THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
The very last Sunday of Virgin's 47-hauled Holyhead trains
(again!) and 47 830 arrives at Chester with 1D81 13:01 Crewe -
Holyhead, 19 September. (Darryl Thomas)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 19 September 2004
Last
chance for the Halton curve?
The North Cheshire Rail Users' Group would like as many people as
possible to ride the morning train from Chester to Runcorn on Saturday
25 September. The Group has organised a special bus
to return passengers from Runcorm Main Line station to Chester via
Frodsham and
Helsby. The vehicle to be used is Warrington Borough Council's
heritage Leyland PD2/40 double-decker No.148. Tickets will
be for sale on the train, prior to departure of the last
train this year over Halton
Curve, the 08:25 Chester to Runcorn Main Line on 25 . The bus will run
to Chester General Railway Station, approximate times: Runcorn (Main
Line) 09:00, Frodsham 09:15, Helsby 09:25, Chester 09:45.
It had been hoped that the train from Chester could make extra stops at
Helsby and Frodsham stations, but despite representations at the
highest level, First North Western have
found themselves unable to grant this request. Readers are encouraged
to make this journey if you can, as the Strategic Rail Authority has
expressed its willingless to close the line, as reported here
previously, so there may never be another chance. - 19
September
Railtour round-up
Two diesel-hauled charters impinged on our area on Saturday, and our
contrubutors were ready with their cameras. 37 047 and 37 109
starred on 1Z37, the Pathfinder Tour to Sharpness.
.
Warren Desmond was up and about before dawn to bring us these
two dramatic views.
Also around was 45 112 The Rotal Army Ordnance Corps on
1X45 Newtown (Cambrian line) - Edinburgh. This view by Carl Grocott
shows the train at Gobowen station, which recently won an award for the
Best Small Station on the Network Rail system.
The 'Peak' at Frodsham station (Warren Desmond)
Heading out of Frodsham (David Jackson). - 19 September
Winter Timetable review
- by Rowan Crawshaw
There are major changes taken place in the 27 September - 11
December timetable.
Arriva Trains Wales
06:53 all stations Bangor - Crewe starts from Holyhead at 06:08
06:44 Holyhead - Crewe retimed to 07:22
11:19 and 13:16 Bangor - Crewe start from Holyhead at 10:40 and 12:51
15:49 Holyhead - Crewe starts from Bangor at 16:13
19:30 Chester - Crewe now back back from Holyhead at 17:35
21:40 Llandudno - Chester is extended at Crewe
09:50, 13:56 and 14:45 Holyhead - Crewe are withdrawn
There is an 07:00 Crewe - Bangor via Llandudno!
08:19 and 10:17 Crewe - Bangor are extended to Holyhead
16:42 Crewe - Chester is extended to Llandudno instead of 17:53
16:16 Manchester - Llandudno is diverted to Holyhead while 17:21 and
18:16 from Manchester go to Llandudno
18:20 and 20:17 Crewe - Chester are extended to Holyhead
18:56 Crewe - Holyhead departs at 18:48 and terminates at Bangor.
There are trains from Birmingham - Bangor via Wrexham 07:33 and 11:33
(to Holyhead) returning at 12:08 and 16:02 (15:35 from Holyhead).
On Sundays there no trains from Crewe - Holyhead between 11:17 and 16:00
Virgin Trains
All departures from Holyhead and Euston are retimed as follows:
From Holyhead:
05:27 becomes 05:38
09:20 becomes 09:50
13:23 becomes 14:17
From Euston:
08:35 becomes 09:00
17:25 becomes 16:55
19:05 becomes 19:35
There are new services from Holyhead at 06:50 and Euston at 15:48.
Also, there is a Llandudno train departing from Euston at 11:21
returning from Llandudno at 15:23. The fastest train which is 09:50
from Holyhead takes 3hrs 50 min arriving Euston at 13:40. The 16:55
from Euston takes 4 hours 35 minutes to get to Holyhead!
Flint gains three direct trains to London at 08:11, 11:11 and
16:11 returning at Flint at 13:44, 18:08 and 22:00.On Sundays there two
trains each in direction which are 13:19 and 16:10 from Holyhead
and 16:00 and 18:28 from Euston. - 19 September
Hippos spread their
wings - report by 'Concrete Bob'
Changes made recenely by Arriva Trains Wales mean that Chester-based
train crews now work via Shrewsbury to Birmingham, and some
Chester-based conductors work to Aberystwyth.
Arriva timetables will in due course provide more through services from
North Wales to the Shrewsbury line en route to Cardiff, and they will
see 'new' rolling stock in the shape of class 175s, with Crewe, Cardiff
and Carmarthen train crews being trained to operate them. This will
mean substitution of other North Wales services by 158s ... arguably a
retrograde step, but this is being quietly ignored.
As part of the process, route clearence has had to be obtained, and
operating and safety issues resolved. The first foray south by a class
175 was on the 10 September from Chester to Shrewsbury by 175 116,
running as train on 1Z75, to test platform stepping distances and train
formation trials. I was involved in these trials: the pictures show
Wrexham (top two), Ruabon (above) and Chirk (below.)
There will be further trips, in order to do likewise from Crewe to
Cardiff, and Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton, in the near future.
The bay platform at Shrewsbury was tried ....
... as well as the through platforms. - 19 September
News update
Good news for many people is that the
locomotive-hauled Arriva diagram will now, we are assured, now run
until December 2004. A contract has been signed with Riviera
Trains which includes the availability of a standby loco. It had been
intended that the 17:20 'Club Train' from Manchester would run to
Llandudno from the start of the winter timetable, but it seems unlikely
that we'll see a reprise of the run-round which everyone enjoyed so
much a few years ago with the 37s. One imagines the train will be
diverted to Holyhead.
On the Virgin front, dramatic events occurred at Holyhead very early in
the morning of Friday 10 September when 57 301 Scott Tracy
was hauling Pendolino 390 018 up the bank with what seems to
have been a practice run of the London service to begin at the end of
the month. The coupling between the loco and the train parted and
eveything came to a halt until the loco ran forward to Valley and back
down the other line to drag the train back into Holyhead station.
Steve Morris took our pictures on 11 September, showing the
abandoned train in the sidings at Holyhead, and 47 841 Spirit
of Chester passing 57 301 while running round the London service.
57 301 ran to Valley for turning (damaged coupling at the Holyhead
end), coupled up to 390 018 and left for Oxley depot, Wolverhampton,
during Saturday afternoon. Much more detail and pictures of this event
can be found in Deiniol Williams' Railhead News Archive.
The two charter trains ran more or less as planned on 11 September,
although problems with a 175 (surely not!) seem to have launched a
spanner into the works some time during the afternoon. The weather was
terrible, but Greg Mape kindly braved the rain for us to
capture 6233 Duchess of Sutherland at Colwyn Bay ...
... and 67 004 Post Haste awaiting departure from
Llandudno with the return charter to Morpeth. - 16 September
Charlie's Holiday snaps
Just for fun, here are a few pictures from my Swiss trip. Here's
Arth-Goldau, a favourite spotting location, with Re 4/4 II 11134
on a southbound Gotthard line train from the Lucerne direction to
Chiasso on 10 September.
Arriving at the platform at Arth-Goldau on the line from Zürich, a
pair of Re 4/4 IIs, headed by 11137 still in original green
livery, are needed to haul heavy train EC 383 'Cisalpino Cinque
Terre' (Zürich to La Spezia Centrale) up the steep grades of
the Gotthard: the rear coaches of the long train can be seen to the
right of the picture.
Finally, a little steam in the form of Lake Lucerne paddle
steamer Uri calling at Flüelen on 13 September. As a
matter
of interest, a superb website devoted to
Swiss paddle steamers is run by North Wales resident and reader of
of our site John Bird. - 16 September