THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
The afternoon HST on the Holyhead - Euston passing Abergele, 19
April (Greg Mape)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 21 April 2004
A final farewell to the EWS class 47s : 47 792 Robin
Hood clags away from Llandudno Junction on 30 March. (Gwyn
Williams)
Updates
Thanks to everyone who has written with answers and updates to our
stories: here are a few of them, with more to come after our holiday.
David White writes about the picture of 60532 at
Altrincham
(below): 'The Tour was on 21 August 1966 from Manchester Central.
ARES was the Altrincham Railway
Enthusiasts Society. According to a report
on the very comprehensive Six Bells Junction
site, Great Western locos 9610+ 9630 from Mouldsworth, then
via Chester Northgate line
to Hawarden Bridge, Wrexham General, Brymbo,reverse back to
Chester General. Blue Peter from there to Holyhead, reverse
back to
Hooton, reverse.then Ellesmere Port, Mouldsworth and back to
Manchester Central.' Sounds like an interesting day...
Back in the present, it appears that the 'travel for free' industrial
action by Virgin train managers has been suspended.
We asked if any other Class 57s other than 57 301 are fitted with the
Dellner coupler: Thanks to everyone who has written about this - 57
302 and 304 have them so far. The ones currently being
converted will have them from the start: there are some very
interesting pictures on Mike
Sheridan's website. Our picture above shows 57 304 Gordon
Tracy on a crew-training run at Chester on 19 April. Boy, are those
couplers ugly!
Finally for now, those interested in the Cwm Prysor line should snap up
a copy of the April 2004 Steam Days magazine which has a
wonderful article on the line with lots of pictures and detail. More to
come from us on this topic too, including a wonderful collection of
recent views which have arrived fron North Carolina! - 21 April
Holyhead is so
bracing...
Railtourer (Hull) are operating a diesel locomotive hauled charter
from Skegness to Bangor on Saturday 24 April. The stock works
empty from Carnforth to Skegness the previous day, and the times kindly
sent by the editor of the Lincolnshire
& East Yorkshire Transport Review are as follows:
Skegness 06:34 ... Chester arr 11:20, Llandudno
Jc arr 12:40, Conwy arr 13:05, Bangor arr 13:25.
Bangor dep 16:50, Conwy dep 17:10, Llandudno Jc dep 17:18, Chester dep.
18:02 ... Skegness arr 22:30
Very unusual to see a loco-hauled charter booked to call at the
little station of Conwy. - 21 April
67 002 on 1Z27, 09:18,
Cardiff - Chester VSOE special at Chester, 17 April. Picture by John
Skipsey.
The
English
Riviera Express
Times for the 'Hooton Charter' to
Exeter, Torquay & Paignton. on Saturday
24 April organised by Ffestiniog Railway (Dee & Mersey Group) and
Chester Model Railway Club are as follows, very kindly supplied by
Laurence
Wheeler. The train will be a Class 67 and set CP02 (13 vehicles). Note
this train does not call at Chester station: a rare loaded
passenger train over the Chester Avoiding Line.
Hooton 07.18, Bache 07.30, Wrexham 07.59, Gobowen
08.17, Shrewsbury 08.43 ...
Shrewsbury 21.41. Gobowen 21.41,
Wrexham 22.00, Bache
22.25,Hooton 22.37.
The train is fully booked, but
photographs are welcome. On the same day there is a Green Express
charter from Skegness to Llandudno and return, and from the same
company on 1 May a charter from Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay,
Abergele, Rhyl, Flint, Chester & Crewe to Bath. The Green
Express website has booking details. . - 19 April
Chester station on 17 April, with 66 121 in charge. (John
Skipsey)
A
clear view
- by Larry Goddard
Trees and bushes have been cleared from the lineside by the
Pleasure Beach west of Rhyl station. The line has never been so
visible, at least as far as Llandudno Junction, since the 1970s.
175 110 leaves Rhyl with the 12:17 Manchester Picc-Llandudno on
19 April.
175 108 passing Rhyl Marine Lake with the 13:38
Llandudno-Manchester Picc.on 19 April. - 19 April
Blue
Peter in
mid-Cheshire - by Ian Bowland
Readers might be interested in the attached photograph of 60532
Blue Peter entering Altrincham station. I suspect the year was
1966/67 and it was a cold, wet day. My (then) fiancée was
on the station forecourt, sat in the car waiting for me and wondering
what on earth she had become involved with (she now knows!).
The locomotive was carrying a headboard denoting "A.R.E.S. Holyhead and
Brymbo Special". I cannot take credit for the shot which was
taken by a colleague of mine, Norman Spilsbury, a quite
extraordinary railway photographer from Altrincham. Those of a
certain age will recognise the building to the left as the
long-demolished Altrincham Picture Theatre. I seem to remember that the
train visited Brymbo Steel Works and there
was more than one such tour. How it took in Holyhead as well I
don't know but it must have been an interesting run. Does anyone
remember this event? - 19 April
Where
to find Class 37s
- by Rowan Crawshaw
On 8 April I rode on the Settle and Carlisle line with 37411 (Carlisle
end) +37405 (Leeds end). I enjoyed my ride on a loco-hauled train after
the 47s finished on the coast. These trains run loco-hauled on Mondays
to Fridays.
37 411 awaiting departure of the 1M53 09:47 to Carlisle at Leeds.
37 405 awaiting departure of the 1E23 13:33 to Leeds at
Carlisle. - 19 April
A
traveller's tale,
Sunday 18 April - by 'Charlie21'
Observations on a North Wales journey. 13:08 Wrexham to Crewe was a 150
in Valley Lines livery. At Chester, the 13:30 to Wrexham, which
goes on to form the 14:00 Wrexham - Bidston was 153 353
but was declared failure at 13:20 by the driver. A replacement was
sourced, but the only options were in platform 6 where a pair of 142s
were blocking in 150 224 - all First North Western
stock. The leading 142 was discounted as out of fuel, the second
had gearbox problems, so the 150 had to be dug out, this took
time and the 13:30 was cancelled as the 14:21 arrived before 150 was
freed. This led to the situation of 153 321 in platform 3
with 150 224 in platform 4 fighting for the single track path
to Wrexham at 14.21. The 150 won as it was due to form 14:00 Wrexham -
Bidston (running almost 1 hour late) offering the sight of First North
Western livery 150 on Arriva working.
I also heard that Arriva Trains Wales were seriously short of stock on
Saturday 17 April as two single car 153s worked Manchester - Llandudnos
in place of 175s. 175 availability was also a problem on 18 April.
[What happens when the weather gets hot? - Ed.] - 19 April
The
Danish Angle
It's always good to hear from readers outside the UK: our first email
from Denmark comes from Allan Støvring-Nielsen of Denmark, who
sends along these very interesting pictures from last summer.
31 128 at Warrington bank Quay with the Network Rail inspection saloon,
4 August 2003.
6K15, the Sandbach trip with its acid tanks, Greenbank station, 5
August. Loco 37 706.
East of England: Barnetby, with 56 118 on an Enterprise
service. - 19 April