Connect with us
Advertisement
Advertisement

News

Pembroke Coast Express, huge success!

Published

on

 

GWR Nunney Castle leaving Pembroke Dock - Pic Gareth Davies, Hundleton

GWR Nunney Castle leaving Pembroke Dock – Pic Gareth Davies, Hundleton

THIS WEEKEND hundreds of train enthusiasts took  a rare opportunity to travel by steam train over the scenic branch line from Whitland through Tenby to Pembroke Dock. The “Pembroke Coast Express” recalled the 1950’s days of named steam trains on the former Western Region of British Railways. The train ran from London Paddington through South Wales to the Pembroke Coast. Enthusiasts have recreated this train hauled by ex-Great Western Railway Castle class steam locomotive No. 5029 “Nunney Castle”.

Neil Davies who travelled on the service said: “It cost me a fair few hundred quid to get me and my family on this train, but it was worth every penny. Its an experience that I will never forget.”

The “Pembroke Coast Express” left Bristol Temple Meads at around 08:04 on Sunday (Aug 31) hauled by Castle class steam locomotive No. 5029 “Nunney Castle”. It headed west through the Severn Tunnel calling to pick up further passengers at Newport and Cardiff before continuing into West Wales. The 1934 Swindon-built locomotive passed through Bridgend and Port Talbot and at Briton Ferry, and took the Swansea District Line to Llangennech. From Llanelli it ran by the sea wall most of the way to Carmarthen where the iconic steam locomotive was serviced. 

On lookers waved as the train passed through Kilgetty and Saundersfoot before stopping at Tenby to set down passengers who were spending time at the seaside resort. The train continued through Penally, with adventurers commenting on the fine views over the Irish Sea, to Pembroke Dock.

The train left Pembroke Dock hauled by steam locomotive No. 5029 and returned to Tenby to pick up passengers who left the train there. Continuing to Whitland, she rejoined the main line from Fishguard Harbour. Avoiding the terminus station at Carmarthen by taking the south curve, the train passed through Kidwelly and Llanelli before the steep ascent of Cockett Bank – a 1 in 50 gradient. The train avoided the terminus station at Swansea High Street and passed through Neath to join the main line at Briton Ferry. There was some ‘fast running’ en route to Cardiff, the first set down stop. The Pembroke Coast Express stopped at Newport to set down further passengers before continuing through the Severn Tunnel and onwards to Bristol, the journey’s end.

 

Mainline Career

Built at the GWR’s Swindon Works in 1934 to Charles Collets design, Nunney Castle was one of a 171 strong class designed to haul the fastest of the GWRs express passenger services.

Named for the castle near Frome in Somerset, 5029 spent much of her working life based at Old Oak Common depot in London. The engine moved to Worcester in 1958, then had spells at Newton Abbot and Laira before a final transfer in December 1962 took it to Cardiff East Dock, where it was to remain until being withdrawn along with other members of its class in December 1963.

The locomotive was used in many publicity and “life on the railway” type of photographs. During the first day of the World War II Evacuations the locomotive hauled trains carrying children being taken from London to the safety of the countryside. Nunney Castle was also used to haul the Royal Train in October 1957 from Paddington to Gloucester.

Preservation

Nunney Castle was sent in 1964 to Dai Woodham’s scrapyard at Barry, arriving in June where it was to languish for 12 years. 5029 was in fact the last steam loco delivered to Barry Scrapyard by rail. She was rescued in 1976.

The locomotive was restored from scrap yard condition at Didcot and returned to service in 1990. Since then it has been a regular performer on the mainline. In the late 1990′s the engine underwent its first overhaul, during this time she was fitted with dual air and vacuum braking. The tender was also modified to give a larger water capacity. Both of these modifications were made to enable 5029 to increase its operational capacity on the mainline.

She has continued to perform regularly on both the mainline and preserved railways and recently returned to mainline service from an intermediate overhaul.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Community

Cardigan Radio launches daily live broadcasts

Published

on

Cardigan Radio/Radio Aberteifi says it is excited to announce a new line up of daily live broadcasts starting every evening from 7 PM at www.cardiganinternetradio.wales. Live shows will be hosted
by founder and presenter Bobby Kelly and other dedicated volunteer members.

The Cardigan Radio stream is constantly alive with great music that spans various genres, providing something for everyone. Listeners are encouraged to tune in and experience the quality and diversity of
Cardigan Radio’s programming for themselves.

You can listen 24/7 not only through their website www.cardiganinternetradio.wales but also on platforms such as Online

Radio Box and Radio Garden.

Online Radio Box: https://onlineradiobox.com/uk/cardiganinternet/
Radio Garden: https://radio.garden/visit/cardigan/DyV8OcNC

Interested in getting more involved? Cardigan Radio is always looking
for passionate volunteers to join our team. Whether you’re keen on
presenting, handling tech, or engaging with the community, we’d love to
hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or call
01239 543025.

Connect with us on Facebook for updates and more information:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofcardiganradio
https://www.facebook.com/RadioCardigan

Tune in to Cardigan Radio and discover your new favourite sound!

If you’re interested in being a guest on our station, whether remotely
or in one of our member’s studios, we’d love to hear from you!

Continue Reading

Climate

West Wales health board to cut its energy bill by £100,000 per year

Published

on

HYWEL DDA Health board has launched an innovative, yet simple ‘Switch it off’ campaign to help drastically reduce both its energy usage and costs.

The campaign consists of ‘switching off’ all non-essential equipment when not in use; from computer monitors and laptops to medical equipment, lights, and radiators. This is one of the several initiatives being delivered as part of Hywel Dda’s Decarbonisation Delivery Plan. All of which are aimed at helping to reduce energy costs and CO2 emissions for non-essential equipment by around 20%, which could save around £100,000 per year.

From March 2022 to April 2023, the health board reported spending almost £14 million on energy, producing more than 20 million kg in CO2 emissions. It was evident action needed to be taken to meet its targets to reduce emissions to just 34% by 2030 as set out in the NHS Wales Decarbonisation Strategic Delivery Plan.

Sarah Thorne, Senior One Health Practitioner at Hywel Dda, who has been leading on the implementation of the campaign said: “The ‘Switch-it-off’ campaign is something we expect everyone across the health board and hospital to get involved in. If we all work together, we will see those changes immediately.

“While analysing our energy usage, we discovered that leaving just one TV or PC monitor on standby, instead of switching it off, can waste almost £25 of electricity per year. We have over 6000 screens across the hospital and offices within the health board so if everyone switched off their screen when they weren’t using it, it could help to save a huge amount of money, while also reducing CO2 emissions. It is simple actions like this that will have a massive impact.”

As well as launching the ‘Switch it off’ campaign, the health board has benefitted from Estates Funding Advisory Board (EFAB) funding and Salix funding to support the delivery of a range of decarbonisation projects such as roof mounted Photovoltaics (PV), heat pumps, and solar canopies. It has also made a start in switching its lightbulbs to LED energy saving ones and is planning to install light sensors in communal areas such as toilets and kitchens. Earlier this year, the health board also received funding to install its own solar farm which provides sustainable electricity to power some services, reducing carbon emissions and promoting biodiversity in the area.

Julie James, Minister for Climate Change said: “The ‘Switch it off’ campaign from Hywel Dda is a great example of how organisations can inspire and empower their staff to work together to reduce both carbon emissions, energy usage, costs, and our impact on the environment.

“If everyone could do their bit by ‘switching off’ unnecessarily appliances, it would make a huge difference to the amount of energy we use, which will in turn help us to create a cleaner, greener Wales.”

The Welsh Government has committed to taking action on climate change. Since 2019, the Welsh Government has helped people access greener energy choices. Investing £120million in energy efficiency improvements to social housing through the Optimised Retrofit programme, helping around 148,000 people to live in homes that are cheaper and more efficient to run. The Nest scheme has supported tens of thousands of people to improve the energy efficiency of their home, while in turn reducing energy bills and improving health and wellbeing.

The Welsh Government has also backed flagships schemes such as Ripple Energy’s Wind turbine cooperative, Morriston Hospital’s solar farm and Pobl’s Penderi shared energy initiative, which has seen a community generate and share its own renewable energy. Pilots like these pave the way for similar projects in the future, enabling more people to save money on their energy.

For more advice on how you can reduce your energy use visit climateaction.gov.wales

Continue Reading

Climate

Small Carmarthenshire village set to become ‘pylon city’

Published

on

LLANDYFAELOG is to become a “pylon city” under plans by Green Gen Cymru and the National Grid, according to Charlie Evans, Welsh Conservative candidate for Llanelli in the General Election.

Green Gen Cymru, a sister company of Bute Energy, is erecting 132kV overhead pylon lines as part of its Towy-Teifi and Towy-Usk projects across mid and west Wales, which is aiming to increase electricity grid capacity to power the proposed Nant Mithil onshore wind energy park in Powys. A new 400kV electricity substation is to be constructed in Llandyfaelog to meet this need.

Green Gen Cymru’s latest consultation came to Llandyfaelog Village Hall on Thursday 11th April.

Green Gen Cymru also revealed to Charlie at the consultation that National Grid are looking to construct a third additional pylon line connecting to the new substation. The new substation will be built to the east of the A484, off Upland Arms.

Charlie Evans said, “These plans are going to have a devastating impact on residents in Llandyfaelog. There is already a significant pylon line running over the Upland Arms at the moment. The Welsh Labour Government, with its extreme climate policies, are letting big energy companies ride roughshod over Llandyfaelog and Carmarthenshire.

“The cumulative impact of three new additional pylon lines is going to seriously impact residents’ house prices as well as drastically increase noise pollution. And local residents’ energy bills aren’t going to come down as a result. What’s in it for Llandyfaelog?

“Labour want to turn Llanelli into a city, and now they want to turn Llandyfaelog, a beautiful small village, into a pylon city.”

Charlie said that Llandyfaelog needs cable ploughing, instead of the pylons.

“I recognise that we need to increase grid capacity. We need to get to energy independence. But we don’t need all these new pylons in Llandyfaelog. ATP, a company based in Carmarthenshire, demonstrated last week that cable ploughing can be used to deliver the energy we need, without completely destroying the countryside.

And Charlie said residents in Carmarthenshire shouldn’t let Plaid Cymru off the hook.

“Plaid Cymru are propping up the Labour Government in Cardiff. They’ve signed up to the same policies as Labour. And the Plaid Cymru-led Carmarthenshire Council are removing the Special Landscape Areas from its planning framework. Whilst Plaid’s politicians in Carmarthenshire pretend to be against them, their actions say something very different.”

Green Gen Cymru’s latest consultation on the Towy-Usk project is open until Wednesday 8th May.

Continue Reading

Crime3 hours ago

Pembroke man sent ‘grossly offensive and disgusting’ message to sister

A DISTRICT Judge has described how a Pembroke man sent a ‘disgusting, appalling and grossly offensive’ message to his sister...

News1 day ago

Dragon LNG ‘monitoring’ scrap car blaze in Waterston

A BLAZE has broken out at the Waterston Car Dismantler’s business in Waterston, Milford Haven. Dragon LNG which is situated...

News3 days ago

Major search in the area of The Cleddau Bridge and Hobbs Point

A MULTI-AGENCY rescue response was initiated first thing on Saturday following reports of a person in difficulty in the area...

News5 days ago

Newgale pub fire: Cause undetermined, but ruled accidental

THE MID and West Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) has recently concluded its investigation into the fire that devastated the...

Sport5 days ago

Jasmine, Lleucu, Carys & Courtney: The Pride of Pembrokeshire

Four rugby players from Pembrokeshire are gearing up to take on Ireland in the Women’s Six Nations this weekend. Jasmine...

Crime5 days ago

Independent inquiry into child sex abuse commissioned by Caldey

WE have reported on this story for years, but in a very significant development this week, Caldey Island Abbey has...

Crime6 days ago

Mechanic lands four-figure fine after head-butting officer in Quins

A COURT has heard how a police officer was head-butted outside the Quins Rugby Club in Pembroke Dock by a man described...

Community6 days ago

29 homes planned for Pembrokeshire village development

A scheme for 29 houses, including two affordable units, in the north Pembrokeshire village of St Dogmaels, close to the...

Crime1 week ago

Former Pemb Dock mayor accused of making child abuse images

FORMER Pembroke Dock mayor Terry Judkins has appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates charged with making 52 Category A images of a...

News1 week ago

Port of Milford Haven continues to invest with £40m funding from HSBC

THE Port of Milford Haven is making a series of strategic investments to strengthen its position as the UK’s largest...

Popular This Week