From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
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Welcome to Festipedia,
the FR Heritage Group wiki.
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Keith Bradbury
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| Keith was born on 22nd May 1955 and died on 19th September 2011 having lived all his life near Manchester. He had been a member of the FR Society since 2004 and of the FR Heritage Group since 2005. He claimed to have a love of narrow gauge railways in North-west Wales and also belonged to the Welsh Highland Railway Society and the Welsh Highland Heritage Group. He worked some turns on buffet cars, had a try-out with the PW but declared it was "not my scene" and had had a weekend training as a guard on the WHR.
However, he will be remembered for his work on the FR Heritage Group's Festipedia where his involvement must have been many times everyone else added together. In addition to this he ran the WHHG's website and set up a demonstration website for the FR Railway Letter Service.
He leaves a wife, Hazel.
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This month's featured article
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Taliesin was an 0-4-4T Single Fairlie locomotive built for the Festiniog Railway in 1876. It was completely rebuilt between 1898 and 1900. Over subsequent years the locomotive fell into increasing disrepair and was dismantled in preparation for a new boiler in 1924. However, despite recommendations from the Locomotive Superintendent and Engineer, the Board refused to purchase a boiler. Boyd states that Taliesin was reassembled with its existing boiler, but the archives have no record of this. The remains were later scrapped.
The name is that of a legendary Head Bard to Prince Elffin, who lived possibly around 520-560 A.D. The name means 'fair-brow'; it can also mean 'fair pay' or 'reward.' The story is that William Williams (a bard himself, Gwilym Meirion) persuaded the FR Board that the legendary bard was just the name for the loco, but as there was a pay dispute between the Board and their staff at the time, it gave some glee to the men seeing the loco puffing up the line displaying the brass plate 'Fair Pay.' (more...)
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Purpose
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| Festipedia is dedicated to recording the history of the Festiniog Railway from the 19th Century to the present day. There is a user friendly index to help you find your way around the main categories. You will also find much detail on the Welsh Highland Railway
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Contributing to Festipedia
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| A wiki is a collaboratively edited website. All users can edit any page. You have complete freedom to add to, edit or delete the work of previous authors.
It is easy to create new pages, link to wiki pages and format the text on pages. There is a full help system so that you can find out how to do things. You will find it similar to Wikipedia.
There is a recent changes page listing all pages that have changed recently. There is also a discussion page where contributors can discuss possible changes to Festipedia, as well as a discussion page for each article.
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First time visitors
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| If this is your first visit to Festipedia you may find it useful to log in first. That will allow you to set up your username and decide how certain features should work. All contributors to Festipedia are encouraged to log in.
If you know little or nothing about the Festiniog Railway then History of the FR is a good place to start. You can also choose from the list in the banner at the head of this page.
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Returning visitors
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| If you have visited Festipedia before, you may want to visit the community portal for the latest news including information on updates to the wiki software.
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This month's featured picture
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Earl of Merioneth is an 0-4-4-0 Double Fairlie and was the third locomotive to be built by the Festiniog Railway Company in its own workshops at Boston Lodge. Construction began in 1972 and was completed in 1979. It carries its name in English on one side and in Welsh (Iarll Meirionnydd) on the other. It was built as a replacement (incorporating some parts) for the previous Earl of Merioneth (originally Livingston Thompson).
From the moment of its introduction, Earl of Merioneth's angular appearance has provoked controversy and the locomotive is regularly referred to as The Square (or, by those who like it, The Mighty Square). Subsequent modifications have softened the appearance by adding a number of heritage style features and it is now a popular locomotive. The locomotive is now in need of major work and was withdrawn after its last run on 8th April 2018. It is currently stored until resources are available for a rebuild.
Photo credit: Roger van Praet
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Rules for Contributions
The rules for contributions are simple:
- Do not post copyright material unless you have permission from the copyright owner
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