47 854 Women's Royal Voluntary Service takes the 09:19 Holyhead to Euston across Afon Cefni on Wednesday 26 September (Alan Crawshaw)

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

LAST UPDATE: 27 September 2001

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47 854 Women's Royal Voluntary Service was on the 09:19 Holyhead-London and was replaced by 90 002 Mission Impossible

The salt traffic from Middlewich has now  ceased but the acid from Sandbach continues. (see article below.)  37 684 Peak National Park brought three  tanks through the station later to return light to leave North at a pace on the WCML.

For reasons unknown, 142 042, forming the 12:00 Chester-Manchester Airport train was diverted into platform 11 from where it cannot gain the Manchester line ...

The Pacer unit, in FNW "Merseyrail" livery ran out onto the West Coast Main Line and returned into platform 5 where it reversed and left on the Manchester line. - 27 September

I was interested to see the picture of the Jones Balers train at Mold. Yes, indeed, a posed photo. Another view of this train surfaced in one of the local papers recently but the engine is Mold Junction's 45001, just for the record. 45001 was a long serving North Wales Black Five, which were known as Mickeys or 'stinkers', if they were local engines, by us lineside spotters at Flint. The balers were bound for France according to the newspaper article. It is a pity the Mold line closed down for good in 1983. If it had survived a little longer passenger trains might have restarted, once funding was in place. Councillors were aware of the branch's potential in the early 1980s, if my newspaper cuttings are to led to be true! - 27 September

No more Middlewich pick-up - by John Dawson

The Enterprise trip from Warrington Yard  has now officially ceased to serve Middlewich. The train is now shown as follows:

6K15 10:03 Warrington Arpley - Sandbach arr 11:18
6F17 12:27 Sandbach - Warrington Arpley arr 15:47

Train still runs outward via Greenbank and Middlewich but no longer conveys those distinctive red covered hoppers. The small amount of traffic left will be in the form of chemical tanks for the Hayes plant at Sandbach and empty fuel tanks for Crewe. Train is still showing as running as SX but I doubt
whether it now runs every day - sad. - 27 September

We have received several reports of problems with the new Class 220 Voyagers, mostly related to the working of the doors and the multiple working connections, not to mention one which ws noted stranded in Stockport station on the evening of 21 September with fire bells ringing, so perhaps they are not quite as perfect as some think ... our rather negative review of the 220 somehow managed to land on the desk of Virgin supremo Chris Green, who has sent us by indirect means a brief rejoinder: "The bodyside and seat spacing is virtually the same as the East Coast Mark IV, which is not attracting the same concerns. We are currently looking at the business case for a 5th coach with more leg-room and luggage space."

Well, in the meantime Mr Green, how about arranging for taller people to be able to specify the few seats with decent legroom when reserving? See also Tony Miles' pictures below. Incidentally, Mr Green has fulfilled one of his promises by producing real timetable booklets for each Virgin route as well as the silly ones with only some stations listed that have been the norm recently. There are 10 booklets, numbered VT0 to VT9, and four multi-route ones too. Unfortunately they get off to a very bad start, as all the tables for trains calling at Stockport on the first day, 30 September, are totally wrong as Railtrack have decided to close Stockport on that day.

The new timetable also sees a second attempt by Virgin to ban smoking on all their trains; this was announced for the Summer and then rescinded at the last minute. - 27 September

Of Voyagers and CIGs - by Tony Miles

220 001 was coupled to another Voyager on a working due to leave Piccadilly on the 06:17 to Bournemouth on Saturday 22 September  - but failed ... It finally left Piccadilly at about 11am.

During that time 86 258 arrived with the stock for the 10.17 departure for Penzance (I think that's where the 10.17 goes!) and was forced to use the same platform. So the new but failed 220 came face to face
with the train it will replace - but which was at least working!

Then 87 004 Britannia arrived from Euston with what became the 11.23 departure to London (it is 11.23 on a Saturday isn't it?) and you can clearly see the difference in body width as the two pose side by side.

Shortly afterwards 47 840 North Star arrived at Platform 5 and did the rarely seen run-round manoeuvre. This will be a real "thing of the past" once the Voyagers take over.

Finally, for those who are following the career of ex-First North Western chief Mr Franks, a view of 1854, the first 4-CIG (class 421) electric train to be repainted by South Central Trains. For the time being at least it will not carry any branding as they are waiting to see how long it will be before the New Southern Railway franchise is awarded. A 455 is currently being repainted, but won't emerge until it has been signed off by the leasing company, etc.  - 27 September

Two pictures from 24 September by Tim Rogers: 66 130 at Shotton High Level, 24 September (above) and the 09:19 Holyhead - Euston at Sandycroft , with 47 827 in charge. (below) - 25 September

Anyone interested in present-day North Wales Coast Line modelling should get a copy of the October issue of Model Rail, which contains several pertinent articles. There's a detailed review of the Heljan 47, which suggests the body is too wide, there's a fine article about HSTs to celebrate their 25th anniversary, and there's an item about doing up a Lima 101 in Strathclyde orange, amongst other things. There's even a heading 'North Wales Coast' in the Question and Answer section, although the item below it refers to Chiltern 168s, puzzlingly.

The October Railway World is certainly worth getting, if only for the voucher on the front which offers a voucher for two for the price of one travel on Wales and West (and their successors presumably - does that make it valid on the Cambrian?) but there's also a very interesting article about the history of the HSTs. This includes the strange tale of the Longsight depot fuelling points. It seems that when HSTs were transferred to Manchester Longsight in the 1990s for North Wales Coast duties, two new fuelling points were built alongside one of the tracks in the depot, the idea being that both power cars could be serviced at once to save time. Unfortunately they were built too far apart, a fault which remains uncorrected to this day. - 25 September

47 770 Reserved calls at Bangor with the 09:19 Holyhead - London on 21 September. Note the reasonably smart condition of the tracks with few weeds to be seen. (Rowan Crawshaw.)

The following intriguing letter from David Cook: 'I am considering purchasing/renting a Mk3 SLEP [sleeping car] from Cotswold Rail to be located at Llandudno Junction for use as B&B accommodation. I would be pleased if you could publicise this venture on your web site for any trainspotters out there (and members of the public.) If possible, this would start in March 2002 (Railtrack/Cotswold Rail permitting), but in the meantime I would like to know how many people would be interested in staying at Llandudno Junction.'

David's email is DAVIDJAMESCO@aol.com: he'd welcome your thoughts on this project. - 25 September

I came across this print on a site devoted to North Wales postcards:   It shows a block trainload of Jones Balers leaving the yard at Mold in the Chester direction.  I suspect that the train has been posed for a publicity shot - note the crouched figure on the LNWR junction signal in the background.

This signal controlled the junction of the Chester and Coed Talon lines. Motive power is of course an ex LMS Class 5 4-6-0.  I suspect the photo was taken in the late fifties.  In those days the yard at Mold was very busy sending the balers all over Europe by rail and continental wagons were a common site.  Mold station closed to passengers in April 1962 and to goods traffic a few years later although the line remained open beyond Mold for fuel oil traffic until 1982.  Where the loco is standing is now a housing estate while the site of Mold station is now a Tesco.  Jones Balers were taken over by Allis Chalmers of the USA in the early 70's.  I understand that the factory now longer produces agricultural machinery. Do we really do things better now? - 25 September

Those Unit questions answered

Here are some answers from 'informed sources' to our discussion about the status of First North Western 101s and 142s, received with thanks.

The remaining five 'short lease' Class 142s with FNW are:

142 003, 142 013, 142 029, 142 030, 142 067

Any 142s currently at Bombardier Doncaster would be getting a C6 classified overhaul. (Except for fire damaged 142 038) The multi-level refurbishment programme was completed in Jan 2001 at Hunslet Barclay, Kilmarnock.

On the heritage front, 101 678 (Longsight) and 101 685 (Glasgow Springburn works) have had the initial C4M work completed but both require some further work before going on lease, expect this to be within the next couple of weeks. The extra work is as required by the certification authority to permit running. - 25 September

From the Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald (augmented and annotated by Dave Sallery):

Councillors have given a guarded welcome to plans by the Alfred MacAlpine Group to transport millions of tonnes of slate waste on the Conwy Valley railway line  - a proposal that could generate dozens of new jobs in the area.  The proposed development involves land at Rhiwbryfdir [near the new FR carriage shed] for the construction of an aggregate loading facility and multi use [?] rail freight facility.  The document supporting the application reveals high levels of waste, estimated in excess of 100 MILLION tonnes and future production is expected to a add a further 2 million tonnes each year.  MacAlpine employs 50 people at the Oakeley site and says that this scheme estimated to cost up to £28 million, has the potential to create a substantial number of new jobs.  It is estimated that the operation would involve 5 to 7 outgoing frieght trains a day.

It is not clear if the £28 million is all to be spent at Blaenau or if it includes the cost of terminal(s) in other parts of the country.  In any event this is a monumental project.  If you look at the trains themselves -  if each is 20 bogie wagons long and 5 are filled each day that is 100 wagons, add to that 5 trains in transit and 5 unloading at the other terminal(s) and there is a requirement for up to 300 wagons just for a basic service.  Likewise a fleet of say 18 diesels of at least Class 66 size would be required.  This is an operation on the scale of Mendip Rail (add on order for Class 59/2?)

We await developments with interest. - 25 September

Remember the Railway lands project, the plans that Chester City Council have for the area around Chester Station? Look at the Council website for an in depth official look at this; they are at the consultation stage with this project at the moment. The site includes an interesting map of the area with track layouts, : as a not very Web-friendly half-megabyte image file...

Thanks to 'Concrete Bob' for this item. - 25 September

Dates for your Diary

On Sunday 14 October (10:00 to 16:00) there is an Open Day at First North Western's Newton Heath depot in north Manchester, the first to have been held there, they say. All sorts of FNW traction will be available, plus guest locos from EWS and preservation, trade stands, etc. Money raised will go to charity. There will be a shuttle train service (Class 101 allegedly) from Manchester Victoria station. A personal reminiscence from your compiler: in my younger days I used to travel to away games to support Whaley Bridge AFC (Manchester League Division 2.) One of the teams we played was 'Newton Heath Loco' who played on a ground with a very good view of the (steam) loco shed - this was, we were told, the place where Manchester Un*ted started...

Anyway, talking of steam, there are steam specials between Crewe and Holyhead on Sundays 14 and 21 October, hauled by LMS '4-6-2 6233Duchess of Sutherland and organised by PMR Tours. Departing Crewe 10:30 (approx); Return Crewe 21:30 (approx). Fares start at £52.50. Visit http://www.prclt.co.uk/ for more information. - 24 September

We forsook 1D87 on 22 September in favour of a cycle circumnavigation of Snowdon, pausing at the Caernarfon terminus of the Welsh Highland railway to watch Garratt No 138 back onto its train before continuing a mile or so for an action shot (above).

The cycle track accompanies the line as far as Dinas where Lilla was entertaining visitors with shunting manoeuvres (above) and the other Garratt simmered by the shed as the 12:05 from Caernarfon passed the 12:05 from Dinas.

We returned to Bontnewydd then up past Tryfan Junction, the only place between Dinas and Waunfawr where the road is close to the railway. Rather that wait for the Garratt to return, we pressed on to the Snowdonia Parc pub at Waunfawr. We'd just finished eating when Prince and Taliesin returned with the vintage train.

The picture shows it about to depart as the 14:15. The Snowdonia Parc has all you could ask for in a pub - cask ales (Marston bitter and Pedigree plus the pub's own brew), reasonably priced food and a buxom bleached blonde barmaid.

We pressed on to Beddgelert and the famed Glaslyn ice creams before climbing over the Llanberis pass. At the summit, a group of walkers had just missed the 16:15 bus to Llanberis and were aghast to discover the next one was an hour and a half into the future. A gap like this, just as walkers are returning from the mountain, won't encourage motorists to use the park and ride facilities.

At Llanberis, the Snowdon Mountain Railway's steam engines were safely tucked up in bed while diesel No 12 George tidied up. George, dressed in garish purple, could be mistaken for a First Group locomotive!

47 806 works the 09:19 Holyhead - London through Flint, 22 September. (Tim Rogers)

Note there is a new headcode for the ballast trains: 6D11 Basford Hall - Penmaenmawr yard 6K12 return. 66 506 worked this turn on Monday 17 September; 66 522 on Tuesday 18; 66 506 on Wednesday 19; 66 518 on Thursday 20 (additional). 20 303+20 302 worked the Valley flasks on Tuesday 18 September. The ballast should be running again from Monday 24 - Thursday 27 September. - 24 September

Taking advantage of Virgin' s half price offer I booked two returns from Crewe to Exeter on Thursday 13 September for the remarkable sum of £20 less £2 internet "refund".  As two savers to Crewe would have cost £27.20 from Prestatyn, cost considerations dictated use of a vehicle to Crewe (car park charge now £5 per day!).  Departure was on the 09:55 to Plymouth hauled by 86 258 Talyllyn to Birmingham New St where 47 750 Atlas took over.  We waited at Birmingham for 35 minutes due to the Virgin crew having been held up by a "failed freight train near Bristol."  Despite efforts by the driver this time was not recovered and we arrived at Exeter St Davids 35 late.  A couple of points on this journey:  a cursory walk through the well-filled 6 coach train near Gloucester revealed only 5 passengers using personal stereos - do we really need an audio system at every seat? [It's so we can listen to Virgin radio while sipping our Virgin Colas.- C.H.] Also the buffet was announced as closing just South of Gloucester but we would be informed when it would reopen - we were not.

A South West Trains 159 was used for the short hop to Exeter Central for a look round the city centre and a rather grubby 150 221 for the return to St Davids.  Virgin were not having a good day as two Westbound services were announced over an hour late - one held awaiting crew members at York (another reaction to the failed freight train?) and the other having replacement vehicles attached at Preston (!?).

The return journey at 16.57 (Plymouth - Leeds service) was formed of the same loco and set as the outward trip.  The train was again well filled and a speedy journey to Bristol ensued.  We then waited at Temple Meads for over half an hour with no explanation for the delay.  Literally one minute before departure a 153 on a stopping service to Gloucester was sent out in front of our train.  This caused further delays en route and a slow run into New Street meant arrival was 40 minutes late.  The buffet closure announcement before Bristol was made again and yet again no notice of reopening was given.  Our 15 minute connection at Birmingham was now out of the question and a check revealed that the first train to Crewe was the 20.39 to Chester formed of 175 010.  This got us back to Crewe at 21.50 - over 50 minutes late.

On reflection, a good day out for £9 each but if I had paid much more I would be feeling rather let down. - 24 September

This train, formed of  66 241, a motley collection of airbraked wagons and a class 60 on the rear, spent the afternoon of 22 September in Stockport station while two road/rail machines wandered around picking up debris from the re-arrangement of the track layout between platforms 2 and 3. Trains to Chester and Buxton were running from Platforms 1 and 4, so passengers changing trains had a grandstand view of other people working. The two through sidings in this area, known to generations of rail staff as the 'slums,' are now no more, replaced by a line of cable troughing. Will Railtrack give us a nice garden here? - 24 September

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