project whrng15ataoldotcom (replace "at" & "dot" with "@" & "." to use!). Hopefully an easy to remember address. So if you would like to come along to help, donate or just want to know what is happening, please drop me a line.