A Volunteer's Tale
The Story of The Up-Through-Relief-Fish
Infamous in Narrow-Gauge and Standard Gauge P-Way circles alike, there is no-one quite like Nigel Hanwell! As P-Way Foreman for Civil's Week, his inimitable contribution to the Welsh Highland Railway Project is arguably second to none. For some curious reason, his doughty gang of no-two-alike chappies have worked with him and for him and heard his Famous Hanwell FM broadcasts - frequently - yet still come back for more year after year. They have become The Chosen Men! Elite yes, but not exclusive; you are welcome to join!
By popular request, here is Nigel's Story of the Up Through Relief Fish (217Kb) , one enthusiast's dream for the Welsh Highland Railway.
"When we had a freight train, we thought we've got to call it something, because, you know, a lot of railways have silly named trains. So we thought, well, what do we have?
And I don't know if you're familiar with railways themselves: you have up trains, down trains, through trains, relief trains, or whatever. And so we thought we could have the Up Through Relief Fish, a rather nice name that rolls off the tongue, and people remember it.
"My ambition is to sit up in the Aberglaslyn Pass and watch the Up Through Relief Fish loaded to 15 vans come hurtling through. Life, you see, is a dream when you come down to it all!"
The Story of the Up Through Relief Fish is an excerpt from the video From Hill to Harbour, available from the Welsh Highland Railway Bookshop.
