THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd hysbyseb



57 309 and its attendant Pendolino snake around the curves at Llanfairfechan, 5 July (Tim J. Rogers)

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Last update 10 July 2005

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5 July at The Junction



37 029 and  37 229 with the return flasks approaching Llandudno Junction (Alan Crawshaw)



The Voyager known as David Livingstone at a wet Llandudno Junction with the Euston to Llandudno service. (Alan Crawshaw)



57 309 Brains and 390 004 Virgin Scot arrive at Llandudno Junction with the 14:14 Holyhead - London. (Rowan Crawshaw) - 10 July


Traveller's Tale - by Rob Davies

For the past couple of months I've been a travelling most weekends from Euston to Colwyn Bay / Llandudno Junction and back. I've enjoyed the fact that there is a direct train at a sensible time in the late afternoon (17:56 ex LJ, 16:07 ex Holyhead) but I've had mixed experiences.

Four weeks ago the service was cancelled completely due to the failure of the train.  Fortunately the booking clerk said it was possible to get the 17:23 to Crewe and then make a quick connection with a London bound service.  While waiting for the 17:23 we saw the "failed" Voyager speed through the station!  On arrival at Crewe we were thrown into the chaos caused by signal failure somewhere down the line, most services were either seriously delayed or cancelled.  After a bit of sitting around the tannoy suggested we pile on the Sprinter unit to Stoke where there would be a better chance of getting a London train coming from  Manchester.  After an hour or so, a Pendolino finally turned up and everyone crammed on.  We eventually got to London around two hours later than the leisurely timetable allows.  Fair play to Virgin, their station staff at Stoke were very helpful, they checked my options for onward travel from London (to Manningtree via Liverpool St), telling me if I missed the last departure Virgin would pay for a taxi.  They even gave me a letter of authorisation should a taxi be required from Liverpool St.  Virgin reimbursed me with a cheque for the taxi I took from Euston to Liverpool St (£15!) in order to be sure I got the last service, although the £10 voucher for the delay seems paltry considering the £79.30 I pay for a return ticket

The weekend before last I was surprised and happy to see a 57-hauled Pendolino pull into the Junction on time, far more space for the increasing weekend passenger numbers.  Everything went smoothly until we got to Crewe when the power to seat-side power sockets went off after the removal of the loco.  Since I like to do some work on the train (and watch a couple of DVDs!) I went to complain to the train manager who told me it was quite common for this to happen in the quiet coach and suggested I took a place in first class!  This I happily did but was then treated to one of the bumpiest rides I've had in a while.  Surely such new trains shouldn't ride so rough?

Last weekend with my laptop at the ready I waited for the 17:56 Pendolino to pull in once again, but this time it was rake of Mk3s pulled by a 57.  Happy to enjoy sense of space and big windows I settled down.  I asked the train manager what had happened to the Pendolino and he told me they would be running loco-hauled stock on this service from now on.  There was no buffet care in the set so the catering staff were camping out at the end of first class offering a very limited service.  All was fine until we got to Crewe where due to the slow change of engine (to 90 022) we were around 20mins late departing.  By the time we were pulling into Stafford we'd been told there was an electrical problem.  After sitting in Stafford station for a while we were told they were still awaiting the fitters and would need to put the loco at the front!  That would take at least another 30 mins so most of the passengers dashed over the bridge and divided on the slightly delayed Manchester to Euston train which eventually arrived in London 5 mins ahead of schedule.  The Holyhead train was posted on the arrivals board as being an hour late.

Are North Wales passenger getting a rough deal from Virgin?  Or is this typical of Sunday services throughout the country?  I thought Virgin loco-hauled services had been withdrawn but surely they could find a train with a buffet car and a functional locomotive? - 10 July

Cruise news



The Golden Princess cruise ship has been visiting Holyhead again, seen with a Virgin 57 on 4 July (Corrie) - 10 July

Passenger Numbers Up Nearly 50% at WHR(P) - by James Hewett, Chairman
 
The Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) is celebrating a spectacular start to the 2005 season. Passenger numbers to the end of June 2005 are up a staggering 48 per cent on the equivalent figure for the year before.  Shop takings are also up on the same period last year. The rise is partly being put down to extra trains run during May, but also a general rise in visitor numbers attracted by better marketing and public awareness.

We're absolutely amazed by the news.  Many of my colleagues have worked extremely hard to get more people through the door, but we were surprised to hear just how well we're doing at the moment. "The WHR(P)'s main business is families with younger children, who particularly enjoy the tour of the sheds they get as part of the ride.  We're developing plans to expand this in the future.

The WHR(P) will be linking up with the operators Arriva Trains Wales and West Coast Rail to offer passengers on the main line steam specials in August a discount on a narrow gauge train ride. Anyone who arrives in Porthmadog on the Cambrian Coast steam special can travel on the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) on the same day for a reduced rate of £2.95 adult. Just show your ticket at the WHR(P) shop. - 9 July

Mk2s on the Cambrian  - by Laurence Wheeler

In reference to the question asked in the report on the gauging tests with 76079:  yes, Mk2 coachess have certainly been on the Cambrian Coast before. In the days when Shrewsbury had a regular (hourly?) InterCity service, one of the evening services was extended to Aberystwyth. On summer Fridays this was diverted to Pwllheli to provide an early Euston service on the Saturday morning. Hence my memories of waiting at Fairbourne, after an evening in the Fairbourne Hotel, to see a class 37 come down Friog bank to pick us up and take us accross Barmouth Bridge in the sunset. The only caveat is that the coaches were of course air-conditioned Mk2 e/f, I never remember seeing the non -
air - conditioned type. - 10 July

Shanks's Pony



An interesting performer on the Penmaenmawr - Crewe ballast trains has been 66 522 which features a unique 'half 'n half' livery celebrating the partnership between Freighliner Heavy Haul and Shanks Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of the famous earthenware company which specialises in filling with refuse the pits whence came much the clay for their sanitary products.  In Tim J. Rogers' picture above it is seen passing Abergele with the loaded train on 4 July.



The loco, the first ever to be reliveried in to a customer’s colours by Freightliner, had its new colours launched at Dagenham (east London)  on 12 November 2004, departed on its first revenue earning service in its new livery as 6M80 13.10 Dagenham Dock Yard to Calvert, Buckinghamshire. Why it is wandering in North Wales we are not sure.... John Skipsey's picture shows 4 July's train passing through Chester station.



The same loco appeared the next day too: here it is passing Holywell Junction (Tim J. Rogers) - 10 July

Welsh lesson

Thanks to everone who's written about the spelling of the nameboard of the recent railtour 'Y Draig Goch' from Lancashire.  Our suspcisons were correct, in that the word Y ('the' in this instance) is a vowel - Welsh has a, e, i, o, u as in English as well as w and y so it 'mutates' - an unusual feature of the Welsh language. 'Draig' is the word for dragon, but when a feminine singular noun is preceded by 'y' (the), a soft mutation applies, so the 'd' becomes a 'dd'. The author of the nameplate did get this right on the last word: 'coch' is the word for 'red', but when adjectives describe a feminine singular noun, again a soft mutation applies, to the 'c' becomes a 'g'. 'The Red Dragon' should thus be 'Y Ddraig Goch.'

Another example of this can be seen on the 'welcome' signs put up by Regional Railways on various stations:  Colwyn Bay in Weleh is Bae Colwyn but  'Welcome to Colwyn Bay' translates as 'Croeso i Fae Colwyn.' There's a lot more about all this on the BBC 'Learn Welsh' site.

Embarrassingly, it's also been pointed out that in the Welsh version of  the heading of this page 'Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru Burdd hybyseb: newyddion' - this should be Bwrdd, and will be in future! - 10 July


 
57 316 at Holyhead, Sunday 3 July (Corrie)

Cambrian Railways Trust announces opening day

The day the Cambrian Railways Trust have been working towards for the last few years will come about on Saturday 23 July, when the first scheduled passenger services are due to start. This will mark the first running of a scheduled passenger train on the Gobowen -  Nantwawr line line since 1965, although freight services continued until 1971. The first train will depart from Llynclys South station at approximately 10:30 for the run on the short section to Ty-Coch farm which is the first part to be restored to traffic. We believe Class 101 traction will be used. - 10 July




57 316 at Colwyn Bay,  3 July (Richard Hughes)
Saturday 2 July:  Class 47s re-appear (again)



As we predicted, Virgin ran short of 57s on Saturday 2 July, and hired 47 841 for North Wales duties, with a set of Mk 3 coaches, leaving the 57s to use their fancy couplers to haul Pendolinos elsewhere in Britain.  Gwyn Williams writes: '  I never thought I'd be sprinting over the footbridge at Llandudno Junction again, but it was worth it for this - the sight of a classic red Virgin train working to Holyhead this afternoon. 47 841 looks a bit battered and has lost his Spirit of Chester plates, and he sounds a bit rustic - but it's sweet music! DVT 82136 and the single First Class coach are at the Holyhead end of the train, which also comprises a Buffet and five Standards.



At Holyhead, waiting to return to Crewe with the 14:14 to London. (Corrie)



Heading across Anglesey (Corrie)



Eifion Hughes sends four views taken in half an hour at Bangor on 2 July. 47 841 arrives at Bangor.



Attached to the rear of the train  is DVT 82136 with its 'gold' buffers.



Next is the departure of 158826 on an Arriva service to Holyhead ...



...  quickly followed by the arrival of 158818 heading in the opposite direction with an Arriva service to Crewe.



The 47 departs a colourful Llandudno Junction (Garry Stroud)



The 47 heads east near Mostyn (Tim J. Rogers) - 10 July
'Poodles in Cardiff accept all rail cuts'

The press are having a great time requesting embarrassing documents under the new Freedom of Information Act.  Here's a classic example:

Jun 25 2005: Rhodri Clark, Western Mail

THE Welsh Assembly Government was accused yesterday of letting Wales down by not fighting against millions of pounds of falling rail subsidy from London. Newly-released documents contain no hint of the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) rebelling against the Strategic Rail Authority when the 15-year all-Wales train franchise was scaled down.  When the deal was signed in 2003, there was surprise the franchise included practically no capital investment. But the subsidy the SRA in London agreed with train operator Arriva to run trains in Wales - worth £120m this year - will also shrink every year after next year, falling more than 16% to £102m by 2018.

The documents contain no objections from WAG after the SRA:
In July 2003, the SRA asked WAG for any further options to be included in the franchise. By then bidders had scrapped plans for new trains and concentrated on subsidy cuts. A WAG official replied, "Thanks. Fine. No further aspirations. We can always discuss more if funding and everything else allows over the period of the franchise." Earlier WAG had accepted the possible subsidy cut by up to 20%, and went along with the SRA's plan to keep it secret.

David Hibbs, of the SRA, told WAG official Denzil Jones in November 2002 the SRA had informed the Rail Passengers' Committee of the cuts but had "asked that it is not put into the public domain at present".  Mr Jones replied, "Thanks. Helpful. We'll await on events."

Elfyn Llwyd MP, Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, said, "Every department of government in London has to fight its corner but the poodles in Cardiff accept every cut. Transport and the economy of Wales are going downhill while we've got people in Cardiff who aren't prepared to fight for Wales."

Alun Cairns AM, Tory transport spokesman at the Assembly, said, "They [WAG] failed to press on the SRA for a gradual increase in subsidies over the longer term and a share of new investment over a 15-year franchise."

The documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, appear to show a geographic bias over new services and stations. Arriva had offered to explore two new services in North Wales - from Bangor to Llangefni and to Caernarfon. WAG's lukewarm response contrasted with its support for the new Vale of Glamorgan and Ebbw Vale services and for new stations in South Wales and more trains on the Valley Lines. The Llangefni and Caernarfon ideas were dropped from Arriva's franchise.

On the Llangefni service, WAG official Robin Shaw wrote to the SRA, "Strong local aspiration but we would want to see Ebbw [Vale] sorted before putting rails back, not sure on the business case." On the Caernarfon scheme, he wrote, "Even stronger local aspiration but major capital investment required, my initial reaction to timing is optimistic, certainly would not want to give false hope to North Wales now but remains a longer term 'aspiration' for us."

Mr Llwyd, MP for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, said, "The more I look at this situation, the more I see that they give priority to South Wales and Valley Lines. Important schemes like Caernarfon and Llangefni are gathering dust." (Surprise, surprise!) Under the original devolution settlement for Wales, London retained control of Welsh railways but had to consult the WAG on all planned changes. A WAG spokesman said, "The commercial negotiations over the awarding of the franchise were carried out between the SRA and the bidding companies.

"The SRA, which currently has the responsibility to negotiate and award franchises, will cease to exist under the Railways Act 2005, and the Assembly Government will assume statutory responsibility for the operation of Welsh services under the Wales and Border franchise from next April. The WAG has invested substantial amounts in all public transport, including the significant investments to open new rail services in Wales and improve capacity on the network, for example, with the £50m investment to double capacity on the Valleys lines." - 8 July

City of Truro at Llangollen - postscript by Jimmy Johnson



On 11 June, the North Wales Railway Circle chartered City of Truro to haul a brake-van special on the Llangollen Railway, after normal timetabled services had finished.



It picked up a flat wagon at Carrog carrying a lever-frame, for transportation back to Llangollen.  Is this the first time 3440 has been used on a 'proper' goods train? - 10 July

Ornithologists' Corner - with Dave Sallery


The seagull nursery on the up side roof above Rhyl station is having an excellent year with over 25 chicks born so far. 



Viewings can be made daily from the station footbridge.- 10 July

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