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07 December 2015Last issue Archive RSS Link to this issue Share this issue Tweet Tweets by @NWrail1 Contributions and comments are encouraged: see the Contributions Page 12 December Llangollen Railway 'Real Ale Train' 6.30pm departure from Llangollen Station 'Step on-board and soak up the atmosphere whilst enjoying the Real Ales on offer at our well stocked bar. Double return journey – arrive back approximately 9.30pm. Ticket price includes a free glass and pint for all pre-booked tickets.' 12-13 December Llangollen Railway 'Santa Specials' 12-13 December Bala Lake Railway 'Santa Specials' 12-13 December Llanberis Lake Railway' Santa Specials' 12-13 December Cambrian Heritage Railways 'Santa Specials' (Saturdays at Oswestry, Sundays at Lynclys) Monday 14 December Wrexham Railway Society, Annual General Meeting and Rail Review Entertainment, a mixture of members' slides, DVD's and other interesting items. 19-20 December Talyllyn Railway 'Santa Specials' 19-20 December Llanberis Lake Railway 'Santa Specials' 19-20 December Cambrian Heritage Railways 'Santa Specials' (Saturdays at Oswestry, Sundays at Lynclys) 19-22 December Rhyl Miniature Railway 'Santa Specials' 20 December Llangollen Railway 'Santa Specials' Monday 21 December RCTS: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales Branch. Arriva Trains Wales. Last 10 years going forward with Ben Davies. This is an opportunity to hear about more about one of our local Train Operating Companies from one of its locally based officers. 22-24 December Llangollen Railway 'Santa Specials' 24 December Talyllyn Railway 'Santa Specials' 26-29 December Llangollen Railway 'Mince Pie Specials' January 2016 2-3 January Llangollen Railway 'Winter Warmers' Tuesday 5 January North Wales Railway Circle Member Clive Evans starts 2016 with a show of his own work starting back in the sixties. Friday 8 January Clwyd Railway Circle Dave Sallery Dinorwic Slate Quarries - Part 2 This is the final part of Dave’s fascinating journey around the quarry. Friday 8 January Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "The History and Development of the National Tramway Museum" a colour slide presentation by Mike Crabtree. Monday 11 January Wrexham Railway Society, Woodhead - The Lost Railway by Stephen Gay describing the former Great Central main line from Manchester to Sheffield across the Pennines via the Woodhead tunnel closed in 1981 with photographs along the route of the former railway. Thursday 14 January Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society Dave Southern: Chester - Pwllheli - days long gone Monday 18 January RCTS: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales Branch. BRANCH A.G.M followed by Back to The 60s with Geoff Coward. Geoff highlights photographs in various locations of the last few years of steam (1964-1968), including early diesels, mostly in the North West of England. Friday 29 January Great Western Society NW Branch W.J. Denning: The West Somerset Railway, a personal view. February 2016 Tuesday 2 February North Wales Railway Circle 'The First Penrhyn Railway' Dafydd Gwyn, industrial archaeologist, author of The Slate and other publications and fireman on The Bala Lake Railway will be talking about the first tramway that served Penrhyn Quarry. Friday 5 February Clwyd Railway Circle John Sloane: Chinese Steam in the 1980's This is drawn from the first part of a tour in the winter of 1986/87 and centres on railways in what at one time had been the Japanese occupied area known as Manchuria in the north east of China. This was still a busy steam operated railway with plenty of variety and steam locos were still being built at that time. Monday 8 February Wrexham Railway Society, Steam in the East Midlands in the 1950's by Fred Kirk. Local Member and keen cyclist looks back at previously unseen pictures of those main lines accessible from his home city of Leicester ranging from the East Coast Main Line at Stoke to the Great Western's line to Birmingham Snow Hill, also the West Coast, Midland and Great Central lines. Thursday 11 February Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society Geoff Morris: Welsh Wanderings in the 1990’s Friday 12 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Prince of Wales, Britain's most powerful steam locomotive. The Project to build a new P2 Locomotive" a digital presentation by Graham Nicholas. Monday 15 February RCTS: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales Branch. "American Wanderings - Heading East" by Gordon Davies. Gordon, our RCTS National Chairman gives a digital presentation showing the American railroad scene in the eastern states depicting diesel locomotives working passenger and freight trains as well as electric locomotives, light rail and preserved steam in operation on preservation lines. Friday 26 February Great Western Society NW Branch Group Annual Meeting, afterwards possibly Members slides. March 2016 Friday 4 March Clwyd Railway Circle Annual General Meeting followed by: Dave Southern, A journey from Chester to Pwllheli in colour looking at the closed lines both standard and narrow gauge including closed steam sheds and some goods yards. Tuesday 8 March North Wales Railway Circle 'Railways of Ontario' Chairman Brian Bollington shows a mix of slides and video he has taken of the railway scene in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Including main lines, short lines, preserved lines with steam and museums. Due to Saint David's Day bookings this meeting has been arranged for the second Tuesday of the month. Thursday 10 March Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society Alan Roberts: Railway signalling in the Conwy/Llandudno area Friday 11 March Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "A Photographic Tribute to Alan Gilbert. Steam on the main line in the 1950s and 60s" a digital presentation by Paul Shackcloth. Monday 14 March 2016 Wrexham Railway Society, Railways Of Wales in the 1980's - Geoff Morris describes a trip through Wales in a decade during which livery variations started to appear and steam re-appeared on a scheduled basis along the Cambrian & North Wales Coasts. Friday 25 March Great Western Society NW Branch Railway Images, Thirty Miles around Warrington, Barrie Rushton. Monday 21 March RCTS: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales Branch. "20 Years Of The Privatised Railway - What Does The Future Hold?" by Bob Casselden. Bob, a retired former B.R. manager looks at the changes to Britain's privatised railway over the last twenty years and reflects on what the future might bring. April 2016 Friday 1 April Clwyd Railway Circle Denbigh Film Club. Railway Enthusiasts Film Night. A night of nostalgia and fun with a selection of films old and new to end our season in great style. Tuesday 5 April North Wales Railway Circle 'All Steamed Up' Mr Barry Wynne presents a selection of his work from his vast catalogue of photographs. Friday 8 April Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Steam in the North West of England and Scotland in 1965" a digital presentation by Noel Coates. Monday 11 April 2016 Wrexham Railway Society 'Days Gone' A Nostalgic Look Back at the 1960-90's by Larry Davies, looking at the enormous changes which have taken place on the railways in North Wales during the last four decades of the last century illustrated, mostly by Larry's own work. Thursday 14 April Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society 1960/70s North Wales Railway Recollection Barry Wynne/Steve Morris Monday 18 April RCTS: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales Branch. One Mans Rubbish is Another's Treasure by Russell Hatt. Russell presents a selection of historic railway photographs that whilst too poor for publication are of interest to the railway historian. Friday 29 April Great Western Society NW Branch A tribute to Tom Lewis, Railway cameraman 1947-1970, Paul Shackcloth. May 2016 Tuesday 3 May North Wales Railway Circle AGM and Photographic Competition. Thursday 12 May Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society Ray Bailey: Steam into Holywell. |
The sun shines on Cefn Mawr viaduct on 4 December as 57 305 Northern Princess and 57 301 Goliath cross with 1Z72 the 'Northern Belle' 11:58 Birmingham International to Chester. Picture by Tim Rogers. Weather WoesNorth Wales and North West England were battered by rain and gales on Saturday 5 December. Arriva Trains Wales imposed a precautionary speed restriction on the more exposed western parts of the Coast line, and things were going reasonably well until train 1V95, 08:20 Holyhead - Cardiff, formed of 175 111, came to stand in Penmaenmawr station with a large piece of debris stuck under its front wheels. Our thanks to the passengers who provided these pictures of the scene. BBC, and other media copying their story, reported the event as involving a 'bus shelter at Llanfairfechan'. But this picture from inside the train gives a clear idea of what happened: the remains of the small portable building alongside the Penmaenmawr sidings, presumably used as an office in connection with the nearby quarry. Apparently the heater was still plugged in! Passengers were evacuated from the train, as it was to be pulled back clear of the debris and there was a risk of damage. They were taken by road coach to Llandudno Junction for a train to Chester for connections to Cardiff, arriving two hours late, but it was felt that Arriva staff handled the situation as well as possible under the circumstances. (Our thanks to Alan Haydock for assistance with this item.) The train does not appear to be derailed out of line, although the leading wheels seem to be standing on part of the debris. Quite a tricky problem, but working with difficulty in the rain, the staff in attendance managed to move the train eventually. Virgin's 08:55 Holyhead - London was stuck at signals behind the stricken train, arriving at Llandudno Junction two hours late at 11:40. The following 09:23 Holyhead - Cardiff waited at Bangor for over an hour before being able to proceed, only to be terminated at Llandudno Junction 88 minutes late. This turned out to be the last service to either arrive at or depart from Holyhead that day, as the line across Anglesey became flooded, reportedly near Bodorgan, and trains ran east of Bangor only. The next day, Sunday, a few early trains did not run, but the 09:23 from Crewe arrived just a little late at 11:57. The first departure from Holyhead was the 11:30 to London which left at 12:30 and made it to London 52 minutes late at 16:34. Predictably, the Conwy Valley line also suffered, and was still closed beyond North Llanrwst on Monday 7 December. A more light-hearted note: Richard Beckley writes: 'On the Real Time Trains website on 5 December, train 1V97 12:39 from Holyhead to Maesteg is shown as cancelled throughout due to speed restrictions as a result of heat. I can't wait to see what happens in the summer. ' Ill-fated ExcursionAbove, the empty stock (5Z42) for the Holyhead - Edinburgh 'Statesman' excursion planned for Saturday 5 December approaches Chester on schedule on Friday 4th (Tim Rogers). Going well through Bangor, at 13:43 (13 minutes early). 47 804 leading ... ... 47 851 on the tail (Jim Johnson) As may be guessed from the report above, 'on the day', 5 December, things did not go well. There must have been some thoughts of cancellation as the weather worsened, but the train left Holyhead 21 minutes late at 06:15, heading for Cumbria where the storms and floods were at their worst. Arrival at Oxenholme Lake District was at 11:09, 76 minutes late on the original schedule. Wisely, it had been decided to turn back and head home, and the train departed Oxenholme at 11:39, and after several delays en route reached Bangor four hours, twenty-two minutes later at 16:01 before running back empty to Crewe. The line beyond Bangor to Holyhead was already blocked by this stage. In the event, it was the last train able to head south through Oxenholme that day, as flooding and power cuts closed the West Coast Main Line between Preston and Carlisle. Wylfa to closeWylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey, the originator of the flask trains that are the only revenue-earning freight traffic on the Coast line west of Saltney Junction, is to finally cease generating on 30 December. It has been running just one of its two reactors in recent times, having been given an extension beyond its original planned closure date of 2010; commissioned in 1971 it is the last of the 'Magnox' nuclear stations to remain in use. There will be a 100-day 'cool down' period before full decommissioning gets under way and the nuclear fuel is removed; trains carrying the fuel to Sellafield will continue to run for two or three years. The place will then have to be left in 'care and maintenance' for years before it can be demolished. The Nuclear Decommission Authority estimates the total cost of the decommissioning of Wylfa at £728 million, £53 billion is being spent on decommissioning the installations at Sellafield. There are (controversial) plans for a replacement nuclear station on the site - 'Wylfa Newydd' to be built by Horizon Nuclear Power, a subsidiary if Japanese industrial giant Hitachi, which would comprise two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) – generating a minimum of 2,700MW. Even if approved, it will be a long time before this will be ready to generate power. The Daily Post has an interesting illustrated article about Wylfa. Freightliner route learnerFreightliner have been employing Class 66 locos on route-learning duties along the North Wales line. Whether they have some traffic in mind, such as engineering trains, or just keeping route knowledge up-to-date just in case, we cannot say. (Almost certainly the latter.) Above, 66 561 at Holyhead on 1 December. Picture by Eurwyn McMahon. Above, at Bangor on 1 December, 66 561 on the return working from Holyhead at 12:36 passes 158 822, working 1D12 09:25 Birmingham New St - Holyhead (normally originating at Birmingham International.) Picture by Jim Johnson. On 2 December, 66 519 was used. Russell Withington photographed it westbound at Flint on 2 December. 66 519 seen from Bangor footbridge (Peter Basterfield). 4 December, and the return run, 150 minutes early (Tim Rogers). 61306 in Wales - and elsewhere
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