Sources that the SRA held a meeting on 18 June at which a decision was made as to the successful candidate for the Wales and Borders franchise, including the North Wales Coast lines. This decision still has to be ratified by the executive, then the Department and the Treasury, so will not be announced formally until the end of July. As a result of the delays, it is therefore unlikely that the new franchise will commence in October as expected, a date in November is now being put forward. The delays were caused by the need to revisit all bids very carefully as they were all very similar - there needed to be a great deal of very detailed examination with the bidders being recalled many times to re-evaluate individual parts of their bids. - 22 June
This sad picture by Phil Chilton shows 37 429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol (minus nameplates) dumped at Toton depot, some parts having been removed for use on 37 410. No doubt it will be on its way to Wigan 'Component Recovery Centre' in due course... -22 June
Incident at Chester
We are receiving reports from newspapers and elsewehere concerning a so-called 'near miss' which occured on 12 June when, it is said, the late-running 13.19 service from Chester-Crewe departed from Chester running on the 'wrong line' at a time when the 12.21 service from Birmingham to Holyhead was between Crewe and the intermediate signalbox at Besston Castle on the same track, setting up the possibility of a '105 mph head-on collision.' (Chester Chronicle) It would appear that the cause of this situation was some kind of misunderstanding in a telephone conversation between the driver of the 13:19 and the Chester signaller, who on seeing what had happened sent an emergency message to both drivers by radio. Both participants have, we believe, been suspended from duty pending an investigation.
This is a very sensitive issue indeed, especially for the staff
concerned,
and we mention it at this stage only because some details are already
in
the public domain: if any insider has a correct picture of what
happened
and feels our brief account above is inaccurate, please tell us: be
assured
you will not be identified. - 22 June
A lot of interesting items to do with buses coming in recently, perhaps diehard train fans will forgive a short mystery tour. First, a bouquet to First North Western for their replacement buses now in service between Stockport and stations to Stoke-on-Trent during the current engineering 'blockade.' None of the hired old crocks seen on this kind of work in the past: FirstGroup have provided completely new low-floor vehicles painted in a special livery. Wright/Scania vehicle 61218 is seen above on 14 June turning out of Stockport station on to the A6 road, with the Town Hall on the skyline, and the Macdonalds food outlet buily on the site of the old coal-drops to the right.
Secondly, an honourable mention for the new web-based bus information system now in use for Gwynedd and Conwy councils, known as Amserol.
Not only can this give you the times of the next buses from your chosen stop, by Web, WAP, or SMS, the buses on some of the routes are fitted with transmitters reporting their positions which are reported on-line to the website and to displays on the stops.
The map above is captured from the website of the Bangor area, and shows that a bus on route 5X is approaching Gwynedd Hospital from Caernarfon, as a route 5 vehicle is heading down by the pier on the way to Llandudno. Impressive, and also rather fun to watch. Follow this link for more.
There was an accident in Chester Bus Exchange at just after 08:00 on
18 June involving two Arriva vehicles. DAF B220GS / Alexander 2412
(V412ENC) on route 401 to New Brighton collided with Dennis
Dart/Plaxton
2359 (V580ECC) on route 10 to Connah's Quay. It appears
that
2412 first collided with the rear corner of 2359 then careered along
the
side of the bus before
mounting the pavement and demolishing part of the stand, two phone
boxes and a no entry sign in the process. Initial reports suggest
that the throttle stuck on 2412. We I understand that eight people were
injured, none seriously, and taken to the Countess of Chester
hospital,
including the driver of 2412 who was treated for shock.As our reporter
John Murray comments, this indident would have been given much
more
new coverage if trains had been involved...
You may recall the discussion about the 'Golden Age' by some of our
senior readers on a recent
Notice Board. Here's a letter from a reader of our site who is a
manager
in the bus industry: 'The passing comment on the Noticeboard about
buses
and the suggestion that deregulation worsened things can't go
unchallenged
- when all said and done this was seventeen years ago now. The world
has
changed so much in that time and bus services and the network today in
many cases bear little resemblance to the pre-1986
network. Of course there have been winners and losers, but I would
suggest that overall there are more winners. Look at the Rhyl -
Llandudno
service 12 as an example - it used to be a Lodekka or VR on the M13
every
half hour, now it's a fully-accessible low floor bus every 10 minutes.'
Finally, we hear that an ex-Chester Leyland National was recently for sale on the eBay auction site. What next, locomotives? - 22 June
The Milton Keynes - Holyhead charter on 22 June: 6201 Princess Elizabeth steams into platform 1 at Holyhead underneath the Station Bridge...
...and I just managed to run down the platform to catch a photo before the hordes of people got off...
...next is a photo of the train awaiting departure in platform 1, having arrived back from the triangle in Valley...and finally (see heading picture), an impressive performance pulling up the bank past the water tower, on time this week! - 22 June
6201 turning at Valley triangle in the rain, 21 June
(Chris
Taylor)
I visited a caravan camp I holiday'd on in the 1950s to watch the return run of 6201 Princess Elizabeth with the 1Z74 Holyhead-Milton Keynes. Hearing a steam loco pounding through Abergele in the distance transported me back fifty years, and as the train thundered past and I peered through the viewfinder for a second shot of the train, I was sure I saw the quadruple tracks that once lay here...
