THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
Chester, 6 February. As the driver walks to his loco, 31 468
Hydra, to take out the 15:59 to Blackpool, 47 749
Atlantic College arrives with the 15:27 Crewe - Holyhead, a 'plus
2' connection as the bashers would say... Picture by Charlie Hulme.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 08 February 2004
The Pendolino / HST
Dossier
Thanks to the people who have written in concerning our report that the
proposed Virgin Pendolino service to Holyhead is no longer to proceed
due to the expense of altering the structure gauge to allow them to
run, even with pantographs down and Class 57 power west of Crewe. In
late January there was a 'North Wales Rail Summit' - where as
usual these days 'Summit' is a synonym meaning 'Meeting' - at which the
matter was raised by a Daily Post correspondent who had read our story.
Stuart Baker of the Strategic Rail Authority said that 'scoping'
work on the North Wales line is being carried out to identify
work that needs to be done to allow the 390s to operate. Once complete
(mid-February allegedly) work will be programmed to start. Brian
Johnson of Virgin Trains stressed that £1m is being invested in
Holyhead to build a servicing area for the 390s and the Voyagers in
time for the Sept 2004 launch of the new service.
Well, it will be interesting to see if our predictions come true; could
it be that we are 'sexing up' the story, and the Chairman and MD of
Page27 will have to resign? Our information is that the 'scoping'
work has already shown that the work would be too expensive, and of
course the million quid servicing facility will be needed anyway for
the Class 221s which will work the London service. Mind you, although
four 221s have nominally been built for the West Coast arm of Virgin,
can they be spared from the services they are running on now for Cross
Country?
Now, this new service, whatever works it, is to begin in September,
what happens in the meantime? Apparently, the current HST service
will continue until the timetable change in late May, at which time the
SRA is insisting that all remaining Virgin HST stock must be taken out
of service and dumped (sorry, stored) at Bicester military depot. What
seemingly, and rather incredibly) happens next is that all
for the summer season all Virgin Holyhead - London trains become
loco-hauled with the associated increase in journey times and
locomotive change at Crewe. Some sources have said these will be Class
57s hauling Mk 2 or Mk3 coaches as the use of 47/8s will probably be
precluded by the excessive amount of mileage they will accumulate in
relation to the need for extremely expensive overhauls on them. However
the trains will probably still be driven between Holyhead and Crewe
this summer by Arriva Trains Wales drivers who are not trained on 57s,
so it may well be that the Class 47/8s make a comeback.
Some people reading this will no doubt be looking forward to a last
summer of loco-bashing, but it has to be asked whether removing the
HSTs in this way can really be in the interest of either passengers or
railway management. And the question having been asked, surely the
answer is 'no, it's bonkers.' What we have in the HST is a
30-year old train that is more capable than a brand new one. In a
recent survey, Great North Eastern Railway HSTs were the second most
reliable long distance train on the network, far more reliable than
Voyagers or Pendolinos and second only to a GNER Class 91 and DVT
formation. The HST, properly maintained and with refurbished coaches is
easily still the finest long distance train this country has. It is
surely the perfect solution for North Wales with plenty of capacity and
a top speed of 125 mph which could be exploited on the new West Coast
Mainline. Whilst an HST may be out-accelerated by a Pendolino, it could
easily keep time in other respects.
Perhaps its time Mrs Williams and North Wales' other politicians faced
the prospect that HSTs might be the only way North Wales will
retain its direct link to London over the next few years. We have been
promised much, but so were Portsmouth, Shrewsbury, Blackpool, Swansea,
Cardiff, London Paddington, Brighton, Manchester Airport and Liverpool.
All were 'sold down the river' by Virgin, promised so much and
then slashed from the Network or all but cut off with a skeletal
service. Holyhead will be the next service to go unless the people that
matter start shouting for a realistic solution instead of an SRA white
(or even red and silver) elephant solution.
There is one other solution to all of this, which we have not seen
suggested so far: the EWS Class 67 diesels made redundant by the loss
of postal traffic are designed for 125mph working. Such a loco could
haul a train of Mk 3 coaches all the way from Holyhead to London,
removing the need for the change of loco at Crewe, and the Mk 3 Driving
Van Trailers could be modified to allow the loco to be driven from the
opposite end of the train if running-round at Euston were a problem. A
single 67 is less powerful than the pair of Class 43s, but a reasonable
timing might well be feasible, although neither HSTs nor 67s are likely
to be allowed to work passenger trains to Euston at more than 110 mph
as tilting coaches are required for this.
Comments on all this are very welcome, as always.- 7 February
Track machines at Bangor on 5 February, the red one is Plasser
& Theurer Tamper / Liner DR 73243. The other one is a
Plasser and Theurer ballast regulator. (Rowan
Crawshaw)
Celebrities on Tour
There's a couple of interesting speakers at meetings coming along
soon: in ayone attends, reports would be very welcome. On Monday 9
February Wrexham Railway Society are having An Evening with Paul
Harley, chair of the Rail Passengers Committee Wales and regular
contributor the the uk.railway newsgroup. An overview of the prospects
for the new Wales franchise and local rail service, the meeting ncludes
a question and answer session. Visitors are welcome to pay at the
door: Catholic Social Club at St Marchys Church, Regent St,
Wrexham opposite Grosvenor Road traffic lights starting at 19.45.
The next Monday, 16 February, the Shrewsbury – Chester Rail
Users’ Association are having a public meeting, 19:30 at the British
Legion Club (To the rear of The Hand Hotel), Chirk. Guest speaker
is Mark Willcox, North Wales Business Development Manager,
Arriva Trains Wales. The plans and aspirations for the new franchise:
'Come along and have your sa' says the SCRUA. Free admission, all
welcome.
These are just a couple of the events listed on our Calendar page: if
anyone has any events related to North Wales railways, do send us
details. - 5 February
Floods ...
Here are two more of John Wilkinson's remarkable pictures taken North
Llanrwst station on 3 February. John seems to have been lucky to
get away in time: the Llanrwst area seems to have been the hardest hit
by the flooding. In nearby Trefriw some people had to be rescued by
helicopter from the roof of a stranded lorry, and residents in the
village were cut off for two days, with residents whose houses are
unihabitable sheltering in the Fairy Falls Hotel. And on the
lighter side, in answer to a correspondent, that's not a diving
board, it's a set of steps to help people board trains from the low
platform....
At Capel Curig, it is said that five inches of rain were recorded in
one day. Our sympathies to everyone in the area: let's hope things get
back to normal soon. The Conwy
Valley line between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog is
completely closed at present due to flooding (see picture below), and
the roads in the lower valley are also damaged, hampering replacement
bus operation. The National
Rail Website states that normal services will not resume before 9
February. The Cambrian main line from Shrewbury to Machynlleth
has reopened on 5 February after being severed by flooding. - 5
February
Those 66s on the flasks
Readers may recall that DRS used a pair of its brand new 66s on the
Valley flask train back on 13 January, but somehow our reporters with
digital cameras missed this interesting occasion. Mark Lloyd Davies
was there with his analog camera, though, and here are the results.
Above, the locos shunting the flask siding, and below, waiting in
Valley station. The locos were 66 407 and 66 408.
A total of 6600
bhp for 256 tonnes! - 5 February
Junction Loco Gala
Thanks to Gwyn Williams sends some further details of the
workings of 3 February illustrated in the photo special (last Notice
Board.): 'The Serco test train standing in Llandudno Junction
sidings at 10.30 was made up as follows: 31 601 Bletchley
Park Station X - 72630 - 72631 - 62482 - 99666 - 31128
Charybdis. Even while I was admiring this, 37 174
arrived light engine from the east. After pausing very conveniently at
the end of Platform 4 for a few minutes, the loco ran on to Llandudno.
No sooner had it gone than 66 510 came through with a stone
train from Penmaenmawr. Just to round things off, the 11.36 to
Holyhead, running about 15 minutes late, was headed by 47 760 Ribblehead
Viaduct, with a consist of one red and three green coaches. These
green coaches are still filthy, unlike the four behind 47 766
Respected yesterday, which have been cleaned. The test train was still
in place at noon.' - 5 February