THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
One-time Coast line favourite 37 401 The Royal Scotsman
(ex-Mary Queen of Scots) at Crewe on 15 March, reportedly
route-learning. (Which route?) The special livery now serves no
purpose, as the Royal Scotsman luxury train itself is now worked by
West Coast Railway Company. Picture by Ian Bowland.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 16 March 2005
One Anglia Morning -
with Ralf Edge
On 13 January, Charlie threw out the challenge: "The last regular Class
47-hauled service is now 1V01 06:22 Great Yarmouth - Norwich ... 1V06
19:05 Norwich (17:00 ex-London) - Great Yarmouth. It would be
interesting to receive a picture and/or traveller's tale of this
train." So here we are - been there, done that!
Knowing the ONE diagram is unreliable at the best of times, we ventured
to Yarmouth. The usual reason for it failing to produce a 47 is a lack
of ONE drivers who 'sign' 47s... Anyway to Liverpool St for the
17:00 to Great Yarmouth, once underway the train is announced as to
Norwich (no mention of Yarmouth)! So on asking the senior conductress
(or whatever ONE call them) she admits to purposely not
announcing it as they only sometimes go to Yarmouth, she'd ring through
nearer Norwich and announce it then either way. So to the advertised
Restaurant car... Sadly our rake is fully catering vehicle deficient,
only a trolley, - Not quite what we were after!
Almost at Norwich it was announced that passengers for Yarmouth only
should remain on the train, (it's non-stop) duly my favorite 47 828
Joe Strummer appears and is coupled ready to go... A few
minutes and photographs later a ONE official appears and tells the
driver he's not going to Yarmouth this evening - Why? - They've just
failed the London bound set so they'll swap them over leaving no spare
sets to take to Great Yarmouth... Result: A few passengers are
de-trained and transfered to 170 202 for the run to the coastal
town that they forgot to close down (Morrissey was clearly singing
about Great Yarmouth)
After spending an evening in Great Yarmouth, finally finding somewhere
to eat in the form of the Columbia greek taverna
(highly recommended) as Yarmouth is very short of restaurants,
especially in winter.
We awoke early (despite brandy and ouzo the night before) ready to join
the train, hopefully with a 47 this time. We arrived at the station in
time to just see 47 828 running round, then propelling the stock back
further into the platform, once complete we were let onto the platform,
giving just five minutes to run the length of the train and grab some
photographs with the tripod.
A leisurely run to Norwich, more photographs and then for a full
English in the restaurant car... Sadly not today sir! They'd only got a
Mk2 buffet so unable to do full English breakfasts, just continental
and a breakfast ciabatta or a "Novo Scotia" - being stacked Scottish
pancakes with bacon and maple syrup - delicious! So at least we
sampled the 47s but sadly ONE appear to be letting the catering side
down, even the waiting staff thought things were slipping these days.
Overall, especially as 86s are still out on the main line, an
overnight in Yarmouth is a good plan for a 47 fan. For more pictures
see http://ralfedge.fotopic.net.
- 16 March.
Electrify the Top Line?
From the Daily Post: 'A North Wales railway line has received a
welcome financial boost from Merseyside's transport executive.
Merseytravel has agreed to contribute £20,000 towards the
electrification study of the Wrexham-Bidston line proposed by Taith,
the North Wales transport consortium. The
study is aimed at developing the case for electrification of all or
part of the line. Merseytravel has also agreed to provide an
annual grant of up to £56,000 to support enhanced evening and
Sunday services on the line. Rail watchdogs have welcomed the news.
Anthony Garrett of the Wirral Transport Users Association said: "We
welcome any initiative to enhance services on the
line."' - 16 March
The new black
Pete Waterman named 87 019 (formerly Sir Winston
Churchill) at Crewe on the morning of 15 March, with Ian Bowland
in attendance to capture the scene for us. The locomotive has
been repainted in a version of the pre-1923 London and North Western
Railway black livery by today's LNWR (owned by P. Waterman Esq.)
and is now carrying the name Association of Community Rail
Partnerships. (See the ACoRP website for details of this
organisation.) One side has a bright green background and the other
blue. Another heritage livery has been given to 87 012
has been outshopped in Network South East livery and named The
Olympian with 'Back the Bid London 2012' in NSE style lettering on
the side. These two will be seen on Virgin services, mostly on the
Birmingham - London line.
2005 is, of course, the 40th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston
Churchill, and some voices of criticism have been heard regarding the
removal of this particular name, but the big question is: is this
'Blackberry Black' or just black? - 16 March
Heritage news
Back in the 1980s someone at British Rail Provincial Sector had the
idea that the 1950s-built multiple unit stock still in service would be
known as 'Heritage Units' with the implications that a ride in a rather
rattly old train could be seen as some kind of historic experience, and
somehow the name stuck. Almost twenty years later, trains of this
generation are finally being retired around the country and some of
them are making news by starting new careers, and it seems a good time
to review the situation.
The Heritage units which readers of this site know best are of course
the Class 101 diesel-mechanical sets which lingered on with First North
Western until the end of 2003, and were until a couple of years earlier
were a familiar sight on the Conwy Valley line and the Anglesey locals.
These were the property of leasing company Angel Trains, who
placed the last surviors in storage at the Ministry of Defence
depot in Shoeburyness, Essex, and offered them for sale to
preservationists. This offer was taken up with great enthusiasm, and
most of the final FNW fleet has passed into the hands of
preservationists.
Two of the 101s have found new homes in North Wales: the Cambrian
Railways Trust at Oswestry have purchased an orange-liveried set
comprising 51512 from 101 687 and 51187 from 101 684, whilst an older,
unrefurbished, set 101 835 is reported as sold to the Bodfari-based
Denbigh and Mold Junction Railway. The most famous of all these trains
however, is green-liveried 101 685 Daisy which has
found a new home in South Yorkshire on the Elsecar Railway
which has a mile of operating track on an old colliery branch a few
minutes' walk from the Northern Rail station at Elsecar between
Sheffield and Barnsley. On 15 March the two driving coaches (the centre
trailer car has been sold to the Mid-Norfolk Railway) arrived by road
at Elsecar, an even which can be seen in pictures on a Fotopic website
created by John Ashton. The owners say they will be working on
the unit at weekends and will be happy to meet visitors, but as yet
there is no date set for Daisy's return to passenger traffic.
Away from our area, Heritage stock has survived in quantity south of
the Thames, including the last of the diesel-electric trains built for
the Southern Regional of BR for use on non-electrified branches. Known
to all as 'Thumpers' because of the sound of their English
Electric-made engines, these are now being replaced by new stock and
their owner, Porterbrook Leasing, has offered them to preserved
railways at a nominal sum. One of these, 207 202, has migrated
north to the East Lancashire Railway at Bury. Related to this
type of unit is the Class 201 'Hastings' type, several vehicles of
which have been owned for some time by a group which hires them out for
running on the main line. Our picture above, taken by Dave Bramley
on 12 February 2004, shows Hastings DEMU 1001 on hire to
South Eastern Trains and running in service between Ashford and
Hastings, covering Class 170s which are in process of being
converted to Class 171s.
Turning to electric units and the south west of England for a moment, a
very interesting development is the proposal by South West Trains to
retain two 1950s-built trains to operate their branch line from
Brockenhurst to Lymington. To quote from their press
release: 'Two Mark One trains are being refurbished to their
original condition which includes repainting them in their original
British Rail colours and operating both trains on the Lymington line.
To ensure all passengers’ needs are met extensive works are being
carried out and include adding a dedicated wheelchair space, some
additional seating and cycle storage. By buying the two Mark One trains
outright and refurbishing them South West Trains will be helping to
make the line more cost effective which will help to safeguard its
future. This would be in line with the Strategic Rail Authority’s
recently announced Community Rail Development Strategy which involves
looking at making branch lines more cost efficient. The Lymington line
has been proposed as a suitable Community Rail Partnership.' Can't be
bad, can it? - 16 March
PLUSBUS = "less fuss"
Press release coming up:
Welsh Assembly Government Transport Minister, Andrew
Davies has
launched a scheme which will make using
public transport easier and better value for passengers. PLUSBUS allows
rail passengers to purchase just one ticket for rail and
bus travel in 25 of Wales' towns and cities, giving passengers access
to bus travel at either end of their rail journey. The scheme is
already proving successful in England and Scotland and PLUSBUS has been
given £50,000 by the Welsh Assembly Government to publicise the
scheme in Wales. Andrew Davies said: "Integrated travel is one of the
cornerstones of
the transport policy that I am driving forward. The launch of PLUSBUS
today is a major step forward in achieving our aims and will offer a
simpler and more convenient system as well as value for money for
passengers."
John Gould of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) in
Wales,
said: "CPT Wales members, which include the main local bus service
operators, very much welcome this further step towards integrated
transport. Once again, the unique relationship between transport
operators and the Welsh Assembly Government is providing genuine
benefit for users." Peter Strachan, Managing Director of Arriva Trains
Wales, said: "An
integrated transport network and the right information in the right
place is what customers want. I am delighted to be a part of this
initiative, which goes a long way towards achieving this."
Participating stations in North and Mid Wales are: Ruabon, Aberystwyth,
Llandudno Junction, Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Prestatyn, Flint, Rhyl, and
Wrexham Central. The idea of this scheme which (despite Mr Davies
claims
to uniqueness) has been running for some time elsewhere in the UK (full
details at www.plusbus.info)
is that if you are buying a train ticket to any of these places and
need to proceed onward by bus, you can ask for, for example, a 'return
to Bangor PLUSBUS' and for an extra quid (kids 50p) your train ticket
will be valid on 'most bus services' for a day from the destination
station. You have to check the PDF maps on the website to see how far
you can go, which, in the case of these Welsh ones, is mostly a couple
of miles radius from the station in question. From Llandudno Junction,
for example, you can go to Conwy or Llandudno, and from Bangor to
Llanfair PG, Bethesda or Felinheli. Then you discover that it's
generally only Arriva buses you can use, not Alpine, GHA, etc. It all
seems a little complicated, and it's not clear from the publicity to
hand how the 'either end of the journey' bit works. If you live in
Bethesda and want to use PLUSBUS to travel to Bangor to catch a train,
how do you buy a ticket? Is there a way to buy these things online?
Comments from readers who have tried the system would be very welcome. -
15 March
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