THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
Delightful spring scene at Rhosneigr as 57 316 FAB 1
heads across Anglesey with the Sunday afternoon London service on 24
April. Picture by Corrie.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 17 April 2005
Steam Correction ... and
Mayday movements
We made a very unfortunate error in updating our Calendar. The 7
May steam train to Holyhead is still booked to run, although
possibly with a different loco: it is the steam train to Manchester on
the same day that has been cancelled.
The organisers of the Altrincham - Chester steam shuttles on 1 May have
kindly provided us with a timing sheet for the day, which we offer for download as a Microsoft Word document. Here's
a booking form
for the trains. We're also informed that fares, including child fares,
on the normal service trains between Altrincham and Chester will be
half price on Sunday 1 May. MCRUA thanks Northern Rail for
this generous offer. - 27 April
When we was FAB
Two sunny portraits by 'Corrie' of 57 316 FAB 1 at Holyhead
on 24 April to illustrate a lineside report on the day by Geoff
Morris:
The 13:14 Holyhead - Euston was once more a pair of Voyagers (221 126
Captain Robert Scott & 221 113 Sir Walter Raleigh).
For two of the last three weeks this duty has been a pair rather than
single Voyager. The 16:07 Holyhead - Euston was once again a dragged
Pendolino (57316 + 390029). This duty has been a 'drag' for the last
three weeks.
The 14:55 Holyhead - Llanelli (booked to Milford Haven but curtailed
due to engineering work) was a 6-car 158 formation, each in a different
livery: 158 838 in 'stainless steel' livery, 158 847
in former Central trains green., 158 828 in Arriva
turquoise livery. Can't complain about inadequate train sizes from
Holyhead on this afternoon!
Wrexham - Shrewsbury was closed for engineering work and so Dee Marsh
steel trains were diverted via Crewe and Chester. A 60-hauled
train was on the slow line at Chester locks waiting for a path to
Wrexham: it followed former Scotrail unit 150 259 on the 17:30
Chester - Wrexham up the single line section. - 27 April
Mailing List news
groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthWalesTrainsNews/
is the address of a new Yahoo group set up by Richard Hughes
for exchange of information about train running on the Coast. We've
signed up here at Page27, and suggest that other readers could do the
same and share any observations of train working.
How Green was my Express
Llandudno Junction, early morning, Saturday 23 February, and a meeting
of two varieties of Class 57. 57 316 FAB 1 is
'dragging' 390 047 Virgin Atlantic, and 57 601
collects passengers for the Green Express charter bound for Ely. As an
added bonus, as the latter
prepared to depart, 66 119 ran through with an empty stone
train for
Penmaenmawr. (Gwyn Williams)
The special passing through Flint station (Tim J. Rogers)
In the early morning haze/mist at Chester (Dave Bramley)
On the rear, a surprise appearance by 31 190 Gryphon, a
Railtrack-liveried loco from the FM Rail (ex-Fragonset) fleet. (Dave
Bramley)
Friday morning Pendo -
by Ivor Bufton
57 309 Brains with 390 025 Virgin Stagecoach
passing sunny Prestatyn on 1R18 05:38 Holyhead - Euston on 22 April ...
... and 390 025 disappearing into the distance. - 27 April
Everything goes in
cycles
Larry Goddard writes: 'Rest assured, while we waiting for crime
to go down, for discipline to return to schools and for that big
operation, someone will soon be in your area with a cycle path, a
windmill farm, a ban on river fishing, a finger-printing device and an
identity tag. Talking of cycle paths, Voyager No.221 109 Marco
Polo, working the 15.23 Llandudno London, passes an embryonic cycle
path at Llandudno Junction on 22 April. No doubt a 7ft high galvanised
steel spiked fence will follow in due course to turn a pleasant view
into an industrial wasteland.' - 27 April
Blue 37s
Special thanks to Larry Davies for responding to our request
for a picture of 37 425, recently repainted in original Class
37/4 livery in a nice gesture by Arriva Trains Wales and EWS to
commemorate the last few months of 37s on the Cardiff Valleys services,
now planned to be replaced before the end of 2005 by the influx of
second-hand Sprinters. Has the typeface of the loco been corrected
after criticism of the version which left Toton depot?
Here's an archive picture for comparison: 37 407 Loch Long
stands at Stockport with a Cardiff - Manchester train in 1989, during
the time when 37s had been brought back to passenger duty because of
door faults on the Class 155 units.
Blue 37s, another shade admittedly, can be seen in North Wales: A
gleaming 37 606 (fresh from its exploits with the wedding
special) and 37 602 depart from Valley in some pleasant spring
sunshine on 21 April. Picture by Corrie.
John Cowlishaw photographed the 16 April 1Z60 Hooton - Minehead
slowing for the bridge speed restriction at Whitchurch
'Actually a scanned slide returned most promptly from Fuji (remember
when all the world was like
that!)', writes John.' I actually waited for two FA Cup
specials, but so what, another hour of my life looking expectantly over
railway bridges. The 06:57 Manchester - Cardiff had 158 826
- 158 828 - 158 834 and of course was a little
full compared with the special.' - 27 April
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