What's happening here? Find out by visiting our special picture supplement which is our attempt to catch up with all the wonderful pictures we've been sent recently...
Thanks to 'Yellowcake UF6' we now have timings to hand for the second run of the Steamy Affairs 'Irish Mail' charter on Saturday 21 June, this time running from Milton Keynes to Holyhead. The train is booked for haulage by Deltic diesel D9016 from Milton Keynes and Crewe, and by steam loco 6201 Princess Elizabeth between Crewe and Holyhead.
1Z73 Milton Keynes-Holyhead: Crewe 10:16 to 10:54 (loco change), Chester pass 11:26, Rhyl pass 12:05, Llandudno Jct 12:23 - 13:03, Bangor 13:23 - 13:26, Holyhead 14:05. 1Z74 17:02 Holyhead - Milton Keynes: Bangor 17:44 - 17:47, Llandudno Jct 18:07 - 18:47, Chester 19:48 - 19:59, Crewe 20:31 - 20:54 (loco change).
Below are more Ian Bowland pictures from 14 June for your entertainment, with Ian's commentary.
6201 at Llanddulas Viaduct running, about an hour down but working hard, racing along and purring like a pussy cat! 8 beats per rev I believe.
Moving towards Conwy Castle with steam a plenty.
Emerging from Penmaenhead Tunnel, the loco was working extremely hard at this point but running quite slowly. The display of steam was impressive, reaching the top of Penmaenhead at one point.
I thought it was in trouble but it picked up quite quickly as it went past Llysfaen and the crew appeared relaxed on the footplate. I have to say that the "Lizzie" sounds much better than the Coronations, probably due to the single chimney and harsher beat, but watching this one working the way it did on Saturday made the hair stand up - quite stirring. - 18 June
We have a number of interesting emails in the intray about earlier items. John Lewis's comments (below) about the new Stena 'superferry' not carrying foot passengers comes in for comment: we have been told that the ship will in fact be carrying foot passengers to compete with the Irish Ferries vessel, and some fares can be found on Stena's Irish website www.stena.ie (along with much interesting stuff about the new ship, its route from Korea, etc.) However, any attempt to book a foot passenger ticket on either the UK or Irish sites is met with a 'ping' and a error box suggesting you go away and buy a vehicle. Clarification welcome ... John Murray notes: 'a couple of years ago I happened to read a copy of Freight magazine left in the waiting room which quoted a Stena director as saying "now that duty free has ended, we are going to concentrate our efforts on the freight market."'
As for the question what this driver was saying to his audience in John Lewis's picture of 12 June, Ivor Bufton writes: 'I would hope he is saying "I wish they'd bring back those 37s"... I must say that in the seven and a bit years that 37s ruled the coast the majority of the coastal staff, whether train crew or platform staff, were friendly and obliging to the 37 followers! [Amen to that. -Ed.]
Then there's these chaps, worried about 'something in the cylinder area' of 6201 on 14 June. Thanks to Bob Whiteoak who writes: 'The work in the cylinder area is probably an adjustment to the air-compressor which is located adjacent to the bogie. The character in the picture has appeared on every mainline run so far with 'Lizzie', and at strategic locations proceeds to hit the compressor with a lump hammer!' Look out for him again on 21 June...
Finally (for now, as your compiler needs some sleep!) we asked what happened on 16 June when the HST which should have formed the 08:35 London - Holyhead ended up in the wrong place: well, we have it on the best possible authority that 47 840 North Star ran light from Preston to take over the train which would have been electric-hauled to Crewe.
Thanks as always to all contributors. - 18 June
Now for something completely different...
Monday 23 June 2003: 7Z07 Weed-killing train, Wigan Diesel Depot TC - Wigan Diesel Depot TC. Formation: Network Rail 'Multi-purpose vehicle': Wigan Diesel Depot dep. 15:56, Warrington Bank Quay pass. 16:19, Chester pass 16:55, Holywell Junction pass 17:15, Rhyl pass 17:27, Llandudno Jct 17:45/47, Llandudno arr 17:50, dep 19:41, Llandudno Jct 19:49/51, Llanrwst North 20:15/22, Blaenau Ffestiniog 20:58/21:03, Llanrwst North 21:35/37, Llandudno Jct 21:56/58, Bangor pass 22:16, Holyhead 22:49/23:05, Bangor pass 23:54, Llandudno Jct pass 00:20, Rhyl pass 00:44, Holywell Jct pass 01:07, Chester pass 01:45, Warrington Bank Quay pass 02:15, Wigan Diesel Depot arr.02:40.
Pictures welcome! - 18 June
17 June, and 47 786 Roy Castle OBE takes its turn on the 10:21 Birmingham - Holyhead, seen here at Crewe. Picture by Ian Bowland.
Another of Warren Desmond's classic 'pick-up goods' pictures: 37 798 on 7F62 Dee Marsh - Arpley at Caergwrle powering away just after the viaduct on 17 June. Good news is that Warren has put his collection on to the Fotopic server: go to warrens.shots.fotopic.net. - 17 June
47 810 Porterbrook arrives at Bangor with the 1A75 16:13 Holyhead-London on 15 June. Easy to spot this one from a distance as it is the only one with a white nameplate. (Rowan Crawshaw)
The Shipping News
From the 17 June Daily Post: The battle for passengers on the lucrative Irish Sea route hotted up yesterday, as a £60m super ferry docked in North Wales after sailing half-way round the world. Wellwishers gathered on the promenade to welcome the Stena Adventurer into Holyhead. The huge vessel will be based at a new £12m terminal, which is nearing completion, and ply the Holyhead to Dublin route. The 44,000 tonne Stena Adventurer replaces the Stena Forwarder, just half its size, increasing passenger capacity by half to 1,500. The ship has about two miles of lanes for vehicle parking and a 70% increase in freight capacity.
The arrival of the vessel steps up the competition for passengers with rival Irish Ferries whose own super ferry, the £64m Ulysses, began sailing from Holyhead in 2001. Both shipping lines have invested massively to win business as passenger numbers, vehicle numbers and freight volumes grew rapidly. Stena Adventurer will begin sailings on the Irish Sea route on July 1 but has already completed a much longer sea journey. The ship sailed 10,000 miles from Korea where she was built, crossing the Indian Ocean and passing through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean before her final leg up the North Atlantic.
Yesterday the Adventurer - at 650 ft the longest ship on the Irish Sea route - was undergoing berthing trials at Holyhead before sailing to Liverpool where she will undergo final fitting out. Holyhead port manager Captain Wyn Parry said the berthing trials were essential to make sure the new ship will fit Terminals 3 and 4 on the port's Salt Island. He said: "We are very pleased to see her in the port. The ship represents a big investment by Stena and a big commitment by the company to the region." The new terminal will allow double tier bow and stern loading from ships, allowing them quicker turnaround times.
The pictures by John Lewis shown the ship during the berthing trials on 16 June. Also visible in the lower view are the Irish Ferries vessel Ulysses at her berth, and the HSS Stena Explorer leaving for Dun Laoghaire on the 13:45 sailing. John comments: 'Unfortunately the Stena Adventurer is another ship where we will not be allowed on as foot passengers. I still cannot understand the logic behind this move, as surely banning foot passengers from Stena's conventional ferries only pushes people onto Irish Ferries, not necessarily onto the HSS? Car passengers are of course allowed on these sailings, but why should that prevent foot passengers from travelling? Hopefully common sense will prevail and demand may well force Stena to allow foot passengers on board, as she does seem to be a very impressive ship from what we have seen so far.' - 17 June
43 098 railwaychildren at Bangor with the 1A61 13:45 Holyhead-London on Sunday 15 June. (Rowan Crawshaw)
Problems, problems
Monday 16 June seems to have been a problematical sort of day for both First North Western and Virgin: a defective horn on Virgin HST loco 43 098 while being examined by the driver prior to leaving Longsight depot in Manchester to work the 05:22 Manchester - London Euston. Sets were 'stepped up' until the HST set worked 06:22 to Euston via Birmingham which left 30 minutes late. Problems with a following Wolverhampton - Euston service meant the train was held at Birmingham New Street for more passengers, all without their normal full breakfast due to lesser facilities of the current West Coast HSTs. Does anyone know what replaced the HST on the 08:35 Euston - Holyhead? The Crewe standby loco (47 810) was apparently not used.
In the evening 175 106 failed at Abergele, and was eventually moved to Rhyl, where it was dumped out of use on the Down Fast line for several hours, as seen in the picture above by David Jones. Looks like the problems of the 175s are far from over, which is a shame since they are (in your compiler's opinion) the most comfortable of the new generation of trains.
David's second picture shows 47 786 Roy Castle OBE eventually arriving at Rhyl with the heavily delayed 17:19 Manchester - Holyhead. - 17 June
We should not have suggested (last notice board, since corrected) that 508 110 was sent back to Eastleigh for further work because Arriva were not happy with it. We are assured that this return trip was part of the plan: the unit was booked to move back to Eastleigh again after test runs on the Mersey system. - 17 June
We reproduce below a letter from the Rail Passengers Committee
(Wales)
to the Strategic Rail Authority, dated 13 June, in response to the
SRA's
West
Coast Main Line Strategy which has just been published.
SERVICES BETWEEN NORTH WALES AND LONDON EUSTON AND NORTH WALES AND BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET
The Rail Passengers Committee Wales has received confidential feedback from its representative and others at the Meeting on 16 May 2003 regarding the level of service provision between London and North Wales currently planned for the Winter 2004 Timetable.
We understand that 5 through services are proposed, to be provided by a combination of Pendolino and Voyager units, with 3 of the units being serviced overnight at Holyhead. Apparently the specification shows Euston departures at 09xx, 11xx, 15xx, 17xx and 19xx with two "at peak times" being covered by Pendolinos, diesel hauled west of Crewe. However, detailed timings have not been provided so the effect of the attachment / detachment of the diesel locomotive on overall journey times remains unquantified.This proposed level of service must be seen in the context of the original Virgin specification of 7 through services daily, albeit all provided by 4-Car Voyager units, and more recent stories indicating a perpetuation of the current 3 trains per day. In view of the decision to deploy Pendolino units with their much greater seating capacity and catering capability, the Committee will support this enhanced level of service provision while retaining 7 trains per day as a longer-term aspiration. The Committee is also very pleased to note that its representations, and those of other bodies, have received a positive response from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). However, the Committee will need to understand which services will be covered by Pendolino units. Currently, both the 17.25 and 19.05 departures are heavily loaded out of Euston, so presumably Pendolinos will be allocated to both the proposed 17xx and 19xx services.
Similarly the Committee has not yet received any details of the planned timetables for up services from Holyhead to Euston. However, they would expect as a minimum to see the existing 05:47 departure, with preferably a pre 10:00 Euston arrival, and the 09:26 service perpetuated and both covered by Pendolino units.
Overall, the Committee recognises the steps taken by the SRA to provide an improved level of service between North Wales and London and will work with the SRA and Virgin Trains to develop the most appropriate service pattern based on the identified resources. In particular the Committee will be keen to ensure increased service provision at Prestatyn, and also the introduction of stops in appropriate services at Flint. This growing town has not enjoyed through London services for many years even though considerable expense has been incurred in lengthening platforms to enable London services can call there.
The Committee also understands that the through Holyhead to Birmingham services, currently operated by First North Western (FNW) and soon to be taken over by Wales and Borders (W&B), are to be retained but re-routed from Chester via Wrexham and Shrewsbury. Retention of these through services is most welcome. However, while the re-routing will offer some benefits, particularly to Wrexham, it will also cause major problems for the many regular travellers who use these popular trains for both business and commuting. The adverse effects include a probable significant increase in journey time between North Wales/Chester and Wolverhampton/Birmingham and the consequent loss of through services to Crewe, with all the connections available there - including to London at times when direct Virgin services to and from North Wales are not running. It will also be necessary to ensure the diverted trains make good connections at Shrewsbury to/from South Wales to maintain and enhance existing North/South Wales links.
The Committee will, of course, work with the SRA and the Train Operating Company to secure the benefits and minimise the disadvantages. It strongly recommends therefore, that the key morning and evening "peak hour" services in both directions are retained on the Crewe route and that only the off - peak services are diverted. The "peak hour" services are heavily used by regular business travellers and commuters who will switch to their cars if overall timings become uncompetitive. Presumably the diverted through North Wales/Birmingham services will be covered by Class 175 units and we understand that work has already been commissioned to ensure clearance for these units over the new route from Chester to Birmingham via Shrewsbury. One major concern is that if these services merely replace existing services on this line, overcrowding at certain times will be inevitable, also to the detriment of overall service provision. Clearly, much detailed work will be required to develop the appropriate service pattern.
In conclusion, while the Committee has significant concerns about the proposed rerouting of trains between North Wales and Birmingham, and about important details of the proposed new services between North Wales and London, the latter do have the potential to offer improved journey opportunities for North Wales passengers compared to what is currently available. We hope these changes and the enhanced on-train environment for VT's passengers can also be matched by similar improvements to station
facilities in North Wales.
Well, we are seeing a lot of stories, exchanges of letters, and
discussions ... but what will actually happen seems to be anyone's
guess.
Readers will have noticed that the successful bidder for the
TransPennine
franchise has still not been announced, even though we were told it was
imminent a few weeks ago. It is rumoured that the bids have been 'sent
back' requesting further cost reductions, suggesting that there is
little
prospect of many new trains on these prime routes. - 17 June
As expected, the July issue of Railways Illustrated contains their much-vainted article on which Train Companies will permit people to take pictures on their stations. Unfortunately, this adds little to the literature on the subject from our point of view, as First North Western decided not to speak to the magazine; perhaps they wish to keep a low profile and retain the status quo, which might well be a good idea.
Carl Hodkinson writes in reply to Ian Bowland's comments about Crewe station: 'I was one of those at the north end of platform 11 when the photo shown was taken. At the time, there was also a one of these 'security people' giving it the 'Oi' treatment on platform 6. Interesting that he was not brave enough to come across to platform 11! I also noted a Virgin conductor on platform 5, waiting to join a southbound service, shouting at those at the south end of number 5 to move back from the yellow line.
'In contrast, and the real reason for writing; I was at the south
end
of platform 12 earlier in the morning (photographing 47 840 on
the
depot) when two British Transport Police officers came across and,
firstly
said 'Good Morning' and then said that they had received complaints
from
Virgin staff and asking us to keep on the top of the platform as
opposed
to the ramp. The two BTP officers
(one male, one female) were polite and courteous and their tone and
facial expressions made it clear that they felt the Virgin staff were
over-reacting,
a situation which was to have been expected. Full marks to the BTP on
their
attitude and approach. Of course, those who have never had any power or
authority will nearly always abuse it when they do!'
It does have to be admitted that a small number of 'enthusiasts' are still living in the 1950s when nobody minded a little wander. Here's a little sequence taken at Llandudno Junction on 14 June while 6201 was being serviced. Above: man with video camera and hat and his mates just have to go down the ramp to get the best angle...
... and are going to stay there even when 175 101 approaches with a service train, the driver's leaning on his horn button for some reason...
BTP make a slightly belated appearance, time to return to a legal place! - 17 June