THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
43 067 at Llandudno Junction with the mid-morning Holyhead -
London train on 2 March, which was destined to be terminated at Chester
- see report below. (Peter Roberts)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 02 March 2004
I'm
a station
supervisor, get me out of here
Tuesday 2 March was another Bad Day for the Coast line when a landslip
near Christleton tunnel closed the line between Chester and Crewe at
07:30. It was not opened to traffic again until after 15:30. Jim
Scott's picture above shows the scene at Chester in the afternoon.
1K57 07:45 Holyhead - Crewe terminated at Chester and was shunted into
the yard for later use; a 175 was planned to work 1D65 10:30 Crewe -
Holyhead, but that was later changed back to 47 750 so that ran
round and reappeared as 1D65 starting at Chester 10 minutes late.
A shuttle was put in place between Chester and Crewe, at first running
via Warrington using the 153 off the Crewe shuttle (as 175s aren't
currently passed to run between Acton Grange Junction and Crewe) then
Network Rail opened up the Crewe-Sandbach line, 175 003 joined
in and the two units shuttled back and forth to Crewe via Middlewich
for the remainder of the day. (To cheers from the Middlewich line
reopening campaigners!) The Manchester - Cardiff trains, which are
currently running via Warrington to Crewe because the direct route is
closed for engineering works, had extra stops inserted at Warrington
Bank Quay so people could travel from Crewe to Chester by changing
there.
5K44, the empties from Manchester to Crewe, ran as a 1Z44 11:34 Chester
to Crewe via Middlewich and back as 1Z45 return the same way later on
before turning back into a 5D45 and heading off with 47 776 Respected
to Manchester. (picture above by Jim Scott.)
1K67 12:45 Holyhead - Crewe (shown in Tim J. Rogers' picture
above at Mostyn) terminated Chester and 47 750 ran round again to form
1D75 15:30 Crewe - Holyhead starting Chester. The first Holyhead -
Euston was the last train through in the morning, the second train to
Euston turned back at Chester to work 1T87 11:13 Chester - Holyhead in
the place of 1D87 (which was probably a good job because the original
1D87 failed at Rugby and was cancelled!)
Dave Bramley took the picture above at Christleton after the
line had reopened; the slip debris can be seen on the track
together with a 5 mph speed restriction. In the field above beside the
canal was heavy machinery working on a culvert (had it burst?) that had
caused the flood, and led to the field wandering down to the track. -
2 March
St David's Day at
Chester... by Dave Bramley
1 March: A day of failures again,and not one was a 175! The first
Holyhead-Euston failed at Bangor with a AWS fault and was cancelled,
running empty to Crewe later in the afternoon.
But the potential big train working was later .... The unit for
the 06:48 Chester-Manchester, 158 753, had failed earlier so
that and the 07:51 Manchester-Chester were cancelled. The cover the
stops of the 07:51 the Class 31s on the StAnnes-Greenbank came all
stops to Chester and then they had been arranged to work back on the
09:57 Chester-Manchester via Stockport in place of 158 753 which still
hadn't been repaired by fitters.
However all was not well with the train when it rolled into Chester
with the lead loco, 31602 Chimaera, dead as a doornail!
Somewhere en route it had blown an oil pipe and lost all its oil and
shut down. The oil was steadily pouring out the locos left hand side as
it entered Chester. Despite the failure it was still planned to get the
train away with just 31 468 Hydra powering at the
front, but that couldn't maintain air so the 09:57 was cancelled.
Fragonset fitters later arrived from Derby to pour 'most of Stanlow'
back into the loco and clean the radiator filaments which had a good
soaking in oil as it exited in great amount. The fitters were still
bolting back together the loco at 15:49 and the train left twelve
minutes late, but by Manchester Piccadilly was only three minutes late
and comfortably made it in time for passengers to return on the 17:19
back to Chester with 47 750 in charge. Best run I've had on the 31's
since they started!
Other locos about were 66 005 on the afternoon Chirk logs
(above), 60 042 on the Dee Marsh ...
... and a surprise visit from 67 006 which worked from 6P60 Warrington
to Birkenhead depot via Chester and Wrexham with two EMU translator
vans (975974 & 975978) to pick up 507 007 and take it back
to Eastleigh for refurbishment. The return train, 5X61 ran via Wrexham
and Shrewsbury so I was unable to get a shot of the unit itself. - 2
March
Picture miscellany
47 776 Respected arrives at Bangor with the 1K67 12:45
Holyhead - Crewe on 1 March (Rowan Crawshaw)
Holyhead on 29 February, with 43 097 heading the 16:15 HST to
London, with 43 068 bringing up the rear. (John Lewis)
Ecclesbourne Valley team
contributes to North Wales Refranchising Study: a press release received
Wirksworth, 1st March 2004: The Strategic Rail Authority is
consulting on new proposals to maximise the potential and
sustainability of 1,300 miles of local and rural railways throughout
England and Wales. WyvernRail plc, the company reopening the
Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, is a partner in an investigation into the
options for micro-franchising the operations over two branch lines in
North Wales. This work is led by Chesterfield-based Elan Public
Transport Consultancy Ltd and is being carried out for the Taith
Consortium of North Wales Local Authorities with support from Cheshire
County Council.
George Watson, Elan PTC’s Managing Director and Vice Chairman of
WyvernRail, is leading the successful project team, supported by Paul
Salveson (Association of Community Rail Partnerships), Trevor Griffin
(Interfleet Technology and WyvernRail) and other specialists in the
field of train operations, market research and promotion. The
team also includes Martin Miller and Neil Ferguson-Lee of WyvernRail
plc.
George Watson commenting on the appointment said: “The lines in
question are the Conwy Valley and Borderlands (Wrexham – Bidston)
lines, both of which are important to their local communities as well
as being part of the national railway network, and both appear to offer
considerable potential for development. The Taith consortium
appreciated the approach we developed, which is based on a combination
of wide and relevant practical experience together with new research
into the potential of the two branch lines.”
WyvernRail’s interest in the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway began in 1992
when railway privatisation was first announced. A micro-franchise
for a Derby to Wirksworth service was studied and this led to several
other investigations for services in the East Midlands, including main
line franchises. In turn, this expertise within the company led
to Elan PTC’s invitation to assist in the North Wales study. Email
neilfl@wyvernrail.co.uk for further information. - 2 March
Frustration on 28 February - by Jim Murphy
The 10:21 Crewe - Hollyhead only got as far as Bangor on 28 February,
where the driver failed the locomotive due to brake trouble. Passengers
decamped en-masse to the following 158 service, or (like me) waited for
the next HST.
47 749 Atlantic College and its empty train was moved
into the middle road at Bangor. It was hoped that 47750, stabled at
Holyhead, would be brought in to suplement the failed train, but to the
best of my knowledge this never happened. I was really looking
forward to this trip.... - 2 March
Sign of the times, or of the Voyagers, photographed by Dave Sallery
at Colwyn Bay. There are also 8/10 signs. Test running of Voyager units
has commenced on the lines into Euston, which they will use when
working Holyhead trains. - 2 March