47 831 Bolton Wanderer passes Holywell Junction with the 09:19 Holyhead - Euston in dismal weather on 13 September. Picture Tim Rogers.

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: 14 September 2001

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

 The following press release from the SRA reaches us courtesy of Tony Miles:

14 September 2001

BYERS INVITES SRA TO PROGRESS NEW TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS FRANCHISE

The SRA is to take forward proposals for a new TransPennine Express rail franchise following today's decision by Transport Secretary Stephen Byers. They will also liaise with local transport authorities in the North of England on the franchise.

A new TransPennine Express franchise should deliver a new generation of frequent, fast, high quality train services between major towns and cities in the north of England. It would include investment in new trains - increasing resilience, and improving performance and reliability - and improvements to stations, including to customer information systems and access.

The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has been charged with drawing up the detailed requirement for a new TransPennine rail franchise and will now liaise with the five Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs) which deliver local transport services in the areas it covers.

Commenting on the new franchise Stephen Byers said:

"There is clearly potential to develop a new TransPennine franchise that will deliver real benefits to passengers in the north of England. I am looking to the SRA to identify passengers' requirements for this new franchise, working closely with the PTEs which are responsible for many local services in the region, and with other local and regional stakeholders.

"The M62 corridor has particular congestion problems and few public transport alternatives - the Government's £180 billion 10 Year Transport Plan is about tackling these issues and providing modern, sustainable transport alternatives and giving the public more choice on how they travel. A new TransPennine Express franchise could deliver such benefits.

The franchise would serve the major regional centres - Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Hull - but I hope that the SRA will be able to negotiate with bidders a basis for providing additional benefits more widely across the region. I will be considering the SRA's proposals for the other local services in the region within the next few months. Our joint aim will be to ensure that as a result of the refranchising process those services also benefit from additional investment and commitment."

In other words, everything's back up in the air again, but some poor devils have to run the railway in the meantime. - 14 September.

Saturday 15 September will see the running of a Hertfordshire Railtours charter between Finsbury Park and Chester,times as follows: 1Z38 07:57 Finsbury Park - Chester, Madeley pass 10:50, Crewe 11:00 to 11:06, Chester arrive 1130. 1Z39 16:59 Chester - Finsbury Park, Crewe 17:29 to 17:32, Madeley pass 17:43. Note the loco should be a EWS Class 67,and as is customary for the class along and silent for a number of hours,without any sign of movement (just like 67 028 at Gaerwen Jct...) Thanks to Tony Flusk for the information. -14 September. 

Alastair Grieve writes: with regard to the story on the Motherwell fire. We passed by Motherwell on the Poly-Granite railtour on Saurday 1 September (loco change right outside the depot) so got quite a good look at the damage. It doesn't seem to have affected all the shed roads as the two nearest the main line were still open for business and at the South end of the depot all roads were in use. However at the North end one could see through the open doors severe fire damage to the walls with the far roads all taped off and it looked like roof debris hanging down. Couldn't see any of the fire damaged locos but 37 410 and
37 423 were present as was 37 054. If 427 is too damaged maybe 410 or 423 could be resurrected?

Ian Bowland's picture shows one of the fire victims, 47 758, on 11 September, parked dead on Crewe Diesel depot where the somewhat hurried repaint could be seen to have produced two different coloured cab roofs - one red and one black.  Also some vents are red.  The rest of the roof could be seen to be quite badly scorched. This was, of course, the loco whose failure on 8 September led to a 37 being used on a London train. - 13 September

Model gallery

John Dinsdale, noted for his 4mm scale Bangor layout (pictures in an earlier issue), has like many others been seduced by the appeal of 7mm scale, and to prove it sends along these two pictures of one of the Class 37/4s he has built from a kit. 37 403Ben Cruachan is modelled here in 1990s condition. - 13 August

I rode from Bangor to Stafford on 10 September, starting with the 09:19 Holyhead - Euston with 47 810 Porterbrook, seen above on arrival at Crewe.  I saw 66 505 on the Penmaenmawr ballast. I changed to the 11:32 Central Trains to Stafford which was a 170 and a few minutes late, and  returned from Stafford on the 17:34 Birmingham - Holyhead which was 175 105.

A glimpse of things to come - 220 006 at Stafford, 10 September. (Rowan Crawshaw)- 10 September

The Winter edition of the National Rail Timetable is now available, and makes clear what's happening on the 'Wales and Borders' front.  One of the most confusing things about the current rail scene is the difference between the name of a Train Operating Company (TOC) and the name given by the Strategic Rail Authority to a rail franchise. Early in 2001 the SRA announced that there would be a new franchise called Wales and Borders which would include all non-intercity services in Wales, and that this would be awarded 'very soon.'

Nothing has been decided about the award of this franchise, but the Wales and West and Cardiff Valley franchises previously held by Prism Rail have been given up by Prism Rail and come into the hands of National Express Group, who also hold the Central franchise. From 14 October, therefore, National Express have decided to put all their Welsh routes together under the management of Cardiff Railway and run under the brand name of Wales and Borders Trains. Thus, the Cambrian lines, the Central Wales and all the South Wales lines come under the new management, as well as the few Cardiff - North Wales trains. The rest of Wales and West becomes 'Wessex Trains' and First North Western's Welsh lines are unaffected while the SRA carry on thinking about things.

Whether there will be a re-allocation of rolling stock into definite fleets remains to be seen. - 10 September

Tue 4 Sep: 43 087/079 1A23. 43 180/067 1D87/A70/D89.
Wed 5 Sep: 43 180/067 1A23. 43 087/079 1D87/A70/D89.
Thu 6 Sep: 43 087/079 1A23. 43 180/067 1D87/A70/D89.
Fri 7 Sep: 43 180/067 1A23. 43 087/079 1D87/A70/D89. 43 008/196 1D90.
Sat 8 Sep: 43 087/079 1A01. 43 008/196 1A13/D89.
Sun 9 Sep: 43 008/196 1A02/D87/A75. 43 180/067 5D61/1A61/D89.
Mon 10 Sep: 43 180/067 1A23. 43 087/079 1D87/A70/D89.

A relatively uneventful week. Power Cars running well and no swaps to report. The only minor incident to report is that 43 079/087 have been running around with no TGS since Thursday morning 6 September. The missing coach, 44017, is sat in the carriage sidings at Holyhead missing an exterior door, which on closer inspection can be found thrown inside the luggage area. - 10 September

More crime

On the evening of Friday 7 September at Birmingham New Street station, a First North Western driver was hit in the face by a passenger. The reason? He refused to turn off the "noisy" engines of the Class 175 set. Police were called, and the culprit apprehended. No doubt he'll be let off with a caution or bound over ... try the same thing on the captain of an aircraft and see what happens. - 9 September

175 115 is now in service and worked its first train on 6 September, 1G81 06:24 Chester - Birmingham. 175 103 is the latest arrival in Chester from it's refurbishment at Longsight EPS depot. The 'Hippos' appear to be having a modification to their tail lights. The ones that been done have a black frame. So far 006 and 115 have been done. Anyone know what this is about?

Battery charger related problems still occasionally recur: 175 108 failed at Llandudno junction on 7 September with same, driven back bristling with hazard lights and dumped in the middle yard at Chester in the afternoon. On 8 September 156 421 and 150 137 were used instead of 175s on a Birmingham - Holyhead diagram.

The train 142 038 was working when it caught fire was 2D48 18:17 Man Picc - Chester and was dumped in Chester yard until early hours of Friday morning when it was dragged back to Newton Heath by 156 427 at a sedate 20 mph.

Thanks to Dave Bramley and 'Concrete Bob' for reports. - 9 September

Business activities took me to Cardiff, and a check of the timetables indicated that, as part of my return journey on Thursday 6 September, I could do 2R42, the 17:11 Cardiff-Rhymney loco hauled service, all the way and be back in Cardiff in plenty of time for the 20:45 Alphaline service to Crewe, itself with an all-important last connection from there into the 22:49 Birmingham-Holyhead.

It was a bright and sunny evening in Cardiff and I was impressed by the manner in which the cross-city Valley Lines services move the crowds in each direction with trains arriving and departing every few minutes. Apart from the occasional 150 unit, nearly all of these workings were in the hands of 142 and 143 Pacers.  It was a treat, therefore, to watch 37 419 draw the dedicated four-coach set of MkII stock into Platform 6 at Cardiff Central, three minutes prior to the booked departure time.  Whilst only this one loco-hauled diagram now remains, I hadn't expected to see that the stock now wears a uniform lined maroon livery, seemingly applied very recently and an almost perfect match for the EWS locomotive, in this case with a Highland Stag logo on one side.  Certainly majestic and with more than a hint of The Royal Scotsman, there hardly could be a greater contrast with the railbuses on the neighbouring platforms.  I fear, however, that overcome by such awe, I failed to note either the repaint dates or write down the running numbers of the coaching stock but maybe others can supply these.

It was very nostalgic to be seated in the front bay of the leading TSO once again and departure was right on time as we set off for the gentle climb towards Cardiff Queen Street, where the train filled up rapidly with returning office workers from that part of the City.  Passengers left the train at each of the remaining 15 station stops and in particular at Caerphilly, Pengam and Bargoed.  There remain several lower quadrant semaphore signals at Ystrad Mynach and Bargoed from where the line continues as a single track to the railhead at Rhymney.  This we reached, on time and after some quite spirited running, at 18:10.  There is always a difficulty in securing photos when travelling, but my pictures show the ECS being drawn forward into the headshunt, being backed into the carriage siding and the locomotive running round.  It was then coupled onto the BSO and the set was shut down for the night but ready for its return on 2F06 at 07:44 on Friday morning.  Whilst taking these shots, I was able to talk to Rob Pritchard, out on an All Line Rover for the week and a regular reader of the Coast Notice Board web pages. [Thanks for the kind words, Rob! - C.H.]

All in all, an excellent, generally uphill, run through some spectacular scenery and all for just £3.80 return.  Similarly starved folk from this way might be interested to know some of this information.  Similarly, the opportunities for linesiding might be appreciated before the clocks go back next month.  The first overbridge at Bargoed appeared particularly inviting as it seemed to overlook the curved viaduct and a couple of lower quadrant home signals.

The 143 Pacer run (coupled  to an empty set in GMPTE/First North Western Livery) back down the Valley was pretty uneventful although again quite well filled south of Caerphilly and the service seemingly is appreciated by the local population.  This particular working was going through to Barry Island.  The Cardiff-Crewe 158 ran on time throughout and after arrival, an Up TPO and the lengthy Down Caledonian Sleepers were seen, a portion off the latter, of course to form the stock for 1Y11, the 04:50  Edinburgh - Fort William and the only other remaining 37/4 Passenger diagram.

Completing my journey, the 2 x 175/0 Birmingham-Holyhead service arrived at Platform 11 on time and formed of 2 x 175/0s, but a mass exodus took place when it emerged that the rear set was to be detached at Chester leaving only 2 vehicles to take the boat-bound and others forward.  I recalled, wistfully and whilst sitting amongst standees in a tip up vestibule seat, that the last time I had used this service, less than a year ago and throughout from Birmingham to Rhyl, there had been no such nonsense and that Mary Queen of Scots had been well able to convey her contented passengers in the comfort of a four coach train that had plenty of luggage space and tables for all that wanted them.  Happy days! - 9 September

Saturday 8 September started normally enough, although the use of an EWS-liveried 47 758 from Crewe on the 08:00 London - Holyhead created some interest (Picture above at Bangor by Rowan Crawshaw.)  But things were soon to change.

37 682 Hartlepool Pipe Mill at the head of the 13:35 from Holyhead, Crewe 8 September.  (Picture by Mark Williams)

Ivor Bufton takes up the story: 'I strolled up to my nearest point to the railway to photograph an EWS 47 on passenger - not got this 47 livery on film on the coast.  I had been there ten minutes when the mobile rang, 1A62 is cancelled, loco failure.  So back home I went and thought no more about it.  An SMS message stirred me into action at 16:45, seemly they had resuscitated the 47 (hey there's another RES name they never used) only for it to fail at Holywell Junction.  The message stated 37 682 was the rescue engine, so it was in the car for a drive to Greenfield and arriving at 17:10 there was 47 758 freshly resuscitated from not only failing at Holyhead but this was one of the engines caught up in the Motherwell shed fire (the newly painted cab was testiment to this) sat at the signal without a sound from it.  Five minutes later 37 682 appeared and entered the down slow, after the passage of units in either direction (The up units using the up slow) 682 crossed over and attached to the front.  At 18 03 37 682 drew 1A62 away from Holywell Junction and in doing so became the first Class 37 to haul a passenger train on the North Wales Coast since 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol on January 20th. It was truly great to stand and watch a 37 hauled passenger train once again on the coast.'

The train had been 54 minutes late leaving Holyhead, and eventually arrived at Crewe 3 hours late where the train was terminated and passengers transferred to another train to Euston.

Mark Williams managed a ride from Chester to Crewe and some pictures for us  (above, showing some familiar 37-riders.) Mark writes: After a good half day at the East Lancashire Railway diesel gala,  I got the 'Gen'  that 37 682 was assisting 1A62 13:35 Holyhead-Euston from Holywell Junction, mega-delayed. 47758 failed by the way. I got a call at 16.30 when still at Bury, and managed to make 1A62 at Chester with about 30 seconds to spare! Below, 40 145/40 122  at Rawtenstall, with the delayed 13:40 ex Bury, to bring back memories of the Class 40s which used to work the Coast line. - 9 September

101 693 at Manchester Piccadilly, 6 September (Paul Braddock)

On the slate

Dave Sallery has  written for us a the following background article about the proposal to transport slate waste by rail from Blaenau Ffestiniog:

MacAlpines own two slate quarries in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area: Oakley and Manod (Cwtybugail).  It is the Oakley Quarry from which the waste would be taken.   Oakley Slate Quarry was claimed to be the largest slate mine in the world.  Formed from three quarries in the 1880's it produced up to 60,000 tons per annum with a workforce of 1700.  There were 26 floors from almost sea level to 1500 feet and 50 miles of two foot gauge track underground.  One of the inclines had no fewer than 6 tracks.  The site had its own hospital and workers' cottages.  The whole of the western side of the Conwy Valley railway line and A470 approaching Blaenau from the North is the Oakley site.

Underneath the waste tips, adjoining the railway, are the remains of the Baltic Hotel, a monastery and several houses - evacuated when more tipping space was required.  Oakley closed in 1970 and the underground workings were allowed to flood. It was reopened a couple of years later and for some years part of it was known as Gloddfa Ganol mountain tourist centre.  The site was acquired by Alfred MacAlpine Slate in 1998 and vigorous extraction of slate from the above ground levels has recommenced.  There was another tip on the other side of the railway at Glan y Don.  This was accessed by the viaduct, whose piers still remain, near the entrance to Blaenau tunnel.  The amount of waste in the Oakley tips can only be estimated but it must be somewhere over 40 million tons. As the quarry is still in production the tips continue to grow.  MacAlpines also own the largest working slate quarry in Britain - Penrhyn in Bethesda.

In the picture, Llechwedd is seen in the foreground with Oakley beyond. In between, although hidden from view, are the Conwy Valley railway line and A470.  The surface workings give little idea of the vast workings below ground.  Both sites are still in active production.  The buildings in the middle right were formerly Gloddfa Ganol mountain tourist centre.

Working of the trains on the Conwy Valley line should cause few problems as apart from the short pull up to Blaenau tunnel it is downhill all the way for loaded trains. The only restriction on train length is the Llanrwst loop (tape measure anyone?) which should take 20 bogie wagons.  A loading site as near as possible to the tunnel entrance in Blaenau would be the best option.

Further details of the Welsh Slate industry are available on my website: www.penmorfa.com/Slate  and of the Conwy Valley line at www.penmorfa.com/Conwy. - 7 September

Sel Williams reports on Ballast trains at Penmaenmawr Quarry: 66 604 on Monday 3 September; 66 605 on Tuesday 4; 66 507 on Wednesday 5; 66 512 on Thursday 6. Next ballast trains are due to run Monday 10 - Wednesday 12 September and then will run on Monday 17 - Thursday 20 September.

Prospective photographers of this train should bear in mind the following note by John Hillmer: 'With a good weather forecast for 4 September, I decided to have a go at photographing the ballast as it passed loaded in front of Conwy Castle.   It seemed wise to make sure it was at Pen. before standing in the field for hours - got to Pen. for 08:30 and found the engine ticking over  at the head of the loaded train!  The driver was probably having a cuppa so I dived back into the car and went back to Conwy.  Parked up and got my gear together - just got into the field when I heard the down Flasks go through (about 09:00), and I was half way up the field when the ballast went through - when I reached the top it was held on the approach to the Junction.  The only consolation was that at the time it went through the castle was not sunlit.'

- 7 September

142 038 caught fire at Cuddington on 4 September, and the local fire brigade had to attend. It is believed the fire was caused by a faulty heater. Mike Dunning's picture shows the unit the following day in Chester station sidings. - 7 September

In your last update I read with interest the report on 220 005's visit to Manchester, but at the same time was disturbed by the throw away line "over 20 minutes late after Railtrack routed a stopper in front of the Virgin express". After some investigation as regards this I can confirm that this comment was to say the least ill informed.

It is true to say that the 15:16 Birmingham Int - Manchester Picc was delayed between Birmingham Ns and Wolverhampton following a slower service (2J12 15:08 Birmingham NS - Shrewsbury to be exact), however this service was being delayed following 1G43 13:40 London Euston - Wolverhampton,which in turn was being delayed behind 1N41 15:22 Birmingham NS - Lime Street which ultimately was stood behind 1S39 11:20 Bournemouth - Edinburgh. 1S39 had been stopped in the Smethwick area after a report that one of the doors on the train was not fully closed (on the first catch) so the traincrew could examine the train. In effect a "traffic jam" of train developed on what must be one of the most heavily-used parts of the network.

So that's the correct story, apologies due to the signallers at Birmingham New Street I think [indeed - please accept our apologies. - C.H.]  for suggesting that staff route slower trains in front of expresses just for the fun of it. Still, just think,when the seven coach set on 1S39 is replaced by a four car 220,there will be no delays due to doors being left on the first catch. Perhaps the only delays will be at busy stations like Birmingham while passengers try to squeeze on a inadequate train for that length of journey.

Name and address supplied.- 7 September.

Wednesday 29 August: 43 006/007 1A23 terminated at Crewe due to overhead line damage at Kenton. 43 006/007 1D87 started at Crewe then 1A70 throughout. 43180/067 1D89.

Thursday 30 August: 43 006/087 1D87/A70 to Crewe and cancelled due to 43 006 being shut down with a WSP fault. Set empties to Longsight. 43 180/067 1D89.

Friday 31 August: 43 006/087 1D87/A70/D89. 43 180/067 1A23. 43194/102 1D90.

Sat 1 September: 43 006/087 1A01. 43 102/194 1A13/D89.

Sun 2 September: 43 180/067 5D61/1A61/D89. 43 102/194 1A02/D87/A75. 1A75 was caught behind  175 010 which had failed at the signal before Aber Ground Frame, and eventually went wrong line from Bangor to Aber G.F. The train was 90 minutes late at Llandudno Junction. The only benefit of the delay was that I "required" the down loop at Bangor for HST! 175 011 eventually rescued 175 010 which I believe was the 1450 Bangor - Crewe  which was in the region of 205 minutes  late. The Holyhead - Cardiff was also over 100 late.

Monday 3 September: 43 180/067 1A23. 43 087/079 1D87/A70/D89. - 7 September

This picture by Alan Farmer shows 156 452 at Stockport on Sunday 2 September after a heavy attack while stabled overnight at Buxton to work the shuttle service to Stockport during weekend engineering work. It is a credit to First North Western that such attacks (which are all too frequent) are normally cleaned off at the earliest opportunity and seldom seen by passengers, but in this case the train services would have had to be cancelled for the day.

Make no mistake, this 'art' is criminal activity, despite its acceptance in some art circles. I've even seen such rubbish reproduced on model railways, and in Germany and Switzerland reputable model companies even sell ready-vandalised models. What can they be thinking of? What next, the Preser H0 scale 'muggers with victim and drug dealers, set of 6 figures' ? We hesitate to publish the picture as it only achieves the aim of the vandals, but let it stand this once as a reminder of the things rail company staff have to deal with, in a week that elsewhere on the FNW network a train crew was attacked and badly beaten by two 'youths' who broke the train window to get to the driver. - 7 September

Back to top

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