Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.northwalesweeklynews.co.uk/conwy-county-news/local-conwy-news/2012/07/12/55243-31373645/?

I can remember going on Merrymaker (loco and coaches) to Llandudno, and many other places.  Sad to see the suggestion that Llandudno might not be an available destination in the future, or is this just both sides posturing for some sort of negotiation?

As a side issue - where can loco hauled specials / charters still go in the South West?   YES to Penzance and Kingswear. Yes to Minehead.  Yes to Weymouth.   Any others - how about Newquay?

Limits are usually just dependant on where the locomotives and stock are cleared too and the pathing of the train. Newquay is possible, and indeed a railtour ran there just a couple of years ago but because the passenger service uses the line quite close to capacity in the daytime running at more unusual times is necessary, the tour to Newquay ran on a Sunday, at that time there were no trains on a Sunday to Newquay. The St Ives branch was also traversed by the same tour, on a Sunday morning before the start of passenger service, and the Falmouth branch on a Saturday evening once the half-hourly service had stopped.

A similar situation to that at Llandudno is the Cambrian Line to Pwhelli. The new ERTMS signalling system has been commissioned recently on the line and it has limited the length of one of the passing loops on what is mainly a single track line. As such it has become impossible to run a train longer than 6 carriages to Pwhelli, a very unpopular decision as until the installation of the ERTMS system the line used to have regular steam trains in the Summer which were very popular and beneficial for the towns along the line.

Okehampton, heathfield, marsh Barton, gunislake,cattle down, mooreswater looe, (pretty much in order of most likely.... One was booked for Barnstaple last year bit never happened due to weight restrictions

Prior to ERTMS the Cambrian line also had limits on the traction that could travel over it. I believe the biggest problem was Barmouth Bridge.

Another case of reducing the utility of the railway because "It costs too much".

Rather than say it costs too much to provide for a 10 coach train at Llandudno why not run more 10 coach excursions to the resort? That would paty for the runround and give an economic boost to the town. Everyone's a winner.

Indeed, but even the limits on that had been relaxed a little. The notoriously heavy Class 67s were allowed over Barmouth Bridge not long before ERTMS came in. At the moment the only locomotives that can run over the Cambrian Line are Network Rails fleet of ERTMS fitted Class 97/3s, basically Class 37s.

Guess that's to do with axle load. Six better than four.

is purely due to the ERTMS why not much can go on the Cambrian lines any more, anything that goes there must have the ERTMS cab signalling and only the 97's and Arriva 158's have it fitted, most things can go there but must be piloted by a 97.

I thought there have been several attempts (with no joy yet) to try and make a portable ERTMS device to allow the steam service to operate. I would be supprised if they would put this effort in if the maximum length of the train had really been reduced to six coaches.

The six coaches limit is something that has come up recently, hence Spitfire's tour to Pwhelli recently was diverted to Aberystwyth instead. There has been talk of a portable ERTMS device for years but I'm not aware of any progress on one yet.