47 854 Women's Royal Voluntary Service departs from Bangor with the 09:19 Holyhead - Euston on 17 March. Picture Rowan Crawshaw

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:  18 March 2001

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

You compiler knew something was adrift on 15 March when a 158 turned up on his usual morning train, the 06:55 Chester - Stockport - Manchester which then forms the 08:17 Manchester - Llandudno, and again on Friday 16 March.

It turns out that faults have been discovered in the bogies of at least three 175 units. Reports on this do not agree in detail, but we believe the problem is cracks in bogie trailing arms. Further detail and comments welcome; one result of the shortage of stock was the very rare appearance of green 101 685 on the North Wales Coast on Sunday 18 March; it worked some Manchester - Chester trains and then was later spotted by Siôn Owen about 16:10 on the Llandudno branch. does enyone know what train this was? 685 had an evenful week, having been attacked by brick-throwers who smashed its windscreen while working the Manchester - Rose Hill line on 15 March. On 16 March it was planned to work the Fridays only Stockport - Stalybridge train for the benefit of some student film-makers and attendant railfans; did it get repaired in time?

We also have a report that there have been some problems with the bolts being used to attach the new organic brake pads to the wheels of the 175 units.  These bolts were, it is said, having to be checked every 8000 miles and replaced every 16000 miles.  However, not enough of the new ones were arriving from Germany in time - actually the problem was primarily a shortage of the spacers rather than the bolts, but the effect is the same. Comments on this story too much appreciated.- 18 March

If you'd like to get (or even send!) emails about interesting and unusal train workings in North West England and along the Coast,  join the North West Gen List, maintained by Bruce Garbutt. Information on how to join, etc. can be found at http://www.topica.com/lists/NWGL/. - 18 March

Our recent list of 175s in traffic was incorrect: 175 004, the one which was used for a great deal of driver familiarisation, is undergoing reectification/refubishment and is not currently in the operational fleet, but 175 003 is. The correct list as of early March is:

175 003/5/6/7/8/9/10/11
175 104/5/6/7/8/10

with 175 109 and 112 waiting in the wings. Thanks to all who have pointed this out.

The incident on 16 March involving 1G76, the 01:50 Holyhead to Birmingham New Street train, seems to have centred on three men travelling together, and getting into a heated argument, during which one of them mentioned he had a gun in his bag. - 18 March

A good day for loco fans on Friday 16 March with 47 787 Victim Support on the 09:19 Holyhead - Euston & 47 793 Saint Augustine on the 13:43 Holyhead - Euston.  37 702 Taff Merthyr & 37 798 double-headed the 6D21/6K22 Penmaenmawr ballast.The RTZ Petroleum Coke traindid not run on Thursday morning and is now due to go back out on Sunday 18 March.and then run again on Wednesday/Thursday 21/22 March. The Penmaenmawr ballast is to run daily from 19 to 23 March.- 18 March

Dave Bramley writes: 'Virgin Trains managed to excel themselves again on 14 March. 1D88 arrived Chester 41 minutes late and then loco 47 701 Waverley promptly sat down in a large cloud of white smoke! The loco had come from Crewe with the brakes dragging on the rear bogie.

'Alstom fitters (eventually) declared 47 701 a failure and 1D88 was cancelled at Chester,with passengers transferring to the following 1D89 (or not - see below!) . 47 787 Victim Support arrived from Crewe at about Midnight to take the ECS to Holyhead.'

However, Steve Vaughan writes: 1D89 19:08 London - Holyhead HST failed at Rugby on 14 March with a speedometer defect on the lead power car. The train was terminated at Rugby and dragged empties to Longsight. Passengers went forward on a Carlisle train as far  Crewe and then had the pleasure of a 153 on 22:19 Crewe - Bangor. Passengers for Holyhead then had to wait at Bangor for 1D89 which was restarted at Crewe with 47 756 and Loco hauled stock.'  - 18 March.

47 822 Pride of Shrewsbury at Llanfairfechan on 09:19 Holyhead - Euston, 15 March [not 1 March as previously given; my '5' key's faulty! - C.].

60 082 at Penmaenmawr with loaded ballast train. No sign of the Mam Tor name it's supposed to carry - not on the side facing me, anyway. - 18 March

A scene from a Police TV show developed on the First North Western overnight train from Holyhead to Birmingham in the early hours of 16 March: it seems that a '37-year-old man' (why do they always give people's ages?) who had come off the ferry from Ireland began threatening passengers, claiming he had a gun in his bag. The train was met at Bangor station by an impressive contingent of police, and  as the BBC website puts it 'After more than an hour of negotiations the  man gave himself up and was taken away by police for questioning'  to Caernarfon police station. He was later releeased on bail. Apparently there was a suggestion that the police might impound the train for examination, but eventually it was allowed to continue its journey. - 16 March

Mike Simpson writes:

Sunday 18 March:
0930 Euston-Holyhead, 1241 Crewe, 1346 Chester
1710 Eus-Hyd, 2009 Crewe, 2124 Chester
1850 Eus-Hyd, 2152 Crewe, 2256 Chester

1305 Hyd-Eus, 1442 Chester, 1553 Crewe
1553 Hyd-Eus, 1709 Chester, 1815 Crewe

Diverted between Crewe and Chester via the Middlewich branch, normally HSTs except the 17:10 from Euston which is a 47. - 16 March

Enter another 175

John Murray noted new unit 175 109 arriving at Chester depot under its own power on the morning of 14 March. - 14 March

Class 37s can still occasionally be seen on the Coast line in various capacities. These two pictures by John Humphries show (heading) privately-owned 37 029 on 'thunderbird' duty at Chester on 13 March, a contract which is paid for by Alstom in case any Class 175 units come to grief  (When was it last used?) and 37 798 on 11 March at work on the relaying job at Abergele. - 14 March
 

Following on from revious comments about Virgin's performance during the Abergele engineering works on 14 March, I would like to share with everyone the full farce that Sunday brought.

1D87 was booked to form 1A61 at Rhyl which I assume it did. 1A75 was booked to start at Rhyl (17:18) coming empties from Longsight. However it transpired it was to be loco hauled and therefore 'top and tailed'? So all was well ... Not quite. 30 late at Weaver Junction.  Eh? Why is it at Weaver Junction? [north of Crewe on the line to Scotland]. In the meantime buses have arrived from all points beyond Rhyl and passengers are now playing 'how many people can get on the 3 car 175' forming the 17:39 to Manchester.

The 17:39 departs and the empty stock is 50 late at Crewe, but its 'definitely' coming to start at Rhyl. Eventually Virgin decide the obvious and the empties terminate at Chester and the people who didn't get the 17:39 are back on the bus they got off 45 minutes ago. Just as the bus leaves a 156 arrives, deposits its passengers, and then runs empty to Chester! Then to cap it all 1D88 and 1D89 terminate at Crewe, although for 1D88 this was booked. Need anyone ask why few people are on the Big Red Trains?

One point from Sunday is that the First North Weestern station staff at Rhyl did an excellent job given the obvious lack of support and information given to them. The lack of any Virgin representative just goes to show how high the Coast line is rated by The Big Red Train Company.

Footnote by Dave Sallery: when on Rhyl station on 11 March I went to the footbridge intending to go to the down platform; as all traffic was using the Up platform the footbridge hadn't been used.  I discovered a fire, a large pyre of Virgin timetables with a childs bike atop.  This was at 13.30, the fire was soon put out but it doesn't reflect well on the people of Rhyl. - 14 March

Eisteddfod's last ride

In difficult lighting conditions, Ray Eden took this picture of dead 37 429 (minus nameplates) coupled inside a Class 66 on a train of coal hoppers, making its way to Motherwell for storage on 14 February. Taken in much happier times, Ray's second picture shows 429 at the  same location on 16 May 2000.

Thanks to Ray for the historic picture, and to Ian Bowland for technical assistance. - 14 March

A bit quiet so far on the week beginning 12 March: 60 057 Adam Smith worked the Penmaenmawr
ballast on Monday & Tuesday after it's stint at Abergele on Sunday. 56 067 was seen working the 6M43/0F43 Petroleum coke train on 14 March.

Freightliner has denied that Heavy Haul is taking over the Penmaenmawr ballast working from EWS and also denied all knowledge of Driver training/Route learning on the North Wales Coast just stating that they are actively pursuing new work, and are expected eventually to be taking over all Railtrack work. - 14 March

Crewe 13 March - by Ian Bowland

The HST running as the 8.38 London-Holyhead left Crewe 30 minutes down at 11.25.  87 031 Hal o' the Wynd was waiting to take over from the class 47 and propel the 9.19 Holyhead-London.

47 741 Resilient arrived 5 minutes early and by 11:30 the class 47 was detached and the class 87 hooked on to the rear ready to leave. The train is not booked to leave until 11.43 - very slick.  The 47 ran round and disappeared so fast I did not see where it went!

142 001 arrived from Chester and quickly left as 11.50 Crewe-Chester.

156 464 formed the 12.22 Crewe-Holyhead.

Is there a metallurgist in the house?  A severe wheel burn at Crewe station shows a whitish deposit on the rail web below - what is this deposit and why does it form?  All the wheel burns show this characteristic to a greater or lesser degree. - 13 March

Luxury not guaranteed - by Alan Crawshaw

150 143 on Saturday 10 March, working the 13:16 Bangor to Crewe, just to remind people that the coast FNW services are not yet fully 175 operated. In my experience the less salubrious units are more
likely to appear on Saturdays. - 13 March

Alan Crawshaw has a new one of his excellent picture reports: this time on the recent engineering work at Abergele.

Tim Rogers, one of the Coast's most dedicated 37/4 riders, has created a tribute Website with many pictures of the much-missed beasts. - 13 March

Clarifications from the last Notice Board

First, the stray coach at Holyhead: 44081 was removed at Holyhead off 1D89 on the 2 March due to it activating a Hot Axle Box Detector between Euston & Crewe due to dragging brakes: a Crewe the brakes were isolated. The driver of the train reports that this is the first time he can remember having to split and HST. (Thanks to 'Dave Trains' for infomation.)

Second, Following on from Peter Valentine's report, Alan Crawshaw notes that although many passengers were expecting Sunday 11 March's 17:10 Virgin service from Euston to terminate at Rhyl,  it was announced on the departures board as Crewe. Just three people boarded the road coach at Crewe for Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jct, Bangor and Holyhead. The train  was very lightly loaded, as was Saturday's 05:43 Holyhead to Euston, normally a very busy service. The Virgin services  seen at Bangor have been very quiet recently - are ferry services operating normally? - 13 March

More about early 37s - by Steve Morris

I have recently been able to access my friend Pat Webb's photo's/notes of workings. A couple of bits of interest. Firstly, I have an advance on 37 165 as the first 37 to Holyhead. 37 055 worked the Anglesey Aluminium coke on 5 November 1981, returning light  engine! Also, I have another shot of 165. It returned on a 16.04 additional liner to Trafford Park, not Felixstowe as I thought. Pat's photo shows it leaving the terminal, just before mine was taken back in April 1983.

Another interesting 37 Freightliner working was on 2 September 1987 when 37 204/37 254 worked in light and took an additional liner to Stockton out. Thanks to Pat for the  info. - 13 March

Traffic Report - by Selwyn Williams

Monday 05 March: 60 082 went light engine from LLJ to Warrington at 09:30
Tuesday 06 March:  66 124 passed Llanfairfechan 06:45 for Crewe from the engineering at Aber
Wednesday 07 March: 56 088 worked the 6M43/0F43
Thursday 08 March:  66 120 worked the 6K22 Bulk ballast
Friday 09 March:  66 172 was seen working the Penmaenmawr ballast. - 13 March

The first Peak saga

Dave Plimmer writes: 'My first sighting of a Peak along the Coast, as seen in the picture, was only 9 days after Steve Morris's. 45 052 worked the 07:47 Manchester Victoria to Bangor and the 11:30 return on the 25th August 1978. So was this the first Class 45 to Bangor? However, the second half of the diagram, back to Bangor again, was worked by 25 317.

'Regarding the 13:00 Holyhead-Euston which Steve saw the first Peak on - on at least 18 August and 24 August 1978, this train loaded to 16 coaches. This must have been some start out of Holyhead on the 24th when 40 029 worked it! To put today's traffic levels into context, there was also a 12:48 and a 13:20 Holyhead-Euston on those days.'

However, Roger Carvell, who originally started all this 'first loco' discussion, writes: 'I am glad that my query as to when the Class 37s first ever appeared on the NWCL drew an enthusiastic response. As to early sightings of the Peaks I dusted off my spotting log and found that on Sunday May 29 1966, D39 passed through Flint en route for Rhyl and Llandudno.  Another, D67, passed through on June 17 1967.'

Red face time - our reference to  46 140 back in 1973 in the earlier item should have read (and now does) "Class 46 no. 140." An editing error by Charlie, I'm afraid, who is old enough to have known better. The story of the renumbering of the Peaks is too complicated to go into here, but 46 140 certainly never existed. - 13 March

Dave Sallery's archive spot

Withdrawn Class 104 unit No. CH616 is seen stabled in Bangor goods yard on March 6 1991.   The unit is somewhat the worse for wear having been used for an emergency evacuation exercise the previous weekend.  The DMU was towed from and to Chester depot to partake in the simulated train crash in
Bangor tunnel. - 13 March

[Earlier stories are on the previous Notice Board]

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