P Q R Specific ...

Personal Note: Today at 1145 fbb is at Axminster Hospital for thr second of three eyeball stabbings (injections?) to mitigate his diagnosed Age Related Macular Degeneration. Last time blogging was uninterrupted, but results of the treatment can be unpredictable. Tomorrow's and Saturday's blogs may need to be posted later in the day.

... And A Search For Evidence!

Apart from tha section between Felin Hen and Porth Penrhyn where the path and cycleway follow the line of the Quarry railway, finding evidence on the ground is a challenge and needs greater knowledge than fbb can supply. It probably also requires some athletic orienteering skills in amongst the undergrowth.

There was a level crossing where the new steam-hauled line crossed the old turnpike road, precursor to the A5.

But visiting the site today it is well nigh impossible to match old to present.

The road has been widened and a new junction created. The trains once ran through the clump oif trees straight ahead and then along an embankment beside the road named Lon Dinas.

But the sharp curve of the track and its interaction with the standard gauge line would need some sort of jungle expedition to unravel.

One intriguing snippet at the level crossing is ...

... the gate-keeper's hut, erroneously called a "signal box" in various on-line resources. 

Signals? What are they?

The first steam locos were vertical boilered, a bit like this one.

They were found to be underpowered (slate is heavy!) and something bigger was needed.

The most famous of these, seen lined up after closure, were the 0-4-0 Hunslet "Main Line" locos. Two found their way on to the Festiniog Railway.

Here Linda and Blanche gained a front pony truck and a tender.

The third Penrhyn "Main Line", Charles, is on static display at Penrhyn Castle in its original form.

Apparently, the bucket (in uncharacteristic white) was an essential part of the loco's equipment when working between Quarry and Port.

But you, too, could now own one of these lovely little locos, produced by Bachmann for OOn9 gauge. (That is to OO scale, 4mm to the foot, running on N gauge track).

Needless to say, the models will be available in all sorts of different configurations but a version of the Festiniog Linda is an appropriate start. Compare model ...

... with the real thing.

Purists have expressed disappointment about one aspect of the model. Look at that pipework on the side of the real Linda.

Now look at the model.

They there pipes is far too chunky! Tut rut! 

Undoubtedly this is bad news for the purists, but it is sill a magnificent model. And also available in original Penrhyn configuration.

And if you want the full mix, you can also buy a Hunslet "Quarry" brand loco, even more diddy!

Nesta was also a Penrhyn Quarry workhorse, used mainly within the quarry itself.

fbb wonders who will manufacture one of those really minimalist vertical boilered engines! That would be a real technical challenger for Bachmann.

And how much for Linda?

£215 OUCH, but often (as above) discounted.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow we nip over the channel and on to Switzerland.

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 Advent Calendar Day 22 

Vital Victory

Paul, purposeful persecuter turned powerful peripatetic preacher, was also a big letter writer. Old fashioned translations use the word "epistle" which always made fbb laugh when the reading was announced in Church as "The Epistle of Paul The Apostle"!!

They weren't like today's (?) letters (if you remember what a "letter" was). 

Mostly they were mini-sermons, often penned to give advice on some particular challenge that the recipients faced. One perennial problem was how to counteract the "forces of evil" that pervaded Roman, Greek and Jewish society. There was a lot of it; and it was subtle and intrusive.

Christianity personifies evil as the devil. If God is the personification of all that is good, it seems logical to propose a supernatural "being" that is the personification of all that is evil.

Maybe evil comes mostly from within aided by a whole raft of outside influences. The Bible calls these "sin" and "temptation" and they are both very real whatever their source.

So how do we win the Vital Victory against the pressure of badness?

We don't! At least not alone.

Paul's readers would have been very familiar with a Roman soldier, from the occupying army of the beleaguered and soon-to-be wiped out (again!) nation of Israel.

So the Roman soldier became an excellent visual aid showing God's help in the battle against evil!

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. 

Paul as writing to Christians in Ephesus, a city where sin and temptation were huge; very similar to today's crime-filled, sex filled and corruption-filled cities. Of course, not everything is evil, but the potential for entrapment is always there.

So how do we win the Vital Victory?

We can't on our own. But with God we can.

And God came down at CHRISTman!

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 Next Friday Factoid blog : 23rd  December