Ffestiniog Railway Gravity train....the ride of a lifetime! Or, the World's Longest Roller Coaster? If you enjoy the videos please like and subscribe to my channel (no cost involved!)
I worked on this line as a young boy with my dad and 2 brothers in the mid 60s relaying track, great fun riding the work train train up and down, will have to go back and do this. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for filming and posting this. A precious historical record. I often stop and wonder what the FR people from 1880 would make of it all.
Its a slate truck from the skarloey railway (the festiniog slate design only used in cgi because in the model era theres only the talylln railway slate truck design)
I would love to try this, but the safety problems are numerous, fall off the front of the train, you go under the wagons, fall of the side, ouch, fall off the rear, you get a face-full of rail ties and track, and if a train is stopped ahead, you need to rely on the carriage brakes! i'm sorry for nit-picking, but this is so un-bloody-safe. >.
Pro tip: Sit still and you won't fall off. The Brakemen who sit upon the loaded wagons are sat astride the wagons so there is no chace they would fall off infront or behind the train. They also hold onto the wagon side so they are even less likely to fall off in the unlikely event of hitting extremely bumpy track. The line is token worked single track, once the train of wagons sets off it's impossible for another train to be in the path of the gravity train on it's return to Porthmadog. If this practice was unsafe or was considered a risk to the health and safety of the operators and guests the ORR (Office of Road and Rail) would've put a stop to this a long time ago.
Of COURSE it's unsafe!! That's the thrill of it. Wouldn't they look good in High Viz Jackets, Safety Helmets, Seat Belts and Goggles. Snowflake is the in word I think.
No! It appears unsafe and gives a thrill, but it is very low risk like going on a ride at an amusement park. The wagons are not going that fast so derailment is unlikely in the extreme. It will not come across a stopped train. It will have a clear route and the brakemen will know the track and where to slow and where they need to stop. This is in the. UK where rail safety is highly regulated.
No stunt. All strictly controlled, regulated and with much briefing from, and largely manned by, highly experienced railwaymen. Whereas, when these trains were run for the transportation of slate from quarries to dockside a century ago, there would be very few "brakes men" and they would have leapt from one loaded wagon to the next to apply brakes as required - in all weathers too.
