47 847 Brian Morrison arrives at Bangor with the 1A75 16:13 Holyhead - London on 18 May. (Rowan Crawshaw) This was the first booked Virgin 47 along the Coast for eight months; locos at the weekend will be a feature of the Summer timetable.
175 110 (left) on the 17:00 Holyhead - Crewe meets 175 113 (right) on the 16:00 Crewe - Holyhead at Bangor on 18 May. (Rowan Crawshaw) 47s on First North Western have been reduced for the summer; we heard a rumour of an 8-car FNW train to meet the boat on Saturdays, but only time will tell. - 18 May
The end of Winter
47 757 Capability Brown at Chester on Friday 16 May with the last (ever?) loco-hauled 15:49 Holyhead - Crewe (running about 10 minutes late) and passes 158 755 on the 16:17 Piccadilly - Llandudno (running about 15 minutes late). The paint job on 47 757 is a little less pristine now, and notice the botanical specimens on the track, including ragwort and mares tail. (Laurence Wheeler) - 18 May
87 001 has been turned out in a very good approximation of its original BR corporate blue livery, as part of Virgin's farewell to class which will soon be replaced by Pendolino units. Note that the name Royal Scot has been removed for authenticity. It's first service train was the 12:00 London Euston - Manchester on Friday 16 May, which called at Stockport just at the right time to be 'copped' by railfans waiting to travel on the final Friday Stockport - Stalybridge train before this moves to Saturdays, including Alan Farmer who provides the picture above.
An action shot by Tony Miles of the same train approaching Levenshulme. 87 015 Howard of Effingham was 'dead in train.' Tony writes: 'Strangely - many years ago I was at Birmingham New Street as a young "spotter" on the day it ran its inaugural service with BR. So a nice double I think!.' - 18 May
Bangor Friday - by Alan Crawshaw
47 805 Pride of Toton substitutes for the HST on 16 May's 1D87 08:40 Euston - Holyhead, featuring some enthusiastic lads at the front. Booked loco haulage of Virgin trains will return for the summer on Saturdays from 23 May, as HSTs are needed for the the Newquay service.
47 739 Resourceful leads the next train west, 1D67 10:21 Birmingham - Holyhead on 16 May. (Alan Crawshaw) - 18 May
Referring to the final two items in the last Notice Board, on Monday 12 May I took advantage of the £15.00 Virgin Daytripper offer from Railways Illustrated magazine, and travelled from Llandudno Junction by Virgin services to Penzance and back. An excellent day out. On the return journey, I changed at Crewe into the 22:20 First North Western service to Bangor, which thanks to the Virgin train manager, had been held on platform 9. The doors closed, buzzer acknowledged, and away we went for some twenty yards. The lighting system, both internally and marker lights, had fused.The unit concerned was 153 330 (as referred to in Philip Logie's article in the last Notice Board). Eventually, we were all de-trained and boarded 175 011 which had arrived on an inbound service, and was destined to depart at 23.10 to Chester. Despite the initiative shown by the original traincrew, in suggesting that the service depart as the delayed 22:20, Control thought otherwise, and departure was held to 23:10 (despite the fact that there were two more following services). Incidentally, the original 22:10 was already full at Crewe. On arrival at Chester, all change from the comparative luxury of the 175, to an awaiting Merseyrail class 142, all stations to Bangor. One more incident at Llysfaen; because of ballasting work on the down main, we had to reverse at the crossing to gain access to the up main, to arrive wrong line at Colwyn Bay, and onwards to The Junction.
Full marks to the Junction-based traincrew on the 153 330, for both keeping passengers informed of the problems that they were encountering, and to the excellent run from Chester to the Junction. Control, however, and First North Western in general - customer awareness and common sense are sadly lacking. - 18 May
Tim J. Rogers writes: 'Special filming was ongoing at Liverpool Lime Street station on 18 May with 37 669 & 37 695 plus three vans. Difficult to photo as there were so many Police around of which some were real & the majority weren't, but I did manage a couple of shots.' - 18 May
Sunday services on the Conwy Valley line resume on 18 May with three return workings a day and run until 21 September.Our picture shows 150 138 at Blaenau Ffestiniog station on 7 May; note the condition of the waiting facilities. This is not the only station with problems either; recent reports in the local press reveal that sixth formers at Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy were forbidden by head-master Ifor Efans to gather during their lunch hour at Llanrwst station, which borders on the school field, following a letter of complaint about pupils' conduct from the Cardiff-based Rail Passengers' Committee. 'Visiting the much vandalised station, PC Walden, of British Transport Police, declared it the worst rural station in North Wales. However, Mr Efans stressed that only a small minority of pupils caused problems, and that other groups were also to blame for the state of the station. The letter of complaint from Clive Williams, the RPC secretary, followed a lunchtime incident on March 17, witnessed by a member of the committee during test operations of a new train. "He found the waiting shelter full of children and teenagers from the local high school, wearing school uniform," Mr Williams wrote. "There were some 30 in total, unruly and offensive in their behaviour. Many were smoking and drinking (no alcohol seen)."'
from Dave Sallery's archive: a Tyseley-based Class 116 (?) waits at Blaenau Ffestiniog on a wet Sunday afternoon (some things don't change) ready to work a return Sunday Shuttle service to Llandudno on 12 August 1990. - 18 May
Here's a novelty: the new sign language station name board at Levenshulme station, provided by local Alma Park School. Paul Braddock managed to get in quickly to take a picture before the vandals find it. - 18 May
Thursday 15 May, and 47 739 Resourceful with the 17:19 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead waits in platform 2 at Manchester Oxford Road for the arrival of its passengers, who have been told by the automatic announcer to cross the narrow bridge from Platform 1 just as the train was running into the station. The train left with people, presumably railway management, occupying the second seat in the front can and both seats in the rear one - not an option available to ordinary passengers who often have to stand as far as Warrington or even Chester on this train. - 18 May
Further to our notes about the Aberystwyth railtour of 10 May waiting time in the freight loop at Croes Newydd North Fork (Wrexham) here's a picture of that very subject, taken by Peter Cowlishaw at 08:36 on the morning in question. Note the green open land of the long-gone steam loco depot and the almost wholly demolished Lager brewery in the background. Two more pieces of Wrexham's heritage gone but not totally forgotten.
With reference to the question of when was this last used by a passenger train, Laurence Wheeler writes: ' I seem to remember a railtour in this loop a couple of years ago. It was the RCS green Mk 1 set with the rail blue generator van. A Hertfordshire Railtours 'freight loco haulage' trip?' Can anyone add to this? -18 May
Alastair Graham writes: 'One of the FNW trains was seen on 14 May running as the 06:33 Bangor - Manchester with two brake coaches as follows: 9480 - 9501 - 6213 - 5636. What happened there?
Sion Owen's picture shows 47 739 Resourceful (note the oval buffers) after failing at Llandudno Junction on the 15:49 Holyhead - Crewe on 14 May.
Alec Fuller writes about our question about the CHR crests at bangor and whether there were any others: 'They are part of the original Francis Thompson building. This is confirmed by Historical Survey of the Chester and Holyhead Railway by Anderson and Fox. I cannot find reference to any CHR crests elsewhere, although Mostyn and Holywell Junction had other carvings.
As for the query from John Young about the number of the leading power car on the 13:41 ex-Holyhead on 6 May: Deiniol Williams (and several others - thanks!) answered: Power Cars were 43 092 / 43 153 which worked 1D87 (08:35 London Euston - Holyhead) / 1A77 (13:41 Holyhead - London Euston) / 1D89 (19:05 London Euston - Holyhead) on the Coast on that day. Deiniol's website at www.railhead.org.uk is a great place to look for this sort of information, with its very complete record of what works what.
Mike Stone writes to clarify the purpose of the walkway being
constructed between Platform 12 and the outside world at Crewe.
Apparently
this is not for access to the extended car park, which will perhaps be
by the existing footbridge, but is for passengers using the replacement
bus services which will be starting from the approach road to the
locomotive
depot. Mike has a question of his own: 'On 7 May does anyone know what
loco hauled trains were cancelled and which worked by units? In
particular
did the 14.00 ex-Holyhead start from Crewe?' - 18 May
While others were enjoying railtours, etc., your compiler spent the afternoon of Saturday 10 May heading out from Manchester to Prestatyn in a Class 156 with the intention of having 20 minutes there before boarding the 14:00 Holyhead - Birmingham for a run to Crewe. As it happened, just enough time was lost to get me on to the platform at Prestatyn just as 47 746 The Bobby rolled into the platform. The things we do!
Returning from Crewe on a train from South Wales I was surprised to find myself riding in one of the Wales and Borders (ex-Central Trains) Cambrian line units, 158 845, seen here at Stockport. - 18 May
As a long-term admirer of them, it was a great privilege to be able to play host to what I'm sure was the first visit of a ex WR diesel hydraulic locomotive west of Saltney Junction and onto the North Wales Coast. The weather was threatening from the early morning to its scheduled time of arrival but, in the end, all was well at Rhyl, which lived up to its Sunny prefix.
Accordingly, here are some scanned prints showing D1015 Western Champion leaving Rhyl having set many of its passengers down from the 1Z31 Castle Cary - Llandudno Junction charter, formed of Riviera Trains stock and with the generator equipped BG at the leading end. I remember that such full brakes or GUVs frequently were marshalled at the front of Down West of England Expresses during the latter years of loco-haulage so this vehicle did not look in any way out of place behind the 'Wizzo.'
Arrival time of the special was delayed a little by the late running of the 1D87 Euston Holyhead HST ...
... which, in turn, affected the Class 47-hauled 1D67 10:21 Birmingham New Street-Holyhead.
If anything, the sun was, I expect, a nuisance to many of us trying to phot the return working. I did what I could from Grange Road bridge but the result (below) may be of insufficient quality because of the much brighter than ideal backlight. However, the twin Maybach engines produced a superb cloud of exhaust and were in characteristically good voice as train 1Z61 left the station such that any ordinary members of the public crossing Vale Road bridge at the time must have been in for quite a surprise.
Interestingly, the East Midlands Railway Photographic Society Gen Page published full timings for this tour and its associated ECS workings. These showed that the stock was due to travel from Crewe to Yeovil Junction on the Saturday but would return overnight from Castle Cary within 20 minutes of the charter's booked arrival time. This working was to be in the hands of two Class 37s which were to take over from D1015 at Westbury for the final few miles of the tour.
Why the 'Mule Train' in the subject heading? Wizzo bashers of the 1970s allocated some daft but apt nicknames to a number of the late survivors and, because of associations with the ancient-even-then TV Western (as in cowboys) series "Champion The Wonder Horse", D1015 became known affectionately as "The Mule". The name is quoted, although not explained, on both the Dreadful and the DTG's web pages. -18 May
Plans to build a water-powered tram to carry tourists through the steep streets of a Welsh town are being opposed by a green group. The aerial [sic] railway - a funicular - would take visitors to Harlech from almost sea level to the top of the town, alongside its historic castle. Harlech Cliff Tramway Development Group says the link would free snarled-up streets of traffic and alleviate parking problems. But protest group Sap (Stop Architectural Pollution) claim a tramway would threaten the historic environment, cause more parking problems and put off potential castle visitors.
Development Group member Reg Chapman, who runs Hafod Wen guest house, said visitor numbers to the castle have declined and buses are put off because of the steep and narrow streets. He said the tram, operated by a not-for-profit group, would be a boost for the town and provide a handful of jobs. And it would run on sustainable energy - water from an underground source - along the lines of the tram at the Centre for Alternative Energy at Machynlleth.
Mr Chapman said: "The tram would start off from the Jac-y-Do fish and chip shop, and run up the hill to the Mabinogion at Fair View, which will remain until we can use it as a terminal building." Mr Chapman said at a public meeting they received only two objections although a total of 600 people came to a public exhibition. He said a feasibility study by Gwynedd County Council said the tram would be a useful addition to Harlech. Mr Chapman added: "We've done the public consultation and feasibility; the next step is the planning application with an environmental impact summary." The group is now trying to get funds for the survey. Mr Chapman said the Wales Tourist Board and Welsh Development Agency will be meeting soon to look at the proposals.
Sap claim Snowdonia National Park has kept the plans under wraps. Sap member Robert Shaw said: 'There has been no public discussion. It is claimed that it will provide transport to and from the top of the town, but its running costs will ensure it is closed outside the season. A more regular, small bus service would be better for local residents. In addition, it will increase, not diminish, the traffic congestion at holiday times. This is as environmentally-friendly as the Blackpool Big Wheel. We shall gain traffic jams at the cost of quality tourism that buys beds and dinners.' - 18 May