Blimey, what's this? A Virgin through train from Holyhead to London!  47 817 The Institution of Mechanical Engineers calls at Chester with the 09:19 Holyhead - London on 18 December. (Rowan Crawshaw)

Regular Contributors: Dave Sallery , Alan Crawshaw, Rowan Crawshaw, Dave Skipsey, John Lewis,  John Murray,  Tony Flusk,  John Dawson , Derick Norman, Tony Miles, Ian Bowland, Tim Rogers, Ivor Bufton, Alastair Graham, Mike Stone, Chris Pelling, Tim Proudman, 'Concrete Bob'  and Steve Vaughan.

LAST UPDATE: 18 December 2000

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Class 37/4 diagrams: 18-23 December 24-30 December

Keeping their promise, Virgin Trains did reinstate through workings to London on 18 December, as Rowan Crawshaw's heading picture shows. Booked Virgin workings for 18-22 December are: 09:19 Holyhead - Euston (arr. 14.44), 08:38 Euston - Holyhead (arr.13:40), 13:55 Holyhead - Euston (arr: 18:59). 19:08 Euston - Holyhead (arr. 00.58.). The lunchtime turnround at Holyhead looks tight, especially if a loco-hauled set is used rather than an HST. Reports are welcomed.  Before the recent débacle, the 09:19 was booked into London at 13:46.

18 December was not a great day for the First North Western services: 37 426 worked 'diagram 1' as captured above by Rowan Crawshaw at Chester on the 07:49 Holyhead - Crewe. Later, the 15:30 Crewe - Holyhead found itself waiting at Chester for half an hour for the arrtival of a guard.

37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol on 'diagram 2' was running so late on 08:47 Holyhead to Birmingham (1D57) that the train was terminated at Wolverhampton and the loco run round its train to head back to Holyhead and pick up time. Not a common event; has it ever happened before? More pictures and notes on the day by Derick Norman on his Website.

Reporting by Rowan Crawshaw, Derick Norman and Dave Sallery- 18 December

We have procured a copy of Virgin's 100-page booklet titled 'Special Christmas timetable for West Coast routes' - and a tawdry production it is too. Someone's cocked up the fonts, so that the arrows continuing trains on another column appear as 'e' and 'f' and an unexplained headnote '&' appears on the tables, which deduction tells us was meant to be a little pictogram of a bus. Some pages have train headcodes at the top of the columns, presumably another error, but why can't we always have these like other countries? The tables cover strictly Virgin trains only, except a few Silverlink connections into Euston, so North Wales passengers will look in vain for FNW connections from Crewe.

18-22 December Holyhead trains are mentioned in the item above; Saturday 23 December mysteriously sees a brief return of the 03:36 and 05:43 Holyhead - London as well as the 09:19 and 13:37. Return workings from London are 08:25 and 18:45. Can this be right? On Christmas Eve Sunday there's the 13:53 Holyhead - Milton Keynes and a 16:12 Holyhead to Crewe. In the down direction there's a 12:09  and 19:35 Crewe - Holyhead, and 18:23 Milton Keynes - Holyhead. Euston is served only by Silverlink local trains.

After Christmas, more bizarre things will happen, the highlight being the 05:46 Holyhead - London Paddington (via Birmingham) and 17:42 Paddington - Holyhead return on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 December. Thanks to Mike Stone for drawing this to our attention; as Mike notes, 17:42 from Paddington was always the time of the train which called at High Wycombe. - 18 December

More about First North Western's plans

The end is definitely near now,  175 110 (seen in Rowan Crawshaw's picture above at Crewe on 16 December) has been accepted into the FNW fold as of Friday 15 December. However,  a 'hot standby' is talked about for next year until March 31,  one set of 4 or 5  Riviera Trains coaches plus an EWS 37/4 or alternatively 47 705 Guy Fawkes. This standby diagram (Mon - Sat) will be 05.25 Birmingham - Holyhead forward from Chester, 08.53 Holyhead - Birmingham , 12.07 Birmingham - Holyhead, 15.58 Holyhead - Crewe. This will only be used in service if a shortage of diesel railcars occurs.

Class 101 diagrams will remain unchanged for now, 10 diagrams for 16 units until the start of February when it will drop to 8 diagrams, then 6 in March , 4 in April , 2 May - July then zero if all the Class 175s are in service. The four Class 142s which are promised to Cardiff Railway will now remain in the North West until 19 May 2001.

We must stress that the above plans are no more than provisional, and changes could occur at any time. Thanks to Tim Brawn for the information.- 18 December

I was interested to read your thoughts recently about us all needing a new hobby what with the imminent
demise of the North Wales 37s., the march of the Sheds and Railtrack et al. Having just got back  from a
recent visit to Crewe Station on a Sunday afternoon, I think I might have the answer. There were 5 coaches outside Crewe Station with 5 more parked down the ramp to the Depot. By contrast the station was empty bar one 'shed' on an engineers train (66 196)  and just one 'skoda' appeared on a Euston service. I think the answer is clear – we should all become bus and coach enthusiasts. We could meet up outside mainline stations – to 'spot' all the latest new coaches taking train passengers to their destinations. “Coach Bay 5 publishing “ could bring out spotters' guides for the gricers. The bashers could be kept happy with rare haulage on new routes eg Crewe to Holyhead via Nantwich, Chester and the A55...

Societies could organise “depot” visits to view the latest stock plus scrap lines (something that has not been possible on Britain’s privatised railways, even if you did have an orange vest.) Maybe it would be possible to organise annual open day  events at coach building works (again something that has proved impossible on our railways – what happened in 1999 anybody?) Sorry, have to go now, just heard a rare diesel engine purring outside my house – must be that new low deck access CityBus that are in a spanking new Easyhaul orange livery !

(With apologies to any real transport enthusiasts / bus spotters) - 18 December

 This picture taken at Holyhead on 16 December by Alan Crawshaw as 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaetholseems to capture the whole atmosphere of the Coast line in the last decade. Will the two boys remember all this when they grow up?  Alan's Website has great picture report on the day, ominously titled Trapped in  a Coffin - I'll never forgive you if you don't visit!
 

The Chester Christmas Chuffer, 16 December. Picture by Alan Crawshaw

One of the legendary railmen from the past, "Dick the lamps" is seen here on his way to refill another one of Rhyl's thirsty semaphore signals. In the background Class 47 No. 47470 "University of Edinburgh" leaves with the 13.00 Euston - Holyhead service. 27th July 1985. - 17 December

We caught the 07:54 to Holyhead departed Bangor at 08:13 behind 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol which was busy and 20 passengers were waiting to board for the ferry, the front coach was a mk2 and was full, the 1st class  compartments was full with sleeping bodies so went for the 3rd. We passed the 07:49 Holyhead to Crewe just west of Llanfair PG. We enjoyed a nice quiet run across Anglesey both ways.

Two small boys enjoyed the run round which was compeleted in time for the 08:53 which I caught to Crewe which quiet from Holyhead but got busy from Bangor.

I arrived at Crewe only a few minutes late; 101 693 is seen making its complicated movements as the  10:20 Manchester Airport - Chester.

The 'Chester Chuffer' waits at Crewe behind 35005.

37 426 calls at Crewe with the 10:07 Birmingham - Holyhead.

37 426 calls at Crewe with the 12:07 Birmingham - Holyhead.

We caught the 15:27 back which departed from Crewe at 15:37 on three-car 175 105. We arrived at Chester just before the steam train departed at 16:00. This was an uneventful journey until we came to a halt just after Conwy. After a long wait the lights the engine went out but returned after a few seconds. The guard announced the train had failed. 175 007 was sent from Llandudno Junction at assist. We arrived at Bangor at 18:25.

This was the first time I have tried out the 'entertainment system' fitted to the seats at one end of the centre cars of the 175/1. The channels should be: 1. Radio 1; 2. Radio 2; 3. Classic FM; 4. 60s, 70s, 80s; 5. Easy Listening; 6. Pouplar Classics; 7. Childrens Channel. In fact Channel 3 is Radio 1, Channel 5 is silence [very easy listening! - Charlie] and Channel 7 is modern pop music. - 17 December

Arrived Chester about 25 minutes late, mainly due to late arrival of the train at Birmingham International and speed restrictions in the Stafford area.

Left Chester on time at 16:00 ahead of the late running 15:47 to Holyhead. Gresford Bank was taken with considerable style, 18 minutes from Chester (start) to Wrexham (pass slowly owing to signal check). I'm no expert, but this must be some sort of record being only one minute longer than Sprinter times. Further bouts of spirited running saw us in Birmingham International 15 minutes early.

Getting to and from Birmingham International was relatively uneventful. 175 107 on the 06:24 Chester-Birmingham was completely punctual. Return by Virgin to Crewe was OK if you knew where you were going, but pity the poor passenger that doesn't know the system. Crewe was the usual farce, with passengers being directed by announcements to a non-existent 21:20 to Chester. This appears to be an empty stock working comprised of two 175's. W&W's Pembroke Dock - Holyhead working was only a few minutes late at 21:32. - 17 December

The arrangements for locomotive working in the days leading up to the end of the year, as planned by FNW at the time of writing, are now available as a file for printing. Unless things change in the meantime, the last regular Class 37/4 hauled train along the Coast will be the 15:58 Holyhead - Birmingham on Saturday 30 December.

There is to be a 'standby' diagram until March 2001, which will only be used if not enough 175s are available. Loco for this might be either a 37/4 or Riviera Trains 47 705. - 17 December.

[Earlier stories (including more from 16 December) are on the previous Notice Board]

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