THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
66 509 hauls 6K22 10:40 Penmaenmawr Quarry to Crewe
ballast
train through Flint station, Friday 7 January. (Tim J. Rogers)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 08 January 2005
vent in Chester
Wednesday 12 January Chester Civic
Trust. Grosvenor Museum, Chester at 19:30. Lecture: 'The work of
the Railway Heritage Trust' by Director Jim Cornell who has personal
experience of Chester station. Free to Civic Trust members, non-members
welcome - £3 donation.
Weather problems again
As we write this on the morning of 8 January, the oak tree outside the
page27 workroom window has been waving itself around all night, and
rain has been falling all over North Wales and much of the rest of
Britain. The 'usual suspects' - Llanrwst to Blaenau and Caersws to
Machynlleth - have had to be closed due to flooding.
Larry Goddard braved the weather later on 8 January to take
these
pictures for us.
Twelve months after '£££thousands' were spent on
rebuilding the Conwy Valley line, the same section of track that
crosses the valley floor at Llanrwst was again undermined by flood
water. Flood water levels at Llanrwst North station had dropped a lot
by the time this picture was taken.
Part of the new embankment, built in 2004, shown surrounded by receding
flood waters.
The river had gone over the embankment nearer to Llanrwst.
A roadside view of "Lake Llanrwst" between Llanrwst and Betws-y-Coed.
Larry writes: 'Our forefathers knew a thing or two about the Lledr and
Conwy Valleys and built their roads and quarry lines across the valleys
on stilts to let water pass through in time of flood. Let us hope the
railway line at this point is built on stilts next time!'
The Cambrian line seems to be open again by the evening of 8 January,
and the Conwy Valley item has vanished from the National Rail
website, whilst the Arriva Trains Wales website has nothing to
say. Surely the line has not reopened? - 8 January
A (slightly) new look to
the site ... New Year 'resolution'
For this issue of the Notice Board we have increased the size of
the pictures from 400 to 480 pixels wide, conscious that many people
now have their computer screens set to higher resolutions like 1024 x
768 which makes pictures look smaller on screen. The original page
layout was intended for 640 x 480 screens but we suspect few people use
this resolution now. Larger pictures take more bandwidth and computer
power, of course; if anyone has problems reading or viewing this page,
or has any other comments, do please let us know. In the meantime those
contributors who send their pictures at 400 pixel width are asked to
send them at 480 if possible. Thanks as always.- Charlie, 8 January
More about Sandycroft
and Mold Junction
A wadge of very interesting correspondence is at hand regarding the
signalboxes at Mold Junction and Sandycroft, slated for closure over
the weekend of 22-23 January (see the last
Notice Board.)
Above is an internal shot of Sandycroft Signalbox, in the early 1990s.
Of note are the three L&NWR block instruments which are still in
place (although we believe they were later stolen during a break-in and
replaced by the standard BR Bakelite type: collector who knew that they
were 'worth a bit', perhaps ?).
Note also the the Up Slow line is still in situ and in use. The main
use for this line,which at the time ran from Sandycroft to Mold
Junction, was to give spoil trains conveying spent ballast access to
the
Chief Civil Engineer's tip at Mold Junction where the ballast was
reprocessed. As there was no facing connection left at Mold Junction,
trains for the tip would need to travel in the down direction to
Holywell Junction, run round and return to Sandycroft to gain access to
the Up slow.
Here's the classic view of Sandycroft taken by Tim J. Rogers on
6 January 2005 from the road bridge (which replaced a level crossing
about 1900 when the line was increased to four tracks) with 221 108 Sir
Ernest Shackleton working 09:50 Holyhead - London. Some of
the rodding which connected the levers to the former pointwork still
survives, stretching behind the signalbox; at first glance you might
think the box once stood on a platform, but the actual platforms
here were on the slow lines only, at each side of the formation.
Now a flashback: Daniel Pearson writes: 'Although I lived up in
Durham in my teens, my mother and step-father lived in Sandycroft and I
spent many a long hour during the holidays in the mid-eighties spotting
from the road bridge adjacent to Sandycroft 'Signals'. At the time I
didn't do much photography, I couldn't afford to, but here are a trio
of shots that may be of interest. The first is of class 33 034
passing Sandycroft box on its way back to Cardiff on 22 July 1986.'
The second is of an unidentified 'Peak' heading into North Wales also
in 1986.
All four lines still existed at that time, although the slow lines were
not greatly used. Daniel's third view is a rare shot at that time
of 47 325 using the Down Loop with a ballast train on 5
July 1987. Even by then the dreaded lineside bushes were encroaching on
the shot.
As for Mold Junction and its RAF Emergency signals, here's Bill Rear:
'I think it was 1950 or thereabouts (I can't be precise) when a
military fighter aircraft taking off from the Broughton strip 'clipped'
the tender of a loco (a 4F) passing on the main line which caused some
consternation. The plane promptly crashed on the other side of the
line, scattering the track with some dislodged coal! I understand that
the 'accident' was suppressed by the authorities although local
trainmen recounted the tale to those interested at the time. As a
consequence and to prevent it ever happening again, the Emergency
switch in Mold Junction boxes were installed and colour-light signals
on the Up and Down fast lines. I never remember the signals being
activated in an emergency, although the signals remain.'
The new arrangement of signalling should make trains flow a little more
smoothly along this section, but lets spare a moment to thank the
signallers who have seen our trains safely though this section over the
years, and wish them all the best for the future. - 7 January
To Blaenau by Class 37
Lancashire Railtours are running a Class 37-hauled railtour from
Carnforth to Blaenau Ffestiniog on 16 April. routed via the 'little
north western' line to Hellifield, then via Blackburn, Leyland,
Bolton,Stockport, Northwich, Chester, Llandudno Junction. A pair
of Class 37s from the West Coast Railway will be in charge, and tickets
are selling fast. Details can be found on www.budgietransport.co.uk
and tickets are selling fast We have put up a PDF
of the company's leaflet for your convenience. - 8 January
Bygone days at Chester
A little further east and further back in time: Joe Kelly sends
this fascinating picture which is (we think) taken from the road bridge
over the approach lines to Chester from the Birkenhead direction and
shows the extensive goods yards which existed there. The date is
unknown but it has a very early-1950s look to it; there's one of the 16
ton steel mineral wagons amid the crowd of wooden ones. The
signalbox is Chester No.5, an antiquated structure first built in 1874.
The lines curving to the left from the junction outside the box lead to
Chester station, and to the right is the curve which forms a triangle
and allows trains from Birkenhead to head directly towards Holyhead
without passing the station. The main North Wales Coast line runs
across the background past the now-demolished wagon repair depot which
can be seen just above the box. - 7 January
Topical picture views: A
selection of pictures from our intray
Ian Bowland writes: 'With little variety around on the coast at
the moment the only variable seems to be the location, so I went
climbing up the castle ramparts at Conwy to catch the 14.17
Holyhead-London Voyager as it circled the castle on 30 December.'
Ian's second shot shows the 15.23 Llandudno - London Voyager
service passing through Deganwy station and its smart looking
signalbox. For more pictures from this day and many others see Ian's Rail37 website.
3 January saw the inaugural run by Riviera,
ex-Freightliner, ex-Virgin 47 812 on ATW's 1D37 10:03
Manchester Piccadilly - Holyhead service. This left Rhyl on time
at 11:38 and was pictured soon afterwards by John Myers whilst
approaching the former Foryd Junction.
Bangor on 4 January, and here's 47 812 bringing the 10:03 from
Manchester into the station while 158 822 is about to beetle
off to Crewe. (Alan Crawshaw)
Wednesday 5 January, and 47 805 starts from Manchester Oxford
Road at 08:05 with the commuter train from Chester to Manchester
Piccadilly, which arrives in Manchester just as your compiler is
passing on the way to work each day. notice that the rake of InterCity
liveried coaches has made a comeback.
Unfortunately later the same day track problems caused some disruption.
Tim J. Rogers writes: 'As North Wales is the last place for
diagrammed work for the Class 47 and it is all due to end at the end of
January 2005 (now where have I heard that?) , I decided to make my way
out to the coast on 5 January for 47 812. I even checked the
National Rail service real-live-to-the-minute timetable on the WWW to
ensure all was running to time. As the weather was looking grim I opted
to go to Flint so at least if rained I would have some shelter.
To my surprise when I got to Flint the sun came out; I decided to make
a quick call to make sure all was good only to find out
from John Skipsey who happened to be at Chester that the 10:03
Manchester – Holyhead (47 812) had terminated at Chester!
'There was a fault with trackwork on the down main at Holywell Junction
and single line working between Rockcliffe Hall and Holywell Jn had be
instigated.
'Anyway, I did get a 'Hippo' running wrong road through Flint for my
efforts...
... and here is the Super Voyager Euston – Holyhead turn also
running 'wrong road' through Holywell Junction.'
Here's John Skipsey's picture of the 47 and train languishing
at
Chester.
Next day, 6 January, 47 805 was back on duty: here it is at Sandycroft
with the Manchester - Holyhead. (Tim J. Rogers)
Run round at Holyhead and ready for the return journey...
... and heading back out of Holyhead....
... and rolling through Flint station on the way to Manchester (Tim
J. Rogers)
One of our correspondents sends this very interesting picture from 6
January taken in gloomy conditions at Valley: a single loco, 66 406, on
the DRS flask train. Usually two locos are used on this working as
insurance against problems, and when a few weeks ago a single 37
appeared we made some discreet enquiries as to how this can occur. It
seems that although DRS's safety case specifies two locos 'in normal
conditions' a single loco may be used in case of shortage of power at
Crewe to avoid cancelling a service. If the use of Class 66 power
becomes essential for lack of anything else available, then DRS
actually prefer to use a single one. The power is far greater
than is needed (2 x 3300 HP for one - albeit heavy - type FNA flask
wagon), and the driver would not know if the wagon had a brake fault,
for example. - 7 January