37 418 East Lancashire Railway at Warrington Bank Quay, 21 June: see story below. (Charlie Hulme)

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

LAST UPDATE: 21 June  2001

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

Thursday 21 June, and I'm aboard the 13:18 Manchester - Llandudno, a particularly tatty First North Western 158. As we approach Warrington, I wonder idly about breaking my journey to see what's happening ... 'I think I'll stay on this, unless of course there's a 37/4 waiting in one of the loops,' I said to myself, instantly dismissing this unlikely thought. As we rolled in to the station, what should I see but old friend 37 418 East Lancashire Railway at the head of a freight train in the loop next to the Persil factory. Needless to say, I beat a hasty exit and ran through the subway clutching my camera - and as it happened the driver was climbing out, and the train waited some time for a relief driver before growling off northwards.

The last we heard of this loco a few days ago it was working the sleeping cars from Edinburgh to Fort William, as part of its usual work in the Motherwell Depot fleet.

The paintwork of 418, remembered as the first 37/4 of the 'North Wales Coast' fleet at the time to have been painted in EWS livery, is now in a very poor state, with the old blue and grey and even the Regional Railways logo starting to show through. This is the first 37/4 I have photographed for what seems like an age, although it is of course just a few months. I was so captivated that I just couldn't be bothered with the either the Royal Train or a new Class 220 Voyager which whistled through southbound while I was paying homage ... apparently there are now less than 50 37s of all sub-types left in the normal EWS working fleet, out of over 300 originally built.

The train was formed of the MBA bogie open wagons built by the new Thrall factory in York. These have many American features, including US-standard couplers: as can be seen only some of the wagons have British-style buffers, and these have a coupler which can be swung out of the way. Some new locos also have these, but to haul a train with a 37 care must be taken to get a buffer-fitted wagon at the end of the train. - 21 June

Farewell

David Franks (right), Managing Director of First North Western, receives his last train as Commercial Director Paul Bunting presents him with an FNW-liveried class 158 model donated by Bachmann to mark his departure from FNW, on 14th June 2001. Mr Franks has now taken up his new post as head of the New Southern Railway. Picture by Tony Miles. - 21 June

47 739 Resourceful stirs up the Bangor dust as it whisks the Serco test train along the up fast at 12:42 on Wednesday 20 June. 175 006 is taking the 10:07 from Birmingham on to Holyhead - the day before  this comprised 5 cars, today just two. See 'The experiment continues' below.   (Alan Crawshaw)

47 726 Manchester Airport Progress brings up the rear. Can anyone tell us what this train does? - 20 June

Several people asked why Steve Vaughan in his previous HST report described 43 104 as so special, so here's Steve's explanation:

'43 104 is one of the most remarkable rebuilds in recent railway history. Stored for 4 years, robbed of everything, suffering considerable corrosion and with a tree growing in the cab it was never expected to work again. However it just goes to show how highly valued HST power cars are when Angel Trains authorised its rebuild. It has been in traffic for a couple of months now with Virgin but Thursday was the first time it has been to Holyhead. It's also looking like the only time for now as on 19 June 1A23 was 43 098/088 and 1D87/A70/D89 were 43 087/091,  whilst 98/88 also performed on Saturday and Sunday. If anyone does see 104 it really is worth a closer look. Crewe Works have done a superb job and it is just about in as built condition. Take a look in to the old guards compartment and you will see what I
mean!'

Dave Sallery's archive spot

47 647 heads out of Rhyl on October 16 1988. The train is the empty stock of a Euston - Prestatyn excursion which had been run for a Soul Weekend at Pontin's.  The train used the slow line platform at Prestatyn and ran round in Rhyl.  A similar train ran on the Sunday to take the devotees back home. (What ever happened to that sort of enterprise?) The 14 Mark 1's are all in Network South East livery bar one. This set was normally used on the "Northampton Cobbler" commuter train until superseded by Class 321 electric units. - 20 June

47 810 Porterbrook, seen in the picture coupling on to the 17:49 to Birmingham at Manchester Piccadilly on 20 June, looks like being the last-but-one Class 47 to emerge from works repainted in this livery before rundown and final withdrawal of the class. 47 805 is still to be done, if it hasn't been already, leaving just 47 826 still in InterCity livery, which Virgin intend to retain as an attraction for railfans.

No only that, but two other locos are to be repainted into heritage liveries to encourage the fans even more. 47 806 will be given the class's original two-tone green livery and named Traction Magazine, whilst 47 853 will regain the blue XP64 colours it carried as an experiment back in 1964. It will be named Rail Express. Both are likely to appear on Crewe - Holyhead turns: keep a look-out.

Meanwhile, the first of the "Voyager" railcar sets bought to replace the 47s have entered service on a trial public service between Birmingham and Reading: these first deliveries are 4-car non-tilting versions, Class 220. So far there seem to have been few problems reported, and it is planned to run them on a wider variety of routes as the summer progresses. (Travellers' reports from these services welcome.) A tilting variant, which will eventually see service on the London - North Wales trains, is still under construction, but seems likely that HSTs will take over all the London - Holyhead diagrams by next year, being themselves replaced by Voyagers soon afterwards. Doesn't it seem strange that trains as modern-looking as the HSTs are apparently bound for the scrap heap? - 20 June

Thanks to those who have sent in their class 175 observations, we are already well on the way to getting a picture of their workings, although more please - especially from the afternoon and evening. An example report would be:

20.6.01 175 110 11:52 Holyhead to Crewe
20.6.01 175 006 10:07 BNS to Holyhead

The picture shows 175 108 at Manchester Piccadilly on 19 June, as booked to work the 17:09 to Birmingham ... except that it is 'going nowhere' thanks defect, according to the First North Western staff on the scene. This diagram appears to include quite a strenuous days work, a combination of one-time Class 37 and 309 turns:

06:30 Holyhead - Birmingham
10:07 Birmingham - Holyhead
13:27 Holyhead - Stockport
[empty Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly]
17:09 Manchester - Birmingham
19:07 Birmingham - Manchester (via airport)

What happens next? 21:04 Manchester - Chester perhaps? And how does it get to Holyhead to start the day? - 20 June

Another glimpse of Manchester Piccadilly at 16:12 on 19 June, showing the 16:19 Marple and 16:22 Rose Hill trains, both formed of 'celebrity' liveried units: green 101 685 and Caley blue 101 692. Almost all the remaining workings of the 101s are on these two routes: there are no booked runs to Sheffield or in North Wales, and only the occasional appearance at Chester. The full details of Class 101 turns are on Dave Root's excellent website. According to our current information, 685 is now due to run for the last time (again) on 30 June: maybe it will sing 'My Way' for us?  - 20 June.
 

Back to top

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