NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
03 January 2022
Contributions to the Notice Board are welcome, although they may not always be used, due to time constraints, especially if they don't follow the file name convention given on the Contributions Page.
Forthcoming events
Charter trains may be subject to cancellation or postponement.
December 2021
28 December: Our regular contributor Ian Pilkington will be presenting “Steam in North Wales and the Border” on Friday at RCTS Lancashire & North West Branch, Fulwood Tennis Club, Highgate Avenue, Fulwood, Preston PR2 8LN.
The show will be a mixture of main line and narrow gauge steam taken since 2010.
January 2022
Wednesday 5 January RCTS Liverpool AGM followed by: Paul Chancellor ColourRail - 9th Journey (Non M,C&NW Members and Non-RCTS Members will not be able to take an active part in the AGM)
Monday 17 January RCTS online Zoom Professor Stuart Cole Rail Policy in Wales
February 2022 Monday 21 February RCTS Chester Martyn Hilbert. Network North West
March 2022
Wednesday 2 March RCTS Liverpool Paul Shackcloth L & Y Engines At Work, Part 1
Monday 21 March RCTS online Zoom Geoff Plumb The Wrexham & Shropshire Railway
April 2022 Monday 25 April RCTS Chester David Powell Merseyrail Fleet Replacement
(see our Calendar page for venues)
Gary Thomas travelled from Conwy to the Great Central Railway on 2 January to see 55 019 Royal Highland Fusilier running to recognise 40 years since 'Deltics' first retired from British Rail. The photo is taken at Kinchley Lane, between Quorn and Woodhouse and Rothley.
Cambrian Coast re-opens - report by Ken Robinson
The Cambrian Coast line re-opened on 30 December after a 3+ month closure. It marked the end of stage two of the three-stage restoration of Barmouth Bridge.
Network Rail also took advantage of the situation and made other improvements, including maintenance to the track and stations during the closure period. The walkway still needs further work and will close for a few weeks on 10 January, having reopened temporarily over Christmas to allow walkers and cyclists to use it. The restoration project will cost £30m - the third and final phase occurring next Autumn.
(Meanwhile, on the Conwy Valley, Monday 3 January has seen no trains, due to problems of 'resource availability' and the same is listed for 4 January. Presumably this refers to the effects of Covid. There have also been problems on the Borderlands line.)
Penmaenmawr, 2004
The recent re-appearance of Hanson aggregates traffic at Penmaenmawr quarry prompts Paul Shannon to send us the above image showing 6Z52 10:47 Penmaenmawr - Acton on 17 April 2004, comprising 66 121 and Hanson JHA hoppers. The track looked in pretty good shape at that time and the two short sidings were holding empty ballast box wagons.
From Dave Sallery's archive
Network Rail liveried 31 105 at Derby, 4 August 2005. This loco is now preserved on the Mangapps Railway in Essex, along with 31 233.
L708 at Gospel Oak on a Barking service, 28 June 1991. In a reversal of the usual migration, in 1984 some redundant Class 104 units from the Manchester area found themselves at Cricklewood Depot for use on non-electrified lines in the London area. Nearest the camera is Class 104 53437; its partner is actually a Class 119 coach, 51103. TheNetwork South East 104s, the last main line survivors of a very large class, were withdrawn in 1993. Today, the 'Goblin' line is electrified and part of the 'London Overground' network. (Thanks to railcar.co.uk for information.)
Looking back: Diesels 1999 part 5 - by David Pool
The Railtour Files website refers to a Pathfinder Tour from Cardiff to Edinburgh on 10 July 1999, but details were not confirmed. I photographed the returning train with D172 at Helsby (NWCR News 12 June 2020), and subsequently there was a locomotive change at Chester, with 50 031 Hood taking over. The Southbound train was 1Z18, 1457 Edinburgh to Cardiff, and is shown passing the Roodee at Chester.
In 1999 it was possible to see a wide selection of liveries, and BR blue was considered to be a relic of the past. It was therefore rather surprising to see an even earlier green livery recently applied to a Class 37, which was also renumbered with a “D” prefix. D6607 (previously 37 403) was working the 13:54 Holyhead to Birmingham, and is leaving Chester on 20 July 1999.
I was at Winwick on 23 July 1999, having heard that the Royal Train was working Southbound from Morecambe on that day. Routes and timings were of course not available, and I was pleased to be able to get a shot of 47 799 Prince Henry leading, with 47 798 Prince William at the rear. It was presumably not appropriate for 47 799 to be named Prince Harry, since this was not his formal name.
Yet another Deltic on a Regency Railtour with the 09:12 Chester to Carnforth! On 6 August 1999 it was D9009 Alycidon, and the leading coach appears to be a First Class Saloon of GWR heritage, probably 9004.
The Merseyrail De-icing Units were difficult to photograph, since they did not appear to run to any regular schedule. They could often be seen parked outside Birkenhead North Depot, and Electro-diesel 73 901 is in front of the Departmental Unit 936 003 (previously the Watford Electric 501 183) on 21 August 1999. The Class 73 would be between the two coaches when in use, as also shown in the NWCR News of 12 June 2020.
The freight trains from Mostyn Dock tended to be overlooked by photographers, and I was pleased to see a Transrail liveried 37 802 at Chester on 3 September 1999 with 6E39, the 08:10 tanks from Mostyn to the chemical plant at Saltend (Hull).
There was a regular freight working between Coatbridge and Felixstowe in 1999, and in the late afternoon of 7 September the 4L60 (15:04 from Coatbridge ) had the usual pair of Class 86/6 electrics plus another hauled dead. 86 611 Airey Neave, 86 618 and 86 638 were all in the original Freightliner grey livery, having not yet been repainted in the new Freightliner green.
Apart from those on Merseyrail, the Class 73 Electro-diesels were not often seen in the North of England, so when a couple were to appear on the East Lancs Railway on 18 September 1999 it was another of those “not to be missed” days. A wide angle lens is useful for the classic shot at the River Irwell bridge at Summerseat, and 73 133 The Bluebell Railway was in Mainline blue and 73 129 City of Winchester in NSE livery. Both locomotives are still in use today, 73 133 being at Arlington Fleet Group (Eastleigh) and 73 129 at the Cambrian Heritage Railway in Oswestry, carrying its original number E6036.
Out and About
Class 104 units may have left the main line in 1993, but several have been preserved. Passing Burrs on the East Lancashire Railway on 2 January, two car set 50455 / 50577...
... also in action was resident steam loco 34092 City of Wells (Greg Mape).
On 3 January, Greg Mape captured a diverted Drax - Tuebrook Sidings with 60 076 with empty biomass wagons. The normal through route through Manchester Victoria is closed for engineering work. The train is passing into Timperley on the Stockport-Altrincham line.
Duke of Lancaster
A recent article in the Daily Mail reports the effort to bring back activity to the former ferry which has been a landmark for many years. It's worth a look for the accompanying pictures.
About Tuebrook - by David Pool
I was very interested to see your report relating to the Hanson terminal, but as someone who was born many years ago within a mile or two of the terminal, I wish to point out that the Hanson terminal is not in Tuebrook!
The confusion arises because British Rail (or maybe even the LMS) referred to the sidings at Wavertree as the Tuebrook Sidings, perhaps since they would have been used for trains coming from the Bootle Branch which passed through Tuebrook.
The closed station at Tuebrook [originally Tue Brook] on the Bootle branch was on West Derby Road (A5049), in what I would describe as the centre of Tuebrook (where all the shops are situated). If you follow the branch line southwards from there, it passes Newsham Park, where there was a connection to Lister Drive Power Station and a branch to Stanley Cattle Market sidings, and goes under Prescot Road at the site of Stanley Station, before Edge Lane Junction, where one line goes to Olive Mount Junction and the other to the Bootle Branch Junction (which of course is not in Bootle) and Tuebrook Sidings (which are around two miles from Tuebrook).
Blunders...
The previous Notice Board disappeared for a while last week, replaced by an older one - apologies for that, and also for the suggestion that the Llangollen Railway has planned to offer a delicious snack of small rodents in pastry. Unfortunately, 'mince' and 'mice' both pass the scrutiny of the spell-checker.
North Wales Coast home page | Archive | Previous Notice Board