11 December 2017
Contributions and comments are encouraged: see the Contributions Page
Forthcoming events
December 2017
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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Tan-y-Bwlch, 10 December. Capture by Dave Sallery
from the Ffestiniog
Railway webcam.
Bangor, 30 November - report by Jim Johnson
A visit to Bangor Station on the afternoon of Thursday, 30
November, ostensibly to film Colas Class 67s on the Network
Rail Test Train, revealed severe delays caused by signalling
problems in the Penmaenmawr area. It was obvious that
something was amiss when I turned up on the station at
14:15, and the 1H89 13:07 Holyhead - Manchester Piccadilly,
propelled by 67 015, and due off Bangor at 13:32, was still
sitting in Platform 1. It departed at 14:29, 54 minutes
down, and was terminated at Manchester Oxford Road. The 1A48
double-Voyager, 13:58 Holyhead-Euston, left at 15:23, 57
mins. down, and was terminated at Milton Keynes. Down
services were also delayed, but not to the same degree. All
up services were departing with the starting signal still on
red, obviously under special arrangement. The picture above
shows 67 027 Stella leading the the 10:36 Derby RTC to Crewe
via Holyhead measurement train through the down loop
(Platform 2) at 15:11.
With 67 027 Charlotte trailing, the train 21
mins. down on the schedule. This was, we believe, the
first visit to North Wales of a Network Rail train worked by
the two Class 67s under the ownership of Colas, who bought
them recently from DB. Double Voyagers 221 105
William Baffin and 221 104 'Sir John Franklin' can be
seen stood in platform 1, the severely delayed 1A48
mentioned above.
158 828 on 1G60 15:44 Holyhead-Birmingham
International, leaves right-time at 16:23, permitted by the
signaller to pass the signal at red. The procedure for this
is that authority was given via GSMR cab radio from Bangor
signalbox (the conversation is recorded). It is no longer
necessary for the driver to leave the cab and use a
telephone by the signal. The actions of the driver when
receiving permission to pass a signal at red are to repeat
the instructions back to the signalman. Whilst going towards
the signal in question the driver would override the TPWS
(Train Protection and Warning System) which would normally
force the train to stop at a red signal. This action, which
involves pressing a button for 20 seconds, would be recorded
on the train's 'black box' - the On-Train Monitoring
Recorder. The
Handbook for the system is available online.
The return test train, with 67 027 illuminates the interior
and facade of Belmont Tunnel with its strobe lights,
arriving at 16:42, 5 minutes early.
Slowing to a halt on the Up main.
The silhouette of the old '6H' Bangor Loco Shed behind 67
027.
67 027's nameplate. Reportedly Charlotte works in the Colas
office in Rugby.
1Q30 departing right-time, with signal on green, at 16:47.
[This report was accidentally omitted from the last update.]
Festive scenes
Maid Marian on Santa duty, Bala Lake Railway, 10
December (Bob Greenhalgh).
Dolbadarn on the Llanberis Lake Railway, 5 December
(Jim Ikin).
Saphos arises
A Train Operating Company licence was awarded in
August 2017 to Locomotive Services Ltd, a company formed
to operate steam-hauled excursions, which will be operated
by a related company, curiously-named Saphos Trains, which
has set up a website
under that name. The locomotives and trains will be based
at the former Crewe North Diesel depot, which will also be
the hub for the services, which as we understand it will
run on the North Wales Coast and Crewe - Cardiff lines,
and start running in 2018. Locomotive Services Ltd has
also procured two Class 47 locomotives, which will perform
ancillary roles. The two 47s have recently
been engaged on crew familiarisation runs, initially from
Crewe to Chester and back on 1, 4 and 5 December. Robert
Meredith captured them near Beeston (above) on 5
December.
To the enjoyment of our contributors the pair gained three
coaches and ran on to Llandudno on 9 December. Robert
Meredith's picture above shows them top-and-tail on
three coaches passing Wardle between Crewe and Chester on
the way to Llandudno with D1944 Craftsman
leading.
Passing Hawarden Airport (Bob Greenhalgh).
According to the company, ''Saphos Trains is part of the
expanding and respected 'Locomotive Services' group who
are custodians of numerous steam engines and historic
carriages at their impressive engineering base in Crewe
and we are pleased to launch a new and exciting series of
trains which will offer steam hauled trips departing
mainly from Crewe.'
Abergele (Roly High). All these companies are part
of the empire of Jeremy John Hosking, born 1958, who set
up Saphos as a Limited Liability Partnership in 2015.
Wikipedia tells us that 'He made his fortune through
investment and private equity, including as a co-founder
and investment portfolio manager for private investment
fund Marathon Asset Management. He donated £1.7 million to
"Vote Leave" in 2016.'
Approaching Llandudno Junction (Jim Johnson). Mr
Hosking owns several steam locos: according to Steam
Railway magazine Locomotive Services has a
Network Rail Gauging Certificate for both Stanier No.
46100 Royal Scot and 'West Country' No. 34046 Braunton
(currently running as 'Battle of Britain' No. 34052 Lord
Dowding) to run along the North Wales coast to
Llandudno and south to Cardiff.
'Between the greens' near Deganwy (Peter Basterfield).
The depot at Crewe was sold by Pete Waterman to Mr Hosking
in 2014. Could it be a sign of the times that a man who
made millions from amusing pop songs in the 80s and 90s
has handed the baton of steam's rich uncle to a man who
made millions in the world of financial services in the
new century?
As 175 109 heads into Llandudno platform 2 with a
service train, D1944 and its train were exploring the Cae
Mawr sidings, which were refurbished a couple of years ago
with a view to stabling excursions, but have hardly seen
any trains since. Picture by Peter Lloyd.
D1944 brings the stock of the crew training special into
Llandudno platform 1 from the carriage sidings. The
carriages are Mk 2f FOs 3330 and 3426 and Mk 2d BFK 17159
which appears to have been purchased from DRS, who used it
occasionally on Cumbrian Coast services but had no real
need for a first class vehicle. (Chris Morrison).
Llandudno (Rowan Crawshaw). Why 'Saphos'? We don't
know, but another Hosking company, Saphos Hotels, owns a hotel near
East Grinstead.
Basking in brief sunshine at Llandudno (Rowan Crawshaw).
These two Class 47s have been acquired as surplus to the
requirements of DRS, and given a smart coat of the
original British Railways two-tone livery. There is
no outward sign of their current 'official' numbers 47 501
(D1944) and 47 805 (D1935) so presumably we should refer
to them by the 1960s BR numbers.
D1935 arriving from Llandudno in bay platform 2 at
Llandudno Junction where it will reverse to go to Valley
to learn the workings of the turning triangle (Peter
Lloyd). D1935 is the former 47 805, which back in
the 90s was one of the Virgin Trains passenger fleet as Pride
of Toton.
Portrait of D1935 (Paul Jones).
Flashback to 2005, and 47 805 has arrived at Manchester
Oxford Road on an Arriva Trains Wales service from North
Wales.
D1935 returns through Bangor at 15:02 ...
... Making a 'claggy entrance into Bangor Tunnel (Jim
Johnson).
D1935 returning from Valley at Deganwy (Peter
Basterfield). The loco has been turned on the
triangle, as the main radiator grilles reveal.
D1935 now heads the 15:58 Llandudno - Crewe (Chris
Morrison).
Pausing at Llandudno Junction to check for any gauging
problems against the platform. Picture by Paul Jones.
The train leaves Colwyn Bay having stopped briefly,
perhaps another gauging check (Chris Morrison).
Flasks
68 022 leads the flask train across the Britannia
Bridge, 4 December (Peter Basterfield).
68 034 and 68 033 with the 6D43 Crewe
to Valley flasks at Bangor on 11 December (Rowan
Crawshaw)
Ordsall Chord opens to traffic - Pictures by Greg Mape
Greg Mape turned out on the cold Sunday morning of
10 December (along with his 12-year-old
eldest daughter!) for the first service both ways over the
new Ordsall chord. The first train ran empty from
Newton Heath depot to Victoria (above) to form the 08:40
passenger from there to Oxford Road where it terminated in
Platform 5 before working the 08:57 to Leeds.
Oxford Road Platform 5. Initially there will be a quite
limited hourly service over the line departing Oxford Road
from 09:38 to 16:38 on weekdays. Trains call at Deansgate
which is a useful connection to Metrolink, although just
too late for passengers from North Wales. It appears
that bay Platform 5 will be used by most trains, with the
Liverpool via Warrington Central trains which start from
Oxford Road moved over to through platform 3.
The first train from Leeds to Victoria crosses the Irwell
on the artistic new bridge. It will be interesting to see
whether this added train over the busy Cornbrook Junction
will add to the chaos which sometimes ensues.
This Network Rail view shows the lie of the land, with the
new line cutting across the trackbed of the original
Liverpool and Manchester route, abolishing rail access to
the Museum of Science and Industry. The adjacent river
bridge is being restored as part of the project, as
it is a listed structure.
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