THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Hysbysfwrdd Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru
Gobowen in the snow, 7 January. The late-running Marylebone service
due at 11:44 arriving at 12:41, behind 67
013 Dyfrbont Pontcysyllte.
Picture
by
Martin Evans.
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
8 January 2010
Note: due to weather conditions,
the Llangollen Railway will not be running any trains on 9 and 10
January.
Wrexham Railway Society 11 January - by George Jones
The next meeting of the Society on Monday 11 January welcomes a return
visit (weather permitting!)
from Mr Colin White of Weston Rhyn, who will use the heritage 8mm
cine film technology for his presentation of archive footage of steam
in action. A diverse collection of films shot by rail photographers in
the 1960s
is promised, accompanied as always by Colin's informative and witty
commentary on the performance of trains in the British Railways era.
Always the most popular of the Society's programme of meetings, the
enduring appeal of movement on the silver screen is sure to attract a
big audience. We are very pleased to welcome Colin back for another
delve into the
past. His show will come supported by our regular digital news review
of modern day action on the rails, as we seek to keep members informed
about today's railways around Wrexham and further afield.
Venue is St Mary's Catholic Club, Regent St, Wrexham starting at
7.45pm. Visitors are welcome.
Snowy Miscellany
An unidentified pair of Class 158s forming the 10:09 from Birmingham
International seemingly enter the new Tesco store in Newtown, 5
January. Picture by Gareth Marston.
According
to
a
report in RAIL
magazine, "Wabtec Rail, Doncaster has refurbished Class 158's, 158 822
and 158 823. They are operated by Arriva Trains Wales". Does anyone
have any details?
A 3-car 175 unit calls at Abergele, forming the late-running 12:50
Manchester to Llandudno in almost blizzard conditions, on 5 January.
Picture by Marc Jones.
Seen from the apartments built on the old goods yard, Network Rail's
Harsco Track Technologies RGH-20C Switch and Crossing Rail Grinder
set, DR79272 and DR79262 'parked up' at Chester
during heavy snow on
Tuesday evening 5 January. Network Rail has five of these paired units.
6 January, Green Lane, Heywood, and 55
022 Royal Scots Grey
heads off East
Lancashire
Railway metals on to Network Rail on the way to Barrow
Hill. The Deltic returned later in the day hauling sister loco D9016 Gordon Highlander, which is to be
based on the ELR. Picture by Paul
Braddock. For a gallery of pictures from the day, see the 55022 Royal Scots
Grey website. Martin Walker, owner of 55 022, has bought D9016 from
DRS, who have owned it briefly. We hear that both will be in action at
the ELR's
diesel
day on Saturday 9 January, along with one-time Coast Line loco 37 418, 40 145 and D1501. Furthermore, latest news is
that the steam loco diagram on 10 January is to be
replaced, due to problems with frozen water supply, with 37 418.
(Keep an eye on the ELR
twitter feed for
developments)
142 004 on a Chester to
Manchester service via Altrincham, seen from Butcher Lane Bridge,
Baguley,
South Manchester, 6 January. Picture by Greg Mape.
An unidentified DVT and 67 head across Cefn Viaduct with 1J82 11:20
London Marylebone - Wrexham on 6 January, with several inches of snow
blanketing Tŷ Mawr country park and the surrounding hills. As the sun
failed to show, Mark Riley has
converted his original image to black and white, which seemed
appropriate with so much snow around.
153 362 at Betws-y-Coed on 7
January, running 15 minutes late at 12:27 (Darren Durrant)
G-Mex station, Manchester Metrolink, just before sunset on 7 January:
brand new Bombardier tram 3003
passes car 1011 of the
original Italian-built type. Manchester Central station's loco stabling
and turntable once occupied this area. The interesting signal in the
foreground shows a railway-style red aspect, and when 'off' shows the
street tramway 'proceed' signal of a vertical line of white lights.
Overhaul one, get one free?
67 005 Queens Messenger passes Burton on 4
January, hauling not one, but two, overhauled Merseyrail trains
from Doncaster, 507 005 and 507 010. (Stavros Lainas)
RCTS Meeting in Chester , Monday 18 January
The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society holds its indoor meeting
at the 'Town Crier' opposite Chester railway station on Monday 18
January at 7.45 p.m.
The topic is 'Australian Railways in 2009' and popular local member
Geoff Morris of Chester will be showing digital views of his recent
visit down under. Geoff's ability to conjure up superb
photographic images makes it an evening for anyone interested both in
railways and as to photographic work in general.
Visitors are more than welcome to attend this meeting but with a
£2 voluntary donation. Such donations enable the Society to
continue its regularity of such meetings.
Further inquiries about this meeting can be made by telephoning 0151 -
608 4296.
Another mince pie anyone?
As predicted, smaller locos took over the Llangollen Railway's 'mince
pie specials' at the turn of the year. Above, 0-6-0PT 6430 is seen leaving Carrog in New
Years' Day. Picture by John Beresford.
The next day, 2 January, and Hunslet saddle tank Jessie was on the service trains.
Above, she is leaving Berwyn station at 13:13 on the 13:00
Llangollen to Carrog. (Bob Greenalgh.)
Note
that
due
to weather conditions, the LR will not
be running any trains on 9 and
10 January.
Far far away - with Darren Durrant
Train spotting in winter isn't much fun, so I took the opportunity to
catch some high speed services, as we drove to France for Christmas.
Our first stop was at Luton Airport Parkway, where we saw a pair of my
favourite
class 43's thundering through on am East Midland Trains non-stop
service, led by 43 049 (above)
...
... quickly followed by 'Meridian' 222
001.
222 019 and an HST.
Stopping trains are Class 319s - these will be transferred to the lines
in Northwest England that are to be electrified under the Government's
new plan.
A surprise came just as we were leaving with 66 015 pulling a never-ending load
of tanks, with the driver waving at us.
Our next spot was at a cutting near the services in Maidstone, we saw
some Eurostars ...
... and 'Javelins' doing their regular sprint along HighSpeed 1.
At Boulogne, 40-year-old diesel BB 67589
calls with a stopping train. [More to Charlie's taste!]
Another push-pull local, this time with an electric loco on the rear,
at Mazingarbe, south-west of Lille on the Dunquerque - Arras line.
Abvie, a German ICE and French TGV at Paris Gare de L'Est. Over the
water in France we saw many TGVs on their regular services
to 'La Gare Du Nord' in Paris and to Lillle. I am so happy with the
selection of speed we saw from the road
and can't wait to do it again soon.
Ferry news
Up until 7 January, the Stena Line website only showed the
Holyhead-Dublin Port sailings when one tried to book for 2009.
Traditionally when the HSS (High Speed Ship) finished up January for
its annual refit, the website would give a recommencement date' however
this year there was no such thing, just a small note saying 'operates
until 5th January 2010', even leading many ferry enthusiasts to ponder
whether they had seen the Stena
Explorer set sail for the last time when she departed for
Holyhead on 5 January.
Now the Irish Times reports:
Stena Line has reaffirmed its
commitment to Dún Laoghaire after recent speculation that it
might quit the harbour. However, the large fast ferry, HSS Stena Explorer, will run daily only
during summer months and a smaller fast ferry service will be used in
the winter months. Stena says all 60 jobs will be retained at
Dún Laoghaire and no redundancies are planned.
It introduced the fast ferry service on its Dún
Laoghaire-Holyhead route in April 1996 and at peak it was running up to
five round trips daily. However, the catamarans can burn almost three
times as much fuel, and at a higher grade, than conventional ships and
sailing frequency had been reduced to one trip a day.
The withdrawal of the HSS Stena Discovery in January 2007 from the
Harwich-Hook of Holland route due to high fuel costs and its subsequent
sale to Venezuela had fuelled speculation that the same might happen on
its Irish Sea route. Stena was also finding the higher cost of berthing
in Dún Laoghaire prohibitive – €6.7 million annually compared to
an estimated €2 million for Dublin Port, where its ferry base is run by
a stevedoring company.
Route director Vic Goodwin told a staff meeting the operating
costs and port dues in Dún Laoghaire had 'placed severe pressure
on the financial performance of this route' but he was confident that a
new operating agreement from 2011 would cut harbour dues.
According to the Daily Post:
Stena Line’s 1,500 passenger HSS
Explorer will remain berthed in Holyhead between September and late
June with the 600-passenger Stena
Express filling its wake. The 40-knot Explorer will still operate over
the peak summer period, running from June 28 to September 5.
Currently the HSS Stena Explorer
operates a one round trip service between March and December. The Stena Express, which has a top
speed of 38 knots, currently operates a summer fast craft service
between Fishguard and Rosslare and will continue this once the Explorer returns for the summer.
The timetable for the Stena Express will vary between a one round trip
or a two round trip schedule to meet demand.
The Stena Express is shortly to undergo a £2m refit in
preparation for its arrival at Holyhead in March. It will run alongside
the superferry Stena Adventurer
and the freight and passenger boat the Stena Nordica.
Confusingly, the vessel referred to by Stena as the Stena Express is HSS Stena Lynx III, built in Australia
in 1996, which has been laid up in Dublin Port for the winter. Thanks
to Glen Cusack and Dave Sallery for help with this item.
Welsh trains on TV - report by Shaun Stanley
South Wales trains were on S4C television over the holidays, used for
the comedy drama Ar Y Tracs. The programme was excellent from an
entertainment point of view, it is in Welsh but has English dialogue
and subtitles. The comedy drama is still available to watch for a
limited period on the S4C website,
as
is
a
'behind the scenes' programme showing how the drama was made
and little snippets such as the actor who played the train driver was
not allowed to wear his uniform at all times.
[The train which starred in the show was worked by 'Royal' 67 005 and 67 006, and the consist, hired from
Cargo-D, was Driving Van Trailer 82101, Mk 3 First 11083, Mk.3 Buffet
10242, Mk2 standards 5919, 6122,and 5995,plus Mk2 brake-standard 9506.]
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