THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
57 316 FAB 1 passes Llanfair Yn
Neubwll Anglesey, 1 May. Picture by Corrie.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 09 May 2005
Two picture
reports
for your entertainment: The FR50
weekend on the Ffestiniog Railway and and The Duke rides
again: 71000 on the Irish Mail, 7 May - Thanks as always to all
our contributors.
In the Air
The British Aerospace factory at Broughton near the North Wales line
plays a major part in the construction of the new Airbus A380
'super-jumbo' airliner, seen above in an Aibus Industrie publicity
picture, being responsible for the contruction of the wings which are
taken to Toulouse in France to be attached to the rest of the plane. 27
April was a milestone in the history of this project, the very first
test flight (see BBC News
report.)
Our contributor Ivor Bufton was actually in the Toulouose area
at the
time of the historic flight and was able to take this picture (which we
have digitally 'improved') from a coach passing the factory
where the plane is assembled.
Back in Wales, Geoff Morris writes: 'I was lucky enough to get
these pictures on Saturday 26 March when one of the A380 wings was
parked up alongside the river Dee waiting for the barge to ship it to
Mostyn at the start of the journey to France. One picture (above) shows
the rear coach of 175 112 hurtling under Beeches Farm bridge
(between Sandycroft and Mold Junction) on the 11:45 Llandudno -
Piccadilly. The A380 wing can be seen in the distance in the top left
of the picture.
The second picture shows a close-up of the wing still loaded on its
special transporter vehicle.
Here's another picture from Airbus
giving an idea of the size of the thing. - 9 May
Three by the Sea
What's up Doc? There seem to be three locos on this train, better
get out of the way (picture by Alan Crawshaw)...
Well, what happened was that after problems with locmotive 20
302 on the westbound flask train on 3 May (does anyone have a
picture of this down working?) it was left behind at Valley. It was
then taken back to home ground sabdwiched bwtween the two locos of 5
May's train, seen here in Alan Crawshaw's picture approaching
Bangor.
Shades of days gone by when the Wylfa and Trawsfynedd Flask
trains used to combine at Llandudno Junction for a triple-headed run to
Warrington. 20 309, 20 302 and 37 605
head through Llysfaen.
(Larry Goddard)
From the RPC
Two communications are to hand from the Rail Passengers Committee,
Wales. Here they come:
GET YOUR VOICE HEARD
RPC WALES TO MEET THE PASSENGER
LLANDUDNO JUNCTION STATION LLANDUDNO -
WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 2005 FROM 4.15 to 6.45
Rail passengers in North Wales will soon get their chance to make their
views known on rail services. The Rail Passengers Committee Wales is
holding a Meet the Passenger event at Llandudno Junction station,
Llandudno on Wednesday 11 May 2005 at 4.15.
The Rail Passengers Committee Wales is the official, independent voice
of everyone who uses the railways. "This is a good opportunity
for passengers to get their voices heard" said Clive Williams, Director
RPC Wales. "The Committee values the opportunity of meeting
passengers in all parts of Wales and we are keen to receive passenger's
views on rail
services in North Wales. By listening to passengers views we are
able to make informed representations to Arriva Trains Wales and Virgin
Trains, the operators of rail passenger services between North Wales,
Cardiff and London Euston. Passenger views are important when we
make representations to the Local Authorities and to the Welsh Assembly
Government, in our efforts to improve rail services in Wales".
RPC Wales need passengers to give their views on what they think about
rail travel today. By answering questions, passengers will help RPC
Wales to work to make the railway better for every passenger.
Passengers will be asked for their views as follows:-
How would you rate your current train services? Excellent, Good,
Acceptable, Poor, Very poor?
How would you rate the provision of information:
a) When planning your journey?
b) At the station
c) On the train?
How would you rate the provision of information during times of
disruption?
If you could improve one thing about your rail service, what would it
be?
What is the best and worst thing about your home or nearest station?
ADDRESSING PASSENGERS PRIORITIES - FINAL MEETING OF RPC WALES
Addressing passenger's priorities will be one of the main themes when
the Rail Passengers Committee Wales will hold its final ever public
meeting in Llandudno next week. [That's Thursday 12 May.]
Hosted by the Rail Passengers' Committee Wales, the meeting will be
attended by representatives from the Rail industry, the British
Transport Police, key stakeholders and members of the public.
Among the topics for discussion include the standard "clock face"
timetable to be introduced by Arriva Trains Wales this winter and the
crucial need for effective connections between Arriva Trains Wales and
other Train operating companies. RPC Wales Director Clive Williams
said: "These meetings remain important forums for the public to ask
questions of the train operators about their proposals for the future.
The decision to dismantle the Rail Passenger Committee network means
that this will be the last public meeting for the Wales committee. This
event will also be used to launch our last ever Annual Report, copies
of which will be available on the day."
Clive Williams added: "These meetings are important forums for both the
public and the rail operators. Without this sort of dialogue, we would
not be able to strive for the improvements in rail services that Wales
needs".
This "themed meeting" for the RPC Wales is aimed at stimulating
constructive debate on topical issues for the rail industry. The doors
open at 9.30am, and the meeting commences at 10.00am and is expected to
conclude by 15.00pm. It will be held in the Imperial Hotel Llandudno.
Members of the public and representatives of the media are welcome to
attend.
The meeting will also hear from rail operators and other service
suppliers in relation to issues of service provision and performance
standards. Minutes of the meeting will be available to the press and
public in due course, and rail passengers with any concerns or comments
are invited to contact the committee.
Speakers from the rail industry include Alan Wilson, Managing Director,
Wessex Trains, Ben Davies, Stakeholder Liaison Manager (North), Arriva
Trains Wales, Kevin Pearce, Franchise Director, West Coast, Virgin
Trains, Chief Superintendent Peter McHugh, British Transport Police,
Andrew Skidmore, Area General Manager, Network Rail, Linda Hill, Head
of Customer Services, First Great Western and Julian Edwards, Finance
Director Central Trains.
The abolition of the regional RPCs was one of the measures in the
Railways Act which was pushed through by the Government jus befre the
election, as well as measures which some claim will make it easier to
close lines, and various other contenstions issues. We'd be very
interested to hear reports from anyone who attends either of these
events. More information might be found on the Committee's website.
- 8 May