Newish (Rebuilt ?) Bala Lake Railway Carriage

I really hate to be critical of my favourite Welsh Narrow Gauge railway but.... This looks very shiny, new and attractive. Yes, indeed and I imagine a great many man....sorry, 'person' hours were spent constructing this carriage over several years. I remember seeing this in skeletal form some years ago. In fact, I was moved to research how long ago I first saw it under construction. So imagine my shock at the realization that my previous visit to the lovely little railway was 6 years ago. The interim period has seen much disturbance in my personal health situation making such days out near enough impossible. So, I was thus very keen to try out this bright and airy newish coach. Now, I hate to be critical but this was quite a disappointment. I know a lot of people will have put in great effort with it but sadly the result leaves quite a lot to be desired. The seats are right angles, hard, unforgiving about as ergonomic as using a breeze block as a pillow. There were also an unacceptable number of semi-sharpe edges on it's internal framework and numerous nuts and bolts protruding through the sides making resting your arms difficult at best and painful at worst. I am no fan of the Ffestiniog Railway but I can't help thinking they'd have put a great deal more thought into such a project and paid more attention to detail. However, this was nothing compared to the ride quality and sheer hell of the journey next to Alice. The constant bashing, clattering and heavy percussions transmitted through the coupling were harsh and by the end of the outward trip almost unbearable. I stayed put for the return journey hoping that without Alice's boxercise session the journey would be more peaceful, Indeed it was, but not by much. I well remember the old coaches buffered up to the loco and not being anywhere near as uncomfortable as this one. Indeed most of the train was made up of those older coaches which In future I will happily return to. In this day and age it's not really acceptable for even a small tourist railway to provide such rough passenger accommodation even when it is aged but masquerading as new(ish). Modern tourists however forgiving deserve better than this. My advice is to head for the oldest looking carriage you can spot. It'll be quieter and more comfortable than this thing

Done