THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
Readers may recall the 'artistic' inclusion of a fellow photographer in
our picture taken at Crewe on 11 December (Last
Notice Board.) Special
thanks to the man himself, 'Dave36', who has sent along his own
picture, a work of considerably higher quality.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 23 December 2004
The
Christmas Chester
Chuffer - report by Laurence Wheeler
Past Time Rail's Christmas Chester Chuffer on 18 December ended
what has been a sparse year for steam at Chester (and on the North
Wales Coast). The train originated in London, but was hauled from
Birmingham International by Ian Riley's Black 5 No. 45407 The
Lancashire Fusilier. This loco was a last minute substitution for
No. 34027 Taw Valley which had failed as late as
Wednesday with flat tyres, or more correctly tyre flats. The Black 5
put in a heroic performance on the class 7 duty, including a volcanic
assault of Gresford Bank. At least three Chester residents rose
early to go to Birmingham, to return to Chester, to go to Birmingham,
to return to Chester ... yes, the men - in - white - coats are arriving
soon! The picture above shows the Black 5 at Chester having arrived on
time at 12.26 from Birmingham International.
Photo 2. Santa Claus has sneaked on the train at Chester, and is
busy distributing presents to the passengers. Obviously a steam train
is more convivial seasonal transport than the usual sleigh. - 23
December
Manchester - Llandudno
weekends and the Cheshire Lines
There's been even more confusion than usual regarding the timetable for
the Manchester - North Wales route from 1 January 2005. Normally, when
Network Rail makes a late change of plan, the National Rail Timetable
book has the wrong information because of its early press date, but the
individual train company will manage to bring out a correct timetable
leaflet. On this occasion, however, both are wrong: the whole route
from Manchester to Chester and Llandudno is open as normal on Saturdays
and Sundays from 1 January, although 'normal' for the Llandudno branch
on a winter Sunday means there are no trains in any case. Arriva have
published a correct
weekend timetable on the website as a PDF file.
Glad tidings for the locomotive fans is that (at the time of writing)
Arriva are planning to continue their contract for Class 47s with
Riviera Trains until 31 January, which will include the Manchester
diagram on Saturdays as well as Mondays - Fridays. (1H43 07:26 Chester
- Manchester Piccadilly, 1D37 10:03 Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead,
1H52 13:35 Holyhead - Manchester Piccadilly, 1D46 17:41 Manchester
Piccadilly - Chester.)
Our comments about the operation of the service during the recent
engineering works has generated some very interesting comments from
railway insiders, for which many thanks as always. One link of Chester
train crews did retain route knowledge for Cheshire Lines trains via
Northwich until 12 December; they work one morning train (06:58 Chester
- Manchester -
Chester - Llandudno) and one night train (23:00 Empty Manchester -
Chester, after working 22:00 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly via
Warrington). Since 12 December, however, we believe there are no booked
Arriva workings on this line. The Runcorn East turnbacks have been
worked with a mixture
of Chester and Llandudno Junction crews, and the proportion of such
train crew that retain route knowledge for the Northwich route is about
20-30% and thus it would be a logistical nightmare to re-roster them to
cover all services, even if there were enough available from the
depleted weekend resources.
A further complication still is that the Northern Rail drivers
which work the Mid-Cheshire Line are actually based at Manchester
Victoria, only a handful of them 'sign' (that they are sufficiently
familiar to operate) Class 175's which normally work services
through Manchester Piccadilly to the Airport. However, to quote from
the excellent newsletter of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users' Association:
'There has been a problem for years getting the Victoria drivers to
Piccadilly on time. Last summer an extra ten minutes was put into their
diagrams to help. However, if their taxis turn up late (not unusual),
the effect is a late departure from Piccadilly and then a late return
from Chester. One solution suggested was to train Piccadilly drivers on
the line. This would cut out the transfer time and also have the added
bonus that in the event of problems, any spare drivers would already be
at Piccadilly. This has now been agreed, Piccadilly drivers are being
trained on the line and they will gradually take over from 12 December.'
A very strange working for Chester drivers in the old timetable was the
23:00 Chester to
Manchester Piccadilly. This comes in to Chester via Northwich as a
Northern train (21:24 from Manchester) with a Northern crew. A
Chester-based Arriva driver then takes over to drive the train to
Manchester via Warrington, as Northern crews do not have knowledge of
this route, with the Northern driver riding as a passenger. At
Manchester Piccadilly, the same Northern driver re-relieves the Arriva
driver to take the unit to Newton Heath.depot. The Arriva driver then
has a taxi back to Chester, leaving again at 04:20 empty to Manchester
Piccadilly, and the guard has five hours hours
break at Piccadilly before working the 05:30 back to Chester with the
same Arriva driver!
Everything was simpler twenty years ago when this picture from our
archives was taken from the bridge near Altrincham station. The
Class 108 diesel unit is coming off the Chester line on to the
electrified Manchester South Junction and Altrincham route and will
travel via Sale to Manchester. Today there are four tracks at this
point, a pair for the Network Rail line and a pair for the Metrolink
trams, and Altrincham North signalbox is just a memory. - 23
December
The Rail Passengers Forum, Chester, 14 December - report by Laurence
Wheeler
The large room in the Queen Hotel was moderately full, mainly with
local politicians and well known representatives of rail user groups,
but with a few independent passengers.
The meeting was chaired by John Owen of the Rail Passengers Committee
for NW England (photo above), who gave a short introduction. This was
followed by a thoughtful presentation by John Ross of Cheshire County
Council on where they are with the 'Chester Rail Gateway Project' that
has been on the cards for some time. It is clear that funding is tight,
and some of the more radical parts pf the strategy may never see the
light of day. Nevertheless, the overall message was positive. Ben
Davies of Arriva Trains Wales then spoke animatedly about their
aspirations for the stations and the services serving it.
He spoke of Arriva's £1 million improvements at Chester
station (leaflet above - the first time this site has published a
close-up picture of someone's ear - C.H.) that are due to be
completed by the end of 2005. Gasps all round! New booking office,
travel centre, ticket barriers, shops, toilets etc.. It was hinted that
the booking and travel office would be either side of the entrance -
deja vu anyone? Ticket barriers - what will the gricers do? Platform
Tickets? Joking apart, this was all very welcome news and well received
in the subsequent discussions. We were assured that this all fitted in
to the overall gateway strategy.
The Chair was then joined by senior managers from all the other Train
Operating Companies, as well as Network Rail and the City Council.
There was a well chaired question and answer session, starting with the
Chester project itself, then moving out more generally as far afield as
Holyhead and Manchester Airport. All fairly positive, although the
representatives from ATW and Northern were blunt in saying there was no
money for service improvements in the franchises, and any enhancements
would have to be funded from elsewhere.
Altogether a worthwhile evening. - 23 December
The Welsh Dragon and
other tales - by Eryl Crump
I attended the special events at Holyhead on 13 December, the first
Monday of the new timetable. Above, the waving away of the 05:38 to
London, (now named 'The Welsh Dragon') by Ynys Mon MP Albert Owen
and Virgin West Coast Managing Director Charles Belcher. The waving
away was ceremonial and staged - it took place at the wrong end of the
train but the Public Relations people thought that area was better lit.
There was no time to run to the other end and try the same thing by the
loco!
I tried some pictures of the other trains at the station, those at
platforms anyway: this is 158/153 combo - there was a 175/0 and a
silver 158 behind the 390 in the dark.
Later, after a spirited and on time sprint down the coast to Rhyl for
breakfast (on the train) in the Pendolino and back to Holyhead on
Voyager 221 116 (seen above on alighting at Holyhead) ...
... Mr Belcher officially declared the servicing depot open.
Voyagers will be serviced here, and the 390s in about 12 months
time.
On prompting from yours truly Mr Belcher admitted to being interested
in the redundant Midland Main Line Class 222 'Meridians' for the
Holyhead - easier to operate the one fleet rather than two, cheaper
etc. The 'Thunderbird' loco stationed at Llandudno Junction (although
it has not been seen recently) has not yet been used 'in anger' and is
a contract with Network Rail. - 23 January
Return of the Princess
(This is a press release - we are not responsible for the language!)
'Plans have been unveiled to re-enact a famous named train of the past
heading for Holyhead station being pulled by a prestigious steam engine
that was once a regular sight in the area. Steam buffs are expected to
converge on the route between Crewe and the Isle of Anglesey when 'The
Irish Mail' is brought back to life from the hey-day of the railway,
hauled by former London Midland & Scottish Railway express
locomotive 6201 Princess Elizabeth.
'Giving out details of the historic run on Saturday April 9, train
charter company Steamy
Affairs, of Terrington St Clement, Norfolk, revealed that
passengers will be paying as much as £189 for the return trip
from Ashford, Kent.A spokesman said: “Our journey starts at Ashford,
picking up also at Headcorn, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Bromley South,
Milton Keynes and Crewe. On leaving Crewe [where the steam loco will be
attached] the train will be steaming through the Cheshire
countryside and passing through Chester. It will then join the coast
taking in Liverpool Bay, Prestatyn and Colwyn Bay.”
'He continued: “The remainder of the route would include Llandudno,
Conwy Castle before crossing the Menai Straits to the Isle of Anglesey
and arriving at Holyhead. It will be a total of 210 miles.” But there
will be no shortage of takers for the trip as so much interest was
shown that within hours of yesterday’s
announcement a repeat run [originating from St Albans] was
planned for Saturday May 7.
'From its emergence from the Crewe railway works in 1933, Princess
Elizabeth hauled crack express trains between London and Scotland
for the LMS and after nationalisation on January 1 1948 worked for
British Railways. A member of the much loved Princess Royal class, 6201
weighs 104 tons 10 cwt and with its tender a total 159 tons three
cwt. Princess Elizabeth is now fully restored and has a special
licence to run over certain sections of Britain’s national railway
network on occasions and was seen as the most appropriate locomotive to
re-enact the Irish Mail.' - 23 December
The Anglesey stopper
The timetable change saw the end of loco-hauled 'request stop' working
across Anglesey: here are some submitted pictures taken during the
final week to commemorate the event. Above, 47 839 stands
at Valley on the 12:41 service from Holyhead to Crewe on 8 December.
Same train: a wider view showing Valley signalbox.
47 839 pulls away from Rhosneigr
having picked up one passenger.
No stop needed at Ty Croes on 11 December: 839 accelerates away from a
slow down in very dull conditions.
Also the last week for the Rail Head Treatment Train, seen
standing at Holyhead on the afternoon of 8 December with 37
689 and 682.
he lunch time arrival from a different view.
Another view of 47 839, having been released from its train.8 December.
47 839 awaits its driver prior to departure. With the diagram changes
reported will this be the last time that a 47 can be photographed
in darkness at Holyhead? - 23 December
Headboard tailpiece
Steve Morris writes: 'Further to the story of the headboard off
the 'return to mainline' Class 40 tour (see 13
December Notice Board) - here it is on my office wall -
I bought it from Pathfinder following an auction in 2003.'
Steve's fine picture book Class Forties to Holyhead was
published earlier this year, and copies are still
available. - 23 December