THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
37 669 storming past Abergele with a spoil train after
working between Bodorgan and Valley on a 'p-way' job, 25 January (Larry
Goddard)
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supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 25 January 2004
Sunday
activity I -
report by Larry Goddard
.
Carrying Arriva Trains livery, a 158 (158 822 we think) is
approaching Abergele with the 1V61 10:35 Holyhead-Cardiff Central on 25
January.
66 109 heads a heavy permanent way train towards Towyn after
working between Bodorgan and Valley on a track maintenance job, 25
January....
66 219 brought up the rear of the train .- 25 January.
Pendolinos pulled out?
The latest proposal for fume-free Class 57 haulage of Virgin
'Pendolino' trains when away from the electric overhead wires is to
links the open/close of the vehicle air intake to the operation of the
57's controls. It is said that the intake could be closed for 30
minutes at a time with the saloon air being recycled.
Very interesting, but perhaps no longer relevant to North Wales Coast
news, as we believe that the plan to work some daily London - Holyhead
trains with Pendolinos, hauled by Class 57s between Crewe and Holyhead,
has in fact been cancelled. As was pointed out on this page when the
scheme was first mooted, electric stock with lowered pantograph is
deemed 'out-of-gauge' on the North Wales line, thos objection was
dismissed by pundits on the basis that the SRA (or someone) would pay
for the necessary civil engineering works along the line to remedy
this, but now it appears that the costs are too high, and the new
London - North Wales service (see the 12 July
2003 Notice Board for details) is to be worked by 5-car Voyager
diesel sets, and the politicians will lose their Great British
Breakfast after all. - 25 January
Sunday activity II -
report by John Lewis
Sunday 25 January at Holyhead, with 47 635 Lass
O'Ballochmyle making a welcome return ...
... and 47 798 Prince William keeping her company in the
sidings.
43 080 and 43 121 (picture above) were on the
16:15 HST service - now departing in daylight again, although the light
levels do still test my camera to its limits! Roll on summer! The
HST was on platform 2, and a few problems were caused for local
passengers due to the fact that the gate to that part of the station
was locked, as well as the old departure hall (the 1990-built
terminal), forcing anybody coming in from town to either have to walk
in through platform 1, round the corner and through the arch, or make
the long trek round to the ferry terminal. There were a few angry faces
around.
43 080 heads up the hill out of Holyhead.- 25 January
Coach clarification
In the wake of our previous articles about coaches, we should make
clear that the Virgin liveried Mk2 coaches currently in service with
Arriva Trains Wales are owned by, and hired by ATW from, leasing
company HSBC Rail. Riviera Trains have some similar vehicles, but these
are not in Coast service at present. - 25 January
Weekend tribulations -
report by Shaun Courtnage
Loco-hauled services in North Wales on 23-24 January involved three
different carriage sets and four locomotives: On Friday 23rd January
1H44 Bangor - Manchester was 47 793 with
5989 5991 5983 9522 (the full Virgin-liveried set). The Crewe -
Holyhead diagram ( 1K57 / 1D65 / 1K67 / 1D75 / 1G79 / 1D99 were 47
790 with 5632 5631 5740 9481 (full FGW-liveried set).
A broken window was received by carriage 5740 at Conway thanks to local
kids on 1K67 12:48 Holyhead-Crewe<
hauled by 47 790. Attention at Llandudno Junction saw the offending
pane removed leaving the second pane in place behind, which was later
secured with strong tape at Crewe. 5740 has recently been out of
traffic for battery
repairs, and had been replaced by Virgin carriage 5991 as reported in
earlier Notice Boards. 1D45, the 17:19 Manchester - Holyhead, was
47635 Lass O'Ballochmyle with 5737 5710 5912 9494
(FGW-liveried set except 5912 which is a Virgin-liveried carriage and
had replaced 5636 which had been sat at Chester for four days recently
on a wheelskate.
Saturday 24 January saw 47 635 (with the same carriages as the
previous night) work 1K57 07:49 Holyhead-Crewe and 1D65 10:21
Crewe-Holyhead. Unfortunately the Electric Train Heating cable on the
front of 635 became loose near Chester and dragged along the ballast
causing some damage to the cable. The driver stopped and inspected the
cable, then pulled slowly in to Chester where further inspection was
made. After letting the Manchester-Holyhead 158 and the London-Holyhead
HST go, 47 635 continued, albeit over half an hour late and further
delayed by the 158 and HST for the remainder of the journey. 47790 and
the carriages it hauled
on Friday (still with the taped up window) were prepared for the return
1K67 12:48 Holyhead-Crewe but were delayed by 25 minutes before leaving
Holyhead as the guard on 47 635's train was working 47 790's train
back. 47 790 arrived at Crewe at the time it should have
departed with 1D75 15:30 Crewe-Holyhead. It was not to return though,
68 (yes sixty-eight) minutes later
47 798 Prince William finally departed with the set.
Wouldn't it have made sense to have had 47 798 prepared
and in a suitable position when 47790 arrived?
Unfortunately two days with delays caused by problems, despite a lack
of train failures. It would be interesting to follow a class 175 around
for a week to see if it suffered such bad luck as the loco hauled sets
have had this month. Any volunteers? - 25 January
Saturday Stone - by
Larry Goddard
A new freight flow from Penmaenmawr quarry commenced running on 17
January 2004, giving the North Wales line a Saturday stone train. I
believe the reporting number is 6Z50 and starts out from Acton Yard. 66
163 drops down from Llandulas with a Penmaenmawr - Brent Sidings stone
train, consisting of very smart Hanson wagons, on 24 January.
A close-up look at Hanson wagon No.17912. These JHA wagons were
built by Powell Duffryn Standard at the now-closed Heywood, Manchester
(that's Heywood as in the East Lancashire Railway) wagon works in 1990,
weigh 22 tonnes and have a gross laden weight of 102 tonnes. They
ride
on Gloucester low track force bogies, recognisable by their inside
wheel bearnings similar to the Class 220 Voyagers, and are designed to
travel in fixed sets: note the lack of buffers on the inner end of this
'end' wagon. - 25 January