THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
47 816 at Promised Land Lane just East of Chester on the
17:25 Euston to Holyhead 1D88 on Friday 25 June. (Tim E. Rogers)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 26 June 2004
23 June
and all
that: the facts and a personal view - by Kevin Melia
The delays experienced by Virgin Londonn - Holyhead trains 1D88 &
1D89 on 23 June (Item by Alec Fuller, below) were a direct cause
of infrastructure problems on the now notorious farcical West Coast
Mainline (downgraded not upgraded in many an opinion).
By early evening south of Milton Keynes at the height of rush hour a
freight train had already been causing delays the entire day by being
stuck (problem with wagon(s) in the consist) in its section with no
easy way of shifting it (without use of wheelskates - which were
eventually employed to appropriate wagons), thus creating a two-track
railway. 47 828 Severn Valley Railway had already
continued on 1A77 13:23 Holyhead - Euston south of Crewe in place of
the class 87 (which remained dumped at Crewe), then met with a 90
minute delay reaching London owing to mutiple track equipment problems,
which had been worsened by only two lines open in rush hour!
There was the now increasingly common stack of trains caught up, along
with all the traincrews and sets to work all northbound services with
the obvious operational knock on effect of severe delay/cancellation to
everything heading north. Well worth spending miilions of pounds on new
trains that can't operate over the route any better than the previous
ones battling the constant increasingly daily West Coast chaos?
In the end the 1D88 (17:25) and 1D89 (19:05) departures from
Euston would both have left about the same time if both had run from
London so 1D88 was cancelled, even though it could have potentially
started somewhere north of Milton Keynes. The problem was essentially
the fact that by this time all of the Holyhead traincrews (for both
trains) were stuck in the London area so there was no guard for 1D88
had it begun anywhere except London, and finding a replacement at short
notice wasn't workable. The set still ran as Empty Coaching Stock to
provide normal service on 1A23 & 1A49 following day.
I believe an error in judgement of staff at Crewe was to blame for 1D89
landing behind the Swansea - Bangor service at Crewe, as the Virgin
service was ready to leave, with 47 851 on front well before the Bangor
train was booked off, but the local stopper still got given the signal
first. As for 47 828 - many had hoped it would return on 1D89
throughout, but owing to heavy delay and set balancing requirements it
landed 1G43 the 20:40 Euston - Wolverhampton throughout (the set for
that had rolled in with a class 87 in front of the Driving Van Trailer
instead of at the back, and there was nothing to work back out).
Can anybody explain how September and the Pendolino timetable
alterations could possibly revolutionalise the WCML and make anything
better on a day like the 23 June?
Class 47 Miscellany
We present a collection of recent Virgin Class 47 views from
our inbox. First, 47 826 the locomotive known as Springburn
brings 1D87 into Rhyl on 24 June.
(Dave Sallery)
The same train at Bangor on Thursday 24 June. Note that the DVT is
at the wrong end for a shove to London. (Alan Crawshaw)
Stephen Boulton and his camera rode this same train to Holyhead and
back on 24 June. Stephen writes: After 47 826 arrived at Holyhead with
1D87, it ran around as usual, but stopped alongside 47 851 in the
siding, and the driver started up 851. 826 then proceeded onto the
train and was coupled up. The Driver went back for 851 and was attached
onto front of 826, which was then shut down. Train left a few minutes
late but was worth to have two 47s up front ...
... and another view on arrival at Chester. (Stephen Boulton)
Two more views of the green machine: 47 851 Traction
Magazine calls at Bangor with the 1D87 10:43 Crewe - Holyhead on 19
June (Rowan Crawshaw)
1A77, 13:32 Holyhead - London passes Mostyn on 25 June, right way
round this time. (Tim J. Rogers) - 26 June
Llandulas Viaduct in
focus
Greg Mape's picture from 22 June shows 47 826 Springburn
heading west over the viaduct at Llandulas. The different design
style of this bridge compared to others on the line is a clud to its
unusual history. The original stone viaduct collapsed on 17 August 1879
under the pressure of floodwater in the Dulas stream following a great
storm which battered the area. Ttrains were diverted via the Cambrian
Coast line, Afon Wen and Bangor until 25 August when a temporary wooden
bridge, reached by 1 in 25 gradients down from the main line level, was
opened; this was only used by passenger trains. Work began imemdiately
at Crewe works on the steel spans for the permanent replacement
which has seven spans, each 32 feet long. All the steelwork was ready
at Crewe after just one week, and by 14 September 1879 the bridge was
ready for traffic as it still stands to this day. Electric lighting, an
innovation for the time, was used to allow the building work at
Llandulas to proceed continuously.
A curious sequel to these events, according to North Wales coast
line historian Peter Baughan, was that the London and North Western
Railway, in payment for the use of their line, gave the Cambrian
Railways a locomotive, LNWR no 1881, a Sharp, Stewart 0-6-0
which had originally been No. 1 of the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen
Railway and became Cambrian no. 18 Orleton. and was of the same
design as some locos alrady in Cambrian stock. - 25 June
Voyager off the Coast : The cruise ship Seven
Seas Voyager, GRT 40,000 Tonnes, visited Holyhead on 22
June en route from Dover to Copenhagen. Mark Lloyd Davies'
picture shows a 175 unit on the outskirts
of Holyhead with the ship at anchor in the background.
Sojourn at Holywell
Junction - with Tim J. Rogers
1D87 08:35 London - Holyhead at Holywell Junction
on 23 June: 47 828 Severn Valley Railway in charge.
6K22 10:40 Penmaenmawr - Crewe ballast train, passes, with 66
604. - 24 June
Problems with 'Control'
- by Alec Fuller
On 23 June I was working in Manchester, travelling out on 06:45 from
Holyhead, 07:54 from Llandudno Junction, on time at Manchester
Piccadilly. I Intended catching the 17.17 ex Piccadilly, however my
colleague was somewhat slow in completing his jobs, so we left
about 18:00 to go to Piccadilly in his car. He had difficulty finding
the way so I arrived there at 18:30. When you want a train to run late
it never does! I caught the 19:17 to Chester, which seemed to be behind
a 'stopper', because we got a green only at Earlestown so we were 10
minutes down at Warrington. We 'knocked on' afterwards an arrived in
Chester at 20:24; of course the 20:22 for Holyhead had left on
time. We do not seem to have joined up trains do we? Speaking to the
Down Side Inspector, I said it seems odd that you can get a North Wales
service at 17 minutes past the hour from Manchester except 19:17. But
the path is in fact used by the Cardiff service, which waits for about
15 minutes at Chester for the path. Now that they are the same company
you would think that they could provide a connection. I gather that the
station staff had enquired about the Manchester train, and had asked
whether they should hold the Holyhead for three minutes. They were told
not to.
To add insult to injury the Inspector said that the 21:49 Virgin
train was 40 minutes down. I went across to the pub and watched the
football. Came back about 21:45 to see a 47 pass through the
station westbound with an empty train. According to the Inspector the
17:25 from Euston had been cancelled. I can understand that the set
(which was labelled Liverpool - Euston) was probably dirty and not fit
for passengers, but it did seem a bad PR move for it to pass through
Chester at the time that the 21:49 should have been there!
At 22.35 it was announced that the next train for the Coast would be
the 22:56 Arriva service, thr through train from Swansea to Bangor,
calling at all stations. It was then announced that 21:49 had left
Crewe at 22:38 and would be in Chester at 22:58. It saved me having to
arrange for my wife to bring the car to Bangor! The Swansea - Bangor
was a one-car 153, which cleared Chester except for the Holyhead
passengers, and those who wanted to use the Buffet. The 22.56 left on
time. The Inspector wondered whether the signaller would hold the 153
outside Chester and let the VT train through. No such luck, we stopped
for about 10 minutes by Saltney whilst the 153 cleared the section, and
again we stopped at Holywell for about five minutes for the 153 to
clear Prestatyn. After that we were clear to the Junction. However we
were held again for about six minutes outside the Junction. We arrived
in Bangor about 90 minutes late. Our passage across Anglesey was
expeditious to say the least. A good run, together with abour 30
minutes recovery time between Bangor and Holyhead our arrival at 01.00
was only 63 minutes late.
Several of the people caught up in this fiasco were regular travellers,
two of whom commuted to work in Manchester. Another was due to catch
the mid morning VT to London. I wish I had driven to this
assignment, I would have been home by 20.30. How long will the public
put up with this chaos. Because of the hiatus in the service via
Stockport my alternative route using Crewe was not available. I have
made arrangements to drive next week!
Comments from railway people about this journey invited ... - 24
June
Farewell to a landmark
Eddie Bellass writes: 'Have any travellers missed the
water tower of the Vulcan Foundry? The works lies in the 'Vee' of
Winwick Junction where the Manchester - Chester - North Wales route
joins the West Coast Main Line The tower came down at 12.45 on 19 May,
a few days after the rest of the general offices were flattened. The
picture shows the actual moment that the cast iron water tank was
pulled free from its previously weakened brick base. All the red brick
rubble between my camera and the tower itself came from the Vulcan
Foundry general offices, demolished during the previous few days. The
main workshop buildings will stand for at least another three years,
leased out to small manufacturers and general warehousing. After that
the whole site will be cleared for residential development, including a
sports & leisure centre.'
Vulcan Foundry was English Electric's principal locomotive
manufacturing plant, and was the birthplace of many of the Class 37s,
including all those which were rebuilt as Class 37/4 are were largely
responsble for the birth of this website. - 24 June
Art History note
John Lewis writes to let us know, the "murials" on platform 1 in
Holyhead
(Ian Bowland's picture, reprised above) have been there for about 14
years or so.
John writes: 'They have graced the platform
since about the time the new station was finally completed after the
"bombsite" which was created in 1979 with the demolition of the station
hotel. The one shown, if my memory serves me correctly, was
created by a young lady named Ceri Bartlett, who I used to know
personally some years back. At the time of the station rebuilding, they
decided to recruit several art students from Holyhead Secondary School
to design some new artwork for the station, which is what you see at
the far end of platform 1 nowadays.' - 24 June