THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd hysbyseb

43 101 (formerly Irish Mail) trails the 09:10 London - Holyhead out of Crewe, 5 January (Rowan Crawshaw)

Edition of 05 January 2003

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I rode the 10:22 from Bangor to Crewe on 5 January to observe the final day of 'drags' with diesel locomotives hauling Scotland - London and Liverpool - London trains round the partly non-electrified route via Manchester to Crewe. The Bangor - Crewe train was a overcrowded 2-car 175 but I managed to get a seat; another unit was coupled on  at Chester and I arrived at Crewe 15 minutes late. It is surprising how many people go away for Christmas. I returned on the 15:54 which ran on-time and was a 5-car 175.

47 841 Spirit of Chester used to be a common sight on the coast but will not have many more trips as all Holyhead to Eustons are now HSTs. This is seen arriving at Crewe with the 11:55 from Liverpool to Euston.

47 847 Railway World Magazine is about to uncouple from its train in the sun and shadows of Crewe. - 5 January

For light relief here's a copy of an email sent by our contributor 'charlie21' to Wales and Borders Trains:

'On Friday 3 January took advantage of your excellent value cheap day return fare from Wrexham-Birmingham and am pleased to say your trains were on time, clean, smartly dressed friendly staff and I even travelled on your excellent refurbished class 150 unit. Wrexham General station is still showing an information panel with "Welcome to Wrexham Central" on its walls and has run out of timetables for Chester-Shrewsbury line which is the the reason for this E-mail.

'I managed to pick up a new timetable booklet at Wolverhampton for Table F dated 9 Jan-17 May 2003 now claiming to show just the Chester-Shrewsbury line section with connections to Birmingham. Page 2 has a welcome letter from Chris Gibb explaining you've split the timetable as result of passenger comments making it easier to read (wonderful idea I agree, the  old one showing both Cambrian/Chester lines was difficult to read, even for experienced people), Page 3 has a map of Chester-Birmingham line, while pages 18-41 have various information relevant to this line.

'However, all timetables in the booklet are for the Cambrian Line and no mention of Chester line is made! It's clear no one has proof read or inspected this booklet before being put out to public, I wonder are passengers on Cambrian Coast given Chester line information in their edition? Hope you don't mind bringing this to your attention, I'm sure you'll rectify the situation. Keep up the good work.'

The beautiful weather, and the fact that Sunday 5 January was the last day that Class 47 locos would be hauling diverted Virgin trains through Manchester, inspired my wife and myself to get our bicycles out and head for the Cheshire countryside so I could try my hand at some 'trains in the landscape' photography. Armed with a very useful list of timings from the excellent Class 47 list website,  we transported our bikes to Alderley Edge station aboard 142 033 on a Southport - Alderley Edge service.

Soon, 47 841 Spirit of Chester rushed through the station with 1A55 Liverpool - Euston ...

... followed a few minutes later by 37 707 hauling a continuous-welded rail train and making plenty of noise even though the line here is almost level.

The Pacer having been safely tucked away in a siding, EWS loco 47 787 Windsor Castle ran through the station with 1F15 towards Liverpool. After seeing this train through, we pedalled off through the village and down a pleasant lane leading to the next overbridge, a couple of miles up the line towards Chelford, to see the next pair of 'drags.'

Technically my best picture of the day: 142 033 heads back to Southport with the 13:13 Departure. These Sunday trains are replaced by buses as far as Stockport from January 12 for several weeks.

Here, I soon began to realise the difficulties faced overcome by those famous photographers who get locos named after them, especially on pole-festooned electrified lines using a digital camera whose quirks you haven't fully mastered and with freezing cold hands ... Ah well, here are the pictures anyway, it's my website so you can't stop me! This is 1S63 London - Glasgow, with 'Thunderbird' 57 304 Gordon Tracy doing the work.

The general scene, with none other than 47 847 Brian Morrison/Railway World Magazine heading south. Normally I'd enlarge the centre of this view, but that would only accentuate the pole right in front of the cab ... Note self-portraits in shadow art of Charlie and Joanna, foreground. The blue 86 Alstom Heritage was being dragged on the back of the train, but of course I failed to nip across to the other side of the road in time. A blue haze of diesel smoke hung over the fields for several minutes after the train had passed. - 5 January

Most services between Chester and Crewe were being diverted through Middlewich on Friday 3 January due to flooding at Wardle Hall - again. Services tended to run up to 50 minutes late, and predictably caused chaos. A knock-on effect was delays to Mid-Cheshire line services between Chester and Northwich, as late running services off the Middlewich line arrived at Northwich at the same time as local trains. Another subsidiary cause of delay was the sourcing of train crew with the relevant route knowledge, although this was minimised by a professional attitude on the part of all concerned. - 5 January

FNW sources confirm that Alstom certainly start a new modification programme on the class 175 fleet as soon as possible. Alstom and leasing company Angel Trains will need to provide FNW with suitable cover, which was originally thought to be two loco-hauled (LHCS) sets. Having seen the cost of this the proposal to put at least one of the two 101 sets through a new 'exam' to re-certify them for another year has gained in favour.

Discussions about what will happen are to start on Tuesday 7 January, with one LHCS set and one 101 returned to service the popular option. If this is to happen there is still a chance that 'Daisy' (101 685) will not return as she is thought to be in less good condition than the other set withdrawn on 31 December, 101 678. [Units still in service in January 2003 are 676, 680, 692 and 693, plus 678 and 685 which have been reprieved until 31 January]

Stories that two First Great Western class 47s were being prepared for use with FNW, which some writers reported, have been called "rubbish" by managers at FNW who have been told by FGW that no locomotives will be available at any time. (Unless they go off lease first and Porterbrook passes them on).

It is thought that the loan of a class 150 unit to Wessex Trains may become permanent later this year, despite the shortage of rolling stock at FNW. The decision was taken "by higher powers" than those locally and again NW travellers will suffer "For the good of the national railways".

Finally, FNW has called off plans to use spare class 310 or 312 units to supplement its electric fleet whilst the 323s go through the refurbishment programme as the significant amount of disruption planned by Network Rail for West Coast Main Line work will see so many closures of the electric lines that the need for extra units is reduced to the point that the work required to put them in service would not be cost effective.
 

An irrestistible picture of 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol at Beeston on 30 December 2000, kindly sent to us by Mike Cox.

Points to Ponder

Phil Atack writes: 'I had a post-Christmas Shopping trip into Manchester on Monday 30 December with the family. We travelled home on 175 004, (15.17 Piccadilly - Llandudno).  Initially we thought we'd missed it, but then it appeared on the screens around 15:40, operating in the wrong direction.   There was apparently some obstruction/problem in the Eccles area, and we ran via Stockport and Altrincham to Chester, where the service terminated at 17:05. Any ideas what the problem was at Eccles?'

From Neill Fisher: 'Just been talking to a friend of mine who swears that he saw a "barbie-livered unit," the same as one he had seen at the Severn Valley Railway a couple of years ago, parked in Nottingham station at about 23:00 on Christmas Day. I know he is not too well up on new units but he can tell most of them apart and as he said the livery is fairly distinctive even under station lights.
I am not convinced but he thinks it was a 175. Can anybody throw anymore light on this? He doesn't drink or indulge in substance abuse as far as I know!'

Bevan Price comments on our picture caption stating that 47 773 worked the 06:30 Bangor - Manchester on 30 December: '47 773 may have started on its way to Manchester, but according to the helpful staff at Earlestown, it apparently failed at or near Llandudno
Junction. Waiting to catch it at Earlestown, what appeared was  142.011, which Chester turned out as a replacement service from there to Piccadilly. This stopped in Platform 13b at Piccadilly and then returned westwards, empty, though I don't know if it went to Newton Heath or back to Chester. I assume 47 773 was either restarted or towed, presumably direct to Crewe.' Anyone know any more?

The much awaited Bachmann 00 gauge Class 37/4 in the form of 37 419 in EW&S livery arrived in the shops in small numbers a week before Christmas. 37 429 in Regional Railways and 37 408 in Large Logo livery are expected mid-January. Although the motor is a huge improvement over the Lima model the body moulding has not met with everyone's approval with several suspect areas noted particularly round the bonnet (top doors too small) and cantrail (grilles mot curved enough). Above is  a picture of my 37 419 which has been further detailed and weathered is included for readers to make their own conclusions. More views of the 37 can be seen on
my website at http://www.dyserth-road.co.uk. The snowploughs, incidentally, do not come with the model but I have utilised a set of snowploughs that come with the Heljan Class 47! - 2 January

Nothing moving at Holyhead on 26 December: a view of 47 746 The Bobby in the carrage sidings looking quite pale with the lack of sun on its Res livery...

Another angle, with 175 104, a  175/1 and a W&B 158.

Over in the docks, the Stena Explorer ...

 ... Stena Line's HSS ferry. - 2 January

Daisy may live again ... by Tony Miles

Sources at FNW suggest that the cost of hiring in two extra loco-hauled coaching stock  sets to cover for the 175 modifications programme have taken Alstom by surprise. Discussions about cheaper alternatives have pointed to the two class 101 units due to be withdrawn on 31 December. Alstom is understood to be looking at the cost of a life extension of the two sets, and the work
required to retain a certificate to run. With Alstom the owners of the West Coast Traincare Centre at Longsight, home to the 101s, this in house solution may be much cheaper than funding another LHCS set. The charmed life of 101 685 may not yet be over!

[By the way, Tony's statement that 53160 was the oldest passenger vehicle in the UK mainland fleet has been challenged: apparently there are some older vehicles, converted from loco-hauked stock, in some electric multiple-units south of London.] - 2 January

'Concrete Bob' writes 'I recall one of your correspondents enquiring about the condition of 37 420, one of the last surviving Regional Railways liveried locos. Here is a picture from my archive of 420 - and another of 37 407  - as stored in the sidings at Crewe in June 2002. Their condition was not brilliant, even then; there were lots of components either loose or missing.' - 2 January

WALES AND BORDERS FRANCHISE 2003-2018: REDUCTIONS IN SUPPORT LEVELS

The rail passenger watchdog for Wales has urged the Government to 'celebrate rail passenger growth and support it.' The Rail Passengers Committee Wales's comments come as the Strategic Rail Authority prepare to deliver the Wales and Borders franchise on a reduced budget and invite the successful bidder for the Wales & Borders franchise to operate with up to 20 per cent less support than the current incumbent. The latest comments come hot on the heels of a recent assertion by Nick Newton, Chief Operating Officer of the SRA, that "an affordable railway cannot effectively serve dispersed, thin markets."

"It is an extremely worrying prospect whichever way you look at it. No area of Wales is safe from cutbacks if the financial aspect of franchise management overrides the socially necessary services which operate at a loss," said Committee Secretary Clive Williams, "Rail users in Wales and rural Britain are concerned and will need to be vigilant."

In issuing instructions to bidders, the SRA seeks support reductions - initially 10 per cent, but eventually as much as 20 per cent - as 'an option' over the likely fifteen-year franchise term.  How the successful bidder for the Wales and Borders franchise will provide that to the SRA will be up to them. Efficiency, say the SRA, could be the key; although with train operating companies complaining that the current level of support is insufficient, many will see cuts as an inevitable consequence.  Track access charges will form a significant part of the fixed costs for a franchisee, over which they have no control.

Mr Williams warned "early morning, late night or off-peak services could all be under threat as the pressure to run services at minimum cost, minimum support and maximum profit is intensified."  Line closures are not on the cards, although some routes might find themselves with just two or three trains per day. But Clive Williams warns the effects of such radical economising may be to starve the less well used but socially necessary routes of the oxygen needed for their long term survival - passengers.

"We could be in the situation, sooner rather than later, where services on some routes are so occasional that the route is no longer attractive and is deemed uneconomic. It will be closures by strangulation," warns Mr Williams, adding, "this spectre is not just hanging over Wales. The SRA will expect other train operators to economise too."

The message from the RPC Wales is a clear one, as Clive Williams explains: "Wales has a unique set of circumstances in that 15 out of 22 Local Authority areas qualify for European Objective One funding. It is worth remembering that around 30% of households in Wales do not possess a car and this increases to 40% in more deprived communities.

"It is essential that pressure is on Ministers in the context of adhering to their central policy, which is a 50% growth in the passenger business. Virgin Cross Country and Valley Lines have demonstrated that significant passenger growth is possible. This doesn't happen without an initial outlay; some trains ran very light until word got around, but in November there was a 40 per increase in passengers over the same period last year." - 2 January

A pair of pictures from Rob York showing 60009 Union of South Africa at Chester on 21 December.  The first is a standard one just after 60009 arrived; the other shows her with the smokebox open and being attended to. - 2 January

Traffic on the SMR was up 23% in 2002 - compared to the previous 12 months. Railway bosses hope the increase represents a full recovery from the effects of Foot & Mouth which devastated the region's tourism industry the previous year. The railway is now looking forward to expansion and a technical audit of the line, Britain's only rack and pinion line, is being carried out by a Swiss Company. The railway is similar to the Brienz Rothorn railway in the Swiss Alps, including the use of steam locos from the same manufacturer. Ordering new carriages remains under consideration as does the feasibility of pushing two carriages up the mountain from Llanberis. Two coaches were pushed up in the early days of operation in the 1890s. A spokesman said the railway had shown improved reliability during the summer with most of the electronic problems ironed out. - 2 January

Rail bosses have turned down a bid to increase passenger services on a North Wales line. FNW and Conwy Council wanted to double the number of trains between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The proposed hourly service would have reduced disruption while vital improvement work is carried out on the A470 between Dolwyddelan and Betws y Coed, due to start next year. It would also have allowed more tourists to travel up the Conwy Valley. The roadworks will last three years but the SRA has turned down the bid to fund the additional services and will allow heavy freight trains to run on the line instead. The SRA spokesman said carrying freight rather than passengers offered greater economic benefits. Construction company. Alfred McAlpine proposes to run up to 7 trains a day loaded with quarry waste from the planned rail freight depot at Blaenau Ffestiniog. Last month National Rail engineers and train operator Freightliner Heavy haul carried out trials on the line. The Daily Post understands the trials proved the Class 66 engines can haul the heavy trains along the steeply graded line. Extra passenger trains can be run only if more passing passes, at Betws y Coed or Dolwyddelan are built. Conwy AM Gareth Jones is concerned the two projects are causing problems. He said a better rail service is needed to ensure people are not cut off. Meanwhile Conwy Council is considering running a bus service between trains on the route as an interim measure. - 2 January

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