Direct Rail Services continues to run its twice weekly train returning nuclear fuel rods from Wylfa Power Station to Sellafield for reprocessing. John Humphries' picture shows the Friday train passing Talacre on 26 January. The extra fuel tanks fitted to 20 901 can be seen behind the cab.

Regular Contributors: Dave Sallery , Alan Crawshaw, Rowan Crawshaw, Dave Skipsey, John Lewis, 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: 30 January 2001

To the North Wales Coast main page : To The previous Noticeboard

Privately owned locos 37 029 and 37 038 Riley & Sons(E) Ltd went for a test run (just the two locos coupled) from Crewe Carriage shed on 30 January, as train 0D50 to Llandudno Junction, primarily to test 029 after engine overhaul. Unfortunately, it sustained a power earth fault, and has returned to Crewe CS for rectification, scuppering  the plan to substitute it for 47 705 Guy Fawkes at Chester, as the 'Thunderbird' loco. Instead, 37 038 has taken up residence until 029 is ready. The return journey left Llandudno Junction as 0Z21 at about 3-ish, arriving and reforming at Chester Middle yard about 4pm. Veteran Coast photographer Larry Goddard was observed about his craft in the rain, no doubt tipped off by the jungle telegraph ... and the driver said something about sending a report to Charlie Hulme...
A good deal of disruption was caused by a points failure at Saltney Junction, including delay to the above test run, and to the unusual sight off a Virgin HST...welcome back, Richard! - 31 December

47 776 Respected emerges from Belmont tunnel on 29 January as the 09:19 Holyhead to Euston re-enters the timetable. (Alan Crawshaw)

Upcoming Specials

Saturday 3 February will see Wales and West running its Rugby specials again:  1H98 07:25 Crewe - Manchester will be locmotive hauled and run via Warrington and Oxford Road  to Platform 13 at Piccadilly whence it forms 1V77 08:33 to Cardiff.

1H98 0718 Crewe - Man Pic (0801)
1Z66 0757 Crewe - Cardiff (1045)
1V77 0833 Man Pic - Cardiff (1143)
2V42 1028 Crewe - Cardiff (1340)

1Z76 1815 Cardiff - Crewe (2122)
1Z71 1915 Cardiff - Crewe (2234)
2B33 1945 Cardiff - Crewe (2241)

Looking further ahead, First North Western are planning some special trains for various sports events etc., although these will be railcar worked (unless plans change!) 3 March, a train from Holyhead early Morning for Wales v Ireland, returning Sunday night. 23 / 24 March ex-Crewe to Holyhead for England playing in Ireland. 25 March ex-Holyhead for England fans returning home. 16 - 18 March, extra trains for  St Patrick's Day  (some trains are via Middlewich or Warrington  on  18 March due to engineering work between Chester and Crewe.)

Reporting by Tim Brawn and Tim Rogers - 31 January

Eistedd-what? - by Charlie Hulme

An interesting thread on the uk.railway newsgroup recently discussed the meaning of the name Eisteddfod Genedlaethol as fitted to 37 429. 'Genedlaethol' means 'national' and an 'Eisteddfod' (Welsh 'dd' should be pronounced like 'th' in English 'the' and a single f like English 'v') is a festival of music and culture, word being related to 'eisteddwch' , which means 'sit down' and perhaps relates to the tradition that a chair at the Lord's table was awarded to the best poet and musician.The National Eisteddfod is held in a different part of the country each year, and should not be confused with the International Eisteddfod which is always held in Llangollen.

The 2001 national event will take place from August 4 - 11 in Denbighshire, in North East Wales not far from Denbigh town centre, on the road between Denbigh and Llandyrnog. (The Eisteddfod Website has the full details.) The locomotive was one of the batch of 37/4s originally allocated to Cambrian line duty, and was renamed from County of Dyfed/Sir Dyfed in 1987 in conjuction with the Eisteddfod held at Porthmadog. The name was removed again in April 1993, according to Marsden & Ford's book, and re-applied in Summer 1993 after 429 was reallocated to Coast line duties. (Where was the Eisteddfod in 1993, someone?)

The pictues come from your compiler's dusty box of old prints: the upper one is Llandudno Junction in the early days of the 37/4 era, with some coaches still in modified NSE livery, and below from after its overhaul c.1996, entering Chester looking very smart. Is 429 the only loco to have been painted once in RR livery and the repainted in the same colours on overhaul? - 31 January

Peter Tabord's comments on Virgin Trains provoked some comments from readers, all in total agreement with Peter's view. Here's our HST expert Steve Vaughan:

Further to the comments by Peter Tabord. Unfortunately I think that the majority of the travelling public feel the same way. Last Friday I was travelling from Preston to Crewe on a Glasgow - Birmingham service. Apart from having four out of seven coaches in total darkness on the train, a young woman commented to me that she thought she had missed her connection to Chester (the 19:45 ex-Crewe 1D88). She had checked on the Internet for the timetable the day before her travel, but I had to inform her there was no 19:45 and she had the best part of 40 minutes to wait on a cold dark Crewe Station. Her response, 'Thats the last time I ever travel by train, next time I will take the car,' although it wasn't quite as polite.

The truth is that the railway will be deserted, sure enough, some companies have come out of this well. Midland Mainline, although running a simpler route than Virgin, coped in my view exemplarary, staff  always knowledgeable (and willing to share that knowledge), emergency timetables accurate and trains running where and when they should be, even to the extent of knowing what was HST and what was TurboStar. Virgin on the other hand don't seem to care. I queried what the 19:45 ex Crewe to Holyhead was on Monday 22 January to be told that the screen was wrong because nobody had bothered to alter it. Nobody bothered to alter it on the Tuesday or the Wednesday either.

Also of note is that Blackpool still has no through service to London and as the timetable runs until 6 April it looks like they are not going to have one for the next couple of months. Perhaps there would have been no Holyhead service had Chris Green not been pestered to distraction by Betty Williams MP.

Finally I think most of us know why HST availability has had a poor record recently. If you don't look after your car it will break down, a HST is no different. Sure the coaches look nice inside but a coat of red paint doesn't solve the problem. Midland Mainline, GNER and FGW have not had problems with their fleets because they invest in them and look after them, and I won't even go in to the water ingress problem.

Virgin have lost an awful lot of customers over the last few months and its going to take an awful lot to get them back. Sure, the half price offer will get some people back but they have to back the offer up with trains that run, run to timetable, run to time and have superb customer service. All things that have been lacking since long before Hatfield.

John Myers' article about  37 426 at Rhyl in 1998 brought back a few memories. As I recall it 155's took over from loco hauled on the North and West route in early 1998, but until 1991 there was a daily diagram using  a 37/4 and coaches which made two runs from Cardiff to Manchester or Liverpool, on Sundays it ran once only to Liverpool. However in the spring of 1998, the problem with the Class 155 doors  led to the introduction of a second diagram, which was fairly short-lived using a 37/4 which did another return working to Manchester (or was it Liverpool?) before doing the Cardiff to Rhyl diagram.

My son's 4th birthday treat on April 27 1998 (really it was my treat!) was a trip from Chester to Rhyl and back behind 37 427, then Bont Y Bermo. At the time these were rare visitors on passenger workings along the coast, although that summer they were regular visitors to Pwllheli and Aberystwyth via the Cambrian. .

Interestingly the demise of the original diagram in 1991 did not mean the end of 37/4 visits over the Marches line as the  setting up of the South Wales and West franchise group allocated the loco and stock to this group and although at first used over the Bristol to Weymouth route from this evolved the interesting 16.45 Fridays Cardiff to Manchester loco hauled which lasted until September 1999. The use of the 37/4 over the Marches line was always an experience, the climb away from Abergavenny a good thrash, and the section between Hereford and Shrewsbury always called for some smart work to keep the schedule.

One of the highlights of Fridays would be a visit to the Railway Inn at Yorton, then a rush to the station to flag the return working of this diagram down, before catching it back to Hereford. - 31 January

The 09:19 Holyhead - London Euston made an appearance for the first time in a while on 29 January, seen here after departing Prestatyn with 47 776 Respected and DVT 82113 running  2 minutes down. (Report by John Humphries.) Surely should have been 47 777 Restored? - 29 January
 

No return ticket - by Peter Tabord

I'm sad to say that I fear that Virgin's trains, when restored, will be much emptier than before. I and my wife have used the service extensively since we moved to North Wales in 1996 - part of the reason for moving here was the fact that we could work here and cover responsibilities in London using the then good service run by Inter-City from Bangor. I guess we averaged something like one round trip per fortnight up until Hatfield.

 We , however, will not be returning. The disruption in the post - Hatfield period has left us no choice but to buy reliable road transport, and plan our journeys so that we can make them by road.   Now that the crisis seems to be getting over, why not return to rail? well, here are our reasons.

 1) We've bought the car now - we are tied to using it and getting return on our investment for the next  three years.

 2) The amount of inconvenience that we caused to our colleagues in the post Hatfield period was such that more unpredictable travel would probably cost one or both of us our jobs. At least with the car we can make sure we travel down whenever possible on Sundays - scarcely an option with rail.

 3) Even before Hatfield, the service run by Virgin had deteriorated - retiming of trains (and they can't blame it all on Railtrack - why don't they have enough HST's - and why should their passengers be expected to bear the burden if they don't) and extra recovery time mean we could no longer achieve a full days work in London without travelling down the previous day. Above all, ticket prices were constantly changing. The car may cost more, but petrol prices are relatively predictable - constant changing of mind by Virgin as to what tickets were valid on what trains could cause 100% changes in cost from month to month. And although we have to visit London frequently, we often get only a day or two's notice, so booking in advance is infeasible.

 We'll still travel into Manchester by FNW, though.  Until Railtrack finds some way of scuppering them too. - 29 January

The Ffestiniog Railway (Dee & Mersey) Group and Chester Model Railway Club  have organised a railtour to Glasgow on Saturday 28 April 2001.  The tour will utilise a diesel locomotive (t.b.a.) and a rake of Riviera Trains' coaches.  Final timings are still to be agreed, but the tour will start from Hooton at around 07:30 picking up at Bache, Chester, Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay arriving in Glasgow at about 12:00, returning at around 17:30.  There is ample to time to sample the delights of the Scottish Transport Museum, Glasgow's famous "Clockwork Orange" narrow gauge underground railway system or take a local train to Wemyss Bay or Ayr for magnificent views.

All accommodation is non-smoking and this reasonable priced tour costs £33 (child 5-15 £23) standard class and £49 (child 5-15 £39) for fist class. Final timings and reservations will be sent with tickets a few days before the tour. Half the proceeds of the tour are to be donated to the "Merrdin Emrys Restoration Fund".  This magnificent Double-Fairlie, built in 1879, has been out of service for the last 4 years awaiting repairs.

For further details, please Email Laurence Wheeler at laurence.wheeler@tesco.net.

Time Passages

We received loads of pictures during the snowy last week of 2000, too many to do justice to at the time, including this brilliant shot by John Myers, so we've created a 'Real Slideshow' for you called 'Snow on the Coast' with some appropriate music that's crossed over from our other website.  Enjoy! - 28 January

The Poet Game

The end of the 37/4s on the coast is the kind of thing that can inspire a poet, and Charlie's been scrawling on the back of an envelope for some time trying to get it right ... and slipping back into a Bob Dylan parody (Hey, Mama, can this really be the end? To be stuck inside a hippo with the Alstom blues again) ... until  out of the blue on 28 January we received the following, which says it all:

'Progress - 31 December 2000'

No more shall we hear their thunderous roar,
Through New Street Tunnel’s stygian bore.
It’s all change at Wolverhampton, Stafford and Crewe,
For we’ll never see their like there again too.

Chester to Rhyl’s no longer replete,
With English Electric twelve cylinder beat.
To Bangor through Junction from Old Colwyn Bay,
Locomotive and stock has had its day.

Over Menai to Holyhead across Anglesey,
Gone with regret, the trusty Type Three.
Never again will we witness that thrash,
In daytime so bright, and night dark as ash.

Now that they’ve reached their journey’s end,
We bid farewell to an illustrious friend.
An ache in the heart, a tear in the eye,
We reluctantly say, 'So long, goodbye'.

A bitter pill, so hard to swallow,
Those awesome machines, a hard act to follow.
Intentions laid bare, it couldn’t be clearer,
It certainly is the end of an era.

For Holyhead to Brum is now DMU heaven,
It’s 'progress' that killed the Class Thirty Seven.
To dispense with real trains, they thought it so clever,
Will we forgive and forget? Of course not, never!

In my mind I still hear that raucous boom,
Amid New Street Tunnel’s encircling gloom.
If only, the chance once more to be able,
To sit at a B.R. Mark One carriage table.

Through Staffordshire, Cheshire and on to Cymru,
Whilst hauled by a legendary EE Type Three.
 

I found this print in the loft the other day but it's of possible wider interest as being of still-surviving 37 426, then newly converted to 37/4 status, named Y Lein Fach/Vale of Rheidol and in large logo corporate livery with a rake of 4 Mk 2 a & b coaches all still in corporate livery with Inter-City branding (some of these by then had acquired IC prefixes to their numbers replacing the regional letters with which they had been identified previously).

Taken from Rhyl Grange Road bridge one evening in May 1988 (can someone confirm?) this was at the time when an afternoon train ran from Cardiff as far as Rhyl (and 37426 was then a Canton-allocated loco).   After arrival, it was normal practice for the loco to run round the train, draw the empty coaches across from the Down to the Up road and propel the stock into the former bay platform 1a (visible in the background).  The return working departed from here at around 19:00 hrs. (without checking contemporary timetables).

Much of the old order was still in place at the time, including this bay, the Up Main track through the station, the Down Relief line from Prestatyn and both signal boxes (Rhyl No 2 box's Distant arms remain on the gantry).  However, the newly-ballasted sidings in the foreground, laid on the site of the demolished carriage shed and the missing signal arms on that much-mourned gantry, indicate that both Platform 3 and the former goods yard have each succumbed as part of the commercial redevelopment for what was then a Leo's supermarket. To the right of the train, Morley Road still hosts Roger Jones's Builders' Merchant business where today there is a Pay and Display car park.

By way of contrast, this later image (not absolutely pin sharp, I fear) was taken from the same location shortly after 07:41 hrs on 7 August 2000, showing the same locomotive but now in EWS livery and with Rhyl sporting a now much-rationalised track and signalling layout.  The train is the 06:25 from Holyhead to Birmingham New Street that is formed of a typically strengthened rake of Mk1 and 2 stock of the time and already a poignant part of railway history.

From what I can remember, the Cardiff-Rhyl turn ran only for one (Winter?) timetable and were loco-hauled towards its end during a time when the then new 155 sets were suffering technical hitches (plus ça change!) in this case with the passenger doors opening when the sets were on the move.  Certainly 37 426 was allocated to CF from 2/86, named in May of that year and transferred away to Immingham in 1989 keeping its name for about a further two years but it was to be still another half a decade before the strange events of the mid-1990s allowed the locomotive to make regular sorties along the coast pulling the ETS-equipped passenger stock for which it had been converted to haul. - 28 January

The Feburary 2000 issue of Modern Railways (known here at Website control as Misery Monthly because
most of the articles are just so depressing) includes a very interesting feature by our contributor Tony Miles in which he shadows First North Western Managing Director David Franks for a day of meeting customers, checking tickets and other varied activities.

Elsewhere, in the really depressing section, we are told that Railtrack's new rulebook valid from December 2000 states that a train with its public address system out of action is not allowed to enter service. So if there's one unit at Holyhead for the first train of the day, and it's PA is on the blink, the train will be cancelled. Is this really what the public wants? - 28 January

North Wales Railway Circle notice

Ron White (Color Rail) will be appearing at Bangor on the 6 February.  Subject will be color rail slides - North Wales, basically Porthmadog to Chester, of course, mainly steam trains. This is a unique chance to see the man behind the name!  Note: change of venue for this meeting, it will be at the Bangor Social club at 19.30. Straight out of the station towards town on the left hand side just before turning into Farrar Rd.  Ample car parking, all welcome. - 26 January

The latest delivery, 175 108, departs from Manchester Oxford Road with the late-running 08:17 to Llandudno on 26 January. The scene here has changed in the last few months with the demolition of the factories which once filled the background. (Charlie Hulme)

The Healey Mills - Mostyn Dock 'Enterprise' freight passes Stockport at 08:20 on 26 January behind 66 143, running hours later than the usual westbound time. The return working was noted approaching Stockport at 14:00.

429 may ride again?

The End of the Line website (there's a website for everything these days) reports that 37 406 (WNXX) and 37 414 Cathays C & W works (WNYX) have been moved to the repair shed at Cardiff Canton, and that these two will be giving up parts to 37 429 on repair there. Good news if it happens, although 429 is very hign on engine hours, so any reprieve may turn out to be short-lived.

The picture (by Steve Vaughan) is from the days when we were guaranteed a London service and the HSTs were supplied from the Western Region pool. It shows 43 192 City of Truro arriving Rhyl with the 09:05 Holyhead - Euston on 18 July 1994.

Anyway back to the present day. Wednesday 24 Jan: 1D88 43 094/065.Thursday 25 Jan 1A23 43 094/065 (This set is back to full strength of 8 coaches). From next week Virgin will be offering a 10-week timetable which should be fairly stable, with three trains a day even if slower than before.

It is also suggested by inside sources that the objections by Betty Williams MP reported here previously may have been partly down to her [and everyone else? C.H.] misunderstanding Virgin chief executive Chris Green and that her telephoning his personal number three times a day, even when there was nothing else he could report, has not gone down well with him ... - 27 January

From the FNW Website

WORK ON BANGOR TO HOLYHEAD:  00.01 - 05.40 EACH DAY TUESDAY 13/2/01 until FRIDAY 16/2/01  The engineering work due to take place between Bangor and Holyhead  00.01 to 05.40 each day from Tuesday 13 to Friday 16 February  inclusive HAS BEEN CANCELLED. The 23.46 Birmingham New St -  Holyhead will run through to Holyhead as normal. The 01.50 Holyhead -  Birmingham New St will start from Holyhead at 01.50 and run forward as normal. -27 January

175 010 makes its way from the Manchester line into Platform 6 at Crewe with a Manchester Airport - Chester train, 24 January. Picture by Ian Bowland

37/4s fade away

It seems that 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol may have worked its last Coast train, reported on the morning of 25 January as working 6C10 Newport Alexandra Dock Junction - Cardiff, it is now N/420 expected OK on 30 January.  N/420 refers to Traction Motor problems -  this could be the end of 429, quite a few 37/4's have met their end at Cardiff.

37 415 was standing in Crewe depot on the morning of 25 January, the Coast service being all-railcar for the fifth consecutive day.

Reporting by Ivor Bufton and Ian Bowland. - 25 January

Railfreight Coal day recalled

We have received a very flattering and encouraging letter from regular viewer Dave Denham, prompted by Dave Sallery's archive item below. He writes: 'I have made a mini North Wales Coast area on my website (obviously inspired by your efforts!) and have recently added a page of pictures from the event.  As I was on most of the trains, the majority of photos are record shots from the platform, but may be of interest.  Also, I have posted a few pages from an outing I made during the summer, which show a typical weekend's action.' - 25 January

'Railfreight Coal Day' was another one of those things the old railway did supremely well and the new railway wouldn't know where to start.  6 pairs of freight locos up and down the coast on an August day in 1991. Dave Sallery's picture 56 111 and 112 are seen near Mostyn on one of the trains.  Further photos on www.btinternet.com/~fourfoot/Archive  and including a train "on fire." - 24 January

Virgin notes - by Steve Vaughan

This week so far:

Monday 22 January: 43 093/121 1A23, 43 094/065 1D88.
Tuesday 23 January: 43 094/065 1A23, 43 121/093 1D88.
Wednesday 24 January: 43 121/093 1A23.

1D88 is currently 20:35 ex-Crewe.

43 093/121 were back to six coaches on Wednesday after being reduced to five prior to departure from Holyhead on Saturday morning. According to the timetables published for next week we
should have a full service, although the weekend will should see only 1A13 05:43 Holyhead-London on Saturday, then 1D88 (loco-hauled) and 1D89 on Sunday night.

Here's another soundbite from Betty Williams MP, courtesy of the Postal Daily: "We've had so many broken promises from Virgin that I will believe it when it happens.They have misled the public all along, leading us to believe that all three through trains were being restored as from Monday of this week. But when it emerged that they were only running one train on Monday I immediately contacted the
company's chief executive, Chris Green, telling him I was bitterly disappointed.

"He apologised and said possibly he had not made himself clear when he said the service was being
restored as from this week. He accepted that he should have been more specific, and then went on to say that the three trains will be running as from next Monday. Such a situation shows what a mess the company's in, and on my part, because of too many broken promises I will not believe it until this really happens next Monday." - 25 January

The only diagrams for 101's on the Chester to Manchester via Stockport during the day are now:
06:46 Piccadilly-Chester & 08:20 Ret (Diagram no. LT235) This then returns to Longsight coupled with LT 230 which arrives at 09:25 from Stoke. Quite often these two units then return to Man.Pic at 15:50 to form LT230 & 239. In the evening the 16:54 Piccadilly - Chester is usually a 101, which then is used to work the 20:12 to Crewe and 20:39 return. The 17:52 Piccadilly - Chester is booked a 101, which is formed as part of LT 234, arriving at Piccadilly from Macclesfield at 17:45. The third unit to reach Chester was the 20:17 Man.Pic to Chester via Warrington, but as mentioned her previously this is now worked by a more modern unit from Newton Heath depot. At Chester, one may sometimes work the 22:55 Chester to Man.Picc via Stockport, otherwise returning empty. The other unit works the 22:48 Chester to Crewe and 23:15 return. (Conformation that this is still the case welcome...) This unit remains at Chester to work LT234 empty to Knutsford at 05:40 next day. No 101's normally work Man.Pic to Chester on a Saturday. Fore more about this kind of thing, try Dave Root's MU pages. You could even join the 101DMU mailing list.- 25 January

FNW is now down to just 8 Class 101 diagrams, and will reduce to 7 from 12 February.  All 13 175's were available for traffic on 25 January so further use of loco-hauled trains on the Coast seems more unlikely by the week although don't be suprised if the standby set gets a couple more outings before the final curtain comes down.

It is still planned to introduce 175's to the Barrow line, starting with the 06:53 Barrow - Manchester Airport on 12 February. - 25 January

[Earlier stories are on the previous Notice Board]

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