NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd


09 March 2015

Last issue

Archive

RSS feed RSS

Link to this issue

Share this issue




Contributions and comments are encouraged: see the Contributions Page

This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.









Forthcoming events

This list may be out of date if you are reading an archived page. For the current list visit our Calendar.

March 2015

Thursday 12 March Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society A view from a signal box window:  Adrian Bodlander 

Friday 13 March  Altrincham Electric Railway Society   John Sloane 'Chinese Steam in the 80s'. Colour Slide Presentation.      



Monday 16 March RCTS Merseyside & North Wales: A History of Railway Preservation in Britain. Robert Gwynne .Bob is the Associate Curator Rail Vehicles at the NRM in York

Wedmesday 18 March Talking Trakz Cllr Phillip Evans. "Railway Reflections and other musings".  Maelgwyn pub in Osborne Terrace, Llandudno Junction, 19:30. Free admission.

Wednesday 25 March: Talking Trakz Cllr Terry James. "Social History of Llandudno Junction" Maelgwyn pub in Osborne Terrace, Llandudno Junction, 19:30. Free admission.

Thursday 26 March  Merseyside Railway History Group  AGM Members Slides

Friday 27 March  Great Western Society North West Branch Liverpool's Disused Tunnels, by Paul Wright.



April 2015

Wednesday 1 April: Talking Trakz Larry Davies. "Llandudno Junction—A Railway Town"Maelgwyn pub in Osborne Terrace, Llandudno Junction, 19:30. Free admission.

Wednesday 8 April: Talking Trakz Anne Jones. "A fast moving night train experience" Maelgwyn pub in Osborne Terrace, Llandudno Junction, 19:30. Free admission.

Thursday 9 April Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society Railway enthusiasm - international: Phil Thomas    

Friday 10 April Clwyd Railway Circle The View From a Signalbox Window: Adrian Bodlander

Friday 10 April  Altrincham Electric Railway Society   Alvin Barker "A Selection of British Transport Films from the Steam Era". Digital presentation.    

Saturday 11 April. Excursion. The Great Western Express from Hooton to Worcester and Oxford The railtour is jointly promoted by the Chester Model Railway Club and Ffestiniog Railway Society Dee & Mersey Group. Full details can be found at the Chester Model Railway Club website.

Saturday 11 April Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast. The Wight & Sussex Express to
Portsmouth & Chichester with optional tour of Sussex and Hampshire.  Hooton, Bache, Wrexham, Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Wellington, Telford, Wolverhampton, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester SH.

Monday 13 April  Wrexham Railway Society: Back to the ‘60s :Geoff Coward

Monday 13 April Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast The North York Moors & Heartbeat Explorer. To Whitby, From Chester, Frodsham, Warrington (BQ), Wigan, Leyland, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge and Brighouse.

Wednesday 15 April Excursion from North Wales Compass Tours by West Coast The Royal Windsor Express. With an option of a longer break in London (alighting Kensington station)
From Holyhead, Llanfairpwll, Bangor, Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Flint, Chester, Crewe, Stafford and Lichfield TV to Windsor.

Wednesday 15 April: Talking Trakz Cllr Vicky Macdonald. "The men who crossed the Conwy" Maelgwyn pub in Osborne Terrace, Llandudno Junction, 19:30. Free admission.

Monday 20 April RCTS Merseyside & North Wales: 21st Century Steam in China.  Geoff Coward. Geoff presents video and stills from his visit in 2002.

Friday 24 April  Great Western Society North West Branch Standard Gauge Railways of France and Germany, by Barry Rushton

Thursday 30 April    Merseyside Railway History Group  Geoff Coward  Quiz and informal evening

May 2015

Thursday 14 May    Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society 6G locomen: personal reminiscences by A Guest Panel

Wednesday 20 May Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast The Cornish Explorer From Chester, Wrexham, Ruabon, Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Craven Arms, Ludlow, Leominster, Hereford & Bristol to Penzance. The train is routed via the scenic Welsh Marches line, South Wales, the Severn Tunnel, Bristol, Somerset, the Dawlish Sea Wall, Devon and rural Cornwall.

June 2015

July 2015

Friday 3 July Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast  The Conway Valley Explorer
Via the Scenic Conway line (with Ffestiniog Railway option). From Grantham, Peterborough, Stamford, Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, South Wigston, Hinckley, Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield TV, Rugeley TV & Stafford to Betws-y-Coed & Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Saturday 4 July Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast  The Conway Valley Explorer From Lincoln, Newark NG, Grantham, Bottesford, Bingham, Radcliffe, Netherfield, Nottingham, Tutbury & Hatton, Uttoxeter, Blythe Bridge & Stoke to Betws-y-Coed & Blaenau Ffestiniog. (with Ffestiniog Railway option).

August 2015

September 2015

Wednesday 9 September Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast  The Conway Valley Explorer
Via the Scenic Conway line (with Ffestiniog Railway option) Sheffield to Betws-Y-Coed and Blaenau Ffestiniog. From Sheffield, Rotherham Central, Swinton, Moorthorpe, Normanton, Shipley, Keighley, Skipton, Hellifield, Carnforth & Lancaster.

12 September 2015 Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast  The Conway Valley Explorer Via the Scenic Conway line (with Ffestiniog Railway option) Scarborough to Betws-Y-Coed & Blaenau Ffestiniog.   – Saturday
From Scarborough, Seamer, Malton, York, Wakefield, Brighouse, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden & Rochdale.

October 2015

Saturday 10 October 2015 Excursion Compass Tours by West Coast  The Conway Valley Explorer
Via the Scenic Conway line (with Ffestiniog Railway option) Hereford to Betws-Y-Coed
Departs – From Hereford, Ledbury, Gt Malvern, Worcester FS, Droitwich, Barnt Green, Walsall & Wolverhampton.










'Black 5' 45321 The Sherwood Forester departs from Llangollen on 7 March with the 1.11pm service to Corwen East. Picture by Martin Evans.


Llangollen Steam Special

The weekend of 6-8 March was the first of two weekends of the fourth 'Steel, Steam and Stars' steam gala at the Llangollen Railway. As usual, our contributors were busy with their cameras, so we have devoted this page entirely to the event, keeping each photographer's pictures together rather than trying to follow the timetable. Thanks to all the photographers and, of course, to everyone at the Llangollen Railway.

The logistics required for an operation like this are a challenge, especially as all visiting locos must arrive by road since the line is not connected to the National rail network.

For details of the next weekend's activity go to the Steel, Steam and Stars website where you can also make a donation to the organisers of the event, the 6880 Society, who are building a new loco of the GWR 'Grange' 4-6-0 class.

An update with the usual general selection of items will (hopefully) appear in the late evening of Tuesday 10 March.


Steel, Steam and Stars: Cast of Characters



To avoid repetitious text, by way of introduction we'll take a look at the visiting locomotives that took part in the show. 1450, pictured above by Anthony Robinson at Carrog, is one of a batch of 75 0-4-2T locos (originally numbered in the 4800 series) built by the Great Western Railway in the 1930s to replace life-expired locos of the same basic design. Intended for branch lines and loco-stopping trains, they were fitted with 'push-pull' equipment to allow a short train to be run in either direction without running the loco round the train at a terminus. Carriages known by the GWR as Autocoaches were fitted with a cab and basic controls - a vacuum brake valve and a steam regulator connected by linked shafts to the loco - and a bell. The fireman remained in the loco and looked after everything else.

1450 is one of four preserved examples, and has worked at various heritage lines over the years.



4270, photographed by Chris Jones-Bridger at Llangollen after arrival off the 2.16pm from Carrog on 6 March, is a 2-8-0 tank engine built by the Great Western for freight service - coal traffic mostly -  in South Wales. 165 of the class, 4200 - 4299 and  5200 - 5264, were built, the only 2-8-0T type ever used in Britain. They were built over a long period between 1910 and 1940. Some were later rebuilt as 2-8-2Ts with a larger coal bunker.

4270 is based at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. Withdrawn from service in 1962, it spend many years in Barry scrapyard;  restoration to working order was completed in 2014.



The sole surviving GWR Class 2251 0-6-0, No. 3205, arrives at Carrog with a Llangollen passenger. This loco is quite historic in preservation terms, as it was bought directly from British Railways in 1965 and was one of the fleet of the Severn Valley Railway in its early days. Since 1998 it has been based at the South Devon Railway.  It was built at Swindon in 1946, one of the last to be built of the traditional British 0-6-0 design of which many thousands ran all over Britain with all the principal railway companies.



92214, seen running around its train at Llangollen by Martin Evans, is a British Railways standard 9F 2-10-0 freight engine. 251 locos were built, production being shared between Swindon and Crewe works, and No. 92220 has the distinction of being the very last steam locomotive built for British Railways, although not the last to be built in Britain. 92220, which still exists, was the only one to be painted green rather than black, the only one to carry a  name -  Evening Star - in pre-preservation days.

92214, which is now based at the Great Central Railway after a change of private owners, has recently been painted green and given the name Central Star, having carried the name Cock o'th North under its previous owner. The name, nameplate style and livery all pay homage to Evening Star. Built in 1959, 92214  was withdrawn by British Railways in 1965 as they rushed to get rid of steam.



34092 Wells, visiting from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, is one of the 'West Country' 'light' 4-6-2 pacifics designed by O.V. Bulleid for the Southern Railway, although this one was built for British Railways after nationalisation in 1949. Withdrawn in November 1964 and sold to Woodham Bros. scrap-yard in South Wales, it remained there until being purchased by a group of individuals in 1971 who brought it to the Worth Valley in November 1971. Picture by Chris Jones-Bridger.

The engine was returned to service in 1979 with a re-dedication at Keighley station being carried out by the then Mayor of Wells on 1 April 1980. The loco was maintained to main-line standards and worked all over the country on special charters until 1989 when it was withdrawn for what turned out to be a 25-year restoration back to running order.

The West Country class locos were named after places in the West Country, and many of them worked the express services on the Southern's lines in that area: the original name of 34092 was Wells, until it was renamed City of Wells in 1950. The original version of the name has recently been restored.

'Black 5' 45231 Sherwood Forester, which was brought from Carnforth on - see heading picture - stood in for recent resident loco 45337 which was not available for use. Llangollen regulars 2-6-2T 5199 and 2-8-0 3802 were also on duty.


Friday 6 March - by Chris Jones-Bridger



1450 at Glyndyfrdwy taking water while working 10.59am Corwen to Llangollen.



1450 at Berwyn waiting the right away hauling the 10.59 from Corwen.



3205 at Glyndyfrdwy



1450 arriving at Glyndyfrdwy working the 12.48pm Llangollen to Glyndyfrdwy goods formed of ballast wagons.



34092's Nameplate and crest.



34072 at Llangollen prior to its 3.42pm departure for Carrog.



5199 and  92214 at Llangollen. 5199 had piloted the 9F on the 12.30 Corwen to Llangollen. Having been released from the train the 9F was being run round to work the 14.30 departure to Corwen.

Friday 6 March - by Martin Evans



Resident 2-6-2T 5199 departs from  Llangollen with a demonstration freight train to Deeside Loop at 4.30pm.



34092 departs Llangollen for Carrog with the late running 3.41pm service.



34092 arrives at Carrog.


Saturday 7 March - pictures by Glyn Jones



1450 makes an atmospheric departure from Llangollen.



With steam shut off, 1450 approaches Corwen.



2-8-0T No. 4270 on a mixed goods, awaits its banker at Carrog...



... Class '2800' No. 3802 prepares to buffer up.



34092 poses with 3802 at Carrog - a busy scene.



92214 coasts into Corwen.



34092, with 45231 The Sherwood Forester at the rear, approach Corwen.



3802, now on passenger duties, awaits its bankers at Carrog.



A powerful combination:  BR Standard 2-10-0 92214 and pacific 34092 couple up at the rear,

 

Having brought up the rear, 45231 rests in the afternoon sunshine.


Saturday 7 March - by Peter Basterfield



92214 Central Star waits to leave Llangollen with the first train of the day.



34092 heads out of Carrog with the 'Pines Express' to Corwen, picture taken from the foot crossing.



45231  on the 'Pines Express' , having slowed to pick up the token, gets away from Deeside Halt.


Saturday 7 March - by Anthony Robinson



To celebrate my late father's 113th birthday (7 March 1902) I went up to Carrog to watch the events there. Above, the classic 'Push Me Pull You' autotrain [motor train in LMS jargon]  with 1450 doing the honours on the 14:25 from Llangollen approaches Carrog on a sunny Saturday afternoon.



3205 runs out of Carrog before backing onto the 3.04pm departure to Llangollen.



3205 prior to the 'up' departure.



A telephoto view of the same train shows a possible weak spring on the rear tender wheels.



2-8-0T 4270 waits to depart with the 3.04pm to Llangollen.



The 'auto train' again as it runs into the station.



Prior to departure on the 3.11pm Carrog to Corwen East.


Sunday 8 March - by Ian Wright



3802 leaves Carrog, with the freight train in the foreground.



92214 running round its train at Carrog.


North Wales Coast home pageArchive | Previous Notice Board