10 March 2015
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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This list may be out of date if you are reading an archived page.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.
13-15 March: Llangollen Railway 'Steel Steam and
Stars' gala.
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
Wednesday 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.
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150 262 departs Wrexham General on 4 March for the short journey to
Wrexham Central where it will form the 13:30 departure to Bidston.
Picture by Martin Evans.
For the Steel,
Steam and Stars gala at Llangollen, see our full report.
Note: From the second weekend of this event, 13-15
March, we plan to just one picture from each contributor. Sort out
your best!
Northern Electrics
On Thursday 5 March, electric services were inaugurated on the historic
Liverpool and Manchester line, running hourly between Manchester
Airport and Liverpool Lime Street via Newton-le-Willows. Two of the
three diagrams were worked by the newly-refurbished ex-Thameslink Class
319 units on the first day, the third being worked by a Class 156
diesel. Above, 319 363 calls at Manchester Oxford Road in the
evening (Charlie Hulme). The livery scheme has been designed by
the Best Impressions company, known for their work on buses.
Dave Sallery took a trip on 319 362 in the
evening. Above: Manchester Airport.
Liverpool Lime Street. 20 of these units are destined to move north.
A Day in North Wales - pictures by Tim Rogers
Rush hour at Penyffordd on 4 March. At 09:11 (above) 150 262
calls, working train 2J73 08:31 Bidston to Wrexham Central. All
passenger trains on the 'Borderlands Line' are entrusted to Class 150
units.
A few minutes later, 66 126 appears with 6M18, the 18:08
(previous day) from New Cumnock bringing Scottish coal for the furnaces
of Penyffordd cement works.
Another view of the coal train, which reaches Penyffordd via Chester
and a reversal at Croes Newydd south of Wrexham, where the locomotive
will have run round the train. Later in the day, the loco will
take the empty wagons north to Dee Marsh Junction where it will run
round, and return through Penyfford to Croes Newydd where it reverses
again before heading via Chester to Belmont Yard in Doncaster. The
train runs when required: the nominal departure time for the 'empties'
is 16:56, but on this day it actually departed at 15:32, only to wait
at Dee Marsh for its scheduled time from there of 18:20.
At 09:30, 66 050 passed in the southbound direction with 6V75,
09:30 Dee Marsh Reception Sidings to Margam train of steel carriers,
running 20 minutes early. This train reaches South Wales via Shrewsbury
and Hereford.
A change of scene to the Queens Road bridge at Llandudno Junction to
see 1H89, 13:01 Holyhead to Manchester Piccadilly, depart 'on time' at
13:48. As usual for this train, the Driving Van Trailer - 82306 on this
occasion - is at the front...
... and 67 001 propelling from the rear. The junction for the Conwy
Valley line can be seen on the right of the picture.
Across the 'cob' to Conwy, and the well-known hillside viewpoint, as
158 841 emerges from Robert Stephenson's tubular bridge at 14:15,
working 1D13 11:09 Birmingham International to Holyhead. All Birmingham
trains are Class 158s, as this service is inter-worked with that of the
Cambrian lines which require the 158s' ERTMS signalling equipment. This
will be one of the two units of the combined train from Aberystwyth and
Barmouth which arrived at Birmingham International at 10:49.
The view from Conwy station at 14:40 as Virgin train 1A38, 13:58
Holyhead to London Euston emerges from the tunnel, formed of 221
107 Sir Martin Frobisher & 221 118. The signal, LJ68,
makes the end of [bi-directional working on the 'down' line. It shows a
permanent red light to any train which has departed from Llandudno
Junction station on that line.
6K41 14:58 Valley Nuclear Electric to Crewe Coal Sidings (DRS) passes
Conwy 55 minutes early at 14:55 hauled by 20 305 and 20 308.
A final re-location to Abergele & Pensarn station at 15:30 to see
North Wales coast 'workhorse' 175 007 calling with 1H91, 15:08
Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly. The overgrown area to the right
seems to suggest that there was an island platform in the days when
there were four tracks along this section, but this facility was never
provided. Only trains on the 'slow' lines stopped here. Behind the
building on the left was a siding which was occupied for many summers
by a rake of 'camping coaches.'
Miscellany
66 602 passing Wrenbury at 16:36 on 8 March with the
Sundays-only Tunstead to Westbury cement train. Picture by Stavros
Lainas.
Manchester Victoria Metrolink station is open again, although still
with the air of a construction site. The view from the bridge leading
to the Arena on 26 February shows a tram heading towards the City
Centre across a rather curious track layout which incorporates the
junction to the new 'second city crossing' line which turns right here
to run along Corporation Street.
A modern 'scene from the past' - Peter Chapman sends this view of the
Anglesey Aluminium plant on 19 July 2008, with 60 031 ready to
leave with the weekly train of aluminium ingots destined for Austria.
Old-timer 31 233 stabled at Bangor with a Network Rail train, 4
March (Peter Basterfield).
The westbound flask train passes Bangor on 4 March, now in daylight as
the year wears on. Locos 20 305 and 20 308 (Peter Basterfield).
67 012 A Shropshire Lad heads westbound into the
setting sun at 17:05 on 4 March with the Holyhead-bound Network Rail
train from Derby. 67 027 was on the rear. Picture by Roly
High. In total seven locomotives, of three different classes,
appeared on the Coast line that day.
'Russell' to join Talyllyn Party
After the announcement that the Ffestiniog Railway locomotive, Prince,
will
be
a special guest at the Talyllyn Railway’s 150th Party
celebrations in July, the railway has now announced that a second guest
locomotive will be present. This will be the Welsh Highland Heritage
Railway’s locomotive Russell, pictured above after its recent
overhaul (D.J.Mitchell, courtesy Talyllyn Railway)
According to the railway's press release, the visit is especially
significant as it has a place in Talyllyn history. It was built by
Hunslet for the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway
Company in 1906, which became part of the Welsh Highland Railway in
1922. In 1942 it was requisitioned and worked at an opencast ironstone
site in Oxfordshire. After the war it was sold to the Norden Clay Mines
at Corfe, Dorset, but was laid up out of service in 1953.
The Birmingham Locomotive Society then purchased it for £70 and
transferred it to the Talyllyn railway at Tywyn. It remained a static
exhibit at Wharf station until April 1965 when it was moved to
Kinnerley. After a number of further moves it finally came back to
Porthmadog and the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in 1970. ‘Russell’
will be returning to Tywyn Wharf fifty years after it left.
During the 150th Party gala, which will be held between Friday 3 and
Sunday 5 July 2015, two temporary lengths of track will be laid at
Tywyn Wharf to allow both locomotives to be in steam together. [The
normal Talyllyn track is 2'3" gauge, slightly wider than that of the
Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland lines.] This will also enable them to be
photographed with the Talyllyn’s own No.1 Talyllyn and No.2 Dolgoch,
as
well
other Talyllyn locomotives, thus forming a unique line-up of
narrow-gauge locomotive history. Throughout the gala there will be
various photo-opportunities at Wharf along with other attractions,
including the annual Garden Railway Weekend.
This picture from the Harold Bowtell archive shows Russell
on display at Towyn Wharf in September 1972; the cab and boiler
fittings had been cut down to fit the Ffestiniog Railway's structure
gauge, and have since been returned to their original shape.
Here are some Talyllyn special dates for the summer. See www.talyllyn.co.uk for details.
2-4 May The Quarryman
Experience
3-5 July The 150th Party
7-9 August The 1865 – 2015
Gala
29 to 31 August The Heart of
Gold Weekend
25 to 27 September The Heritage
Weekend
Class 37/4s on tour - report by Charlie Hulme
The Class 37/4 diesels inspired the creation of this site, and although
it is now 15 years since they were regulars on North Wales passenger
services, the activities of the surviving members of the class still
arouse our interest. Saturday 7 March offered the chance to see two
consecutively-numbered locos in action in the same area, but rather
different circumstances.
The 'Lancs Links' railtour run by Pathfinder tours had a complex
itinerary around North West England aimed at the connoisseur of rare
track, and the train was formed of Riviera Trains coaches
top-and-tailed by 37 419 Carl Haviland and 37 604.
Among
the delights on offer was a visit to the Dean Lane Refuse
Transfer Station, now reached by a single-track Network Rail line
parallel to what is now the Manchester - Oldham section of Manchester
Metrolink - the two tracks previously formed part of the
double-track 'Oldham Loop' line. Newton Heath and Moston station
on Metrolink (which has replaced the former Dean Lane station) promised
to be a good photo location, the main problem being the chance of a
passing tram blocking the view ... which very nearly happened, as the
picture above reveals as 37 419 leads the train up to the signal
protecting entry to the terminal, as tram 3082 runs into the
station.
Coach W4991 shows signs of a recent overhaul. Readers may remember that
in the 1990s one of these Riviera vehicles could sometimes be found in
summer 37/4-hauled services in North Wales.
Ten minutes were allowed for the train to visit the facility, but the
signal remained red yellow gates across the line on the other side of
the bridge remained closed; it transpired that nobody had arrived to
open them. After waiting somewhat longer that ten minutes ...
... the train reversed and 37 604, which I never actually got so
see, hauled the train away to further adventures. We understand there
were some further disappointments later in the day. The Class 142 unit
in the distance is in Newton Heath depot, Northern Rail's main depot
for the North West.
Next, I took a tram ride to Bury, where a 'Diesel Gala' was under way
on the East Lancashire
Railway, and we were promised an appearance by 37 418, once
a North Wales regular when carrying the name East Lancashire Railway,
which
was preserved and allocated to the ELR, only to suffer a major
engine failure in 2010: it was necessary ton obtain and install a
replacement engine.
Arriving a little early for 418's train, I took a ride as far as
Ramsbottom behind Class 40 345 (30 145), which also carried the
name East Lancashire Railway for a while.
From Ramsbottom to Rawtenstall, and back to Bury I travelled behind 37
418, seen awaiting departure at Rawtenstall. I was pleased to see that
neither double-heading nor topping-and-tailing were resorted to on this
trip, so I was able to enjoy watching the loco run-round at the
terminus, a favourite sight of mine thanks to years of branch-line
modelling. The loco has been repainted in the original livery of the
37/4 type as applied on rebuilding in 1985-6 ...
... but there has not been time to apply any numbers or logos; let's
hope they use the correct typeface. Hopefully in the future we might
see Regional Railways livery. At Bury, 418 posed alongside its older
cousin, 37 109.
Amusingly, it seems from posts on the WNXX forum that there is a
First Manchester double-deck bus numbered 37418, operating from Bury
depot.
North
Wales Coast
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