THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
The afternoon Holyhead-Euston passing a rather dodgy-looking
piece of track near Abergele on 7 April. (Greg Mape)
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 08 April 2005
Steam
charter times for
9 April
1Z87 04:52 Ashford (Kent) - Holyhead. Hauled by two Class 50 diesels
south of Crewe, then 6233 Duchess of Sutherland
to Holyhead and back. Crewe 09:25 - 09:57, Chester 10:30 - 10:42 (Up
& Down main), Holywell Jct 10:54, Rhyl 11:02, Llandudno Jct 11:35 -
12:15 (takes water), Bangor 12:35 - 12:37, Holyhead 13:15.
1Z88 15:55 Holyhead - Tonbridge. Bangor 16:33 - 16:35, Llandudno Jct
16:59 - 17:40, Rhyl 17:57, Holywell Jct 18: 12, Chester 18:35, Crewe
19:07 - 19: 28.
We have heard that the Class 50s will be on the rear of the train
along the Coast to provide heat for the coaches. - 8 April
Cambrian news - by
Stephen Roberts
A little update regarding the landslide at Friog. Replacement
coaches are now running from Machynlleth to Pwllheli; these are jointly
operated by Lloyds Coaches of Machynlleth and Berwyn Coaches of
Pwllheli. Strange
economics, considering Arriva have their own buses parked outside
the Rail Station in Machynlleth and nearby garages in Dolgellau and
Aberystwyth. Some local people are getting the impression ATW don't
quite know what to do; they have been running some trains from
Machynlleth to Tywyn, but these are not running to any timetable.
Many people are wondering why Arriva Trains Wales don't just run a
shuttle train service to Tywyn and bus people on from there.
ATW are also rumoured to be looking into the possibility of taking a
train by road to either Harlech or Porthmadog to run a shuttle service
between Barmouth and Pwllheli as many of the trains that run over the
route convey large numbers of school children. Something similar
happened in the mid-1990s when Regional Railways shipped a 153 by road
to Porthmadog. But what is annoying is the severe lack of publicity and
lack of organisation on ATW's part compared to when the Conway Valley
was closed.
[ Late news: we have definite information that 158 829 is
booked on Chester depot Saturday night, to be fuelled and split
for road transport to a Cambrian destination on Sunday 10 April.]
Away from the Landslide, Crewe based ATW drivers are now route-learning
between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. Some services where operated by
Central Trains drivers based at Shrewsbury up until 2004, when
Machynlleth drivers took over all the driving duties on the line
between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth.- 8 April
Wrexham up for the cup
John Cowlishaw writes: 'There is a through train on Sunday 10
April for
the LDV Vans final at Cardiff (Wrexham v Southend) departing
Wrexham General 08:40, returning 20:03. The outward working
takes 3 hours 25, the return around 2.5 hours so the outward must be
via Chester & Crewe. - 8 April
Wedding postscript
Thanks to several correspondents for telling us that the 'Wedding
Special' on 2 April was for Tony Moseley, managing
director of London North Western Railway. Pete Waterman is a director
too, they set the firm up together, but Pete has a back seat role. Our
best wishes to both of them. - 8 April
The unofficial 'Diesel Gala'
OK, let's catch up with the bizarre events of Sunday 3 April when All
Arriva Trains Wales Chester-based drivers decided, for reasons which
have still not been explained to passengers, to all take Sunday off
work, as is their right under their contract. Arriva say that "In
relation to Sunday working Arriva Trains Wales has a formal agreement
with the drivers’ union ASLEF whereby the union guarantees that all
services will be covered by drivers." The Union says ... nothing that
we can find.
Arriva decided to counter this by hiring trains and drivers from other
companies and setting up two diagrams for trains of hauled stock, to be
worked on a top-n-tail basis to avoid any uncoupling and running round.
Sadly, the whole thing turned into something of a shambles, and it
seems that although the drivers' action looks like being repeated on 10
April, only replacement buses and Virgin Trains will be running along
the Coast. (A timetable
of sorts on the Arriva website.)
On the afternoon of Saturday 2 April, a West Coast Railway empty stock
train made its way from Carnforth to Bangor (picture above by Ivor
Bufton) ready to start Sunday from there. At some stage it was
joined by celebrity 47 847 Brian Morrison / Railway World
Magazine which was to lead the first passenger train to Crewe.
Unfortunately for those who had been looking for the first 37-hauled
Coast service train since 2001, after all this effort, it was found
that the central door locking on the coaches could not be made to work
properly, and the whole cavalcade had to run empty back to Chester
where the 37 (Ivor Bufton's picture shows this working at
Chester) where replacement stock and a second 47 was provided by
Riviera Trains after some considerable delay, while the 37 and its
train presumably slunk off back to Carnforth. A train for the second
diagram was provided by Riviera from the beginning, including 47 816.
Has this one now passed from Freightliner to Riviera or was it just a
day hire?
Traveller's report by Jim Murphy
Well it's a while since I've had the pleasure of travelling on the
Coast line but I made an exception on 2 April.
Starting from Chester, where I witnessed the ill-fated Class 60-hauled
ballast train returning wrong-line from the Crewe direction, complete
with ...
... an oil-stained and generally distressed looking 60 081 Isambard
Kingdom Brunel on the rear. The train engine, 60 072 Cairn
Toul, was in the process of running-round when the first of the
Riviera Trains "extras" arrived behind 47 815.
A good run to Holyhead followed, with a turnaround of 7 minutes at the
terminus - ah, the joys of top 'n' tailed operation!
We headed back for Crewe behind 47 816. This machine still has
its First Great Western dark green livery with very minimal branding -
just a small Freightliner logo and even smaller numbers.
I rode the train as far as Shotton where "on train gen" indicated that
it would be best to alight here and catch the other 47-hauled service
working back to Holyhead. Sure enough, after just ten minutes wait, a
headlight appeared in the distance. There was some brief "faffing
about" as the guard - who did not appear to know the correct hand
signal for "move forward" - wanted to get the rear-most carriages onto
the platform before unlocking the doors. Fortunately there were enough
hardcore enthusiasts on hand to communicate the required motion to the
driver!
Another spirited run to Holyhead ensued with celebrity machine 47
847 Brian Morrison / Railway World Magazine in charge and
another rapid turnaround of 8 minutes at Holyhead meant that we were
soon going back the way we came,
now with 47843 "Vulcan" in charge.
I rode the train back as far as Crewe and called it a night, but noted
that the same train worked another trip to Holyhead at around 20:00.
There are some more pictures from the day and some timings on my
website.
Another view, by Darryl Thomas
The pair of 60s at Chester
Look carefully and you can actually see the crankshaft of 60 081's
Hazel Grove-built Mirrlees engine through the hold blown in the side of
the engine bed.
47 815 / D1748 on the blocks at Holyhead.
When was the last time that you could see four class 47s at the same
time at Bangor?
Nocturne at Chester with 47 816. - 8 April
Class 87s for Bosnia
Extraordinary news is that Porterbrook has found homes for up to 15
Class 87s and a fleet of Mk 3 coaches with the state railway of Bosnia
- Herzegovina, where there is a severe shortage of stock in the
aftermath of the civil war, although there is over 700 km of railway
electrified at 25 kV. There are actually two railway administrations
there, the Serb part of the republic having its own system. UK
staff from Alstom Traincare and Virgin may be asked to volunteer for
work in Bosnia to help train their railway staff, in the same way EWS
has men in France for the maintenance of 56s and 58s.
Whatever next? - 8 April
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