THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
Time for pictorial souvenirs as the shabbiest loco on the network, 47
732 Restormel, is entrusted with what is said to be the
last ever Class 47 departure from Manchester with a service train, the
17:19 Manchester - Holyhead on 29 March. Picture at
Manchester Oxford Road by Charlie Hulme.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 29 March 2004
Class 67 Driver Training
starts - report by Larry Goddard
Arriva Trains Wales Class 67 crew-training commenced Monday 29 March,
but the first run was delayed an hour by problems with the service
train - see below. 67 004 Post Haste speeds up the bank
at Llysfaen with the 5Z67 10:05 Crewe Carriage Sidings to Holyhead.
This train picked up its departure time of 14:12 off Holyhead (5Z68)
and returned on time. Eleven years ago on 22 March 1993,
driver-training started on Class 37's and we ended up with seven years
of loco-haulage .... can anyone clarify the purpose of this
current training programme?
47 792 Robin Hood speeding through Llysfaen with the
10:21 Crewe-Holyhead before failing at Colwyn Bay. It was eventually
re-started and continued to Holyhead. [This diagram will allegedly run
for the final time on Tuesday 30 March.] The following HST was held at
Llysfaen until 12:00 noon. - 29 March
Is this the last Sunday of the Arriva 47-hauled services?
This
view taken at Holyhead on 28 March by one of our train crew
contributors is our tribute to the carriage cleaning team who have been
doing their best to keep the coaches clean. The loco is 47 792
Robin Hood.
Push-pull reminder
George Jones writes to tell us that seats are still available on
the evening push-pull special organised by The Llangollen
Railway GW Locomotive Group on the evening of Friday, 2 April 2004. A
return journey from Llangollen to Carrog will operate, departing
Llangollen at 18:00 and returning for 20:00 to make best use of
available daylight. Here is
the booking form: further bookings are very
welcome.Eryl Crump's picture above was taken during the
railway's Gala weekend: many more pictures of this coming soon. -
28 March.
A Holyhead weekend with
John Lewis
I decided to take a short trip as far as Llandudno Junction on the
afternoon of Saturday 27 March, most likely my last with Arriva 47
haulage. I left on Saturday afternoon on the 12:48 departure, pictured
here waiting to leave Holyhead's platform 3 behind 47 792 Robin
Hood. The journey was not without incident! When the train stopped
in Conwy, something appeared to be wrong - we were stuck there for
approximately 25 minutes while the guard walked up and down, getting on
and off the train at various points, and telling passengers that they
were unable to alight as he could not contact the driver.
We were informed over the PA that there was a technical fault with the
loco. Anyway, we did manage to limp into the Junction, I took more
photos and overheard staff telling passengers that they would be better
off waiting on platform 1 for a Chester train.
[For what happened after this point, see next article]
On my return to the station, 153 303 was still stabled in
platform 2 (in Heart of Wales line advertising livery)...
... and 175 009 passed through with a Manchester -
Llandudno train. I was returning on the 16:36 to Holyhead, now the well
delayed 4 coach rake which I travelled out on, and once again being
hauled by 47792. I could, of course, have caught the 16:55 back to
Holyhead, but seeing as that was a 2 car 175 and becoming pretty full
at that point - presumably with 2 train's worth of people on board - I
decided it would be sensible to return on the 47 after all. It was the
right decision, as the train was extremely quiet and by that time
pretty eager to make up some time! So I had a throughly enjoyable run
back to Holyhead.
The train is pictured entering Llandudno Junction's platform 4.
On the way into Holyhead, I caught sight of the two former Associated
Octel / Great Lakes diesel shunters brought down from Amlwch for
storage at the Anglesey Aluminium plant. These have been donated to the
Lein Amlwch society, in preparation for their work to start on the
Amlwch line (things are moving again in that direction). Not a great
photo, but it was from a moving train and is the only place they can
really be seen by the public.
Finally, two pictures of this afternoon's 16:15 Virgin departure with 43
121 leading and 43 153 bringing up the rear.
Incident at Conwy 27
March - by Martin Brigham
Saturday 27 March, and 47 750 is seen at at Crewe, having
worked 1K57 Holyhead - Crewe; this loco was detached at Crewe before
running off light to points unknown. 47 792 Robin Hood
was then put on the front of 1D65 Crewe - Holyhead.
47 732 Restormel was stabled at Holyhead with the other Arriva
set.
47 792 and train arrived as normal at Conwy station, but when the
driver tried to move away, the loco tried to power up but the train did
not move! We later found out that there was a problem with the brakes
on the stock; a bad place to have problems as the short platform here
means the loco is well off the platform and under the bridge through
the town walls. After about 20 minutes stood at Conwy, we finally
limped to Llandudno Junction where the train was cancelled. The stock
then worked empty to Crewe. It worked the next train, 1D75 as
normal, so the problem must have been fixed.
My final picture shows 47 792 stood at Llandudno Junction. - 28 March
[See Martin's
fotopic website for a wide selection of trains and buses around the
UK.]
37s on the Cambrian
37 114 City of Worcester and 37 308 worked
a Pathfinder charter to Aberystwyth on 27 March, and Paul Japheth
took these pictures for us at Machynlleth.
Paul writes: 'The train was well loaded to what seemed 90%+, and was 25
minutes early. I was told by a passenger that at Wolverhampton it was
20 minutes late but due to a late service train was allowed through
early at Shrewsbury and they had a 'storming' run. I had to
travel down from home in Pwllheli to take the shots, and thought I’d
lost them as the train pulled in while I was stuck behind a milk lorry
on the road. However, it stood in the station long enough for me to
take the shots as it waited for the up service train from Aberystwyth.
Hopefully, sometime soon I won’t have to travel quite so far, if 37s
are allowed over Barmouth viaduct - and I will be able to take the
train to see them. - 28 March
End of the 47s? (repeated for convenience)
It looks as though Arriva Trains Wales are going to allow their Class
47 contract with EWS to expire in 31 March as threatened. Our
information (with acknowldgement to www.sulzerpower.com)
is that after the two diagrams run as normal on Monday 29 March,
Tuesday 30 March will see the all-day Crewe diagram plus the morning
Bangor-Manchester. The latter loco and set will run empty to Crewe and
not return to Manchester in the evening. On the last day 31 March, the
only loco-hauled ATW train will be the morning Bangor - Manchester,
this loco and stock then head for Crewe and oblivion. See our railfan
guide for the full timings. - 28 March