Two visits to Snowdonia and the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways.

For this year's Snowdonian we were treated to two totally contrasting days; Friday was dank, misty and cold whilst Saturday was glorious! Linda and Blanche did the honours on the Ffestiniog, we'll meet them again later, whilst NGG16 87, later joined by fellow Garratt 138 (after a mechanical issue was resolved) double headed the train back to Porthmadog.

In June it was Linda and Blanche's 125th birthday celebrations, a three day extravaganza with upward of 20+ steam locomotives in steam, both indigenous and visiting. Many were limited to Minffordd Yard but others did venture onto the mainline, all products of the Hunslet Engine Co of Leeds. It was the Hunslet fest to end Hunslet fests and the weather behaved itself too, warm and sunny, albeit the sun was rather hazy on Saturday. I was only there Friday and Saturday, family issues meant I had to get home Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless it was a great event, seemingly blessed with bumper crowds.