European Railroad Discussion > A cold morning at Cwmbargoed

Welcome to 2021, which here in the UK has ushered in another Lockdown across all four countries. On Monday I had a Click & Collect supermarket order to pick up and popped in to the coal washery at Cwmbargoed, some 1200' above sea level at the head of the Taf Bargod Valley. It was cold, very cold with a strong easterly wind, straight out of the Urals. 66078 was on the 4V01 empties from the cement works at Hope in the English Midlands.

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Very interesting shots - it looked 'Baltic'! I love the optimism of the solar panel array in the first shot...!

That's what my wife would say.  Baltic!

BTW, it says DB on the side.  I've seen DB in Germany for Deutche Bundesbahn, but it must be for something else there in the UK?  For us in the US, what part of the UK are these photo's from?

Cheers,
Jim (married to a Brit)

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> That's what my wife would say.  Baltic!
>
> BTW, it says DB on the side.  I've seen DB in
> Germany for Deutche Bundesbahn, but it must be for
> something else there in the UK?  For us in the
> US, what part of the UK are these photo's from?
>
> Cheers,
> Jim (married to a Brit)

Hi Jim (married to a Brit)! DB stands for the same as in Germany, as DB owns one of the privatised railfreight operators here in the UK (don't mention the war...). The photos are actually taken in South Wales. Here be dragons...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/21 04:54 by exhaustED.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> That's what my wife would say.  Baltic!
>
> BTW, it says DB on the side.  I've seen DB in
> Germany for Deutche Bundesbahn, but it must be for
> something else there in the UK?  For us in the
> US, what part of the UK are these photo's from?
>
> Cheers,
> Jim (married to a Brit)

DB (Deutsche Bahn )run four of the UK passenger Train Operating Companies as well, they have quite a sizeable share in UK train operations - taking over EWS' freight operations gave them a pretty large share in freight in the UK.

And just to add to the location comments Cwm Bargoed is at the end of the freight only branch of the Rhymney line. It splits off at Ystrad Mynach where a commuter passenger service continues north to Rhymney and south to the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

Basically find Cardiff on a map and go pretty much dead straight north about 25 miles you'll reach Cwm Bargoed! ;)

Posted from Android

Hey Nick - were you on your bike for these photos?   (Ha!)   Nice shots!

exhaustED Wrote:
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> Very interesting shots - it looked 'Baltic'! I
> love the optimism of the solar panel array in the
> first shot...!

And they're probably still producing power. Doesn't take too much light for a modern solar panel to make power these days. They're getting more and more efficient as the tech matures.

dwatry Wrote:
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> Hey Nick - were you on your bike for these
> photos?   (Ha!)   Nice shots!

No, shivering in the car.

PHall Wrote:
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> exhaustED Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Very interesting shots - it looked 'Baltic'! I
> > love the optimism of the solar panel array in
> the
> > first shot...!
>
> And they're probably still producing power.
> Doesn't take too much light for a modern solar
> panel to make power these days. They're getting
> more and more efficient as the tech matures.

Which is great news!

What's that protrusion in the guage of the trak in the foreground of the first picture? Is that track out of service or is it an optical illusion?

SAAP Wrote:
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> What's that protrusion in the guage of the trak in
> the foreground of the first picture? Is that track
> out of service or is it an optical illusion?

That's a concrete cable run, not rail. It's more obvious in the second picture.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/21 08:56 by 86235.