37 415 on the 07:06 Chester to Holyhead meeting 37 429 on the 07:43 Holyhead to Crewe at Bangor, Tue 30 May. Picture Alan Crawshaw

Compiled by Charlie Hulme.  Regular Contributors:  Dave Sallery , Alan & Rowan Crawshaw, Dave Skipsey, John Lewis, Nick Gurney,  John Murray, John Humphries, Tony Flusk,  John Dawson , Derick Norman, Tony Miles, Tony Johnson, Ian Bowland Tim Rogers and Alastair Graham.  Items for inclusion are welcome at charlie@dweb.u-net.com.

LAST UPDATE:  1 June 2000

To the North Wales Coast main page : To The 1-14 May Noticeboard

OUT WITH THE OLD - IN WITH THE OLD: Monday 29 May 2000, and 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller has arrived at Piccadilly with the 13.37 from Holyhead. Note the Gallery of photographers. Title © Tim Rogers.

Chester Watch - 30 May 2000 - by Dave Skipsey

07:36 37 895 arrived on 6E39, Mostyn - Scunthorpe Steel, stabled in the sidings and switched off
07:39 156 426 worked the 07:39 Chester - Crewe
07:55 158 758 worked a Bangor - Manchester Piccadilly
08:12 101 653 left platform 6 on a Chester - Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport
08:17 37 412 headed the 08:20 - Birmingham New Street
08:26 158 747 worked the 08:18 - Llandudno
08:32 66 183 headed a Chirk - Warrington Arpley through platform 4
08:38 156 426 worked the 08:29 - Bangor
08:52 156 429 worked the 08:53 - Manchester Piccadilly
09:11 175 004 ran from the depot into the headshunt and then back to await departure; 175003 now visible on depot
09:22 158 754 worked the 09:22 - Llandudno
09:26 175 004 headed down the coast on a test run
09:41 37 429 worked the 09:38 - Crewe
09:59 153 324 worked the 09:57 Chester - Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport
10:00 170 509 departed on the 10:00 Chester - Grimsby Town
10:17 37 895 departed for Healey Mills on the Mostyn - Scunthorpe steel
10:23 156 424 and 158758 worked the 10:23 - Llandudno from Platform 4!
10:23 158 757 worked the 10:23 - Birmingham New Street from Platform 3 ! (there must be a logic to this - but I can't see it !!)
11:01 47 826 headed the 11:07 - London Euston
11:22 60 075 worked the Arpley - Dee Marsh enterprise running two hours late.
11:29 158 793 worked the 11:28 Chester - Nottingham
11:35 37 412 worked the 11:35 - Holyhead
11:35 37 415 worked the 11:38 - Crewe
12:23 158 755 worked the 12:23 - Llandudno
12:42 37 415 worked the 12:39 - Holyhead
13:18 158 786 formed the 13:29 Chester - Birmingham New Street
13:26 158 747 worked the 13:19 - Llandudno
14:02 175 004 returned from the coast and headed for Crewe
14:20 156 426 worked the 14:20 - Llandudno
14:48 175 004 returned from Crewe and headed down the coast
14:53 37 412 worked the 14:59 - Manchester Piccadilly
15:25 43 157/43 080 worked the London Euston
15:50 175 003 and 175 005 ran from road 5 on the depot to the headshunt and back into road 8
15:55 158 747 worked the 15:53 - Manchester Piccadilly
15:58 37 429 worked a Holyhead

Note the arrival on the scene of 158 747, a first-class-equipped unit. This is a Virgin Trains set maintained at Newton Heath depot, which First North Western have arranged to hire on days when it is not required by Virgin. Apparently it is 'low on power and very tatty' - but even so it is back working a Virgin train to Portsmouth on 1 June! (Thanks to Dave Sallery for pointing this out and to FNW for supplying additional detail.) --- 31 May

Rowan Crawshaw staked out bangor station on Bank Holiday Monday 29 May, to see what would happen on the first day of the new timetable. The results can be found in his detailed Picture Report on the day. - 31 May

The Final Friday

Although the Class 37/4s have continued to run, it seems unlikely that Class 101 diesel railcars will be seen on the Coast again in normal circumstances. John Myers braved the rain to take a final ride on 26 May, and prepared a Picture Report for us - including a surprise Deltic guest appearance. - 31 May

The 17.19 from Manchester in the provisional timetable is booked for the loco to run round its train in Llandudno station; there has been some scepticism in some quarters as to whether this would happen, but Tony Flusk writes:  'The Llandudno ran as booked on Monday 29 May  with 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller. A crossover exists between platforms No.1 & No.2 at Llandudno
town which is "bolt locked" by a lever in Llandudno signal box - Thanks to FNW Llandudno Jct based Guards' inspector Chris Pugh who operated the points for this evening.' (See John Myers' picture above.) Pictures of this movement will be especially warmly received! - 31 May.

Dave Sallery's archive spot

In May 1985 Class 33s from the Southern Region started to make daily appearances on the coast with two locos appearing daily.  This came about by means of intricate diagrams involving Portsmouth - Cardiff and Cardiff -
Crewe services.  This constructive use of resources also saw 33s running to Milford Haven and Swansea.  Their all too brief outings came to an end in September the following year.  The photo shows the last such working
headed by Hastings gauge loco  33 207 leaving Prestatyn on September 27th 1986. -29 May

New on the Purple Zone

Alan and Rowan Crawshaw rode the double-header from Holyhead to Bangor on Sunday 28 May - their experiences are revealed on a new fully-illustrated Purple Zone page. This train and its operation seem to be fraught with problems ... see also notes below. - 29 May

Saturday May 27 on 1K81 we were treated to a double headed run from Holyhead to Crewe with 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol topping 37 415 on the 20:30 departure with just a rake of 4 (set with brake 35452). As usual that turn was very lightly loaded and a storming run was certainly enjoyed by the half dozen or so enthusiasts and dozen or so 'normals' on board. Was 415 required for an exam or was it just the last the 37 turn of the Winter timetable?

To return the loco and to get the set to Holyhead for 1K59 next day, I assume 37 415/412 ran ecs to Holyhead? If it did, that was a big mistake as 1D62 the 15:53 Crewe to Holyhead is now booked for just one 37 and four coaches. Not Adequate!  I think there had been a Rugby match and Ireland does not have a Bank Holiday until next weekend so it was mega-wedged with all centre aisles, vestibule ends and guards van crammed with people and luggage. The guard was unable to get through to collect/check tickets so I suppose revenue was lost and at Chester I think some people just could not physically get on the train. Not very good for either passenger comfort (some having to stand for the two hour journey) or indeed safety!

Come on First North Western, more coaches are required. Needless to say, the return journey with 2 locos and 8 coaches was quite lightly loaded as many people returning to England would be travelling on Monday instead. It would seem sensible to go up to five coaches from the summer, if they were not all off-lease although they do have two spares and a half brake.

Monday 29 May, Shotton: The first surprise was that despite one of the Wrexham to Bidston diagrams being 'BHX' a 101 appeared anyway. Maybe they did not realise it was  a Bank Holiday? 'Daisy' (101  685) was out again, as it was on Friday on the line along with 101 677 on the other turn, one usually being a 101 and one a 153 According to the driver NWT are supposed to be getting five 101's from Scotland ...

The three new temporary Class 37/4  diagrams materialised as expected, and were worked by 37429 Eisteddfod Genedaethol on TO791 (brake  35518), 37 415 on TO792 (brake 35513) and 37 420The Scottish Hosteller on TO793 (Brake  35452) all more or less on time. 47 818 was working 1A46 the 09:19 off Holyhead and 43 067/187 on 1D87 0859 from Milton Keynes about 10 minutes late. On the high level line, 37 055 arrived at Dee Marsh Junction at  11:26 (having followed the 101 from Wrexham) on 6F59 while at 08:53 Mainline liveried 37 372 led an EWS liveried 37 370 making a superb sight and sound as they pulled over the Dee bridge and began the climb up to Hawarden with their train of empty steel wagons on 6V75. Well worth the effort to get up! - 29 May.

Was 27 May the last day of 101s on the Coast? 101 677 leaving Conwy for Holyhead. Picture by Ian Bowland

Our picture report on the Farewell Special of 20 May is now ready, in a first version at least. 21 May report coming soon.

Ian Bowland was out and about on the Coast on 27 May, what was intended to be the Last Day for the 37s: his picture report Last Day ... or not? is now available. - 29 May

The next steam excursion was planned to be on 10 June 2000, hauled by newly-restored  5029 Nunney Castle,  but the latest information on the March Steam Railtour page is that this train has been postponed. (There are rumours of a loaded test run to be made in advance of the public working - any information on this would be very welcome.)

Furthermore, the Ynys Mon Express to have run on 18 June with 45407 has now been cancelled. The next steam working seems to be on 16 August, a train from Finsbury Park run by Past Time Rail. This is in fact the only scheduled steam run down the coast at the time of writing. - 29 May

Business as usual

Dave Skipsey writes: 'I arrived at Chester 15:50 on Sunday 28 May  in time to catch 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller on the 16:13 ex Chester - Holyhead, train 1D62, 15.52 ex-Crewe. No sign of 175's out and about - we went round to the Dee Marsh - Chester walk (the old line) from which it is possible to see into the "back" = Birkenhead side of the depot and 175 001/2/3/4/5 were all visible but no others, none were spotted out and about, most services we saw being 158 worked so let's see what Monday brings ...'

David Guy writes: '37 420 + 37 415 hauled the 18.22 double-header from Holyhead on Sunday 28 May. When last seen by me they were re-coupling at New Street for the overnight. The 18.22 was held at Chester for 15mins whilst an attempt was made to connect the ETH between the 2 rakes as the new (lady) guard did not want to do the overnight without heat. In any case it did not seem that the heat was getting even to the first coach on the outward leg approaching Birmingham.' [Nothing new there then - CH.]

The locomotive diagrams for this temporary loco-hauled service are available here, and also a timetable graph prepared by DJ Crawford  - comments on their resemblance to reality, and especially photos, are very welcome. In particular, are they really running round at Llandudno and Birmingham New Street, and are they really stopping at the Anglesey halts? - Update 29 May

Midday Train to Georgia - report  by John Murray

I had planned a business trip to the USA some time ago and I thought 27 May would be my last ride with a class 37 in public service, but as we now know.....

The first leg of my journey was 37 415 with the 08:18 to Crewe (pictures above at Crewe) then Central Trains' 170 509 to Manchester Airport.  Then after an 8 hour flight on a Delta Air Lines MD-11 the final leg was on the MARTA.  The picture below shows car 218 leading a northbound train at Atlanta Airport. - 28 May

37 420 The Scottish Hosteller awaits departure time at  Bangor for the 11:16 to  Birmingham on Saturday 27 May.  Picture by Rowan Crawshaw.

Bangor, 26 May - by Alan Crawshaw

A surprise was in store for at Bangor on the morning of Friday 26 May, when I arrived at 08:27 to see the flasks waiting in the centre road. Normally they follow the 07:06 Chester to Holyhead through Bangor, today they
waited for it to pass, leaving at 08:33. Locos are 20 313 and 314.

On the same day, 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller at Bangor on the 10:07 Birmingham  to Holyhead. - 28 May

Cheeky advertising

The latest Anglesey bus timetable contains a First North Western advert as follows:

 TAKE THE NEW TRAIN  - ON THE NORTH WALES COAST

 This Summer, First North Western will introduce a £70 million fleet of new trains  which wili whisk you at speeds of up to 100 mph from Holyhead to Chester,  Crewe and Birmingham.

Seat pitch has been made longer to give you more leg room
Journeys will be quieter due to better designed interiors
'Airline' style at-seat audio entertainment in some carriages
Toilets with full disabled access and baby-changing facilities
Closed circuit security cameras in all carriages

Alan Crawshaw comments: 'Leg room may be better that the existing units but I doubt if it's more than the loco-hauled stock. And surely 100 mph will only be possible on the Crewe to Birmingham section.' - 27 May

37 412 Driver John Elliott works the "Irish Mancunian", 24 May. Picture at Manchester Piccadily by Paul Braddock.

Chris Morrison writes: A poster seen at at Chester on 25 May says the following trains will dep. Holyhead five
minutes earlier than shown in the timetable, then run at the times shown between Bangor and Chester, arriving at Crewe two minutes later.

06.29 Holyhead to Birmingham
07.48 Holyhead to Crewe
09.50 Holyhead to Crewe
14.50 (SX) Holyhead to Crewe
14.55(SO) Holyhead to Crewe
16.46(SO) Holyhead to Birmingham

'Presumably this is to allow for loco and coaches at the Anglesey stops. Also mentioned 15.27 Crewe-Holyhead, no stop at Conwy - alternative transport provided. 07.15 Crewe-Llandudno to leave seven minutes earlier than shown, arriving at  Llandudno at the time shown  (08. 41) Also mentions some trains arriving five minutes later than shown, presumably westbound loco hauled local trains on Anglesey.' - 26 May.

33 109 Captain Bill Smith RNR and 33 208 arrive at Chester with the Pathfinder Tours special, 20 May. Picture by Chris Morrison.

Those Other Specials: another view

Dave Sexton writes:  To add a little to Dave Skipsey's item below,  there were three charters travelling to the Crewe open day from the South.  I think the order went:-

1st: Daylight Railtours 2x33 (D6525/D6593) from Alton to Crewe and Chester
2nd: Pathfinder Railtours 1 x 47 from Southampton via Bristol and Birmingham to Crewe (with afternoon mini--tour)
3rd: Hertfordshire Railtours 66 150 from Finsbury Park arrive 11.59 depart 16.32

'Regarding Dave's comments about the change of route, according to the tour brochure given out on the Pathfinder tour it was never the intention to use the slow (Goods) lines at Acton Grange Junction: instead the plan was to have entered Warrington Bank Quay station then to have used the engine attached to the rear to haul the train back into Walton Old Junction before continuing to Latchford sidings. thus avoiding the closed bridge. However, I agree that it was rather remiss of Pathfinder not to mention to customers earlier of the changes to the route.

'The repeating of a message via the PA system on the train advising that it was not Railtrack's fault that the route was changed may also have been unfortunate since I'm not aware that a bridge bash has been identified as the cause of the sad incident at Sutton Weaver.' - 26 May

Traffic notes by Tony Flusk

Monday 22 May - Class 56's keep on coming!, as the Mostyn was again a 56, 56 059 working 6M62 01:01 Healy Mills - Mostyn and the return 6E39 0809 Mostyn - Healey Mills.After their five minutes of fame, 37 608 &  37 612 returned home from Chester  to Carlisle Kingmoor as 0C19 0730 Chester - Carlisle Kingmoor (actually departing at 0605 hrs).
Tuesday 23 May,The Mostyn again produced a "grid", this time 56 115. The Valley nuclear flasks (7D41 01:04 Carlisle Kingmoor - Valley and return 7C40 15:09 Valley - Carlisle Kingmoor) noted behind 20 313 & 20 314.
The Dee Marsh wood train (6F59 09:09 Warrington Arpley - Dee Marsh & 6F62 12:32 Dee Marsh - Warrington Arpley) used split box 37 057Viking.

Friday 26 May - A VOSE special was planned to traverse the North Wales Coast line,running as 1Z55 11:36 Manchester Victoria - Manchester Victoria (Via Llandudno Junction ),using the newly refurbished "Northern Belle" stock (which after travelling on recenely  from Manchester to Berwick-upon-tweed, I can only say are the finenest MK11's I've  ever seen), and it was hoped to  see 55 019 again in use (which would be  it it's third run on the coast line). Times were as follows : -

1Z55 11:36 Manchester Victoria - Llandudno jct.Warrington Bank Quay pass 1224,Frodsham Jct 1232,Chester 1256 (on Up & Down main Line),Rhyl pass 1327,Llandudno jct arrive 1347.
1Z55 14:13 Llandudno jct - Manchester Victoria,Rhyl pass 1430,Warrington Bank Quay 1526 (sorry no other times  available).   - 26 May

Apologies for late notification of this train: Charlie was on holiday outside mobile phone range! Any news and pictures of the operation welcome.

Tim Brawn, Tony Miles and Iain Aldred pose with 37 029 on 21 May, clearly enjoying the success of the Farewell Special train from Crewe to all the Coast lines which they worked hard to organise. The Website team sends all of them, and everyone else concerned our thanks for a wonderful day. Some pictures below, many more to come.

The 'Irish Mancunian' enters the last week of the Winter timetable: 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol rolls into Manchester Oxford Road, 22 May. The famous BBC Web camera is on the roof of the building in the right background.

Notes from 23 May

John Murray writes: "As I passed Chester depot 23 May on the 06:40 to Holyhead it looked like 175 004 was being made ready for service.  Was this just training or did it actually run? (Also 20 313/4 in the freight loop with westbound flasks and passed 56 115 at Holywell Jcn with an Eastbound steel from Mostyn.)

A VERY rough crossing to Dublin, wind  force 6/7 close to the HSS operating parameters. Irish Ferries' Dublin Swift was cancelled at 09:15 and passengers transferred to the HSS.  An unexpected treat on arrival at Dublin Pearse was 071 class no 071 with steam heated Cravens on the Drogheda service in place of the regular DMU. -24 May

175 query

John Lancaster asks your help: "Whilst travelling on the 1621 Crewe - Bangor on Monday 8 May, hauled
by 37702, between Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction we passed a 175 heading east at about 17:30 on a driver training run. Unfortunately I didn't get the number, as it was rather unexpected! Can anyone help?" - 24 May

Those Summer 2000 Class 37 diagrams in full

As mentioned before, full diagrams have been prepared for three Class 37/4 locos daily from 28 May, although how long these will be in force is very much 'in the air.' However, we have prepared a text file with the diagram information.

The diagrams include some surprising things, in particular there are run-round moves at Birmingham New Street station and at Llandudno station. The former seems likely to cause congestion, and the latter requires the use of pointwork which has been rarely used in recent years. There is a release crossover in one of the platforms at Llandudno, which informed sources tell us is not in the best of condition, and run--round is also possible in the sidings outside the station, but only 27 minutes is allowed in the timetable, so there's not much time for any complex shunting. - 24 May

Wortking with these old trains is becoming very much a hand-to-mouth affair. Before dawn on 20 May and  37429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol on 04:22 Holyhead - New St. Just prior to departure from Holyhead  ,the Driver discovered the proportional brake valve was faulty, and allowing air to leak out of the train's brake pipe, leaving the brakes hard on. Fitter was called and attended 04:35, but despite all his best efforts he could not repair the fault. It was concluded that the loco would require turning at Valley. So it was ... they headed off for Valley at 04:50 light engine. A Chester driver driving "wrong end" and the booked driver up front keeping an eye out, ready on the straight air brake, and also to pull the points at Valley Sidings. 20 mph there and back, so they didn't arrive back at Holyhead until 05:20.

Departed behind 05:23 Holyhead - Cardiff Central at 05:26: arrived Chester about 76 mins late. The driver  was booked to cover a Llandudno Junction driver's job this moning, working empty from Junction to Bangor with 5H34 diesel railcar to form 1H34 06:28 Bangor - Manchester Picadilly. As a result of his delayed arrival at Llandudno Jct  off the delayed 04:22 ex Holyhead, 1H34 departed Bangor 13 mins late. Meanwhile the 04:22 Holyhead - Birmingham New St  was terminated at Crewe, and the return working hauled by 37412 Driver John Elliott while 429 went to the depot for repairs. - 24 May

While most of the Website contributors were the First North Western railtour, other special trains were about. Two Class 33 locos,  D6525/D6593 worked the 07:19 Alton - Chester Hertfordshire Railtours special - left Crewe at 11:43 so Chester arrival ca 12:10. I believe they left Chester at approx 16:30.

I was booked on the Pathfinders tour which was due to be 60 hauled from Crewe to Latchford sidings, 56 from Latchford to Garston and then 57 from Garston to Crewe. However,  the route we actually took was

14:34 Crewe - Chester 60 067 / 57 010 leading with 56 112 on the back of the train
15:00 Arrive Chester on Up/Down main - 60 067 uncoupled and left behind
(D6525 and D6593 parked in the sidings on their train, facing Crewe.)
15:05 Leave Chester with 56 112 now at the front (no run round? why not use the triangle?) and take Manchester line to Warrington Bank Quay.
15:?? Arrive Warrington Bank Quay in platform 4 and drop off 56 112
15:59 Depart Warrington with 5 7010 now leading, take curve at Hartford and Middlewich line at Sandbach Junction (Northwich) and eventually arrive Crewe 17:30.

Interesting run but I was very, very (etc) annoyed - we presumed the changed route was due the the bridge problems at Sutton Weaver, however when we passed Acton Grange Junction the slow (Goods) lines were out of use for maintenance - this was work which would be in the notices and therefore was known about for at least 4 weeks prior but Pathfinder Tours chose not to tell us. - I have been over all the lines before and would have preferred to either have been on the coast or at least been photographing the 57 at Chester. We  literally didn't know until we turned left at Crewe North! - 24 May

The very special Specials

Note: a detailed picture report on these trains is in preparation, Expected 28 May. More lineside pictures welcome.

First North Western, supported by the Railway Magazine and encouraged by this Website team, organised Class 37-hauled special trains on 20 and 21 May to say farewell to the good old loco-hauled trains, which will be replaced by new Class 175 railcars during the Summer. The Saturday train, which sadly ran in poor weather, visited the North Wales Coast Line and its branches. It had originally been intended to use some of the line's own Class 37/4 fleet, and run the normal services with Class 175s, but in the event the 175s were not ready and the 37/4s were needed for normal traffic. A pair of 37/6 locos, 37 608 and 37 612, were hired from DRS, one 37/0 - 37 379 Ipswich WRD - came from EWS, and Riviera Trains provided 37 029.

37 608 and 612 with the 20 May special at Roman Bridge. Picture John Lewis.
 

37 608 and 612 running round at Blaenau Ffestiniog, 20 May: just enough room between the points and the recently-installed buffer stop... Picture Charlie Hulme
 
 
 

Coming off the Llandudno branch - picture by John Humphries

The second train, on Sunday 22 May, ran to the destnations which were reached in the early 1990s by Regional Railways North West 'club trains' - Southportm Blackpoool and Barrow. This train suffered a few setbacks, including a re-routing, a vandal attack and some bad behaviour aboard the train, but the weather was better and everyone enjoyed themselves again. Travelllers on the train will be pleased to hear that the passenger injured by the broken window was allowed to continue to Crewe after being treated by a Stockport ambulance crew.

37 415 and 37 421 prepare to leave Barrow-in-Furness, 21 May 2000. Picture Charlie Hulme.

It was good to meet up with so many of our team of contributors and uk.railway newsgroup folks, and to spend the day aboard a Real Train in congenial company. On behalf of all us, thanks to Tim Brawn, Tony Miles, the train crews and everyone else who worked hard to make the train a success - with a special mention to the buffet trolley staff. Thanks also to those whom joined in the charity raffles on the trains: collected was - Clacton trip £130.50
N.Wales £142.00 Lancashire £184.50. - 22 May

A selection of locomotive workings through Chester on Friday 19 May, pictured by Tony Kirkham and Alan Crawshaw.

37 415 on the 12:51 Holyhead - Crewe

37 420 The Scottish Hosteller on the 13:23 Holyhead - Manchester Piccadilly.

37 412 Driver John Elliot on the 14:23 Birmingham New St. - Holyhead.
 

66 227 arrives Chester at 16:50 with the 6M33 Mossend - Chirk timber train. Note that these afternoon timber trains use bogie open wagonns newly-built by Thrall in York.

At 17:00 20 305 and 20 310 enter Chester station with  7C40, the Valley to Sellafield nuclear flasks. - 22 May

First North Western have confirmed that loco-haulage on the Coast line will continue for at least the first three weeks of the summer timetable, using  three locos each day. We have the full details and will put them on this site next week. The Sunday double-header boat train is, we are told, likely to continue for "some time yet." - 19 May

Another 'new' loco on the coast on 19 May: 37 412Driver John Elliott, photographed at Chester by John Murray

Crewe 19 May - report by Ian Bowland

37 412 Driver John Elliott was out and about on 19 May and shown on 1D75 which  left standing room only. (Why must they stop under the bridge?).  This train was diverted to platform 12 because 11 was occupied by a Virgin train for Liverpool which had been terminated "due to an incident north of Crewe".

37 415 was on 1K67/1D77 and is shown running round through platform 11 because the Crewe test train was on the through line.

37  420 was out again this morning on 1D67. Steam locos 70000Britannia and 60532 Blue Peter were towed up the Chester line by a class 31 and past the new Morrison's supermarket (formerly known as Crewe Locomotive Works) ready for the Crewe Works open day on 20 May.  70000 has not been treated to the cosmetic paint-up that was promised and really does look a mess. - 19 May

Ask a question on this site and you'll soon get some replies! On 18 May we asked:

Mike Stone raises the following question which we have wondered about ourselves: 'According to the current timetable, the 17.54 Crewe - Holyhead should attach to  the 17. 19 Manchester - Holyhead at Chester. At Crewe it is always announced as going through to Holyhead, but the 17.19 from Manchester is loco-hauled and the Crewe train is a DMU  - does anyoen have any idea any idea what really happens?'

Speaking of Website feedback, another good way to tell if you have any readers is to make a blunder ... Ian Bowland's two picture reports (links below) were bereft of their  pictures for some time due entirely to a cockup at Website central. This has now been fixed, ans they are well worth seeing, in a larger format than usual too. Thanks to those who were quick to point out our error and curses to M*crosoft for messing about with upper and lower case in filenames. - 19 May

The evening of the day at Holyhead, 17 May 2000. Picture John Lewis

The homepage text of this site goes on about trips to Colwyn Bay c. 1960, and this recently unearthed picture by the compiler's mother, Agnes Hulme, proves the point. Captured outside Colwyn Bay station in 1958 are (l to r) the late Charlie Hulme senior, your compiler and his cousin Jim Morris, a really serious trainspotter at the time and a lifelong railfan until he was killed in a road accident at the age of just 40. Apart from the Utility bus, the main change in the scene of today is that the A55 expressway runs below where we are standing. The Imperial Hotel and the other buildings behind have not altered much. - 19 May.

Monday 15 May saw 56 007 on the Dee Marsh Wood (6F59 0909 Arpley - Dee marsh and return 6F62 1232 Dee Marsh - Arpley),being one of the few remaining Romanian built examples left in traffic.
Tuesday 16 May,and the only train of note was the Valley flasks (7D41 0104 Carlisle Kingmoor- Valley and return 7C40 1509 Valley - Carlisle Kingmoor) with 20 301 & 20 304 in charge.
Wednesday 17 May and another Class 56 in the area,this time 56 131 working 6M62 0124 Healy Mills - Mostyn dock and return 6E39 0809 Mostyn Dock - Healy Mills,which departed Mostyn at the very early time of 0510 hrs !.Later the morning the Dee Marsh wood produced its first "tractor"of the week,the loco noted being 37 704.
Thursday 18 May,and for the second day on the run the Mostyn Dock trip was a Class 56, today
being  56 089, however the loco returned light to Healy Mills as no traffic was ready for the return run.   6E52 07.03 Holyhead - Humber also ran, 37 703 noted with its rake of 17 PAB hoppers.
The Dee Marsh wood also used a 37 later on, 37 704 doing the honours. - 19 May

The Hosteller's back ...

On old friend, 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller, makes a welcome reappearance hauling the 17.19 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead at Manchester Oxford Road, 16 May. It now carries welsh flags on each cab side, courtesy of Cardiff Railway staff no doubt. Picture Charlie Hulme.

37 608 and 37 612 await their moment of stardom, Chester 19 May. Picture John Murray

Please join us if you can on the 37-hauled extravaganzas which First North Western are running for us on 20 and.21 May: tickets can be bought on the train, and a refreshment trolley will available each day. Several Coast Line website stalwarts will be aboard, we hope to see you there.

Here are some timings:

Saturday 20 May: Crewe d. 09.40, Chester 10.01-10.03, Llandudno Jc 10.45-10.49, Llandudno 11.09-11.26, Ll.J. 11.36-11.54, Llanrwst N. 12.14-12.25, Blaenau F. 13.01-13.18, Ll.J. 14.27-14.43, Bangor (pass) 14.59, Holyhead 15.30-15.46, Bangor (pass) 16.12, Llandudno Jc 16.27-16.29, Chester 17.18-17.27, Northwich (pass) 18.03, Stockport (pass) 18.33, Man P. (pass) 18.46, Newton-le-Willows (pass) 19.09, Warrington BQ (pass) 19.16, Crewe arr. 19.47.

Locomotives will be Riviera Trains 37 029 and (probably) 37 379, with a pair of  DRS 37/6 locos,  37 608 and 612, working Llandudno Junction - Llandudno - Blaenau Ffestiniog - Holyhead. (Top-and-Tail operation with four locos Llandudno Junction to Llandudno and return.) The normal Saturday loco-hauled trains will also be working.

Sunday 21 May: Crewe d. 09.38, Manchester Piccadilly 10.18-10.20, Walkden (pass) 10.35, Burscough Bridge (pass) 11.15, Southport 11.28-11.50, Bolton (pass) 12.34, Manchester Vic 12.30-13.51, Eccles (pass) 13.58, Wigan NW 14.17-14.19, Preston 14.38-14.58, Blackpool N. 15.22-15.40, Preston 16.01-16.29, Grange-over-Sands (pass) 17.05, Barrow 17.35-18.25, Preston 19.34-19.36, Manchester Vic 20.13-20.18, Stockport 20.43-20.46, Crewe arr. 21.19.

This train will use 37 029 and 37 038 to Southport, then two 37/4s removed from the normal Holyhead double-header will work the rest of the day. The Website team has asked for two RR-liveried machines, let's see what happens.

If you can't travel, send us a picture! - 18 May

Current WKCD (Crewe depot passenger fleet) pool status:

401 Cardiff
406 Cardiff
412 Crewe (55)
415 1H42/1D45 (23)
420 1D75/1G79 (36) assd Bxam 24/05
421 0Y98 Crewe - Bescot then allox 7E16
426 Cardiff
429 1K67/1D77/1K77

The WKCD CD pool now includes the old WKCN TO pool which is now defunct, this should enable ex WKCN pool engines to work the coast and WKCD engines to work the Rhymney services. For example on 17 May 37 420 was working the coast and 37 401 was working the 2R38 Cardiff to Rhymney service!

Latest 37/4 engine hours correct at 14 May (these are the only class members still in service)
 

37 401 3,642 37 405 4,114 37 406 8,204 37 408 2,674 37 411 4,502 37 412 7,556

37 415 7,349 37 416 4,779 37 418 5,849 37 419 6,950 37 420 7,444 37 421 5,003

37 425 6,815 37 426 6,695 37 427 4,550 37 428 6,838 37 429 7,401

:

Great to see 37 420 The Scottish Hosteller back, seen here on the 12:51 Holyhead  to Crewe - a 153 sneaks  into the picture with a  Llandudno to Holyhead local. 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol was in charge of the  10:07 Birmingham to Holyhead. Now if only we could have had  them on the Sunday double  header - as far as I know we  never had two RR locos together. -18 May

New Picture Reports

Pictures of Coast line workings have been coming in thick and fast recently, and very pleased we are to see them, as there's little time left now .... we have created special pages for:

• Derick Norman's Class 37 pictures, journeys between Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Chester
• A Holiday in North Wales by Ian Bowland, including the Welsh Highland construction, 27s and green DMU.
• Blue, Red and Gold - 45 minutes at Crewe on the evening of 15 May

Dave Sallery's Archive Spot

To allow retirement of older locomotives and to end the steam heating of passenger trains, it was decided to refurbish 31 Class 37's with new alternators and electric train heating.  The rest, as they say, is history.  North Wales Coast regular 37 401 - since named Mary Queen of Scots, the first of the conversions, is seen on test heading back towards Crewe from Llandudno Junction with the works test train on 19th June 1985.  In the background can be seen the now demolished Courtaulds factory.  At this time the works was receiving 4 trains a week of fuel oil and chemicals, an indication that not all freight traffic has been lost through competition from the lorry. - 18 May

Rowan Crawshaw has created a page showing which trains will be worked by locomotives in Summer 2000, if the provisional plans of First North Western come to pass. It looks like we will get at least a week or two of these workkings, so make the best of them! Rowan's Rail Elite site has recently been updated and is worth a visit for North Wales and other general rail information. - 18 May

New releases from Transport Video Publishing:

Video Track Issue 76 June/July 2000 includes THE MAIN LINE THAT TIME FORGOT. The route along the North Wales Coast from Chester to  Holyhead is unique, with  its loco hauled Class 37  worked passenger trains and numerous mechanical  boxes.   We take a look at the line and show the 37's and  Heritage D.M.U.s at  work throughout the route prior to their replacement.  Llandudno, Bangor,  Rhyl, Ty Croes  are just some of the locations that feature together  with the  boxes and signalling. Approx 60 mins, price £11.95

Video Track Side - North Wales Coast 1979 to 2000
The programme comprises classes 40, 25 and 47 in 1979  on both passenger and  freight. Includes D200 on a  special working. The route in 1989 with classes 20, 31, 47 and DMUs. The 1990s with 37s on the passenger diagrams plus the  ballast trains to  Penmaenmawr. An extensive look at the route in 2000 during the last  months of locomotive  haulage. A wide variety of  locations are featured from Chester to Holyhead,  plus  the branch to Blaenau. Freight traffic is also featured. Approx 65 mins, price £12.95 - available from 1st June

TVP are at 19 High Street, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8SD (Phone 0158 283  3807/4319) - 18 May

Grosvenor Park Railway in Chester to reopen - notes by John Murray

We are pleased to annouce that Grosvenor Park Miniature Railway will re-open on Saturday 27 May 2000.  We are pleased to welcome Stephen Hardin, an experienced and well respected model engineer, to the board of the company.  Stephen will take over the day to day running of the railway from John Murray and Tim Schofield, who are stepping down in the summer due to pressure of work.  John Murray said "I am pleased that the long term future of the railway is now secure and I would like to thank the many enthusiasts, staff and volunteers who have supported and assisted me over the three years of my involvement.  I am confident that Stephen Hardin will be an excellent operator and would ask people to support him in the way I have been."

Sadly the railway suffered a serious spate of vandalism over the last year with over £2000 worth of damage to track and rolling stock.  Sadly the station area and the track were damaged at the end of March and repairs need to be carried out before the railway can operate again.  It is hoped that new initiatives by Cheshire Police and Chester City Council will stem this problem.

The railway, situated in the main Grosvenor Park in the centre of Chester opened in 1996 to commemorate the centenary of The Duke of Westminster's Eaton Railway near Chester.  Over 50,000 passengers were carried in 1998 and 1999.  Steam services run on busy days, at other times trains are operated by diesel locomotives or battery-electric tramcars.  It is hoped that Chester Tram 19, an 8 seater based on a 1920's English Electric 3'6" gauge single deck bogie car at present being built by John Murray, will operate here later in the year.

For further information see the railway's website http://www.gpmr.co.uk or phone 07967 533324 which has a talking timetable and message service when the railway is not  open. - 18 May

It seems that the coast line 37's are getting nose jobs.  I looked at some recent pictures of 429 which, at one point, had some nasty damage to its "nameplate" end but this has now gone and looks a healthy yellow again.  37 426 is also sporting bright yellow. Does all this mean somebody cares or is it a safety matter? - 18 May

37 421 at Birmingham New Street, 12 May. A full page of Derick's recent pictures is available. -18 May

Freight Graphed

DJ Crawford writes: There maybe less than two weeks to go of the winter timetable, but I've now
uploaded a timetable graph for the coast line which includes freight trains!

The address is  http://users.aol.com/dysgraphyk/railway/n-wales-freight.htm

If anyone can help make these charts more accurate, any observations or information received is very welcome at Dysgraphyk@aol.com. - 16 May

What happens next (or not)

Into our hands (thanks John) comes a copy of an EWS document detailing Class 37/4 passenger diagrams for 28 May to 25 June 2000: this details three loco diagrams each day, including a double-header on Sundays and a fsacinating evening  run at 17.19 from Manchester to Llandudno and back (including a run-round at Llandudno station) on Mondays - Fridays. Interestingly, we seem to have received this before First North Western ... who tell us that this is to be viewed as a backup situation, and it remains likely that 175s will take over very soon after the timetable change. Certainly some platform trimming has been taking place in the last few days at Llandudno Junction; the delay is more likely to relate to contract matters than to technical ones. We'll soon know, in any case! - 16 May

More on the Weekend Specials

Thanks to Tim Brawn of First North Western for the following details:

Saturday 20 May: Confirmed as 09.40 ex-Crewe 10.03 at Chester.  Locos confirmed as 37 029 & an EWS 37 Crewe - Llandudno Junction  - Llandudno  - Llandudno Jc,  Holyhead - Chester - Manchester - Warrington - Crewe. 2 DRS 37/6 Llandudno Junction - Llandudno - Blaenau Ffestiniog - Holyhead. (Top-and-Tail operation with four locos Llandudno Junction to Llandudno and return.)

Sunday 21 May : Leaves Crewe at 09.38 now, back by 21.30. Picks up at Manchester Piccadilly, sets down at Man Vic on the return.  37029 + 37 038 to Southport, 2 x 37/4 (off the boat train diagram) will work  for the rest of the day Southport - Vic - Blackpool North - Preston - Barrow - Manchester Victoria - Stockportt (via Denton ) - Crewe. (Top  & Tail  with 029 &038 Preston - Blackpool  and return.) Don't forget there will NOT be any Loco hauled  in Nor th Wales on this day, the only 37 haulage in the area will be the Special. - 15 May.

The (last?) Sunday double-header at Valley, 14 May with 37 426 and 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol in charge. Picture by John Lewis.

Deltic Saturday

We have a full report with many pictures of the events of Saturday 14 May, including the Deltic-Hauled railtour and all the usual trains too. - 15 May.

Chester Watch, 14 May - by Dave Skipsey

13:51 60 072 worked light engine to Dee Marsh for the Steel
14:50 66 174 headed a diverted 6M24, 10:21 Llanwern - Dee Marsh Steel
16:00 43 157 and 43104 worked the 15:40 - London Euston, delayed due to preceding sprinter problems
16:14 37 426 and 37 429 headed the 15:46 Crewe - Holyhead
16:16 158 752 arrived into the sidings - the failure which delayed the Euston
16:31 66 030 headed a diverted 6M29, 11:38 Llanwern - Dee Marsh
16:45 175 004 ran through the station on the Up/Down main and headed for Crewe.
17:08 60 072 worked 6V47, 17:00 Dee Marsh - Margam (early) - through platform 4 - nearly caught me out !!
18:25 175 004 returned from Crewe (?) and went onto the depot
18:55 60 044 headed a diverted 6M30, 11:10 Margam - Dee Marsh

The double-header passes Pensarn, 14 May - picture John Humphries

Sunday 14 May - Report by Alastair Graham

It's getting near the end and things are going well on the double headed front! 37 426 made an appearance, the first for some time and was on the top of 37 429 as we left Crewe 16 minutes late on 1D60, held awaiting some delayed connecting services (all Virgin trains from the south were delayed! e.g. 1F15 10.05 Euston to Liverpool, due Stafford 12.24, arrived 14.50 due to a carriage having to be removed) but the pair were in excellent form reaching Holyhead 17.45 only two down.

At Holyhead the locos were run round in their usual way so that for 1G79 429 was again attached to the train and 426 on the top of coach sets with brake-firsts 35515 and 35518. At International this meant that 429 was on the top and 426 on the train. Was this a mistake? Performance was still good. At Crewe at 00.48 and two fitters arrived to separate the coaches and 429 was taken off the top and ran round to the rear ready to take the set back to Crewe Carriage sidings while 426 continued forward with 35518 on 1D99.

At 01.00 426 is failed! The AWS will not cancel on the loco so it's unable to continue. 429 is detached from the rear set of coaches and 426 ripped off the front and 429 returned to it's rightful position at the head of the train to continue some  22 minutes down.  (Not to worry, plenty of recovery time allowed between Bangor and Holyhead to allow for such eventualities). According to the driver, when EWS's contract with North Western trains finishes on May 27, 429 has been booked a one way ticket to Springs Branch.  I could think of other locos more deserving of this fate ... - 15 May

[Earlier stories are on the Notice Board for May 1-15 2000]

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Created by Charlie Hulme, Comments welcome to charlie@dweb.u-net.com