47 798 Prince William shunts the the stock for the charter train to Carlisle into platform 1 at Bangor, 12 April. See below for the steam pictures (Rowan Crawshaw)
Alan and Rowan Crawshaw rode Saturday 12 April's charter from Bangor to Carlisle, and report that a great day was had by all. For the record, timings were:
1Z63 08:52 Bangor to Carlisle. Class 47 Diesel. Bangor 08:52, Llandudno Jn 09:08/10, Rhyl 09:24 - 09:26, Prestatyn 09:32 - 09:34, Flint 09:48- 09:50, Chester 10:07/10:32 (Class 47 off, Pacific 6201Princess Elizabeth on) Helsby 10:46-1048, Frodsham 10:54 -10:56, Warrington BQ 11:16 -11:33, Blackburn 12:43 - 13:21 (water stop) Garsdale 15:22 - 15:47, Carlisle 17:03.
1Z64 17:49 Carlisle to Bangor. Class 47 diesel. Carlisle 17:49, Warrington BQ 19:38/40, Frodsham 19:52/53, Helsby 19:58/20:00, Chester 20:16/20:21, Flint 20:39/20:41, Prestatyn 20:59/21:01, Rhyl 21:07/09, Llandudno Jn 21:24/48, Bangor 22:08.
In the heading picture, 47 798 Prince William makes the train ready at Bangor.
Pacific 6201 Princess Elizabeth worked the train from Chester to Carlisle. This is Garsdale, water stop on the Settle - Carlisle route. (Rowan Crawshaw)
Arrival at Carlisle. (Rowan Crawshaw)
37 203 in the sidings at Carlisle. This loco performed on the North Wales Coast passenger service in 1999. (Rowan Crawshaw)
6201 is seen with support coach after detaching at Carlisle (Alan Crawshaw)
The consist of the train was: Support coach M17019, Coach A W5309, Coach B W5009, C (buffet) 1863, D 3098, E W3140, F 3112, G W3122, H 3068, I (kitchen car) 1699, J 3069, X W21272. - 13 April
Another special train out and about on 12 April was the Wizard Express, a Pathfinder Tours train whose main purpose was to to be the first train into the new freight depot at Knowsley on Merseyside; this featured a plethora of 37s, as these Crewe pictures by Tim E. Rogers reveal.
37 308 in its classic rail blue colour scheme brings the return train into Crewe, having travelled via Rainford - Wigan Wallgate - Crow Nest Jn - Lostock Jn - Bolton - Salford Crescent - Manchester Victoria - Miles Platting - Ashton Moss North Jn - Denton - Stockport - Wilmslow - Sandbach to arrive at Crewe from the Manchester line.
37 047 was on the rear for this section; 'topping and tailing' had been necessary for the visit to the freight line.
37 674 St Blaise Church and 37 689 were on hand to take the train back to Reading. For the full details of this and many other tours, we recommend the wonderful Six Bells Junction website. - 13 April
47 756 Royal Mail Tyneside calls at Bangor with the 10:21 Birmingham - Holyhead on 11 April (Rowan Crawshaw)
For a lot of locomotive news, See our special report - 9/10 April
BLUEPRINTS for cutting Welsh train services by up to 40% have been submitted to the Strategic Rail Authority in London. The deadline for final bids for the Wales and Borders rail franchise has passed, with four companies or joint ventures outlining how they would run the railways if they won. When the franchise was announced in 2000 the SRA promised to reverse decades of underfunding for Welsh railways, and some companies drew up plans for £1bn of spending - including new trains, improved stations and more frequent services on most lines.
But the cost of major rail schemes in England has increased so much that the cash-strapped SRA told bidders last December to prepare for possible cuts in subsidy. Each bidder had to describe what it would do if subsidy stayed the same or was cut by 10% or 20%.
Most or all of the bidders have outlined ways to make more of the existing resources. GB Railways, for example, has proposed improved timetables on the Fishguard and Heart of Wales lines with the aim of bringing in more income for minimal extra outlay. But a spokesman for another of the companies involved said some of the options his company prepared for the SRA had itemised "quite substantial service reductions". "The reductions would be much larger than 10% or 20% - around twice as much," said the spokesman, who did not wish to be named because of fear of reprisals from the SRA.
"That's because approximately half the costs are fixed, in terms of payments to Network Rail for access to stations and track and the like." He said the service cuts would not be uniform across all lines. This implies that the most uneconomic routes could see cuts of even more than 40%, to balance retention of services on the more profitable routes. The Welsh routes that make the biggest losses include the Conwy Valley line, the Heart of Wales line, Cambrian Coast line and some in West Wales. Local services on the main lines in North and South Wales might also be sacrificed, with an overall reduction in service and some stops at small stations inserted in the schedules of long-distance trains.
Closing routes has been ruled out by the SRA, which implies that the cost of maintaining the infrastructure will remain roughly the same. Savings would therefore have to come from reductions in staffing and in the number and quality of trains leased. Some observers have said it would be politically difficult for the SRA to make such cuts and that the idea was floated to lower public expectations ahead of a franchise based on no expansion and no contraction. Another bidder has proposed coping with subsidy cuts by getting rid of the newest trains - currently on the North Wales main line - and running a thinned-out timetable with the rest of the fleet.
A spokesman said, "We don't think 10% or 20% cuts are needed. The SRA are going to think the bids aren't as expensive as they were expecting." A third bidder was also optimistic, saying the SRA was only testing the water when it asked for the subsidy-cut options. "Service cuts of 30% were talked about but that's not what the SRA are looking for."
The bidders are Arriva Trains, GB Railways with Connex Transport, National Express Group and Serco Rail with Netherlands Railways. The winning bidder is due to be announced in the autumn. The franchise will include all stations in Wales and some in England, but not the InterCity services from London to North and South Wales. - 11 April
Rail vehicles seem to be making the news away from the tracks today. Mark Lloyd Davies writes: 'At 13:40 on Thursday 10 April I saw Allely's Transport moving a Mk2 type Irish Rail coach with Intercity branding into Holyhead which temporarily stopped on the new Kingsland roundabout just as Virgin's Euston HST service was passing. The load entered the Port of Holyhead via the old Salt Island entrance.' Is this a new purchase by IR, or an overhaul?
And this from Richard Thornton: 'Any idea why there is a 'Shark' ballast plough brake van in a car park on the A483 near Chirk?' - 11 April
At a West Coast 250 meeting in Glasgow on 10 April, Stuart Baker of the Strategic Rail Authority stated that it was probable that next year (September 2004) there would be five train pairs between Holyhead and London. The trains to be used would be (wait for it...) two Pendolinos and three Voyagers. Sounds like a hoax, but hetold us that in order to provide speed and seating capacity at peak times, two of the trains would be Pendlinos hauled between Crewe and Holyhead by a class 57 loco. - 11 April
Dave Jones' picture from 3 April shows a Virgin-liveried vehicle, presumably hired from Riviera trains, in use. What number is this, and has it now been replaced?
Coaching stock survey - by Alastair Graham
In response to the appeal for information about coach numbers of the First Great Western vehicles, here are my observations. The sets in use are as follows:
9480 - 6221 - 6202 - 3520
9501 - 6206 - 6213 - 3261
These are the two original sets that have been with FNW for some time now - they are a b____y mess too...)
3xxx are Mk 2D/E first open, 9xxx are Mk 2D and 2E open brake standard, 62xx are Mk 2D standard class rebuilt from first open, 56xx and 57xx are Mk 2D/E TSO all having been refurbished with new seats.
9481 - 5740 - 5631 - 5632
9494 - 5737 - 6200 - 5710
This set contains one of the coaches from the first sets to be sent to FNW - 6200. It was replaced in set 9501 by a FO 3261..This set has a brake van which has been refurbished with two racks which each hold three bikes and the corridor connection has been plated over so the van has to be at the end of the set)
Comments and additions to the above are welcome. It is worth noting that the coaches that have just arrived from FGW are in much better condition - better looked after than the very shabby state of the earlier ones. I do not know what the Manchester Piccadilly set goes to Crewe, for but it is never washed - has never been all the time it has been up here to my knowledge - and most toilets have no soap, ripped or missing towels, the only thing they seem to replenish is the bog paper. Does this merely reflect the different attitude to cleaning and maintenance between the two companies? A great pity as the difference between the two sets is quite marked, even down to the fact that the doors are generally power operated and work while frequently those on the longer serving sets are all 'customer operated' if they close at all and many don't. - 11 April
Two additional night ballast trains ran on Tuesday evening 8
April.First
was 6B70 Basford Hall - Llandudno Junction, to offload ballast
between Penmaenmawr and Bangor. This train arrived Llandudno Junction
at 21:50 comprising of 66 515 - 6 JJA wagons - 66 603 (top
and tailed.) When it arrived at Llandudno Junction it wasn't
required
and returned loaded to Basford Hall.
Following closely behind was 6B71 Basford Hall - Llandudno Junction, to offload ballast between Llandudno Junction and Llanrwst. This arrived at Llandudno Junction at 22:10 comprising of 66 514 - 11 HQA wagons - 66 548 (top and tailed.) Later on 6D21 was noted passing Llandudno Junction with the usual JNA wagons hauled by 66 603. - 11 March
Shambles on the Top Line - by Alastair Graham
The Wrexham - Bidston line has been having a torrid time with three complete unit failures in eight days, and that is only the ones that affected me! On Wednesday 2 April 153 361 failed between Heswall and Upton on 2F76 the 14:32 from Wrexham. It was eventually rescued by 142 039 (2F78 15:32 from Wrexham) which was running some 15 minutes late due to collecting the necessary paperwork to enter a line already occupied. After the driver from the failed train had met us with his red flag and the warning detonators had gone off, the 142 coupled up and managed to get the brakes off and the pair was able to continue to Bidston and then back to Wrexham.
Despite the FNW 'Control' having absolutely "No idea" what was being done to rescue the failed set and its passengers, the four train crew got things moving and acted brilliantly and very professionally to ensure that passengers inconvience was kept to a minimum. despite losing air pressure all the way from Upton and the brakes coming on hard, the driver got going again after some 5 minutes. Well done to the four FNW staff involved.
On Friday 4 April 2F70, 11:32 ex Wrexham worked by 153 359 failed at Hope. Unfortunately 60027 with the steel train for Dee Marsh was behind it in Platform 3 at Wrexham General which prevented rescue from anything from Chester (153 316 eventually arrived to take its place) This meant rescue had to be performed by 153 313 when it returned from Bidston, using the crossover at Penyffordd. It brought the failed unit back to the station, passengers detrained and it returned to the correct line to continue to Wrexham. A bus was apparently laid on to leave Bidston at 13:30 but most people just gave up and went home. 153 316 reached Penyffordd at 14:30 after the steel train had cleared the section. I had arrived for this train at 12:51; having been assured by the guard that things would be running OK I went to Bidston for the 16:32 only to find that cancelled and a waiting room full of passengers. Needless to say, the 17:32 was rather full!
On Wednesday 9 April 153 359 failed again, this time at Buckley on 2J71 the 17:32 from Wrexham. Same sort of problem as the steel train was waiting at Wrexham General for the following path to Dee Marsh and 56038 was also somewhere with it's coal for Castle Cement at Penyffordd. Retail control assured me that the 20:46 from Shotton would running if I wanted to wait (this was at 18:40!) but I declined and made alternative arrangements cycling up the hill and getting home 10 minutes earlier than if the 18:57 had been running to time. - 11 April
The Caernarfon Herald reports that trains may travel to the peak of Snowdon earlier than they have done in over 50 years. Management at Snowdon Mountain Railway in Llanberis are looking at the possibility of opening the summit railway building this month at Easter before the traditional date in May. The move will be dependent on the weather, but shows a greater emphasis on flexible operating times, according to general manager, Alan Kendal. He said: "The railway traditionally got into the mindset of not opening until the middle of May. But if the weather is good and the public want to get to the summit, let's try and get the building open and organise it. What I'm trying to do is be in a position to go up and open the building depending on the weather and the demand."
Mr Kendal said he would have liked to have been able to take people to the mountain's summit at times during the last month, but was unable to due to maintenance work on the tracks. " We had a promotion on Sunday, March 16, and we ran a dozen trains," said Mr Kendal. "That's a reflection of all the hard work by our staff." The company has made a number of additions to its rail package this year, including an audio commentary which gives historical, geographical and geological details about the surrounding landscape.
"The commentary is on all of our carriages," Mr Kendal said. "It's narrated by Dai Thomas and tells the story of what people are seeing as they go up the mountain. We had a trial in one carriage last autumn, and we had a very positive response. The technology is there now.It's not on tape or CD, it's on a hard chip and runs for 47 minutes." - 11 April
Shudehill station on the Manchester Metrolink system, located between Victoria and Market Street, opened for business on 31 March: a Piccadilly-bound car is seen here arriving from Victoria on 5 March, passing between the Hard Rock Café (part of the Printworks complex) on the left and the Cooperative Society offices on the right. Behind the platform to the right, construction of a new bus station is proceeding.
Following earlier discussion about the availablity of through tickets from North Wales to Metrolink, we can conform that such tickets should be available from all stations, the fares manual lists all the zones that can be bought. If you need just the city centre section (Picadilly to G-Mex or Victoria) then you should ask from the city zone. Unfortunately, the fly in the ointment here is that there are no through fares at all for people travelling on staff discounts or any sort of railcard. If anyone knows why this should be, we'd be interested to hear from them. An alternative might be to obtain by post in advance a Wayfarer ticket which is valid on trains as far west as Warrington and throughout a large area, and purchase a ticket from North Wales to Warrington. - 11 April