175 105 is seen near Shotton on 1H47, 09:47, Llandudno - Manchester Piccadilly - notice that the First North Western brandings have been removed from the sides, part of the agreement under which these will be used principally by Wales and Borders. (Dave Skipsey)
We asked for pictures of the new 37/4-worked Arriva Trains Northern service over the Settle-Carlisle line, and here they are, from the very first day of operation, October 13, taken at Carlisle station by Ian Furness - well done Ian!
The train consists of four ex-Virgin coaches specially painted in Arriva livery, with an EWS 37/4 each end. This is 37 405 - notice the neatly painted simulation of an old-style '40 B' (Immingham) loco shed code.
And at the north end, 37 408 Loch Rannoch entering another phase in its varied career, which has included the wild West Highland line, hauling limstone trains through Cheshire, hurrying passenger stock along the North Wales coast, and trundling commuters up the Rhymney valley... for details of this train, see our item 'Hail the Beasts' below. - 14 October
47 843 Vulcan worked the Wales and Borders relief train for the Wales v. Serbia football game against Serbia in Cardiff on Saturday 11 October. The train started from Crewe and ran via Chester, Wrexham and Shrewsbury to Cardiff; the picture was taken from a public foorpath at Gobowen by Elen Cowlishaw. Virgin livery is much in evidence, but this loco is now operated by Freightliner and the coaches by Riviera Trains. The train was intended to return in the evening, but apparently the loco failed and a pair of Class 158s were substituted. - 14 October
People who have puchased the National Rail Timetable should download the latest version of the amendments leaflet, which is now available as a PDF file. This includes a number of amendments to North Wales workings, although various other changes around the network, especially the earlier departures from some termini during leaf-fall season, have still not been included. - 14 October
As the Daily Post 'safe stations' campaign continues, the trains themselves also come under attack by 'yobs': the 17:05 Chester - Holyhead on 12 October, including returning fains from the International football match among its passengers, hit an obstruction on the line near Shotton, but fortunately stayed on the line and was able to continue. Again, the small British Transport Police team seems to have a success to report, as 'It is understood that two youths were being interviewed about the incident.'
Speaking of the Thin Blue Line, here's a link to Eryl Crump's interesting article for the Post in which he interviews the BTP team. Comments on all this are very welcome. - 14 October
47 734 Crewe Diesel Depot and 47 793 Christopher Wren at Holyhead on Sunday 12 October, waiting for duty on Monday. (John Lewis)
Off to Lincoln
Saturday 11 October's charter from Hooton to Lincoln was a great success, by all accounts: Dave Skipsey was on hand at Hooton to photograph 66 067 & 66 019 (on the rear) ready to depart Hooton with 1Z71 at 06:51.
Charlie just had to travel to Buxton to watch ex-Coast line loco 37 419 in company with 37 427 attack the 1 in 60 bank out of Buxton station with the return Scottish Railway Preservation Society charter to Edinburgh on 11 October; a pale sun even shone on Buxton for a few minutes as the train growled past the footbridge by the old '9L' steam shed. Visit our full page picture report for more Buxtoniana.
Elsewhere in the Class 37/4 world, things look bright at present, although there are storm clouds ahead. Monday 13 October sees the first run of the new Monday-Friday-only 37/4-worked train from Leeds to Carlisle and back, formed of four ex-Virgin Mk2 air-con coaches with a 37/4 at each end. 37 405, 37 411 The Scottish Railway Preservation Society and old favourite 37 408 Loch Rannoch for the fleet for this diagram, which comprises a commuter run from Knaresborough to Leeds and back, with the Carlisle run sandwiched between. Times for the Carlisle run are 09:47 from Leeds and 13:35 return from Carlisle, stopping only a major stations. For more detail, download a pdf file of Arriva Northern's timetable. We'd be interested to hear from anyone who has taken a ride and/or pictures.
On the darker side, there are fears that the loss of the Royal Mail contract by EWS, thus taking away the main job of the almost-new Class 67 locos, will sign the death warrant of many Class 37/4 and 47/7 locos. Recently, a trial run was made to see if it was feasible to use a 67 to haul the Fort William sleeper on from Edinburgh, where we all thought the 37/4s were safe for a while due to the heavy axle-load of the 67s being unsuitable for the West Highland Line. However, there are suggestions that the test was a 'success' even though speed had to be kept down to 5 mph at a number of places. The current workings between Cardiff and Rhymney are to be replaced by Class 150s displaced from Scotrail by new 170s, and it is rumoured that EWS have suggested 'some other class' for the Carlisle trains. Our advice is to seek out any Class 37/4 hauled services while you can, especially since they are clustered in scenic areas. - 12 October
47 793 Christopher Wren about to leave Bangor with the 07:35 Holyhead to Crewe on 10 October, with the driver showing off his new uniform (Alan Crawshaw)
Back at Bangor with the 1D65 10:30 Crewe - Holyhead (Rowan Crawshaw)
A long distance view of the same loco heading east once more, this time in charge of the 12:45 Holyhead to Crewe (Alan Crawshaw)
On the other diagram, 47 798 Prince William calls at Platform 2, Manchester Oxford Road with the 17:20 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead on the same day, as passengers run over the footbridge having yet again been told of the alteration from Platform 1 with less than a minute to spare. Who will stop this nonsense? - 12 October
On 3 October a passenger was attacked by a gang of youths at Prestatyn station and was kicked around and hit on the head with a 'rock' after arguing with them about why they were vandalising the premises. He suffered a fractured skull and was left for dead, though he somehow managed to find help. Five suspects have since been taken in for questioning by the British Transport Police and released on Police Bail.
This incident, which is not the first of its kind, has prompted the Daily Post newspaper to start a 'Safe Stations campaign; aimed at persuading the railway company and the Welsh Assembly to do something to make stations a safer place for passengers. Already the Assembly's Transport Minister Andrew Davies is backing the campaign and has declared cash will be made available. Mr Davies said he was unable to disclose figures, but last year the Assembly made £2.5m available for improvements at 46 stations in South and mid Wales. North Wales has 35 stations.
Some of the Post's articles on the subject have a slightly absurd feel to them, unfortunately. Reporter Abigail Hughes, who never goes by train, was sent on an evening trip from Llandudno Junction to pen a dispatch entitled 'Journey into the Unknown' in which the scariest thing she encountered seems to have been 'A solo man, eating a dismal looking sandwich in the starkly lit waiting room....' A website contributor waiting for a ride behind a Class 47, perhaps. Later in the week, Post reporter (and website contributor) Eryl Crump, a photographer, and Vale of Clwyd Assembly Member Ann Jones were rather unfortunately told to leave Rhyl station by the station staff for taking pictures without permission, while 'a gang of youths, who were screaming, shouting and swearing on the platform at the same time, were left unchallenged.' Would you have challenged them, having read the Daily Post?
Yes, this is indeed a very serious problem. What can be done, though, in the state of the world at the moment, when such things can happen to you anywhere, even in your sealed metal box with rubber tyres if you forget to keep the doors locked? Closed Circuit TV is held up as the panacea, yet the recent footage shown on TV of a passenger being pushed on to the track at Bebington gave very little clue as to who the perpetrator might have been due to the poor standard of the pictures. And how can you cover a place like a covered footbridge without exposing the camera to damage? Perhaps the Assembly would like to pay for the stations to be staffed for longer hours? It would appear to be asking for trouble to have nobody on duty in the evenings. There are said to be just four British Transport Police officers on duty to cover North Wales: would it be better if the BTP were replaced by patrols by the North Wales Police who will surely be able to react faster to an incident?
Comments and suggestions from everyone are very welcome, and will be passed on to the newspaper if you wish. - 12 October
Readers will recall the fiasco on 27 September when the 47 789Lindisfarne working the last loco-hauled diagram under First North Western management had to be taken out of service while westbound at Rhyl due to a TPWS problem, depriving Charlie of his last ride from Holyhead. At the time we wondered why the other loco, 47 732 and coaches, standing spare at Holyhead, were not used to take over and work the 13:56 to Birmingham.
Well, thanks to one of our contributors from the inside (or 'our chums at FNW' as a certain magazine might put it) we now have the explanation of this frustrating event. Simply, the coaching stock was defective, having activated the wheel-flat detector at Warrington Arpley while working from Manchester the previous evening. Two coaches were reported as having flat tyres. Attempts were made to organise a stock swap with spares from Crewe on Friday evening, but the only driver available didn't book on till 21:00 and he was going to be used for the overnight Holyhead-Birmingham job. FNW couldn't run the risk of that being late, so in the end the move had to be delayed until Saturday, which also explains the mystery of why 47 732 was stood with engine idling even before the problem with the other train was realised!
We think 47 789 actually took 47 732's stock to Crewe on the Saturday afternoon. It passed Bangor around 15.55. - 12 October
Although production has resumed at Wylfa, the only picture of a flask train we've had lately is this one by Tim J. Rogers from 12 September with recent DRS acquisition 37 259 in the lead. Colin Meredith tells us that a similar combo was noted at Rhyl running without a train on Friday 10 October. Does anyone know if the Tuesday and Friday diagrams remain the same as before? - 12 October
News from First North Western following the handover of the Coast to Wales and Borders is that usage of the old Class 101 units has been considerably cut back in the new timetable, although the fleet strength still stands at six units including the legendary 1956-built 101 685 'Daisy' still in its green livery from 1994. Only three Monday - Friday diagrams now exist, with no booked workings at all at weekends, and all are now confined to the Manchester Piccadilly to Marple and Rose Hill lines, with no expeditions to Hazel Grove as in the summer. Having said that, 101 676 was all that could be found for the 17:50 Manchester - Hazel Grove (booked for a 323 electric set) on 3 October, seen above at Davenport. As the inset shows, this unit entered traffic with a broken toplight window, with fragments of glass lying on the seats and floor.
As for the 142s which are no longer to be seen in North Wales, these now seem to have been migrated to various peak-hour trains which would be expected to be worked by electric units. In the picture of Manchester Piccadilly taken on 7 October, the unit in the foreground is the 17:17 to Crewe, the remnant of the old 'Rail House Express' train which used to go to Birmingham and be worked by a 175, and a few years ago one of the much-missed Class 309 electrics. Traditionally, this is the favourite train home for various railway managers ... the set behind waits to form the 17:25 to Hazel Grove.
Much as some of us like the 142s and their cycle space, etc. the fact remains that they have half the seating capacity of a 323: this picture was taken one recent morning inside the 07:52 Hazel Grove - Manchester which had just left behind all the people waiting at Levenshulme and some from Heaton Chapel as no more could be squeezed aboard. - 12 October
Its now nearly 5 years since the Blaenau - Trawsfynydd section closed to all traffic. The final train was the "Trawsfyndd Lament" on 17 October 1998. The train was top and tailed by 56 108 and 47 785. On a day that was very wet, even by local standards, 56108 is seen near Llan Ffestiniog. Further photos of the line may be seen on my Conwy Valley website. - 12 October