Our news team never sleeps! 47 789 Lindisfarne ready to depart with empty coaching stock train 5D81 22:21 Chester - Holyhead, 7 April. (Concrete Bob)
The metropolitan surroundings of Birmingham New Street seem far removed from the open spaces of North Wales as 47 773 The Queen Mother prepares for a smoky departure with the 10:21 to Holyhead, 7 April (Charlie Hulme)
Further to Larry Goddard's pictures of the newly refurbished
signalbox
at Llandudno (last
notice board). Serco have
now started refurbishing the box at Ty Croes, which was built in has a
Grade 2 listed status, so the new windows will have to be
reproduced to a exact design. The box was opened in 1872 and built
to a Saxby design which was quite common along many places on the line
at the time. Also worth a mention is the crossing box at Llanfair PG,
which
opened around the same time and was refurbished in 2000. One of the
resident
crossing keepers there now adds a bit of colour to the structure by
planting
flowers and hanging baskets on display - so get your camera out again
this
summer. - 8 April
Stockport at 18:00 on 7 April: Transrail-liveried 37 674 St Blaise Church accelerates off the viaduct and through Platform 1 after a signal stop with a long-welded rail train from Castleton. These trains carry rails which are as long as the whole train, and bend as the train goes round curves. - 8 April
Additional ballast workings
66 530 was noted on the 6D21/6K22 Basford Hall - Penmaenmawr ballast on Monday 7th April. The same locomotive was noted on the same evening with 6B71 ballast from Basford Hall to offload during a possession at Tal-y-Cafn and was top and tailed with 66527. After returning to Basford Hall it worked 6D21/6K22 again on Tuesday 8 April. The additional ballast train was due to run again on the night of 8 April to offload ballast at Llanrwst and again on Thursday night 10 April between Penmaenmawr and Bangor. - 8 April
47 270 Cory Brothers 1842-1992 was captured awaiting a path to Longsight at Crewe on 7 April, and the driver refrained from moving just long enough for me to imortalise him and his steed. Oh yes, there was something that resembled a red Missy Hissy behind. How many other 47s have sandboxes? (I know 47 901 also had them) - 8 April
Shaun Courtnage writes to tell us that 47 635
not
currently working the EWS inspection saloon, as it is at Crewe for
fitting
with TPWS whilst 47 776 has taken over the 'saloon' working.
Those
interested in what locos have worked when should take a look at Shaun's
FNW
47 web page which covers this topic in detail. According to the
"dates
and locos" the following locos have not worked
trains up to the beginning of April (of the locos that have been in
service since June 2002): 47 635, 47 747, 47 749, 47 767, 47 780, 47
785,
47 791, 47 792, 47 793.
Shaun writes: 'I have a few dates missing (see the 'workings' page) but the only one of the above nnne locos that is known to have worked is 47 749. So eight locos are still thought to have not worked on these FNW services.' Comments welcome!
Here at Page 27 we have also been working on a Class 47/7 page which attempt to link to a picture from our archives of each one of the Crewe fleet - experts please take a look and correct our errors! - 8 April
Those who eenjoyed the Class 37-worked services on the Coast back in the mid 1990s may recall the way that antimacassars added a touch of luxury to the coaches. Alan Crawshaw's picture from 5 April shows that they seem to be making a comeback - long may they reign! Speaking of the First Great Western coaches, does anyone have a full list of the fleet numbers of the newly-enhanced Coast line coaching stock? - 8 April
More Clwyd Vale Memories - by John Myers
The recent items about the Vale of Clwyd lines (17
March and 11
March), interested me in particular because of Alec Fuller's
mention
of the miniature Caledonian Railway 'Dunalastair III' no 769. I
believe
this locomotive was exhibited subsequently at the Glasgow
Museum of Transport and I expect that this is where it remains.
For much of last year I was assisting a gentleman by name of David
Voice
who is compiling a history of Modern Electric Tramways. This
company
has run the 2' 9" gauge Seaton
Electric Tramway in East Devon since 1970, having previously run
miniature
tramways at Eastbourne (1954-1969); Rhyl (1951-1957) and prior to that
time he briefly had a line in St. Leonard's. David asked me to conduct
some research into their operation at Rhyl and I was able to ascertain
that the trams, then of 15 inch gauge, ran along a horseshoe-shaped
layout
between the promenade and a coach park opposite the Marine Lake.
Four different trams ran on this line at different times although
latterly
only one car was used in regular service.
Essentially a children's funfair ride, these trams operated as a
concession
at the Voryd Amusement Park - itself built on the site of the former
Voryd
Hall - initially by Modern Electric Tramways, but later, under a lease
agreement by the site's owners, the Twigdon family. This allowed
the company to concentrate on their new 2' gauge line at Eastbourne
although
the equipment was all moved south after the Amusement Park changed
hands
at the end of the 1957 season. I established contact with John
Twigdon,
a member
of the showmen's family and have enjoyed a couple of very interesting
conversations about his own first-hand experiences of this fairground.
Before the tramway was installed, a 11¼" gauge miniature line -
known as the Voryd Lilliput Miniature Railway - operated from about
1947
on a straight up and down line between Wellington Road and the
promenade
and it was on this line that the fine model 4-4-0 was operated.
One printed reference suggests that the still extant Trevor Guest miniature Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 also operated here before going to Lowestoft but I have found no evidence yet to support this. I was most interested to read that Alec Fuller drove this engine
The picture above is the only one I've yet seen of the Dunalastair working at Rhyl. I fear I cannot name the photographer but it was lent to me for scanning and passing onto David Voice having been found on sale as a tinted print in a local gift shop. That may well be Percy Harrison (model engineer driver at Rhyl loco shed as mentioned by Alec Fuller) at the controls. I'm told that the cylindrical object in the background was the water tower.
That of the trams shows car 23, built in 1949 and, although similar
to the surviving Blackpool double deckers, based on one of the two 4'
gauge
Darwen cars which, after regauging, ran on the town sections of the
Llandudno
& Colwyn Bay Electric Railway until closure in 1956. Never regauged
to run at Eastbourne, the car never ran in service after leaving Rhyl
but,
much later, it was displayed in the large objects section of Liverpool
Museum for a number of years and is now preserved privately in
the
North West. This
photo was taken at the promenade end of the line by, it is believed,
Jim Peden on 2 August 1955. The shot was forwarded to me
last
year by Simon Townsend but I have copies a number of others acquired
from
either Dave Voice or John Twigdon.
Any feedback and memories about all this would be very welcome. - 8 April
Be a TV star?
The following reaches us from a producer called Hannah Pocock:
'I write on behalf of Pioneer Productions where we are making a documentary called ‘Ultimate Trains’. It is part of a technology series celebrating cutting edge machines and the people associated with them - from engineers to operators to enthusiasts. We will be talking to numerous train engineers and designers who will help explain the technical aspects of modern trains. However, we are also looking to get in touch with a keen, knowledgeable train enthusiast who can offer an alternative perspective on the locomotives examined. If you think you’d like to discuss this prospect further, I’d be grateful if you could contact me .Alternatively, perhaps you might know someone who would be interested in pursuing this opportunity.'
If anyone's interested, let us know and we'll pass on the contact details. - 8 April
A glorious Sunday on 6 April at Abergele, so out with the digi-camera. Despite the sun not being in the right place, I was down at Abergele & Pensarn station for the Sunday loco-hauled stopping service. The 16:54 from Holyhead calls to Crewe and returns at 22:14, so at the moment giving Abergele a hauled train every day except Saturday. 47 773 The Queen Mother is seen arriving at Abergele (above) with the sun catching the clean lines of the loco, and then is also seen powering away, destination Crewe. - 8 April
I did the 'Cambrian Rail Cruise' tour of North and Mid Wales on 5 April. I rode the 07:25 from Bangor to Crewe behind 47746, this is one the few Saturday Class 47-hauled trains remaining. The picture shows this train with 47 746 The Bobby arriving at Bangor. It terminated at Crewe on this day due to engineering work near Birmingham. I had a hour to wait in Crewe before catching the Manchester - Penzance Class 158 to Shrewsbury which was the only busy train of the day, all the other trains being quiet.
I had 45 minutes to wait at Shrewsbury before catching the 11:34 to Machynlleth; above, 158 850 departs Machynlleth for Aberystywth. I then caught the 12:53 from Machynlleth - Pwllheli.
I rode the 14:59 from Pwllheli back to Porthmadog (above, with 158 853) then walked to the Ffestiniog Railway for the 16:00 to Blaenau Ffestiniog which was the last train of day.
The picture shows the FR train at Porthmadog, with the unique single Fairlie Taliesin ready to depart. I was delayed at Tanygrisiau for 15 minutes due to loco problems, and I had to rush at Blaenau Ffestiniog to catch the 17:26 to Llandudno Junction. My final train is the 18:41 to Bangor which was a 175. I was a good day out and all of the National Rail trains were on time.
In our final picture, 153 361 calls at Llandudno Junction with the 17:26 Blaenau Ffestiniog - Llandudno. Dave Sallery's Cambrian Rail Cruise site is the place to go for advice about making this fascinating trip. - 8 March