Over the weekend of September 14-15th 2002, WHR (Caernarfon) held its major event of the year, taking full advantage of its locomotives and rolling stock to provide a range of attractions not seen before. The weather was kind, the crowds turned out - Saturday was the Railway's busiest day yet - and this page presents a selection of highlights.

Mixed Trains

For the first time, the railway operated public mixed trains of passenger and goods stock, as part of a two-train service crossing at Dinas. Five of the ex-Donnybrook "B" wagons were used, four of them repainted by volunteers, plus the two ballast hoppers. Some formations included Heritage coaches 23 and/or 24 as well as the modern vehicles. These trains also saw the first appearances in public traffic of the ex-Chattenden and Upnor "Combination Car" no. 1001, now the mess coach for WHR(C) works trains, and standby passenger brake vehicle.

These trains were too long for the loop at Caernarfon, and so required shunting at Dinas in each direction to add or remove wagons. Upnor Castle is seen on the right below with the front wagons removed from the train seen above, after it had been to Waunfawr and back.

The "Maximum Mixed Train"

A highlight of each day was a double-headed mixed train featuring both working NGG16s, the wagons, and all available coaches apart from 11, 12 and 23, which formed a diesel-hauled set crossing with the Mixed at Dinas. Again this involved shunting, to merge the passenger vehicles from two rakes, and to add and remove vehicles at Dinas. The only missing carriage was Pullman no. 2115 Bodysgallen, away at Boston Lodge for repairs. These trains were surely the longest yet to run on any incarnation of the Welsh Highland, and matched the length of the longest passenger trains likely to run in the future. It was also the first time the Garratts had been seen or heard really working hard in the UK (overheard comment: "That's the noise they make in Africa!")- however a train this length is considered within the capacity of a single NGG16 in South Africa.

Saturday's train is seen below from the Tryfan Junction overbridge, with Millennium leading up the sharp gradient through the old station.

Returning from Waunfawr, these trains were "topped and tailed" with a loco at each end, making it easier to use one to release stock at the northern end of Dinas Station. Saturday's train is seen below on the return run at Wernlas Ddu, in the left-hand and middle pictures. In the right-hand view, not all is as it may appear at Dinas; rather than competing for the road, the diesel is about to depart for Waunfawr, whereas 143 is on the rear of the train that has arrived from there.

The Garratts swapped places for Sunday's train, seen below at Tryfan Junction, approaching the level crossing. This train was to have been a steam/diesel combination with 143 and Castell Caernarfon, but was changed to all-steam at the request of a film crew making a new programme for S4C about the progress and extension of the WHR, to be broadcast after the line opens to Rhyd Ddu in 2003.

Approaching the crossing on the return journey, at first the train looked much like an ordinary working - until the extra coaches, wagons and loco came into view.

The left-hand picture below shows the tail end of the train entering Dinas, and the others show 138 removing wagons and carriages from the rear of the train at the northern end of the station, while 143 and the remaining coaches continued to Caernarfon.

Diesel Services

Despite the change to plans about Sunday's double-header, Funkey diesel Castell Caernarfon was still out and about for the diesel fans, and is seen on the left at Tryfan Crossing on Saturday, dwarfing the vintage carriages, and on the right arriving at Waunfawr on Sunday, while the film crew conduct an interview by the end of the platform.

Future Locos

The part-completed replica Lynton and Barnstaple 2-6-2T Lyd, being built at Boston Lodge, made its first public appearance at the Welsh Highland, displayed outside Dinas Goods Shed together with a recently completed pony truck assembly.

Mothballed NG15 2-8-2 no. 134 was moved into the bay platform for display alongside no. 133.

Velinheli

Although close to the opposite end of the 2' gauge power spectrum from the NGG16s, Quarry Hunslets are powerful for their size, and always a popular attraction, not least in their traditional home in North Wales. Built in 1886, Velinheli was the first of Dinorwic Quarry's "Alice" class, and is now based on the Launceston Steam Railway in Cornwall. Velinheli is unique in that it carries the only surviving "Alice" boiler with a steam dome; it is seen below in Dinas Goods Shed a week before the event.

The loco spent the weekend giving footplate rides at Dinas, looking immaculate and running like a sewing machine.

Visitors included the loco's last driver from its days at Dinorwic, who was impressed with the condition of "his" loco, and took the opportunity to drive it for the first time since it was last used at Dinorwic in September 1962.

As Lyd did not yet have its boiler, a curious view of Velinheli was available between the tanks of the larger loco, with Lyd's pony truck partly blocking the view.

While Millennium was shunting after releasing the tail of Sunday's Maximum Mixed Train, the opportunity arose for an impromptu portrait pose with Velinheli.

On the evening before the event, Velinheli made a twilight run light engine to Waunfawr.

The day after the Superpower Weekend, the loco was moved by road to Minffordd Yard on the FR, and from there to Boston Lodge, to stay on the FR until November.

It had been intended that there would also be a visiting loco from France, though it turned out that not enough finance was available to arrange transport. This would have been the large Franco-Belge 0-8-0 tank + tender loco no. 10 from the Chemin de Fer touristique Froissy-Cappy-Dompierre (CFCD) in the Somme. The loco's custodians still hope to bring it to the WHR in the future.

Phase 3 Tours

The weekend included opportunities for visitors to view progress on the extension to Rhyd Ddu. Special access was granted for guided walking tours along the largely completed line from Waunfawr as far as Betws Garmon

Guided open-top bus tours ran from Waunfawr to a turning point at Pont Cae'r Gors (beyond Rhyd Ddu), allowing visitors to see Phase 3 sites visible from the road. The tours were well patronised, the top deck proving understandably much the more popular. The bus is seen on the right below pulling away from a stop by the Plas y Nant river bridge.