'Packing them in' at Crewe after another 175 failure, 27 June. See story below. (John Humphries.)

Regular Contributors: Dave Sallery , Alan Crawshaw, Rowan Crawshaw, Dave & John Skipsey, John Lewis, Tony Flusk,  John Dawson ,  Tony Miles, Ian Bowland, Tim Rogers, Ivor Bufton, Alastair Graham, Mike Stone,  'Concrete Bob'  Selwyn Williams, Steve Vaughan and many others.

LAST UPDATE: 30 June  2001

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

Monday 25 June saw 66 520 on Penmaenmawr ballast
Tuesday 26 June 66 507 on ballast & 20 902+20 906 on Valley flasks
Wednesday 27 June saw 66 603 working Pen ballast
Friday 29 June 20312+20307 on the Valley flasks
The Pen ballast will run Monday 02 July  - Wednesday 04/ July;  still no news of the RTZ petroleum coke train running again. - 30 June

More 175 troubles

John Humphries writes: 'I spent the afternoon of 27 June at Stafford and after an enjoyable days photography boarded the 18:14 service to Holyhead (175 008). At 18:20 we are still parked up with the driver and guard attempting to resolve a problem with one of the doors, after a further delay the guard informed me that there was a technical problem with the train and that they were seeking further advice. After consulting management and managing to close the door we departed for Crewe 17 mins late with the message that a fitter would meet the train and attempt a diagnosis and repair at Crewe. On arrival at Crewe we waited for a fitter to arrive and check over the train; the fitter finally arrived and discussed the problem with our driver, 5 mins later we were told to join the 19:23 service for Chester at Platform 9 as our service was declared a failure and that a further connecting service for North Wales would be awaiting at Chester.

'We made it across to platform 9 to be greeted by a 2 car 142 unit (heading picture) which was quickly filled  to capacity. Myself and several other passengers declined this service as we did not wish to travel on to Chester standing up on a very hot summer's day and awaited the 19:45 HST service to Holyhead which finally departed at 20:11. It's not surprising that I was the only passenger on board from Stafford to Crewe as speaking to a member of First North Western staff who remarked, "people have just lost confidence in the service First North Western provide as breakdowns are becoming more and more frequent and it's more reliable to go by coach." I have to say after today's experience and reading the problems reported here I reluctantly have to agree.'

On the same day, Concrete Bob reports that 175 108 'sat down' near Eccles, the driver losing power and later all electrics, and had to be assisted, the ensemble being taken to Manchester Victoria and causing predictable consternation and fury amongst public and staff, as the destination was Piccadilly. - 29 June

30 June is said to be the 'final day' (again) for the good old green Class 101, 101 685. On 28 June 'she' worked the 08:06 Hazel Grove to Manchester with your compiler aboard: could this be my last ride? The picture shows the old lady awaiting departure, with the 1877-built signalbox in view. -29 June

Some other sorts of Problems

On Friday 29 June the 06.24 Chester to Birmingham New Street train struck a herd of cows at Tattenhall, between Crewe and Chester. The train was 'disabled' according to the National Rail website, although BBC reported it as a derailment. It was reported as 10:55 before this mess was cleared, only for a lorry to hit a bridge between Chester and Shotton at 12:10, holding everything up again for half an hour while safety checks were made.  The National Rail log for this day alone shows that such 'bridge-bash' incidents also occurred near Pewsey (Great Western), near Castle Cary (Great Western), Edenbridge (South Eastern) and Smethwick (Central.) - 29 June

Saturday 23/06/01:
47789 1D90 0036 Crewe-Holyhead
47789 1A13 0546 Holyhead-Crewe
47851 1A39 0919 Holyhead-Crewe
47789 1D87 1031 Crewe-Holyhead
47789 1A62 1335 Holyhead-Crewe
47799 1D89 2024 Crewe-Holyhead

Sunday 24/06/01:
47799 1A02 0358 Holyhead-Stafford (dragging electric loco Crewe-Stafford as booked)
47799 1D87 1245 Crewe-Holyhead
47799 1A75 1613 Holyhead-Crewe
47851 1D88 1932 Crewe-Holyhead

Note that the 1D90 overnight from Crewe had been quoted as 47 798 as per railway computer systems - but it appeared the 8&9 digits had been typed  incorrectly by the responsible person in railway control [So that explains the confusion - Charlie] when a certain more likely 47 789 backed on the train! Though you may recall 47 798 working 1D88 from Crewe one Sunday last autumn.  But by twist of fate & 47 789 needing its exam at Crewe the other royal appeared - not once but twice at Crewe for a trip in the coast sunshine. Both overnights & 47 799's workings proved popular with 47/loco hauled fans once again. Unlike its Northern Belle trip up the coast I think a few more people could afford 799's trips at the weekend (First working to Holyhead as its 799 identity on a service train working?). - 29 June

On 26 June  a small celebration at Euston station took place to mark Roger Ford's 25 years of writing for Modern Railways magazine. To mark the event Roger was invited to unveil a nameplate on 90 006 which he understood was to 'honour' the magazine. Unknown to Roger, Virgin had arranged for one side of the locomotive to carry his name, and his surprise at what he revealed can be seen above.

The other side of the locomotive carries the magazine's name, with this plate being unveiled by Chairman of Ian Allan, David Allan, and editor James Abbott.

Finally the invited guests left for a small celebration where, amongst  other things, Roger was presented with a silver model of a Deltic, to celebrate his silver jubilee; he is seen with his wife Joyce.

The guest list for the event reflected the respect which Roger commands within the railway industry. Noted at the party were Rail Regulator Tom Winsor, Sir Alastair Morton and Mike Grant from the SRA, Chris Green and David Franks with representatives from other TOCs and guests from Railtrack, the leasecos and train manufacturers. Editors of Modern Railways past and present were also there, and incoming editor of Railway World, John Morris.

Compiler's postscript: We'd like to send our own best wishes to Roger, whose columns are of course essential, if often depressing, reading for anyone with a technical interest in railways. Despite his busy schedule, Mr F. is not above sharing a cheery email with our lowly website: here's a little note from him received today, totally unbiased reporting, of course:

'You might like to know, reference Class 175s falling down all over "your" railway, that the Voyager 220s (around 8-10 running) have had only two failures to date and one of those was an external factor.  This despite having 750hp/19 litres packed under the floor.'

Here's a roundup of few items that have fallen behind while we've been so busy sitting in the garden, most recent contributions first ... Mike Dunning writes: 'Following an "open evening" at my 7mm scale garden railway on 27 June I have put some new pictures on my site, See 37 425Concrete Bob, 45 110 and D1012  all of which ran superbly. See 'open evening' at http://www.talacre.com ... Colin Meredith reports that a Jarvis track machine passed through Rhyl, heading West, shortly before 13.00 on 27 June, in  maroon and grey livery, and returned on 28 June behind and coupled to a yellow track machine heading Eastwards through Rhyl approx. 10.20a.m. .. regarding our previous item regarding a movement of withdrawn 37s from Cardiff to Wigan, John Dawson notes that 37 414 Cathays C & W Works which had been planned to move was in the event left behind at Canton depot ... This from Concrete Bob: 'I have added some more pages to my site that you may be interested in, and have made a start on unifying it's style; I think that battleship grey is a little depressing for a home page! The new pages are a hotchpotch of old slides, showing some of the more obscure backwaters of the system, or just plain nostalgia.  There are also some new bus pages, too. There will be more in due course. Find the pages at www.arpleyfields.freeserve.co.uk ... Larry Goddard writes: 'I suspect the 3-car Class 101 Naill Cox refers to was the 16.19 Crewe-Holyhead. All three cars had cabs. A photographer friend of mine told me it returned from Holyhead to Llandudno ... and commenting on the same train, John Oates notes '101 657 is indeed a 3-car now. The number of the extra car can't be right though: 51173, from memory, was a power car in the 4-car suburban sets that ran around Kings Cross around 20 years ago!  The 101's started at 51174.' The extra vehicle on the back is 51175, many years ago a Chester power/trailer power car and prior to that Newton Heath (9D) ... and regarding the possibility of a 142 running to Birmingham, which we suggested after a 175 failure, the train referred to which had to take all the passengers was in fact a Chester - Crewe shuttle. As Bevan Price and others point out,  Pacers (Cl.141-144) are not cleared to run south of Crewe, presumably for fear of offending the sensibilities of the genteel residents of Southern England ... More miscellaneous items and 175 failure reports coming soon.  -28 June

The 09:19 Holyhead - London  arrived Crewe on time behind 47 817 Institute of Mechanical Engineers, which was uncoupled and 90 004 City of Glasgow was coupled onto the rear to propel the train onwards to London.  The driver boarded the Driving Van Trailer cab along with a fitter and both went into the
switch room (is that what it is?) behind the cab before fiddling with the main controls.  Meanwhile a green signal was given along with the Right Away but something wasn't happening in the DVT.  I don't know what the problem was but they had Electric Train Supply.  The signal was set back and the fitter headed off across the tracks towards platform 12 before returning with a multi-meter, disconnecting the ETS from the DVT and disappearing into the switch room again.  After about 10 minutes he and the driver
emerged, reconnected the ETS before fiddling with the controls again and this time it seemed to work and the train finally left at 12:03 (20 late), having been dispatched by a shunter as all the platform staff had
disappeared. - 28 June

Where have you been, my purple son?

175 004 is seen at Manchester Oxford Road, 26 June. Although it was used for many training and publicity trips in the early days, this train has only just entered normal passenger service. (Charlie Hulme)

175s in crisis - by Charlie Hulme

Ok, let's steel ourselves and have a go at reporting the situation First North Western and Alstom between them have got into with the 175s.

On the way home from work on 25 June I arrived at Manchester Oxford Road as usual as the 17:19 Manchester Piccadilly - Llandudno, formed of a Class 156 in place of the booked 175, was loading passengers. The platform starting signal remained at red.  Time passed, and after a while I walked to the end of the platform where Deansgate station is visible in the distance, and stationary in the westbound platform there was the distinctive snout of a 'hippo' which showed no sign of movement, as two other westbound trains came to a stand in other platforms. Deansgate station lies on double track between Oxford Road station and Cornbrook Junction where the Liverpool and Bolton routes, both busy main lines, divide. There is no crossover between Deansgate station and the junction to allow a train to easily overtake the failure, and none of the trains waiting at Oxford Road was a 175; all other FNW trains have a different type of coupler from the 175. All in all, not a good place for a blockage. This train was a 5-car formation, 175 005 leading 175 114.

I did not wait to see what happened, although nothing had moved by 17:50: I have been told that it was about 20:00 before the situation was resolved. I believe that the train was eventually moved down the Liverpool line to clear the route to Bolton. One feels that the message which was broadcast over the Railtrack pager system following details of the problem and subsequent delays rather sums up the evening's service:
 

UTTER CHAOS!!!

There was another failure of a 175 somewhere the same day, and, we believe, two more on 26 June. Here's First North Western's comment the next day, as reported by the Manchester Evening News: 'We apologise for the inconvenience to passengers caused by train failure. We are doing everything possible to rectify the situation and ensure that passengers continue to receive the best possible service.' If that was really all they said, was it worth saying?

Similar events have been occurring almost daily: on 19 June, for example, 175 109 failed at Agecroft around 16:40 heading in the Bolton direction.  This led to there being no trains between Salford Crescent and Bolton for 90 minutes, desperate congestion at Oxford Road and Piccadilly 13/14 and they even resorted to running buses. Other examples have been noted here before. One does begin to wonder whether a reliable railway service is possible at all in the present financial climate.

What can we say about all this, then? Well, as I understand it, most of the problems are mostly caused by overheating of the battery charger. If the temperature gets too high, a monitor switch will shut down the engine as a safety measure; the hotter the weather, the more likely this is to occur, it would appear. All this equipment is, of course, packed along with the engine, etc. into the skirted area underneath the coach, which is not an ideal location from the point of view of natural ventilation. A heat exchanger provides cooling, but clearly this is not proving adequate in current conditions.

It seems train staff have come to see the dimming of the lights inside the coach as a symptom of battery charger failure, although in fact it can have several causes. There are programmable systems all over the train each with their own diagnostics, and the outputs can be very hard to interpret. It would seem that this is a train which has subsystems made by suppliers all over the world arranged in a very complex way and controlled by a computer; all this had to be provided at the lowest possible cost in a situation of fierce competition for orders; the contrast with something like the Class 101s built 45 years ago in the same factory could not be greater. Teething troubles are to be expected, but despite the fact that these trains have been around for the best part of two years, new problems are still occurring.  The sheer complexity of the situation combined with understandable lack of experience by the front-line staff seems to be overwhelming everyone concerned.

It is true that some of the diagrams allocated to the class are arduous, especially those involving full-speed dunning on the West Coast main line, although the old 37/4s managed some pretty busy days too. Let's hope they get the measure of the problem soon, or the weather gets cooler - alternatively I'm sure Riviera Trains have some locomotives and coaches for hire.... - 26 June

Cardiff are apparently having a clearout of scrap 37s on Wednesday night 27 June, due to be moved overnight as 0Z40 arriving in the early early hours of Thursday morning at Wigan Springs Branch, locos are:

37185
37225
37264
37414 Cathays C&W Works 1846-1993

Looks like 414 could be following in the footsteps of 404 and 431. As a matter of interest it will be interesting to see which of the above gets called into the shed first. My money is on 414 as that loco is probably of more use to the competition and EWS wouldn't like anyone to get their hands on it. - 26 June

101s in the news

It what is said (again) to be the last week of operation of good old green 101 685, reports indicate that she's well and truly spreading her wings again. Particularly interesting was its appearance on the Borderlands Line between Wrexham and Bidston on 25 June, noted on the 16:31 from Bidston by Ian Richardson.  Alastair Graham 'writes: A rare treat on the line these days harking back to last summer when all services were 101 operated. 685 worked all day after one of the two 153s allocated to the service became a failure, the 101 finishing the turn at 19:29. It is worth pointing out that the 101 was running to time but the 153 was some 15 minutes late. Quite a good advert for the stock which is over 40 years old, not so good for the 'modern' stuff!'

On the evening of Saturday 23 June, 'Daisy' was pictured (above and heading)  at Chester by Rob York working the 19:55 from Chester - Altrincham (Weekend trains have been terminating at Altrincham because of engineering work at Stockport.) By the way, do visit Rob's website at www.trainsonshed.co.uk for info about his model railway as well as the current prototype scene.

Other 101s have not been idle, either: this from Niall Cox: '101 657 aka 54085, 53211, 51173 made an appearance on the evening of 25 June at Llandudno Junction.  It arrived from the west at about 21:10.  I'm not sure if it arrived on the 20:47 to Bangor or the 21:03 from Llandudno.  The platform monitor said it was the 21:38 arrival form Llandudno - but this seems unlikely!  The destination blinds said Llandudno (except 52311 which said Derby) so I guess it was the 21:03 from Llandudno.  It was not booked to form the connection for the VT Holyhead service which was running 30 min late (47 817).' - 25 June

Further to the dreadful saga of the 'Merrymaker' charter (see below) it is recorded that this train arrived at Watford Junction at 02:38, where it was terminated since Euston station had closed for overnight engineering works. We have also heard it said that when the rescuing Class 60 eventually reached Bangor from Warrington, it was discovered that the driver did not have the required route knowledge to proceed on to Anglesey, and one of the two drivers from the stranded 67 had to be fetched by taxi to conduct him. - 25 June

47 851 approaches the the Britannia Bridge with the 09:19 Holyhead - London on 23 June. The Marquis of Anglesey's column, which can be climbed for a small fee and gives a really impressive view,  can be seen in the background. (Rowan Crawshaw)

The Royal treatment

John Oates noted 47 799 Prince Henry at Chester at the head of 1D87 09:55 London - Holyhead on 24 June, presumably having taken over at Crewe. It was 27 minutes late arriving/leaving Chester. How many times have these 'royal' locomotives worked normal service passenger trains? Anyone have a picture for us? - 24 June

Chester Sunday afternoon, 24 June - by Laurence Wheeler

An interesting working at Chester on 24 June was the 17.21 return Central Trains charter. This was the 'Cotswold-Dee Express' on behalf of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. It had originated at Oxford, and stopped (according to the window stickers) at Evesham, Pershore, Worcester SH, Droitwich Spa, Shrewsbury & Ruabon (for Llangollen). Formed of two smartly turned out Central Trains 156s (156 402/12), departure was delayed by 5 minutes. which would have delayed the following 17.35 on the single line to Wrexham.

Stabled in the sidings by platform 7 was 101  685, an unidentified 101 in orange/black, 175 106, a 158 and 2 x 153. - 24 June

The great 67 fisaco

So one of the newest locomotive type in the EWS fleet, 67 028, was allocated to the 07:50 Hertfordshire Railtours 'merrymaker' charter from London Euston to Holyhead on 23 June, making a maiden voyage for this type on the Coast line. All well and good, you may say, and better than a clapped out 47.

The outward journey went well enough. Ian Bowland reports from Crewe: 'The 11.15 for Holyhead was in platform 12 at the same time and comprised 175 011 leading 175 114. (picture below.) 67 029 was present in the depot yard.

I thought that the 67 would get the right of way in order to clear for the stopping train but in fact the FNW left first.  The 67 was seen passing Prestatyn at around 12.15 whereas the 175 is timed to leave Prestatyn at 11.57 - pretty nippy.'

Still no problem at Chester as 1Z36 rolls through the centre road dead on time at 11:47. Picture by
John Skipsey: see the merseyjcn website for more.

Rowan Crawshaw's pictures show the train arriving at Holyhead ...

... and about to couple to the train after running around.

The return timings were: 1Z37 16:30 Holyhead - London Euston, Bangor 16:59 to 17:10, Llandudno jct 17:27 to 17:30, Rhyl pass 17:44, Holywell jct pass 17:56, Chester pass 18:14, Crewe 18:38 to 18:41. However, things did not quite go like this, as the North West Gen List chronicled events as they happened, or rather didn't.

The train made it most of the way back across Anglesey before coming to stand in the Gaerwen area with what we believe was a locmotive failure. It was reported that 37 886 was to be dispatched from Warrington to collect this heavy train and drag in back along the coast - the best part of 100 miles away - but that first there was some problem finding a driver and then the 37 failed before even leaving on its rescue mission. Another loco, 60 078, was then found and dispatched from Warrington, but it was 21:30 before the train was reported as ready to move, five hours after leaving Holyhead. Meanwhile, single-line working over the down line had been established in order to get the regular traffic past the obstruction.

Really, this kind of thing is just what rail travel doesn't need: entice people to try rail with a cheap trip, then strand them four hours stuck in a Mk 1 coach in a remote location and get them back to London well after midnight. (Correction: terminate the train at Watford Junction at 02:38 because Euston has already closed for overnight engineering works.) Information on what happened to the shiny new Spanish loco, and reports from passengers, invited.

Thanks to Steve Vaughan and the NWGL for information supplied. - 24 June.

The Holyhead shuffle

The upper picture by Rowan Crawshaw shows 47 789 Lindisfarne on 23 June standing quite normally in platform 1 at Holyhead ready to depart for London with the 13:35 service ... except that as the picture below reveals, the whole train was transferred to Platform 2 to allow the Hertfordshire Railtours charter to run into Platform 1, which in turn meant that 175114 + 175011 waiting to form the 14:05 First North Western departure also had to be shuffled to another platform. These charter trains are very long: is Platform 1 the only one long enough to take them? - 24 June

That freight train [revised!]

Having photographed 37 418 East Lancashire Railway at Warrington on 21 June (see also previous notice board) we identified the working as Seaforth - Lackenby, which was based on deduction from
postings seen on the North West Gen List.

This started a considerable debate, based on a comment that since Lackenby is a steel works, one would expect the wagons to be empty steel-carrying boslter wagons, not high-sided opens. It was also suggested that the Lackenby train doesn't run via Warrington.

However, other writers assure us that our original identification was correct. 6E82 is intended as a general purpose train which can carry any traffic between intermediate points as required. Actual route is Seaforth to Tuebrook Sidings to run round, then via Rainhill, Earlestown, Warrington BQ and Arpley marshalling yard to run round again. Train then leaves north back up the WCML through Warrington BQ again, where it stops for a crew change (which is when the picture was taken at about 13:40. ) It then runs via via Pleasington, Blackburn and the Copy Pit route to Healey Mills yard. The wagons we saw were in timber traffic, and would have been detached at Healey Mills.

Thanks to Tim Rogers, Dave Skipsey, John Dawson, Mike Simpson and Concrete Bob. - rewritten 24 June

Well, at least I got the loco number right ...

However, 418 was certainly not, as the text claimed, the first 37/4 to get EWS (or E W & S to be more exact) livery - 419 and 415 certainly preceded it. It was, however, the first maroon and gold 37/4 in the North Wales passenger fleet, although 419 did work along the Coast line  in maroon once or twice on freight or substitute passenger duties. before this. Thanks to Andy Kaye for spotting this silly error.  -Revised 24 June

Bangor loco variety 22 June - pictures by Rowan Crawshaw

There's still some locomotive variety on the Coast line if you search for it, as these pictures from 22 June show.

One guaranteed sight (if it doesn't fail) is the 47 on the 09:19 Holyhead - Bangor. This is 47 829.

A fairly regular sight, usually Tuesdays and Fridays, is the Nuclear Fuel flask train from Velley to Carlisle, seen here with DRS locos 20 906 + 20 901.

Rather less common, the Northern Belle luxury dining train, on this occasion featuring Royal Train locomotive 47 799 Prince Henry, which looks the part rather better than the tatty Res 47s sometimes seen on this train. - 23 June

We've also been taken to task over the report of failed 175 108 at Manchester Piccadilly on 19 June, which we attributed (with help from the apocryphal 'man on the platform') to a battery charger problem, and went on to dig a deeper hole for ourselves by speculating that the same happened to another unit the next day. By the wonders of anonymous email, an entry from the fault investigation report has found its way here, and reads:

D01/175108/CHESTER/FIRST 19/06/2001 Battery Charger failed:to investigate.
Charger interrogated with laptop. No fault found. Requires no further action

And it seems that there was no fault at all reported on 106 the next day. Well, take your choice. Either way, it's certain that the engineers and operators 'on the ground' from both companies involved are doing their best to run a good service, and we are very happy to acknowledge this. - 23 June

Lunchtime on 22 June at Manchester Piccadilly, and Tony Miles is on hand to capture that highly-photogenic Serco train, with 47 739 on the point.

Tony also sends this view of the completed deck which has been built over the ends of Platform 12 to carry a 'waiting lounge' which will be connected to the footbridge, and also have an airport-style travolator connecting it to the main concourse. The idea seems to be that people catching trains from the very busy through platforms 13 and 14 will wait in this rather than down on the platforms, but is this human nature?

We have circled the position of the new lounge on this Railtrack sketch nicked from the new issue of Modern Railways to give an idea of its relative position The planned short-term car park and taxi pickup area on the site of the old low level goods buildings in Fairfield Street can also be seen.

And - believe it or not, here is someone cycling up the escalator to the footbridge. Presumably, speculates Tony, if he fell and broke his neck he'd sue Railtrack for not erecting a sign saying 'no cycling on the escalator.' - 23 June

Two views taken by Larry Goddard in the beautiful scenery of the Conwy Valley route of the Serco Test Train (or more correctly the Track Assessment Train) operating on Thursday 21 June. Above, the 47s passing the sheep near Pont-Y-Pant (No foot and mouth here, comments Larry) and below, passing through Roman Bridge station. -23 June

It's good to hear from one of this site's earliest contributors, Nick Gurney, who sends the above picture of Eisteddfod Genedlaethol as running on his 4mm scale layout Dyserth Road, which now has its own Website at www.dyserth-road.co.uk, not yet complete but well worth a look.

And a excuse to show again Nick's picture from just a year ago showing the real 429 working the Llandudno run-round turn - remember that? Was it really only last year? - 23 June

Thanks for all the reports of Class 175 movements you are sending in: we should have a picture of the complete Coast line workings very soon. an anyone fill in some of the Blackpool / Barrow workings? Clearly there are still shortages: The 'nodding donkey' shown above is working the 08:18 Manchester - Llandudno departing from Oxford Road 25 minutes late on 22 June. Overheard between two boarding passengers:

'Well at least it's a train.'
'Debatable - looks like an old bus to me.'

Here's a couple of recent anecdotes from your logs. Alan Farmer writes: 'Tuesday evening 19 June  at 20:40-ish 175 106 arrived at Wilmslow station from the direction of Manchester Airport into platform 2 to a stop signal. After 3 to 4 minutes the driver got out and spoke to Wilmslow box on the telephone. The driver told me that they (the box) had no record of this empty stock movement on their list and did not know what to do with it. After a Freightliner passed on platform 1 the 175 moved forward slowly, crossed the facing points and proceeded into the carriage sidings just past the box. At 21:04 it zoomed past through platform 1, still empty, to return to Manchester Airport. Obviously they had sent it down to Wilmslow to get it out of the way for 40 minutes. It seems that this was on the driver's diagram, but Railtrack were not aware, or perhaps had not informed the signaller.'

And from Steve Vaughan: '175 110 was 16:49 Holyhead - Birmingham on 20 June. It was about 10 minutes late off Rhyl and not well at all. The fitters were at Chester to attend to the leading vehicle which was shut down. This was re-started but then they couldn't get the brakes off. Train was eventually cancelled with passengers forward on 142 027 ... I think that's what's known as progress.'

And comments from insiders - please be gentle! Did the 142 actually run all the way to Birmingham? - 23 June

Monday 18 June: 66 515 on Penmaenmawr Ballast
Tuesday 19 June 66 601 Pen Ballast & 20 313+20 309 on Valley Flask's
Wednesday 20 June 66 516 Pen Ballast & 47 726 T&T with 47 739 on Track recording train to Holyhead
Thursday 21 66 509 Pen Ballast & 47 739 T&T with 47 784 Track recorder to Bangor then up Conwy Valley & Llandudno.

Penmaenmawr Ballast should run Monday 25 - Wednesday 27 June. - 23 June
 

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