Old North Wales Coast favourite 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol in Regional Railways livery from Bachmann (00 scale) will be in the shops any day now, catalogue number 32-376. The model comes complete with a pack of detailing parts which include lamp irons, pipes and bonnet mounted radio telephone aerials; also included are etched nameplates. (Nick Gurney)
Contrary to the impression we gave in the first edition of our Changes
at Llandudno item (below) the signal gantry at Llandudno station,
one
of the last remaining in the country, is still going strong, as
Larry
Goddard's picture above shows.
Ian Bowland's nostalgic picture from July 2000 at the same location shows the original LNWR style of the 'box, and 37 425 Concrete Bob running round the legendary 17:19 from Manchester. - 6 April
The Whistling Tynesider
Thanks to eeryone who has sent in pictures of preserved Class 40 D345's latest railtour outing on 5 April Here is the impressive machine arriving at Crewe early in the morning to take over the train. (Tim E. Rogers)
Crossing the Dane Viaduct between Holmes Chapel and Goostrey just before 08:00 (Steve Morris)
In full flow at Winwick Junction on the return run (John Eyres)
And safely back at Crewe. Picture by Tim E. Rogers: for a full picture report on the tour, complete with inflatable passenger, go to Tim's Nedchester website. - 6 April
47 789 Lindisfarne approaching its Abergele stop while working the 17:19 Manchester - Holyhead, 4 April (Dave Sallery)
There has been some publicity recently regarding a new rock salt traffic from Winsford to Scotland, the grant for which was announced on the Scottish Executive's web site, as the branch line which once served the salt works at Winnsford has been closed and removed. Andrew Macfarlane of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association telephoned Salt Union to find out what the score was, and was told that the plan is to load the salt into containers at the Winsford mine, from where it will be taken by road to Trafford Park container terminal for transhipment to rail for the journey to Grangemouth. At least the long haul is by rail! The traffic is due to start in autumn 2003. - 5 April
On 4 April Tim J. Rogers was inspired to explore the photographic possibilities of the Conwy estuary, and these pictures are the result. In the first view, 43 065 Lady in Red and 43 093 emerge from Conwy Tubular Bridge with the 1A77 13:43 Holyhead - London amid the remarkable architectural array. Conwy Castle is behind the bridge, and the chains of Thomas Telford's road suspension bridge can be glimpsed behind the train.
47 732 Restormel heads west with the 12:21 Birminhgam - Holyhead....
... and heads into the Tubular Bridge. This structure, built in 1848, is now unique in the world in its construction which trains running on the inside of a rectangular-section tube. The high bridge over the Menai Strait, for which Conwy was something of a rehearsal, had its tubes replaced by an open arch after a fire in 1970, and a tubular bridge in Montreal, Canada, also designed by Robert Stephenson, has also been replaced.
The 14:00 from Holyhead, hauled by 47 773 The Queen Mother, emerges from the up tube, in a view showing well the attempts made by Robert Stephenson and his designers to match the bridge to the style of the mediaeval castle designed by James of St. George 550 years earlier.
Another view of 47 773 on the causeway leading towards Llandudno Junction station. These trains also have something of a historic value, being the only remaining daytime service trains in Britain to be hauled by what was once Britain's largest class of diesel locmotive. Visit while you can, as the current three-locomotive diagram lasts only until mid-May. See our traffic guide for the timetables of loco-hauled services - 5 April
The terminus of the Llandudno Branch, a line of semaphore signals and short-length bullhead track, has had its Llandudno Station Signalbox refurbished and repainted in a very attractive style. (Larry Goddard) This box was built by the London and North Western Railway in 1891.
158 754 passes the box with the 11.47 to Manchester Piccadilly on 3 April. (Larry Goddard) - 5 April
All six of the retained First North Western Class 101 units, including green 101 685, have now been fitted with TPWS safety equipment, which in itself was reportedly something of a challenge as the bogies turned out to be different. They have all been re-certified for main line use with immediate effect and will stay in traffic until the end of December 2003. And then, who knows ... - 5 April
47 746 The Bobby at Chester with 1D45 17:19 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead. Thursday 3 April 2003. The weeds are getting bad again! (Laurence Wheeler)
A driver's view by 'Concrete Bob' of 47 773 The Queen Mother. This loco has several features that make it noteworthy to those that care, like a facia mounted anti-slip button, simliar to 47/8s; it is one of the very few electric heat 47s left from the early batch of conversions, with automatic voltage regulators rather than over-voltage regulators, yet has the ETH (electric train heat) cable positions associated with the latter batch, which facilitate the mounting of snowploughs. The loco also retains all its vacuum brake equipment, but it is isolated out of use. There are some new-looking electrical cabinets in its old boiler room, which may be GPS gear, or just something to tie the corgis to when on royal duties ... talking of which, there is a unique royal embelishment; a gold plated straight air brake casing. This may be experimental....
47 732 Restormel, also a recent North Wales performer (see pictures above), is one of the five EWS 47s with active vacuum equipment. We seem to have had most of them on passenger duties except 47 635, which has been 'welded' to the EWS officer's saloon. The latter is unique to EWS in that it has no belly fuel tank, i.e. the original Class 47 configuration. - 5 April