THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
Engineering
work on 4 July saw the Chester - Crewe and Chester - Altrincham lines
closed as well as the all blockades around Stockport, bringing buses
from a wide area hired to the Fraser Eagle company. Seen at Chester
(picture by Dave Bramley) was a coach in Scottish citylink
livery (JUI 7362) and one from an operator from Ayr (Ayrways J400CCH)
working between Chester and Crewe. More buses below...
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 10 July 2004
Class
151 remembered - by Larry Goddard
How sad it was to read of the two prototype Class 151 diesel units
being cut up. Here are two pictures from my archive taken
at Llandudno Junction.
31 421 Wigan Pier shunting the prototype Class 151 Nos. 151
004 and 151 003 on 4 February 1994 after hauling them out
of the carriage shed where they had been in safe storage.
Atmospheric dusk shot of the Class 151 Unit being shunted down into
Quay Siding by 31 233 Severn Valley Railway on 5 February 1994.
I always hoped these units would one day operate Conwy Valley services:
what an attraction. But when the railways have difficulty in keeping
standard DMUs running (175s for instance), what hope is there for a
non-standard train?
Compiler's note: the adaptor vehicles made from four-wheeled parcels
vans are unusual. Do they still exist? - 10 July
The romance of rail travel could turn sour if you had to
endure 150 133 for almost three hours between Manchester and
Holyhead. This was the 09:54 departure from Piccadilly, a regular turn
for a First North Western unit, at Bangor on 19 June. (Alan Crawshaw)
The Chester Connection
Recent comments here about evening connections at Chester for
Manchester - North Wales passengers have produced a number of
interesting comments. Readers may recall that Alec Fuller
arrived at Chester one evening on the 19:17 from Manchester which is
booked to terminate at Chester at 20:19, just three minutes before the
departure of a Cardiff - Holyhead train at 20:22. The Holyhead train
(which would have got Alec to the port at 22:19) was not held, despite
the fact that it was known that other Holyhead trains, Virgin services
from London, were heavily delayed. Eventually, Alec arrived at Holyhead
at 01:00.
Well, it has been pointed out to us that the National Timetable
explains that the minimum interval which should be considered as a
connection is five minutes, and this rule applies at Chester, therefore
nobody should travel on the 18:17 from Manchester to Chester expecting
to arrive at Holyhead before the booked arrival of the Virgin service
at 23:57. Anyone travelling to stations to Bangor not served by the
Virgin train, such as Shotton and Flint, would have to wait for
an Arriva train due out of Chester two and a half hours later at
22:52! This is the way the Railway works, and the station staff
can do nothing about it. If they were allowed to hold connections, then
we can be sure they would, after all it is they who have to handle the
irate stranded passengers!
The train from Cardiff has recently been retimed: in the previous
timetable, a connection could be almost guaranteed as long as the 19:17
was not more than 10 minutes late, however with the arrival time in
Chester now less than the required five minutes an authorised hold will
never be granted by 'Control.' Another factor regarding a late running
Virgin service is the age-old (in privatised days at least) cry of
'That's not my train therefore its not my problem' from Control
which helps neither staff on stations or the passengers.
Incidentally, if anyone is thinking that maybe Alec should
instead have taken a train from Manchester to Crewe to connect with the
Cardiff - Holyhead train there, the 17:14 Cardiff - Holyhead does not
call at Crewe as it runs via Wrexham - and in any case the Wilmslow -
Crewe line was closed for long-term engineering works at the time of
the journey in question.
As Dave Sallery puts it: 'This sorry saga draws attention to
the abysmal Manchester - North Wales service in the evenings.
After a through train every hour until the 18:17 from Piccadilly,
things rapidly go downhill. The 19:17 has only a 3 minute
connection, which as we have seen from Alex's experience is a lottery,
if not held then there is a 90 minute wait. The 20:17 has a 29
minute wait while the 21:17 has a 32 minute wait. After that the
final service is a 22:55 with 26 minutes waiting at Chester.''
John Murray has been having a look at Arriva's
proposed 2005 timetable to see if there is any improvement. John
writes: 'The 19:17 from Piccadilly will go through to Llandudno and
there are 9 minutes for connection at either Chester or Llandudno
Junction. The 20:17 also goes through to Llandudno but passengers
will need to wait 69 minutes for the next Arriva service. This
timetable does not show Virgin services, so there will be additional
choice with a service from Chester at 21:33. Overall the situation
looks considerably improved, the only adverse comment I make is that
the 22:06 from Crewe to Chester misses a coast connection by 2 minutes.
'Another long-campaigned-for and welcome change is the retiming of the
18:29 Holyhead to Birmingham New Street is retimed to18:47 from
September this year. This now gives passengers from the 16:05 HSS
sailing from Dun Laoghaire a fighting chance of making a rail
connection onwards as the current timetable is based on the wildly
optimistic 99 minute crossing time achieved only with a mill pond sea
and trailing wind! Unfortunately in the clock face timetable,
this becomes the 18:43 to Shrewsbury meaning that passengers for Crewe
and London will need to change at Chester also. There is also a
new 19:39 from Holyhead to Crewe in the 'clockface' timetable, further
avoiding long waits at Holyhead if the first train is missed. 2005
should bring interesting times, with many more trains along the coast,
although the diversion of many trains via Wrexham from Chester, will no
doubt upset a few people.' - 10 July
The Chester Owl and
other stories
Joe Kelly writes: ' I was in Chester station last night and
noticed that they've now completed the roof refurbishment work on
platform 4. Not a significant thing itself, but I was delighted to see
that the 'Chester owls' have survived, when I was sure they'd be
junked. Very few commuters will have noticed them but I spotted them in
the rafters a few years ago and they've fascinated me ever since. I've
never seen them at any other railway station. What's curious
about this pair of birds is that they're not real, but seem to be
carved out of wood, and have been placed on a thin metal plate which
bends under their weight in the breeze, giving an incredibly realistic
impersonation of a nodding owl. They were obviously created to scare
off pigeons, but I notice that even the owls and a whole heap of
chicken wire are now failing to deter the birds.'
Speaking of station roofs, if you have ever wondered why there is a gap
in the rood behind the buggers of platforms 5/6, visit the Chester
section of the indispensable Garry
Brookes Railway Photography website where there is a fascinating
picture showing the aftermath of the accident in May 1972
in which a runaway Ellesmere Port - Mold Junction freight, hauled by
Derby Type 2 loco 5028, was routed into the bay platform and
collided with a DMU, resulting in a pile-up and fire - one of the
wagons is reported to have been a sulphur tanker - which created the
gap which remains today. There's another picture of this disastrous
event at www.debysulzers.com,
another fine site devoted to
the Class 24 and 25 locos.
Elsewhere on Chester station, the ancient Passenger Information System
has finally given up the ghost, leaving the staff having to write
departure information on white boards, which is admittedly more than
Crewe station managed when their system was broken down for weeks. The
public address system is in poor condition, and of course there are
still no working clocks on the platforms. It seems remarkable that only
a few miles away in Wrexham, a brand new automated screen, clock and PA
system is in use. Could this be related to the fact that Wrexham is in
Wales? - 10 July
It's Betws by Bus
We've mentioned before the new so-called 'Platform 2' at Betws-y-Coed
station: these pictures by Dave Roberts show it in all its
glory.
A close-up of the architect designed platform building with its sign.
Is the 'platform 2' idea helpful or confusing to passengers?
The S2 bus service, which runs from here, is part of the
excellent Snowdon Sherpa network. What makes it special is
the use of an open topped double decker on some services.
The route runs from Betws-y-Coed station to Pen y Pass at the
start of the Miner's and Pyg tracks up Snowdon. Departures from
Betws are at 10:45 (from Llandudno
depart 09:45), 11:45, 12:45, 14:20, 15:15 and 16:15.
Last open-top departure from Pen y pass is 16.45 (to Llandudno - arrive
17.55). Other services are operated by a single deck bus and the
last departure from Pen y Pass is 19.45. Both vehicles carry
bikes which travel free, as do dogs. These are Monday to Saturday
times, Sunday buses are less frequent.
The fares are very reasonable with a return from Betws only
£1.60. In comparison, parking at Pen y Pass is £4.00
and is generally full from very early in the day. Other valid
tickets are the Snowdon Sherpa day ticket valid on all routes for only
£3.00 and the Red Rover which is valid on all bus services
in Gwynedd and the Conwy valley railway line for
£4.95. North & Mid Wales and All Wales rail rovers are
also valid on these services.
full details of the Snowdon Sherpa network are available on the Bus
Gwynedd website, or in the excellent Gwynedd
timetable book available free from tourist information centres in the
area, and if you fancy a walk on Snowdon from Pen y Pass the High
Trek site is a good starting point. These notes on the service and
the accompanying pictures are kindly supplied by Dave Sallery.
- 10 July
Best wishes, Bill!
Our regular contributor and author of many books on the North Wales
lines, Bill Rear, tells us he has recently had a spell in
hospital and is now recuperating at home. We wish him well for a full
and speedy recovery. - 10 July