NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd

10 April 2017




















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April 2017

Wednesday 12 April Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group  Change of Speaker: Richard Sant from the LMS Patriot Project to tell us all about the undertaking to build a new Patriot Class Loco.

Thursday 13 April Llandudno & Conwy Valley Railway Society Barry Wynne's Steam Odyssey.

Monday 24 April   RCTS Chester   George Jones : Onwards to Corwen.George lives in Wrexham and for many years has been an important publicist for the Llangollen Railway and certain of its locomotives. He will cover the railway’s reinvigoration of the line to Corwen and look at its future prospects.       

Friday 28 April Great Western Society North West Branch. The L&Y in BR days.  Noel Coates.

May 2017

Tuesday 2 May   North Wales Railway Circle AGM and Annual Photographic Competition.  The Annual General Meeting of The North Wales Railway Circle will be followed by the annual photographic competition.  Members are invited to submit their work in three categories, prints, slides and video.  Video to be kept reasonably short, approx. 5 mins.  In line with Circle rules all work should have been taken in the last 12 months.

Wednesday 10 May  Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group Group’s AGM + John Ellis Williams - The Continuing Story.

Thursday 11 May   Llandudno & Conwy Valley Railway Society   A tribute to the late David Jones, by John Myers 





A different loco on the 'Poor Man's WAG' - 67 020 at Chester on 10 April. Picture by Ian Wilson.

News: The Conwy Valley Line has re-opened after prolonged repairs to storm damage.

Five Frames of Frodsham - pictures by Anthony Robinson



Five scenes following the progress of train 1H88 12:46 Llandudno - Manchester Airport on sunny * April, from Overton Hill. Above, the Class 175 is approaching Frodsham.



Arriving at Frodsham station ...



... heading across Frodsham Viaduct, built 1848-1850, designed by James Meadows Rendel and built by Thomas Brassey, contractor, for the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway.



 ... approaching Frodsham Junction and signalbox. Having crossed the original River Weaver on the viaduct, the train is the Weaver Navigation.



The line diverging to the left is the 'Halton Curve' which has been much in the new lately as its current very limited service one-way is to be replaced by a regular one. The Up Goods Loop can also be seen.


Steam through Hartford - report by Phil Clarke



Steam movements through Hartford on 3 April. Above, 45699 Galatea on a move from Southall to Carnforth, having been replaced by a diesel on a 'Cathedrals Express' run on 1 April after failing its 'Fitness to Run' examination.



Later, at 21:20, 45231 The Sherwood Forester, making a return to the mainline after a two-year absence, was running for Carnforth to Crewe after making a test run from Carnforth to Hellifield and back earlier in the day.


Picture Miscellany



Approaching the footbridge at Rossett, the 11:30   departure from Chester heads south along the recently opened 'Up line on Thursday 6 April (Peter Neve).



Barrow for Tarvin station between Mouldsworth and Mickle Trafford served a very rural area and was closed to all traffic in 1953; the line was singled in 1969 (see the Disused Stations website). The station building survives, in a parlous state, as shown in Greg Mape's picture taken on 1 April with 150 144 passing on a Chester - Manchester service.



Bodorgan, Anglesey, 31 March. Above, 66 305 and 66 304 working 6K41 14.58 Valley - Crewe flasks (Peter Chapman).



67 014 propelling 1H89 13:07 Holyhead to Manchester Piccadilly past Bodorgan on 31 March (Peter Chapman).


Excursion to Chester - report by Roger Carvell



I was up early on Saturday 25 March to record the charter from Letchworth and Stevenage to Chester using 67 029 Royal Diamond and 67 015 in top-and-tail mode. The pictures show the train arriving, on time, for its booked pick-up point at Welwyn Garden City. The crimson and cream MK1s looked am absolute treat. Some station staff at Welwyn Garden City had never seen a booked charter call so those of us in the know put them right!

I hope everyone aboard had a good afternoon in Chester for I hear the return ran into problems and was diverted via Toton where 67 015 was examined by staff from the DB Cargo depot with brake trouble. The train finally arrived back in Hertfordshire almost upon midnight, with the errant 67 015 left far behind,  according to reports, at Toton.



Having seen the train off, it was time to follow 1Z45 by EMU for the Alexandra Palace model railway show. I am pleased to report that Chirk-based Dapol were doing very good business, not only in 'N' and 'OO' gauges but also in 'O' scale; a pre-production model of a 'Jinty' 0-6-0T in 'the senior scale'  was on show and the finished item is expected, perhaps later this year, to retail at a very competitive £200.It is sure to be a popular model and even the show model, unpainted,
looked superb.


Big Push for Corwen - report by George Jones



On 7 April the Llangollen Railway hosted a visit by Susan Elan Jones, MP for Clwyd South, on the occasion of the launch of its Corwen - The Big Push share brochure. During the course of the train journey Susan was reminded of the huge volunteer effort over the past 40 years to rebuild Llangollen Railway. On arrival at Corwen Susan was escorted around the railway site by project manager Richard Dixon Gough. Richard explained the work that had been completed to date, which has been done in the main by volunteer effort, and the construction that is still required to complete the terminal station.

Thepictures shows the group on arrival at Dwyrain Corwen East brandishing the Share Brochure - left to right - Susan Elan Jones MP, Peter Lund (Chairman of the Llangollen Railway Trust, Kevin Gooding (General Manager of the Llangollen Railway, and Quentin McGuinness, the director Llangollen Railway Trust who has masterminded the share brochure.

The Corwen Central project is costed at approximately £500,000, of which Llangollen Railway anticipate some funding from the Welsh Government European Rural Development Fund. The remaining funds will come from share purchases and donations. The Llangollen Railway promotion was to showcase the project so far and encourage people to make a donation or purchase shares.

Susan Elan Jones said, 'I am most impressed with the progress that has been made since my last visit in 2016 and the efforts of all the volunteers who have been involved in this project. I note that for work to continue financial support is imperative and an essential part of this support is the launch of the share brochure to encourage much needed funds'.

The 46-page Share Brochure is a bi-lingual publication reviewing the history of the Llangollen Railway and the Preservation Story with a review of the Corwen Phase 1 achievement and the current work at the terminus station. The details of the share appeal for the 370,000 shares available in Llangollen Railway plc and benefits accruing to shareholders are defined along with financial information and application process. As a full colour compilation, the share brochure is a very attractive publication.



The following day the volunteers were back at the work of building the corbels on the base of platform 2 at Corwen, with some 3000 blocks laid which will support the oversail blocks and edging stones.


Cambrian Corner



Greg Mape made the best of the sunshine on 7 April with a walk on Harlech beach.



158 820 has just departed from Harlech station and makes its way across the level crossing with the 11:27 Pwllheli - Machynlleth service on 7 April (Greg Mape).



Greg Mape writes: 'This shows the exposed sea wall at the far end of Harlech beach; I remember seeing this bit on a Boys Brigade camp hike (late 1970s!) There is a steep stepped path down from the road to the beach, crossing the railway, this is where the picture is taken. Apart from the orange trousers the men are wearing on the rocks, there are no clues to what era this is.'



A couple of pictures from our archive, taken from Harlech Castle in 2005. Above, a Machynlleth-bound 158 appraches the station, with Snowdonia as a backdrop (Charlie Hulme).



The 158, still in Wales and West silver livery, negotiates the level crossing. The acute angle of the tracks here requires some caution on the part of cyclists.



One from 1984: A well-loaded Class 101 calls at Harlech, with semaphore signalling still in evidence.


Late in the Evening - with Bob Greenhalgh





It's almost 8pm on 10 April at Saltney as 67 010 passes with the 17:16 Cardiff - Holyhead 'WAG Express' premier service, train 1W96, heading for Chester.



Running two hours late, 37 175 heads a Network Rail train at Saltney towards Green Lane crossing.


On the Premier Serivice - with Richard Putley



I travelled to Abergavenny on Friday, 7 April 2017 from Great Malvern, returning on the 'WAG Express' between Abergavenny (above) ....



.... and Hereford. It was hauled by DB Red 67 010, unusually marshalled at the Holyhead end.



Earlier in the day I’d seen 97 304 John Tiley head north through Hereford running light, and again later in the day running light south through Abergavenny (above).



Also running light in that direction was Freightliner 66 598.



66 200 headed north through Abergavenny on a Margam – Dee Marsh steel train.


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