THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
The Irish Mail in Miniature at the Wrexham Society of Model Engineers,
5 June. Report below. (John Myers)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 12 June 2004
Irish
Mail in Miniature
- report by John Myers
Having read about it here, a friend and I called in on Saturday
afternoon 5 June to see "The Irish Mail" in miniature running at
Pant-yr-Ochain near Wrexham. Rostered parallel-boilered L.M.S. Royal
Scot class No. 6159 The Royal Air Force seemed to be
making good progress between "Rugby" and "Crewe" during the time we
were in attendance! Note the mailbag exchange equipment on the
right of this picture. - 12 June
Tales of Tattenhall
Junction - a history feature
Tattenhall Junction on the Chester-Crewe line was the junction for the
London and North Western Railway's 'Whitchurch branch' which ran across
the countryside to Whitchurch on the Crewe - Shrewsbury route.
Tattenhall Junction lay between the former stations of Tattenhall Road
and Waverton. None of the stations on the Crewe - Chester line remain
in use today, although significant traces of them can still be seen.
At Tattenhall Road station, given the 'Road' suffix by the LNWR in the
manner used by the old railways to suggest that a station was a long
way from the village, the station building is still very much in
existence and in use as a house. The picture above, like others in this
feature, was taken by our
regular contributor 'Concrete Bob'
in 1982 from an Signal & Telegraph works train that was laying
cable troughs in
connection with the commissioning of Chester Power Signal Box. We are
indebted to Mr Smith, the current occupier, for pointing us to the
Tattenhall
Village website which has a picture of
the station in earlier days, when it had a goods yard, and loops used
for passenger trains to overtake freights. For some more recent scenes,
Alan and Rowan Crawshaw visited the area in 2000 and created a
picture report on the scene.
To the north lay Tattenhall Junction, with its LNWR signalbox shown in
the picture above. By 1982, the box was semi-derelict, although
nominally still open. The line to Whitchurch,opened in 1872, was built
by the LNWR chiefly as a ploy in its battle with other railway
companies. LNWR manager G.P. Neele, in his book Railway
Reminiscences, wrote of it as creating 'a direct line of our own
from Ireland to Hereford and South Wales, and a competing route between
Shrewsbury and Chester, unsatisfactory, probably, to the Great Western
Company, who had hitherto possessed a monopoly of the traffic.'
There were stations at Tattenhall (close to the village), one at
Broxton and one a couple of kilometres from the small town of Malpas,
with last but not lease Grindley Brook Halt, two and half miles short
of Whitchurch adjacent to Grindley Brook Locks on the Shropshire Union
Canal. Once the railways were nationalised, the line's role as
commercial competition vanished, and the sparse passenger service of
five trains a day each way petered out in 1957, some years before the
infamous Dr Beeching came along. Following the closure of Tattenhall
station, Tattenhall Road station on the Crewe - Chester line was
renamed Tattenhall, although this action did not move it any closer to
the village, and this station too was closed a few years later.
Local freight lingered on the branch until 1963, and for a while the
Tattenhall
Junction end of the line was used as a siding, probably used for
storing old wagons as many old lines were at the time. The last relics
of the Whitchurch branch can be seen in our 1982 picture (above), but
the point is quite hard to spot from a train today although there is an
emergency crossover and ground frame at the site. At one time there was
a plan to turn the line into a country park, for walkers and cyclists,
but apart from one or two places, the trackbed has largely reverted to
farmland. Malpas station building, however, is in excellent condition,
having been restored as the offices of a road-surfacing company.
On the hot summer evening of 2 July 1971, Tattenhall Junction was
tragically thrust into the limelight. The 17:19 return Schools Party
Special from Rhyl to Smethwick Rolfe Street, formed of Class 47
locomotive 1683 and ten Mk 1 coaches, was approaching the junction
under clear signals at around 70mph when when the track buckled without
warning under the middle of the train.
As the picture above, reproduced from the official report, shows, the
buckle occurred directly under a bridge. The ninth coach derailed, and
the tenth, a brake-second in which the train guard was riding, hit the
bridge and turned over, severely damaged as can been seen from the
wreckage including the familiar mesh from around the van's parcels
section. However, Guard Wilkinson managed to climb out at make his may
to the signalbox where signalman Blower assured him that both lines had
been protected against the approach of other trains, so he returned to
help with the rescue. Two passengers, a boy of 11 and a girl of 10,
were killed, and 26 injured people had to be taken to hospital.
The official report on the accident, published in February 1972,
discusses in detail the events leading to the track buckling. In a
sequence of events which in some ways presaged the infamous more recent
accident at Hatfield, track maintenance staff at different levels in
the hierarchy knew that there were problems with the track in this
area, with the spiked flat-bottom rail showing significant 'creep' in
the direction of movement of the trains, this closing up the expansion
gaps between the rails and generating stresses. Local staff had
reported the problem some weeks before the accident, but not a great
deal had been done about it by the Permanent Way Supervisor at Crewe, a
man with 42 years experience on the railway on whom the inspector
placed the prime responsibility for the accident. On the day of the
accident, the local track chargeman had become so worried as the
temperature rose that he turned out from home on his own initiative to
inspect the line, only to find that the accident had taken place
by the time he arrived.
As is so often the case with these accident reports, the text is
peppered with interesting details and human stories. The Tattenhall
signalman, Relief Signalman Mr D. Blower, who was just 18 years
old and had just qualified at a signalman, was commended by the
inspector for the professional way he dealt with the situation; he
noticed the debris thrown up by the derailment in the distance and ran
to the box door with hand held high to signal the driver to stop, and
after protecting the line and calling the emergency services he
remained on duty until 22:00 to signal the movements of the breakdown
trains. Does he still work for the railway today, we wonder?
There were none of the long delays in opening the line again that has
been a feature of recent accidents: trains were running again one on
line by the next morning, and at 22:47 the following evening the line
was fully re-opened to traffic. A couple of hours after the crash, the
train was re-started with the locomotive and seven of the coaches, to
get the passengers home to Birmingham. Some time after midnight,
the railway managed to run a special train to take the parents of the
injured children to Wrexham and Chester where they were in hospital.
One small irrelevant detail mentioned by the inspector is that the
train had been delayed for six minutes leaving Rhyl while two missing
children were rounded up - can you imagine this happening today? - 12
June
Llangollen Bank Holiday
- by Peter Roberts
Some views of the Llangollen Railway
taken on Sunday 30 May.
37 240 which was scheduled to run was not available, so,1566
ORION ran instead. The 47 is seen westbound at Deeside Halt.
Inside The Box at Deeside showing the track plan.I would like to thank
Andrew Gardner. the Signalman at Deeside, and The Llangollen Railway
for allowing me to take some shots inside the Signal Box.
Andrew has just exchanged Tokens on the Eastbound, with Foxcote
Manor.
2-6-2T 5199 passing Deeside, eastbound on the 'fast line' having
not had to pass anything in the Loop.
The 'Cambrian Coast Express' hauled by Foxcote Manor storming
through Deeside westbound.
All the staff on the line had obviously worked hard to make a very
enjoyable day - and it was - and they are to be congratulated.The
weather was lovely,despite the forecast. The entertainment at Carrog
was excellent - they arrived on the train and departed on the same
train - and it was thoroughly enjoyable.What a Day!
The next date to look out for is the 'Traction in Transition' steam /
diesel event on 3-4 July. - 12 June