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Forthcoming events
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the current list visit our Calendar.
August 2012
Sunday 12 August Steam in North WalesRailway
Touring Company 'North Wales Coast Express' Crewe, Wilmslow,
Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Frodsham and Chester to
Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead (arr 15:10 dep
17:45).
Tuesday 14 August Steam train to Blaenau Ffestiniog - postponed
to 21 August.
Saturday 18 August Steam in North WalesVintage Trains 'The Welsh Dragon' Tyseley
- Blaenau Ffestiniog (Steam loco 5043 as far as Llandudno Junction;
Class 47 diesel to Blaenau)
Saturday 18 August DRS
Open Day, Gresty Lane Depot, Crewe.
Sunday 19 August Steam in North WalesRailway
Touring Company 'North Wales Coast Express' Liverpool Lime Street,
Broad Green, Warrington Bank Quay, Frodsham and Chester to
Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead (arr 14:30 dep
16:30).
Tuesday 21 August Steam in North WalesRailway Touring Company 'The Welsh
Mountaineer' Preston, Warrington Frodsham, Chester to Llandudno
Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog (arr. 13:15 dep 16:10)
Sunday 26 August Steam in North WalesRailway
Touring Company 'North Wales Coast Express' Liverpool Lime Street,
Broad Green, Warrington Bank Quay, Frodsham and Chester to
Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead (arr 14:30 dep
16:30).
Tuesday 28 August Steam in North WalesRailway Touring Company 'The Welsh
Mountaineer' Preston, Warrington Frodsham, Chester to Llandudno
Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog (arr. 13:15 dep 16:10)Cancelled.
See 21 August
Sun / Mon 1 - 2 September Llangollen
Railway Autumn Steam Gala (continued)
Friday 7 September Clwyd Railway Circle
Glyn Jones “John Summers & Sons Ltd” A look at the
Steelworks at Shotton from its opening in 1896 to the closure of the
heavy end in 1980. The talk includes footage of the iron ore trains
from Bidston.
Thursday 13 September Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society Keith Jones with a
double-barrelled show of 'The History of Penmaenmawr Quarry & its
rail system' followed by 'Building and running miniature steam
locomotives'
Monday 17 September RCTS
Chester North Staffordshire from the mid 1960s to the Early 1990s
By Max Birchenough.
Thursday 27 September LCGB North West
John Owen "Vintage US Steam in Cuba"
October
2012
Friday 5 October Clwyd Railway
Circle Les Nixon “55 Years of Railway Photography
(part 1)” The acclaimed railway photographer and entertaining speaker
will treat us to an evening of nostalgia, including pre 1968 steam,
foreign, modern traction and some preservation. The accent is on the
unusual.
Monday 15 October RCTS
Chester Steam Classes that failed to make Preservation; Powerpoint
presentation By John Cowlishaw Using Edgar Richards Photographs.
Thursday 25 October LCGB North West
Tom Heavyside "B R in the North West"
November 2012
Friday 2 November Clwyd Railway
Circle Dave Southern “Chester to Pwllheli” The slide show
will follow a journey from Chester to Pwllheli via Oswestry. There will
be slides of each of the lines we pass on the journey, based on the
early 1960's.
Monday 19 November RCTS
Chester– Conway and Llandudno Junction in B.R Days by Larry Davies.
Thursday 22 November LCGB North West
Norman Matthews "Steam in New Zealand"
December
2012
Friday 7 December Clwyd Railway
Circle “Members Night & Christmas Celebration”
Members are invited to give a 15/20 minute presentation of their choice
(any format). This will be interrupted by festive treats (all high
calories). Members must book their slot with David Jones no later
than 20 November.
Thursday 13 December Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society Christmas Social helped along by
members Alex Cowan confirming to us that “Trainspotting was an
education” and Larry Davies taking us back to “1962 – a year of change”
Thursday 13 December LCGB North
West Les Nixon "55 Years of Railway Photography – Part Two"
Monday 17 December RCTS
Chester Members Slide/Digital Images – 30 Slides or artefacts of
your Choice
January 2013
Friday 4 January Clwyd Railway
Circle Pete Gray “Welsh Highland Railway” Our speaker
for the night is the Safety & Development Manager of the WHR;
previous to this, he was the Construction Manager from 2006-2010. Pete
will be talking about his experiences during this time and the
organization that is needed to keep the show on the road.
Thursday 17 January LCGB North West
Keith Naylor "Isle of Wight Railways"
Monday 21 January RCTS
Chester Branch A.G.M. followed By British slides between 1983 &
2010 By Alan Donaldson.
February
2013
Friday 1 February Clwyd Railway
Circle Gordon Davies “American Wanderings 2, the Great
Plains Drifter” - Recollections of Gordon’s trip in 2008, covering the
largest open cast mine in Wyoming plus the world’s largest marshalling
yard.
Monday 18 February RCTS
Chester The Northern Hub. A Talk By Duncan Law, Senior Programme
Development Manager, Network Rail.
Thursday 21 February LCGB North West
Mike Taylor "Preston and North"
March 2013
Friday 1 March Clwyd Railway
Circle The Committee & Larry Davies. AGM followed
by the talk “60 years ago – Diamond days” After the formality is over,
we look forward to the talk by one of our favourite speakers.
Monday 18 March RCTS Chester
B.R in the early 1980’s By Tom Heavyside.
Thursday 21 March LCGB North West
Tony Harrison "The Dragon's Last Roar"
April 2013
Friday 5 April Clwyd Railway
Circle Michael Murphy 'Liverpool Overhead Railway' To
finish off the season, a highly recommended speaker known for his
light-hearted style of presentation. The talk will be followed by film
footage of the railway in its heyday.
Driver training on the North Wales Coast has begun using the
ex-Virgin Driving Van Trailers which have been converted for use
with Class 67 locomotives so that the Holyhead - Cardiff express can
work as a push-pull train, reversing at Chester to serve Wrexham, from
September.
Monday 6 August saw locomotive 67 001 and DVT 82308 run as
train 5Z50 11:30 Cardiff Canton depot - Holyhead, seen above (DVT
leading) at Beeches Farm west of Chester (picture by Bob Greenalgh),
and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the following diagram is planned:
Running via Stafford, and the chord at Oxley (Wolverhampton) to Crewe
keeps the DVT at the front all day to give maximum training time. At
the end of each day it will be turned round at Holyhead using the
method normally used by flask trains and steam locos:
5Z55 17:00 Holyhead - Holyhead (reverse on Valley triangle)
and on Friday will return to Cardiff as 5Z54 10:00 Holyhead - Canton
depot. The same pattern will, we understand, repeat in subsequent
weeks. The Mk3 coaches which are to be used (in place of the current
Mk2 vehicles) as standard class passenger accommodation in the new
arrangements are being refurbished at the Pullman Rail workshops in
Cardiff.
Monday's train near Penmaenmawr (Jack Bowley).
Brush replaces Gresley - 5 August
The Railway Touring Company 'North Wales Coast Express' on Sunday 5
August, on its second run on the new variation of the route via
Manchester, was to have seen 60009Union of South Africa
in action again, but at short notice it was found to be unfit to run
during an examination at Crewe Heritage Centre. Privately-owned diesel 47
580 County of Essex was procured, and took the train to Holyhead
with little delay, as photographed (above) by Stavros Lainas
passing Dunham-on-the-Hill on the Warrington - Chester section.
Passing Holywell Junction (David Parry).
To add to the passengers' disappointments, the weather had taken a turn
for the worse by the time the was passing Rhyl (Ivor Bufton).
47 580 was looking 'well smart' bedecked with Union Jacks passing Hen
Wrych just beyond Abergele in fine rain (Larry Goddard).
Departing Llandudno Junction (Larry Davies). There is supposed
to be a 'pool' of steam locos available for these trains, but the only
one on hand at Crewe was 42633Duchess of Sutherland, which would
need preparation - fire lighting, steam raising, etc - before it could
be used, and apparently cannot be used between Warrington and Chester
because of inadequate clearance under a bridge on that route. There was
talk of sending it 'light-engine' from Crewe direct to Holyhead to haul
the return train at least as far as Chester, but this did not happen.
It was said that Network Rail would not provide the journey 'due to the
Olympics' (?)
On the rear, as had been planned for the steam run, was 47 798Prince
William, seen as the train leaves Llandudno Junction in heavy rain (Larry
Davies).
Brighter weather at Bangor (Rowan Crawshaw). The patriotic
livery is inspired by that applied to Class 47s at Stratford depot for
the 1977 Silver Jubilee. The site of Stratford depot is now somewhere
underneath the Olympic Park.
Passing Llanfair PG (Jack Bowley).
Apparently there has been some disquiet in DB Schenker circles about
the use of this loco, which was donated by their predecessors EWS to
the National Railway Museum, on revenue-earning work for West Coast
Railway Company, but NRM engineers say a long run keeps it in good
condition.
After arrival at Holyhead, the train shunts to the carriage sidings (M.LLoyd
Davies).
Whatever the story, 47 798 hauled the train back to Crewe, with 47 580
on the rear. With no need to take water, the train left Llandudno
Junction 17 minutes earlier than advertised (no good if you popped out
for a bag of chips!) and arrived at Crewe at 22:32, 52 minutes
early. Picture by Peter Lloyd.
Rhyl (Ivor Bufton) ...
... where the setting sun lit up 47 798 on the back of the train (Ivor
Bufton).
A last look at 47 580 as the train rolls through Chester heading for
Crewe via Stockport and Manchester (Roly High). No doubt there
will be complaints from some of the passengers, although the
standard-class fare from Crewe via Manchester at £67 is perhaps
reasonable in any case, given that the normal standard return
from Manchester to Holyhead by Class 175 and a need to change
trains) is a surprising £44.50. And as for the Premium
passengers, what does one see of the motive power while consuming
gourmet meals?
Virgin on Anglesey - pictures by Steve Morris
The 14:36 Holyhead - London passes the disused Holyhead Aluminium
sidings on Saturday 4 August. The locomotive is 57 311Parker
- one of just three Class 57/3 machine still in Virgin livery
with 'Thunderbird' names. At least 57 307 Lady Penelope still
has her chauffeur Parker to take care of her...
Looking the other way from the same bridge. Does anyone know what is
being constructed at the lineside?
The end of Virgin Trains?
There is now just one week to go before Secretary of State for
Transport Justine Greening has to announce which company has won the
right to operate the West Coast Main Line franchise, including London -
North Wales trains, from December 2012. Press stories are claiming that
the two bids by foreign railways have been discounted, and that First
Group are offering to pay a bigger 'premium' to the Government that
Virgin. Sceptics (and Richard Branson) say that a higher premium would
require cuts in customer service quality; either way, use of the same
rolling stock and basic timetable are required.
The Welsh Mountaineer 31 July
Now for some views of Railway Touring Company 'Welsh Mountaineer'
excursion which took to the rails on 31 July. These trains run to
Blaenau Ffestiniog from Preston - Ian Pilkington took the
above picture at Coppull south of that city, showing regular loco 48
151 heading south. The train is relatively short compared to other
steam specials, due to the need to climb the hills of the Conwy Valley
branch. The ex-LMS 2-8-0 8F class freight loco with its eight small
wheels, is well-suited to this work.
Note: the next run of this train will be on 21 August,
not 14 August as originally planned. The train originally advertised
for 28 August will not run.
Arrival at Chester (Roly High).
At Chester, the loco is detached and turned round using the triangle of
lines outside the station. Above, it is heading back to the train after
this manoeuvre (Roly High). By running tender-first from Chester
to Llandudno Junction, the loco is the right way round after reversal
to access the Conwy Valley line. Tender-first running with a loco
like this requires greater effort by the crew, who must lean out to
view the signals.
Flint (Glyn Jones). The running of this train was in doubt at
one time, but in the event it was allowed through North Llanrwst
station at 5 mph, as a relaxation of the ban on loco-hauled trains
which had been imposed after it was found that the platforms were too
close to the track. Since then, modifications to the platform edges
have been completed and things are back to normal. The other recent
issue, the ban on 10-car trains with two locos visiting Llandudno
station, has also, we understand, been removed. As readers may know,
a Network Rail reorganisation (yes, another) has brought the
North Wales lines under the control of a new all-Wales division, which
has brought new managers to the scene. Could these recent events be
related?
The gradients and curves of the Conwy Valley can be a challenge, and
the crew of 48151 decided to stop in Dolwyddelan station for some 10
minutes for a 'blow-up' - create more steam to restore the boiler
pressure. Above, the The 8F is seen getting into its stride after
leaving the station on 31 July 2012. Picture by Larry Goddard
(from his 6ft ladders).
With steam to spare, 48151 is dropping down the grade from Ffestiniog
Tunnel to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Larry Goddard).
48151 arrives at Blaenau Ffestiniog through the old North Western
Station whose buildings. built by British Railways in 1950 to replace
decrepit wooden structures, have recently been demolished. Picture by Larry
Davies.
Arrival at the Interchange. Steam to spare now. (Larry Davies).
After running round, 48151 is propelling its stock into the loop in
Blaenau Ffestiniog station. The Ffestiniog Railway main line is seen to
the left (Larry Goddard).
The fireman shovels some coal forward. How many images of steam has the
old slate promontory of "Dolgarregddu" witnessed over the years? (Larry
Davies)
It does sometimes rain at Blaenau Ffestiniog ... The train is stabled
in the run-round loop to allow the ordinary passenger train to call at
the platform (Larry Davies).