THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
47 816
smokes away in the distance as 1D88, 17:25 London - Holyhead,
pulls out of Rhyl on 29 June. On the right, disused Rhyl No. 2
signalbox waits patiently for someone to think of a use for an unusual
type of listed building. Picture by John Myers.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 01 July 2004
Acton Bridge
special
We've had more mail about this picture from Bill Rear's
collection than any other subject for a long time! There seems to be
almost unanimous agreement now that it was taken at Acton Bridge
station in Cheshire, some time in the early 1950s. Dave Skipsey
writes: 'Plate 6 of Breath of Steam by S.D.Wainwright,
R.Keeley and N.E.Preedy is a very similar view. The co-acting
down starter was certainly for the footbridge but the up home
controlled only the up fast and up slow connection - the Northwich
branch was further down the line at Hartford Junction. The LNWR
lower-quadrant down home had been replaced by an upper quadrant by the
summer of 1955 so this narrows the years down.
The nearest we've had to a modern-day replica of the original
picture is this one taken by Eric Davies on 30 April 2004
showing 66 184 heading south with a trainload of rails. The
line through Acton Bridge was electrified in 1961: the line to right of
the picture is the 'up slow' which joins the main line just behind the
train and runs south for about two miles to the junction with the chord
line which connects to the Manchester - Northwich - Chester line. Acton
Bridge is the first station south of Warrington Bank Quay, but it's not
possible to catch a service train between the two, as only Liverpool
line trains, which join the main line at Weaver Junction a couple of
miles north of Acton Bridge stop here.
Eric's second picture from the same day shows 66 193 taking the
slow line on the same day with a train of bogie coal hoppers. It's been
suggested by one correspondent that the connection in the background
from up fast to up slow was only extended to that point in the late
1970s, but on the whole the Acton Bridge theory seems convincing. The
third line did, we believe spend some of its life as a siding before
being restored to use as a through line. Of the other suggestions,
Ledsham is reported as having four tracks; Helsby did apparently have a
third track in that position, but John Whitby writes: 'Unlike
the track in the mystery photo, it curved away from the photographer
and joined the Hooton branch outside the station. I'm not sure what it
was originally intended for but I only ever saw it used to store
engineers wagons. I suppose it could have served as a freight avoiding
line when the branch platform was occupied.'
The same spot on 14 October 2003, this time pictured by Warren
Desmond with 66 549 on a Freightliner train, and in the
background. Central Trains Class 170s probably on a Liverpool -
Crewe - Birmingham service. Acton Bridge is one of those stations, all
to common in Britain, especially on main lines, which enjoy little more
than a token service, about four trains a day each way stop there, and
woe betide you if the railway abolishes the stop on the train you rely
on to get home from work. Recently, the stop of the 17:09 from
Liverpool vanished from the Summer 2004, timetable, but we believe that
'people power' has seen it restored. In recent times, the Crewe -
Liverpool stopping trains have been transferred from Central to First
North Western control, although some of the trains used seem to be on
hire from Central.
Its position on the West Coast main line makes Acton Bridge a favourite
spot for train watchers and photographers, especially when something
special like a steam train is on the agenda. James Dean writes:
'I used to spend many a Saturday in the late 80s / early 90s on
Acton Bridge station with my Dad and Uncle watching the "Inter-City"
trains racing through, of course all loco hauled then with no DVTs;
even the local class 304 EMU's were great to travel on, and I would
love to travel on one today.'
Something special of a different kind is this triple-headed train with
three Class 37s, 37 694 / 503 / 698, all under power
with an engineer's train on 23 May 2003. Picture by Warren Desmond,
who writes: 'I had a good chuckle when Acton Bridge was named as the
main possibility, as I have enough photos of there on my Fotopic site
to sink a ship.' Speaking of websites, several people have
pointed us to an interesting collection
of 1970s Acton Bridge pictures among Garry Brookes'
excellent collection of photography, which we commend to you all. An
especially interesting one from 22 June 1974 shows Class 50 No. 50
041 (the old D441) at the same spot as our picture with a long and
well mixed freight.
Finally, we can't leave Acton Bridge without a mention for Steve
and Judy Pardoe, who leaves by the station and runs a lively
website for the village at www.actonbridge.org which
include much mention of
the station and the local campaign relating to a proposed substation
which is intended to enhance the power supply of the railway but has
raised concerns among the villagers. A good view of the station
appears in Steve's picture
of an incident on 9 May 2003 when a Virgin train failed in the station
leaving hundreds of passengers to take the air on the platform.
Thanks to everyone mentioned above and in the earlier items, plus Stephen
Harper and Dave Sallery, for this very interesting
discussion. Nor back to our regular programming ... - 1 July
Steam News
Details are becoming available of a couple of steam-hauled charters
which will be visiting the Coast later this summer.
On Bank Holiday Monday 30 August we have the 'North Wales Coast
Express' promoted by the Railway
Touring Company from Nottingham to
Holyhead and back, including a pick-up stop at Crewe (c. 10:15). Loco
is now stated to be 71000 Duke of Gloucester rather than 6201
as originally announced, and fares start at £65. It might
be added that, so far, the paint job on 71000 remains incomplete and
the Duke has yet to make a mainline test run. Perhaps some of the
other readers of this site may have more information as to how things
are progressing inside Crewe Works!
PMR tours are
advertising "The Anglesey Coronation" from Northampton to
Holyhead on Saturday 4 September, to be hauled west of Crewe by 6233
Duchess of Sutherland. Again, pickups at Crewe (09:30
provisional time) are available, and fares start at £55.
Both trains have premium dining options at higher fares. - 1 July