Saturday 24 May, and your compiler heads off West with the idea of confirming that the First North Western loco-hauled Saturday diagram is definitely continuing into the Summer, and the good news is that it is! On this day there were engineering works on the Birmingham route, so the train was working between Crewe and Holyhead only, although this fact had not been very well publicised, to say the least ... however it did mean that I was able to arrive at Crewe before most of the other passengers and get a good seat on the sea side for the sunny journey to Llandudno Junction, calling only at Chester and Rhyl. A fine journey it was too, with good running and no hitches... very smart station work at The Junction even had the train away before I could get to the front to take a picture! (Well done to the Coast railway staff.) So here's 47 757 Capability Brown pulling out, with Angela from the North Wales Railway Circle enjoying the thrash from the prime position.
A connecting train for local stations to Bangor departs at 10:41, formed of 175 111 on this occasion, so I decided to have a lunchtime visit to the pleasant town of Conwy for a change. Conwy is officially a request stop, although it is just a few minutes run from Llandudno Junction: do the trains stop anyway in practice or is it essential to find the conductor?
Here's a view from the quayside at Conwy, with the motorboat Queen Victoria plying for trade for its tours of the esutuary.
Back to The Junction on the 13:34, and a stroll through the town of Llandudno Junction to the Queen Street bridge. From this well-known viewpoint, a single 153 (maybe it was thought the scenic attractions of the Conwy Valley would not appeal to Bank Holiday visitors) sets off for Blaenau Ffestiniog across the branch junction. On the right is the freight depot built in the 1980s and now more or less disused. I had hoped to photograph the loco-hauled Virgin train to London from here, as it runs 20 minutes before the FNW return service, but this did not appear, for reasons which became clear later on.
Our train returns from Holyhead, seen by telephoto from the platform through the bridge carrying the link road to the A55 expressway.
Back at Crewe, terminated in platform 12 and waiting for a path to cross all lines to reach the carriage depot. I'd sent out an appeal for info about the London train, and was met here by a bringer of news - 47 770 had failed at Holyhead with the Virgin train and 47 739 had been comandeered to take over: the train was reported an hour late. The 'drags' necessitated by the engineering on the Birmingham line, added to the fact that Virgin had just given up several class 47s to Freightliner, had forced them to hire an EWS loco for the Holyhead run, with unfortunate results.
Meanwhile, other news was that 87 027 Wolf of Badenoch had failed while working a London - Liverpool service, and was being towed from Rugby by 'Thunderbird' 57 308 Tin Tin. Sure enough, the train rolled into Platform 11 and was terminated. The 57 was detached (picture above) and the train was started back towards London to take up its booked diagram, propelled by 87 004 which had been waiting to take over the Holyhead - London train.
I departed for home on the 16:22 Manchester train; at that time it was suggested by informed sources that 57 308 would be used to work the Holyhead train on from Crewe to London, which would have been something of a first, but ...
... it is reported that the driver declared the 'body snatcher' a failure, and in the end the run to London was taken on by newly-overhauled 47 793 Christopher Wren which has been standing around in Crewe station most of the day. For what happened the next day, visit John Lewis's picture report.
Special mention to Tim E. Rogers and Richard Boyd for their information assistance. - 25 May
47 770 Reserved entering Chester on 1D87, the morning Euston to Holyhead service, Saturday 24 May. (Tim E. Rogers)
Bus fans' corner
Here's a boring picture of 87 015 Howard of Effingham pushing a London train out of soggy Macclesfield on 17 May, but it will act as a reminder that the whole of the line between Cheadle Hulme and Colwich Junction is now closed until September, with trains diverted via Crewe and a network of bus connections in place. Mike Stone sends a report from 19 May on the arrangements at Crewe:
'Service M from Stafford to Stoke noted largely Price, Shareshill vehicles. Service N apeared also to be Stafford-Stokea and the only vehicle noted was Millership, Tipton Bova MIL5859 in Fraser Eagle livery. The stopping service to Kidsgrove was being worked by minibuses with no apparent route letter. At Crewe despite the construction of a covered walkway from Platform 12 to a loading area and bus park on the diesel depot access road, buses were loading outside the main entrance.
'Vehicles noted were minis on the Blythe Bridge service L;- M64 WKA Timeline in the livery of Gillen, Port Glasgow; M562 JJL Bennett, Cranberry and on route J to Stoke;- RS Travel Bova K2 APT of Woodside, Sheffield, M4 WMT in Fraser Eagle livery plus Vo/VH RIJ 139; and with no visible route letter Price, Shareshill SIB 3934, Dalybus, Wigan RIB 6844, Fraser Eagle T992 JNW.'
Speaking of buses, in a much more nostalgic vein 'Concrete Bob' has a new section on his website devoted to Lofty's tours of Bridge Trafford, near Chester. Have a look and roll back the years...
Back to the present, and 'Bod' writes: 'Further to your 12 May report on the Llandudno Transport Festival, I have created a website of pictures taken while marshalling there. The field was bad on Sunday morning but dried out nicely during the day. Most vehicles being towed on to the main field took a graceful slide to the left due to the slope of that part of the field! Unfortunately the LTF's own website seems only to have been updated in parts over the last two years - the factual data (dates etc) and the 'Llandudno 75th' pages are up to date, but 'last year's attendees' still refers to 2001!' - 25 May
Something to see in Llandudno
The RAF and the Army are joining forces to hold a three-day event on Llandudno Promenade which will involve many static and interactive ground exhibitions, plus participation from fast jet aircraft and other display teams. The Red Arrows, The RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight plus other aircraft will be performing daily. The itinerary as follows:
Sunday 25 May: SAR Display at 12:00 (Search & Rescue & Lifeboat), RAF Hawk at 14:00, RAF Regiment at 14:20, RAF Tornado at 15:00, BBMF at 16:00, Red Arrows at 1700.
Monday 26 May: Red Arrows at 12:00, BBMF at 14:00, RAF Hawk at 14:45, RAF Regiment at 15:20, RAF Tornado at 17:00.
Static displays for the whole event to include: Hercules
aircraft
Facsimile, Harrier aircraft facsimile, RAF Regiment Laser Firing
Range, RAF Police Display, RAF Physical Training Instructors (+
Climbing
Wall), Mobile Catering Support Unit (Field Catering Display), Tactical
Imagery Unit, Tactical Supply Wing, Army Tank & Display,
Mobile
Recruiting Office, RAF College Band
(Small complement), Red Arrows Display & Merchandising.
(timings
may be subject to change.) - 24 May
Shopping List - by Charlie Hulme
Two new items have recently arrived in the shops which will be of great interest to readers of these pages.
First, let's have a look at From Chester to Holyhead; the Branch Lines by Bill Rear. Bill is a strong supporter of this site, so I have to declare an interest, but in any case I find this book delightful and well worth its £35 price even though technically it is very much a traditional Oxford Publishing Company style of book with no colour pictures.
Bill was a railwayman in North Wales from 1948 to 1958, during which time my parents got married, and in 1949 I was born. Llandudno and Rhyl were favourite holiday and day trip places during my early childhood, and I have dim but happy memories of such things as the 'Welsh Dragon' push-pull train between Rhyl and Llandudno, and the sights and smells of the steam area. Bill's book does not attempt to tell in detail the history of the North Wales branches, which have been covered elsewhere, although he toes give the basic story. Instead he tells us the inside story of these lines as they were in those far-off days fifty years ago when train travel was still a part of most people's lives. We read about how the trains were worked and what it was like to be a railwayman, with a fine collection of tales such as the the story of the rats of Caernarfon No.1 signalbox, and what became of one of the single line tokens from the Amlwch branch. As well as a chapter for each of the North Wales branches - and you may be surprised at how many there were - special sections cover the two Investitures of Princes of Wales last century, and the North Wales Land Cruise trains, which have always fascinated me even though I never got to ride one, mystery tours in those road coaches which would stand on the prom with boards leaning on them being more to my parents' taste.
Irrelevant (and irreverent) personal comment coming up ... Of course it is fine to be nostalgic about those days, and great fun to read about them (and there are respected contributors to this website who will tell you that it was a golden age and that modern trains are so poor that they never use them) but reading between the lines of books like Bill's and glancing at old timetables suggests that perhaps 1950s steam trains were in reality rather infrequent, not very fast and often dirty and uncomfortable. It's a shame that diesel railcars were not given more of a chance on some of these lines, and some effort made to cut costs and increase efficiency, then perhaps the Conwy Valley and Llandudno lines would not have been the only survivors.
After leaving the railway, Bill worked for The Crosville bus company for a while before becoming a teacher, and this shows in his impeccable writing style. He has, of course produced quite a lot of other books about the railways of the area, but owners of those should not be deterred from buying this one which is certainly his piece de Resistance, A fine large-format book with loads of pictures and reading matter, and plenty of ideas for modellers too. To buy online, try the Transport Diversions Emporium.
Speaking of modelling, Bachmann's third version of the Class 37/4, and the one I was waiting for, is now in the shops; 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol in Regional Railways livery now decorates the shelves behind the page27 computer as a memento of the days when the prototype hauled the first and last 37/4 hauled service trains om our favourite line, and this website was born. The 4mm scale 00 gauge model will cost you around 50 quid (online buyers could try Hattons www.hattons.co.uk) and does look rather nice in its RR colours with nice detailing, including some separate details to attach and a set of etched plates to stick over the printed-on ones if you want your model to be no longer a mint collector's item.
The basic model, although the right size and so on, does have some oddities in the layout of the windows and grilles as we have mentioned before, but does run well (it's very heavy too!) and does have a better style to it than the Lima version as well as NEM coupler pockets for those who want to use Kadee or Roco couplers. For more about this and other aspects of diesel modelling, do visit Nick Gurney's excellent www.dyserth-road.co.uk. -24 May
6G memories
Geoff Poole writes; 'I have just published a new site dedicated to the memory of Llandudno Junction Shed (6G) and I would be pleased to receive comments. I am a novice but I am enjoying the challenge; although my site is still under construction I couldn't resist the temptation to publish the pages I've finished so far.' The address is http://mysite.freeserve.com/l landudnoshed6g. - 24 May
What's your unfavourite livery?
MML coach 44025 in the 16:47 Manchester - St Pancras at Stockport, 24 May (Charlie Hulme)
Our item about the new MML colour scheme brings the following from a reader'While waiting at Manchester Piccadilly I saw a Midland Mainline HST set came in, painted in the full "new" livery and now having seen one in the flesh, I have come to the conclusion that it is one of the worst liveries applied to any train over the past few years. I even prefer the Ginsters and Western Mail 158s! There seems to be an abundance of white in the livery which i should imagine will look grubby very quickly, and there seems to be no "theme" running down the coach such as one colour around the windows, the only way i can describe the design (used in a loose sense) is as if some one has just thrown some random shapes at a picture of an HST and copied the result onto the real thing ... I think a survey of least favorite liveries would be interesting to see just which colours have provoked the worst public reaction through the years.'
Indeed it would - contributions are welcome. Does anyone else think those funny stripes in sticky-back plastic improve the look of the FGW coaches, for example. If they are supposed to look modern, they didn't work on the girl students sitting opposite your compiler on a recent journey, whose comment was 'God, this train's ancient.' - 24 May