30 October 2017
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November 2017
Tuesday 7 November North
Wales Railway Circle Dave Rapson, who gave
an excellent and very popular show of the Bidston line,
returns with more of his quality entertainment.
Thursday 9 November Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society AGM /
Clive Evans Memories of North Wales steam and beyond
in the 1950s
Saturday 18 November Steam on the Coast Steam
Dreams 'Cathedrals Express' London Euston - Llandudno
for the Christmas Market. 46233 Duchess of
Sutherland: Crewe - Llandudno and return
Monday 20 November RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER John Day – “UK Railways – Beyond
the Blue”
Saturday 25 November Steam at Chester Railway Touring
Company 'The Christmas Cheshireman'
Bristol - Chester 70013 / 45305: Bristol - Hereford -
Wrexham - Chester and return
Saturday 25 November Steam at Chester UK
Railtours 'The Chester Chirstmas Cracker'
London Euston - Chester 60163: Euston - Chester and return
Thursday 30 November Light
Rail Transit Association (Manchester) Bob
Bracegirdle: The Belgian Vicinal and its raison d'ętre.
December 2017
Friday 1 December Clwyd
Railway Circle 'Members Night & Christmas
Celebrations' Members are invited to give a 15 minute
presentation of their choice (any format). FREE tea/coffee
& festive treats during the interval. Contact David
Jones 01244 537440 to book a slot.
Tuesday 5 December North
Wales Railway Circle Christmas Bash. A free buffet is
provided this evening and members are invited to bring their
own slides/digital pictures and videos to entertain
Wednesday 6 December RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
LIVERPOOL Tom Heavyside – “BR in the North
West”
Saturday 9 December Rhyl & District Model Railway
Club annual Model Railway Exhibition. Venue: Prestatyn
Parish Church & Community Hall, High Street, Prestatyn,
LL19 9AR. 10.30am - 4.00pm. Featuring around a dozen
layouts in scales "Z" to "G", trade stands, displays and
light refreshments. In aid of Ty Gobaith Young Peoples
Hospice (Conwy) and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd
Cardiology Trust Fund.
Thursday 14 December Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society
Xmas Social / Bill Rogerson: Roaming the Rails with
Bill
Monday 18 December RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER Bob Barnard – “The Lynton &
Barnstaple Railway“
January 2018
Friday 5 January Clwyd
Railway Circle Mike Blackburn 'The Welsh Highland
Railway (NWNGR)' A history of the North Wales narrow gauge
and Croesor Tramway and the linking to form the Welsh
Highland Railway, restoration and building of the new.
Tuesday 9 January North
Wales Railway Circle Speaker to be
announced
Thursday 11 January Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society Ron
Watson Jones: Rails to Roads
Monday 15 January RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER AGM, followed by John Cowlishaw –
“The End of the Line, Part 1 (Non-members are invited to
attend from 20.15 hours)
Thursday 25 January Light
Rail Transit Association (Manchester) Tony
Young: The Tramways of Bury
February
2018
Friday 2 February Clwyd
Railway Circle John Sloane 'From Vulcan Foundry to the
Khyber' British built steam at work in Pakistan, It includes
pictures taken on the spectacular line up the Khyber Pass to
the Afghan border.
Tuesday 6 February North
Wales Railway Circle Barry Wynn, assisted by Steve
Morris, presents more of his work. A superb collection
of photographs depicting British Railway practice going back
to steam days.
Wednesday 7 February RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
LIVERPOOL Doug Birmingham –
“Rail Reflections in Merseyside”
8 February Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society
Ellis Morey: The Penrhyn Railway
Monday 19 February RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER Ian Pilkington –
“Steam and Diesel in the Northern Fells”
March 2018
Friday 2 March Clwyd
Railway Circle Annual General Meeting followed by
“Film Shows - Railways Past and Present”.
Tuesday 6 March North
Wales Railway Circle North to South. North Wales
Railway Circle member Ken Owen returns with a pictorial
journey north to south over the British Rail network.
Thursday 8 March Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society John
Cashen RCTS: North West & North Wales
Reminiscences in the 1960s
Monday 19 March RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER Peter Berry – “The Robert
Whitfield Collection, UK Steam 1948 - 1958”
April 2018
Tuesday 3 April North
Wales Railway Circle Tony Griffith returns with two
presentations. The Dyserth Branch and an historic
shipping disaster off the North Wales Coast.
Friday 6 April Clwyd
Railway Circle John Cashen 'North West & North
Wales Reminiscences In The 1960s' The presentation will
cover from Liverpool to Liverpool within an area bounded by
Southport, Burscough, Standish, Warrington, Crewe,
Whitchurch, Chester, Holyhead, Barmouth, Aberystwyth,
Shrewsbury, Wrexham, the Wirral, Chester, Northwich and
Speke
12 April Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society Members
Evening
Wednesday 4 April RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
LIVERPOOL Alan Moore – “The
Railways of St. Helens”
Monday 16 April RCTS
Merseyside Chester & North Wales
CHESTER Brian Armand – “Railway
Roundabout”
Thursday 26 April Brian Yates: Light
Rail Transit Association (Manchester) The
Tramways of Berlin, Potsdam, Lyon and Grenoble.
May 2018
Tuesday 8 May North
Wales Railway Circle AGM and Annual Photographic
Competition
Thursday 10 May Llandudno
and Conwy Valley Railway Society W. Gordon
Davies: A taste of Japan
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68 016 Fearless and 68 034 Victorious
head towards Belmont Tunnel on 23 October with the two
bridges over the Menai in the background. Picture by Peter
Basterfield.
Alstom Widnes - report by Mike Campbell
I had the opportunity on 30 October to join a group of
fellow railway professionals for a visit around Alstom’s new
Widnes facility. Built with the aid of a Ł6million grant,
the factory, which had its official opening in June is part
of the wider Mersey Gateway regeneration which also saw the
new Mersey crossing opened at nearby Runcorn in September.
Alstom’s decision to build this facility in the UK is part
of their strategic decision to have a visible UK presence
for both current and projected new orders. The factory takes
up a massive 13,000m˛ and there are already plans to
expand for phase 2 and 3, if Alstom secure the contract to
build new rolling stock for London Underground Deep Tube
project and HS2.
For now though, the factory has the Ł25million contract to
complete the mid-life corrosive protection work (that’s
painting to you and me) of the Virgin trains Class 390
Pendolino fleet. The first unit to be painted was 390 010
followed by units 006, then 390 009 which is
pictured here. The plan is to complete all 56 sets in the
fleet, with each unit being repainted on a two-week
turnaround. Shunter 08 721, transferred here
from Longsight depot, was on hand outside.
Also housed at the site is a new training academy and Alstom
have taken on several apprentices to support the 390
project.
[Note: Mike assures us that participant were encouraged to
take and share pictures.]
Arriva give up on Wales
It appears from press reports that Arriva has told the Welsh
Government that it will be no longer participating in the
Wales and Borders [franchise] competition', adding it had
'not been an easy decision.'
Arriva Trains Wales run the franchise since 2003; there are
three remaining bidders - Abellio (Netherlands Railways),
French public-private consortium Keolis, who recently won
the Manchester Metrolink franchise, and MTR, operators of
the Hong Kong rapid transport system.
Responsibility for the process of finding a company to run
the services from 2018 is devolved to the Welsh Government,
and the decision is supposed to be made by the end of this
year. It's not clear what the WG is requiring of the
new franchise holder, although it stated publicly that there
will be no move to driver-only operation. Many ATW
trains serve important places outside Wales, of course; it
was being said back in 2015 that services 'primarily serving
English markets' might be re-allocated to English-based
franchises, but it's not clear how this could be done
without losing important through connections for Welsh
passengers to English cities. As for rolling stock for
possible improved services, the only plan we know of is an
order for some of the 'Class 769' electro-diesel units being
converted from Class 319 EMUs.
Arriva's Northern company are promising to run a service on
the Manchester - Warrington Bank Quay route from May 2018,
but it appears that this will be a 'Northern Connect'
semi-fast service no stopping at Runcorn East, Frodsham or
Helsby which are currently served only by ATW. Any reader
who knows what's actually likely to happen is welcome to
comment.
Severn Valley Saturday - with Jim Ikin
Some Severn Valley Railway scenes from 28 October. I don’t
think I've trains so crowded on a standard timetable day on
any preserved railway - although there was a Halloween event
on that night. Above: the state of progress with the 'new-build' Class 3 2-6-2T.
The replica of the 1808 Richard Trescothick Catch-Me-Who-Can
locomotive, under construction in the SVR workshops, not far
from to Rastrick and Hazledine's foundry in Bridgnorth where
the original was made.
43106, one of the first locos to run on the restored
Severn Valley line, on the LNER Gresley set of teak-bodied
coaches.
1949-built pannier 1501 enters Bridgnorth ...
... and runs around the train.
Departing Highley for Kidderminster.
The low autumn sun offers artistic opportunities.
34027 Taw Valley on shed
Pannier tank 7714 takes on water at Bridgnorth.
Clarifications from last issue
We've been asked to mention that the steel doors for the
Corwen Central subway were a donation to the railway,
were modified in-house by Llangollen Engineering,
rather than made as suggested by our item, and hung on
Saturday, 21 October to secure the access to the subway.
Tony Robinson's memories of Vulcan works caused some reader
comment. Class 50 diesels, intended originally for the
London Midland region and later transferred to the Western,
would have been under construction on his visit to the works
in 1968, but the order for 'Deltic' locos, although built
there, was completed some years earlier, around 1962. Could
one have been present at the Vulcan works in 1968, for
overhaul or repair perhaps? Or maybe the last of the Class
37s.
Locomotive variety
67 018 Keith Heller crosses the bridge by the Carreg
Bran Hotel with train 1D34 09:50 Manchester - Holyhead on 27
October. Picture by Peter Basterfield.
60 076 Dunbar stands at Mostyn in the early
hours of 30 October on an engineers train to Crewe Basford
Hall, with 60 085 on the rear; picture by Colas driver Jim
Scott. The clock on the 'last 60 on the Coast'
challenge needs re-setting!
Another much-photographed -and soon to be lost - signal, at
Holyhead on 30 October, with 56 096 at the head of
the Rail Head Treatment Train (Steve Morris).
66 716 Locomotive and Carriage Institution
passes Stoney Bridge, Timperley on 2 November with another
load of wood pellets for Drax power station.
68 029 and 68 001 Evolution pass
Bagillt with flasks on 25 October (Tim Rogers).
North Wales
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