Running round at Llangollen. I
like the Llangollen railway very much, it runs through spectacular
scenery and Llangollen itself can be explored at will. However,
on the day I visited, the town was packed with visitors but they
did not appear to be visiting the railway. It lacks character
somewhere, there is no sense of excitement and everything seems
to happen in slow motion. When we arrived at Llangollen there
were several people wanting to photograph the engine but couldn't
because staff members were messing about on and around the cab.
The engine sat there for an interminable amount of time before
anyone bothered to uncouple it and then another long wait before
a signalman arrived to organise the runround. Having travelled
on the train, passengers inevitably want to photograph the engine
- everyone has a digital camera these days - with or without
their family on the shot but the constant fussing tends to prevent
this. Why can't the engine come in, be uncoupled, run round and
then recouple to allow visitors to shoot away to their heart's
content without having to spend an hour or so to take what they
see as memorable pictures? Llangollen isn't alone in this and
many railways would do well to consider the lot of the amateur
photographer. Well positioned, fenced compounds would surely
go a long way towards eliminating the dangerous and unwanted
trespass that we see and hear about all too often. |