156 420, the first 156 to be repainted in First Group colours, stands at Manchester Oxford Road on 16 June. Picture by Tony Miles, with thanks to informed sources for the gen!
OUR FULL PICTURE REPORT ON THE IRISH MAIL STEAM CHARTER
Barbie 156 - by Charlie Hulme
156 420 has appeared in First Group livery (see picture above) but with its interior fittings untouched. These 156s are the last vehicles to retain North West Regional express livery, a somewhat more tasteful style than purple and pink stripes, it has to be said. One does wonder why this is going on when the franchises are all being changed, and we know for sure that First Group will not be operating in North Wales from Autumn 2003. The assumption must be that Wales and Borders will not want the 156s, as they don't have any in their current fleet. - 15 June
47 727 Resurgent crosses the causeway from Holy Island with the 8-coach 18:29 Holyhead - Birmingham on Sunday 15 June. This double train is booked to run every Sunday, returning from Birmingham at 22:57. Picture by John Lewis.
The Harry Needle story
Paul Harrison writes: 'An update on the Crewe feature by Chris
Mills.
(last Notice
Board.) The two Harry Needle 37s had run from Barrow Hill via
Earles
Sidings to Crewe so that D8056 could be dropped off. The class
20
is on hire to LaFarge/Blue Circle to work the branch between Earles
Sidings
and the works at Hope. The 20 was seen in action on the afternoon of 14
June when it replaced the
works loco Blue John for a trip to Earles Sidings with 12
loaded
cement tanks. The branch is restricted to a weight limit of 75 tonnes
and
as the 08 recently on hire could not haul as many wagons it was decided
to hire in the 20, which has a maximum weight of 73 tonnes, instead.
The
20 is on hire for six months initially.' - 15 June
47 737 Resurgent worked the 10:21 Birmingham - Holyhead on 14 June, catching the lens of people waiting for the delayed steam special, and with your compiler somewhere on board wedged in a crowd of American students. Come on Tim, we need a 5th coach! Above, passing the canal locks in Chester. (John Murray)
And hurrying through Shotton (Picture by Jim Scott)
It was fascinating on 13 June to watch the 13.41 Virgin Train to London depart Holyhead on time just as the connecting HSS ferry from Ireland was berthing about an hour late. I can understand the need for the London to depart on time, but I can also appreciate the anger of the passengers who now have to change at Crewe and Stafford to get to London, after travelling on the 14.49 DMU calling at all stops to the Junction, all three connecting trains (13.27 Manchester, 13.41 London, and the 13.56 Birmingham) having left without their Irish passengers. This does nothing to help and promote the rail link because the 14:49 will be Full & Standing, and alternatives will be sought. The car fare is not excessive these days especially if there are several travelling, Hertz Car hire will also benefit. Perhaps the client group for whom the train is intended should be identified, and the punctuality targets amended to accommodate them. - 15 June
Deja Vu on Merseyrail
Readers may recall our picture a few weeks ago of the first refurbished Class 508 being towed through Wrexham on the way to Birkenhead depot, a picture incidentally which caught they eye of a well-known railway magazine. Well, shortly afterwards it was sent back to Eastleigh Works for a second series of modifications. So here is 508 110 again being towed north through Wrexham again, this time haulage is by 47 789 Lindisfarne. Picture by Tim J. Rogers with acknowledgement to Dave Skipsey for information. -15 June
25 297 heads the afternoon Speedlink freight from Llandudno
Junction
to Arpley past Middle Gates on 31 August 1984, the consist including
ferry
vans probably containing aluminium ingots from Holyhead, and empty
cement
tanks from the Castle Cement depot at Bangor. The train is
passing
at reduced speed over the newly laid track. More like this at www.penmorfa.com.
- 15 June
1Z42 Aberystwyth - West Ruislip return charter attacks Talerddig bank behind 37 042 and 37 114, 15 June. Thanks to Carl Grocott for the picture.
The North Wales Weekly News of 13 June carries a report
about
a meeting of Conwy County Council. "Plans to upgrade the the Conwy
Valley
railway line met with strong opposition from councillors at a meeting
of
the county council last week. Major slate company Alfred McAlpine Slate
is making plans to construct a rail freight depot with loading
facilities
at Rhiwbryfdir, Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Improvements will have to be made to the Conwy Valley line to cope
with the huge train carriages of slate that will travel from the depot
to the North West and the West Midlands. After reading a report on the
matter, members of the Conwy County Council's cabinet said they would
not
support the proposed application for the upgrade, including a bid for a
transport grant, until an environmental Impact Assessment is
undertaken.
"Councillor Graham Rees said: 'There is no mention of how many journeys will occur, what type of rolling stock will be involved - we just don't have enough information to make any decision'. But councillors also expressed concerns about the alternatives if the railway wasn't eventually improved. 'If we don't upgrade the railway, the alternative is going to be wagons coming through the valley carrying the slate.' said Coun Arthur Todd."
It looks as if the cabinet are ensuring that residents will see that they have taken their fears on board, but the railway will be eventually be upgraded - providing they don't delay too long. - 15 June
The Irish Mail
Here's 6201 Princess Elizabeth at Shotton on 'The Irish Mail,' 14 June. (Picture by Jim Scott) The steam section of this Charter went well, shame that the train arrived late due to problems with the Deltic loco booked to work from Colchester to Crewe. There's another steam working on 21 June, with the same loco, this time from Watford Junction. Visit www.steamy-affairs.net or ring 01553 828107 if you fancy travelling; meantime have a look at our Picture Report or if you have broadband, we even have a short (10 MB!) Quicktime video. - 15 June
47 746 The Bobby on the 17:19 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead at Frodsham , 13 June (John Eyres)
What's the driver saying to his attentive audience of passengers as 47 746 The Bobby waits to depart with the 13:56 Holyhead - Birmingham on 12 June? (John Lewis)
Looking rather like a view of someone's model railway, the train pulls away from Holyhead station and starts up the bank. (John Lewis) - 13 June
Freight notes
Tony Johnson writes from Knutsford on the Altrincham - Chester line: 'I have noticed no comments on the site regarding the revival of the Penmaenmawr - Guide Bridge ballast workings (presumably in connection with the Cheadle Hulme - Macclesfield end of the West Coast Mail Line 'blockade'). Current reports suggest thrice weekly with the loaded train running past Altrincham around 14:00. Haulage has been by Freightliner Class 66. The week beginning 9 June I have seen the working on Monday and Tuesday and the week before I saw, if I remember correctly workings, on Wednesday and Friday. Can anyone confirm booked times and headcodes?'
Also of note perhaps is that the Warrington - Dowlow trips this week have been Class 60-hauled, thus depriving me of the sound of a 37 in full throttle heading to Knutsford. To compensate, I have noticed Loadhaul liveried 56s working the Mostyn steel recently. - 13 June
The Bangor Mail reports: 'Prince William and his father are paying a flying visit to Bangor during a whirlwind tour of Wales next Thursday [19 June].' Prince Charles and his eldest son, who will be celebrating his 21st birthday, will arrive by royal train at Bangor station at 10:15, where they will be greeted by local dignitaries. Among those meeting them will be Bangor Mayor Cllr June Marshall, the Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd, Professor Eric Sunderland, and chief executive of Gwynedd Council Geraint Jones, who is also Clerk of the Lieutenancy of Gwynedd. After the platform "meet-and-greet," the royal guests will be whisked by car to the Anglesey Food Fair at the island showground at Mona, before being flown to Newport, South Wales, to visit a new day centre for the homeless. Cllr Marshall said: "It will be an honour to welcome Prince Charles and Prince William to Bangor."' - 13 June
Let's go for an off-topic ramble on what is becoming First North Western's most famous train (hear BBC Radio 4's 'Back to Beeching' for instance) , the weekly one-way-only train from Stockport to Stalybridge, or the Stalybridge Pullman, as the announcer at Stockport is wont to call it. This curious affair, which ostensibly runs just to avoid going through the statutory closure procedure, although it also gives FNW guards chance to 'know the route' in case it is even necessary to divert trains this way, has since the 1993 summer timetable been switched from Fridays only to Saturdays only. The diagramming of such a train is a whole study in itself: Reddish South and Denton stations no longer have lights, so to satisfy the Health and Safety people it must run at a time when it is daylight throughout the year, and if it runs on Fridays, then there has to be a special set of train crew rosters for Fridays, which is why it has been moved to Saturday which is already different from the rest of the week. (Rumours that FNW are trying to popularise the trip are unconfirmed!)
The train departs at 14:42 and calls at Reddish South, Denton, and Guide Bridge, and runs as a passenger service in one direction only, but nobody has told the 'Fastticket' machine at Stockport station which happily take your credit card number and issue a Cheap Day Return to Denton for your collection...
On 7 June your compiler and about 20 others, most of who had travelled to Stockport specially for the ride, travelled in the sunshine to bay platform 3 among the hills at Stalybridge, where 142 027 is seen on arrival (above right) in company with an Arriva Northern Class 150/2 looking apologetic for its lack of the advertised first class seating on a TransPenninExpress. In the distance, an old-school railwayist tries unsuccessfully to talk the crew into letting him ride the empty stock back to Stockport; do not cause embarrassment by doing this, as the return empty train runs without its conductor, who waits at Stalybridge for a passenger train to take him back to Manchester.
Instead, why not join the customers enjoying the sunshine outside the famous station buffet, which always has half a dozen real ales on draught before returning to Stockport via Manchester - as you can see from the replica 'Joyce, Whitchurch' clock (the original is now in the back yard of York Railway Museum). I fell into conversation with two ladies who had travelled on the 14:42 (and were trying the beer) as an adventure; they told me how they'd had great trouble persuading the telephone enquiry line that such a train existed, and having done the 'ghost train' were intending to return to Stockport and their car by taxi ... some say this train is a stupid anachronism and should be Beechinged ASAP, but we say "Try it, you might just like it." Would the £1.35 day return from Stockport to Denton be valid for the return to Stockport via Manchester since this is the only feasible route? Presumably, but who knows? - 13 June
