NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
24 July 2023
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, and meetings, may be subject to cancellation or postponement. See our Calendar Page for Club and Society details.
August 2023
September 2023
Friday 1 September
Clwyd Railway Circle A History of The Internal Railway at Shotton Steelworks and its Links with the Main Line. Glyn Jones
Wednesday 13 September Statesman Rail The Snowdonia Statesman High Wycombe IST Birmingham NS - Betws-y-coed/Blaenau Ffestiniog LSL Pullman
16-17 September : Bala Model Show Ysgol Godre'r Berwyn School, Ffrydan Road, Bala, Gwynedd LL23 7RU
10.00-16.00 both days
Approximately 20 layouts, half standard gauge, half narrow (including live steam).
October 2023
Friday 6 October Clwyd Railway Circle A Year in the Life of an International Train Spotter - Part 2. Phil Thomas
11 October Statesman Rail The Snowdonia Statesman Stevenage - Nuneaton - Betws-y-coed /Blaenau Ffestiniog LSL Pullman
November 2023
Friday 3 November Clwyd Railway Circle The Railway in Conway. Larry Davies
December 2023
Friday 1 December Clwyd Railway Circle Members Night Presentations. Members are invited to give a 15-minute presentation of their choice.
(see our Calendar page for meeting venues)
North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme
We had a few daytime runs of a 67 and mark 4 set recently, in conjunction with selective door operation (SDO) testing of five-coach sets. 67 029 Royal Diamond passes Conwy Castle on 19 July. Picture by Gary Thomas.
News pictures
On 17 July 'Doyen of the Class' 197 001 passes Waverton with 1D56, Crewe to Chester shuttle...
... and on the same day, 66 758 The Pavior at Waverton with 4D59, Wellingborough to Llandudno Junction empty slate waste wagons (Stephen Dennett).
Loaded train Near Colwyn Bay (Peter Basterfield).
The 5-coach test train passes Llandudno Junction on 17 July as 66 758 carries out the procedure to load the slate waste train in two sittings (Garry Stroud).
Newly-delivered three-car 197 106 on a test run, 70 817 loading stone in the background, Penmaenmawr on 19 July.
70 817 at Beeches Farm with 6M33, Penmaenmawr Quarry to Longport loaded stone, 19 July (Stephen Dennett).
On 19 July, 70 801 diverted into the Sutton Bridge loop with 6Z59 the 05:00 from Exeter Riverside new yard to Longport Colas, a 20 wagon Land Recovery consist loaded with construction material. This was the second leg of the inaugural run of the new service of 20 wagons from Burngullow, Cornwall (Graham Breakwell).
70 817 runs round its train at Penmaenmawr quarry, 20 July (Gary Thomas).
Loader in action (Peter Basterfield).
Colwyn Bay (Peter Basterfield).
22 July saw the appearance of the 'Midland Pullman' train on the 06:05 Dundee - Llandudno excursion. 43 046 leading across the Dee bridge, 43 059 on the rear. Unfortunately, the weather was not ideal (Gary Thomas).
Another view of 67 029 with five-coach train. The additional standard-class coach is next to the Driving Trailer for some technical reason (Gary Thomas).
Passing Llandudno Junction (Garry Stroud).
Aberystwyth to Chirk Kronospan logs passing Meole Brace, Shrewsbury hauled by 97 303 and 37 405 on 23 July. The train spent around 90 minutes at Sutton Bridge Junction for a loco change, where a 56 took over for the run to Chirk via a reversal at Chester (Graham Breakwell).
Geoff Morris writes: On 24 July the slate empties were being hauled by 'celebrity' 66 734 Platinum Jubilee which was painted into a special livery in 2022 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne. As I’d never seen it before I followed its progress on RTT and went to Chester station to see it. The train had left about two hours late and eventually arrived in Chester 2½ hours late...
... Almost inevitably, the late running meant that it was held in the station to
await a path west which gave me the opportunity to walk round to the Northgate Arena car park to get some extra photos of its eventual departure.
Arrival at Llandudno Junction. At one stage on its journey it was 162 minutes behind! (Larry Davies).
The new class 777s are now running to Ormskirk: 777 049 at Moorfields station, 17 July (Greg Mape).
The little hut - by Peter Basterfield
The granite cabin opposite Penmaenmawr station which, built in 1900, was shelter for the weighbridge situated just outside in 'Paradise Road' (honest!) to weigh the horse-drawn coal carts from the railway yard before they climbed up the hill to the town. Looking at the fireplace, some of the coal never made it up the hill! I've walked past it many times ,but with the doorway open it caught my attention.
Llangollen scenes - by Greg Mape
A stay at the Chainbridge hotel and an opportunity to photograph trains from the window, steam and ...
... diesel. Taken on 22 July.
Out on the line at Glyndyfrdwy ...
... and Corwen.
Wrexham engineering
Progess at Wrexham, 22 July. The station is open but platform 1 roped off; a track machine of sorts hiding in platform 3 which I couldn't get at. Watery Road crossing closed and work site hard to get at apart from Mold Rd bridge; the vegetation defeated a view of platform 3 from Crispin Lane.
23 July: bay platform access points in situ ...
... and DRK81612 Kirow KRC heavy duty crane withdrawn into platform 2 ...
...with class 70 801 (reportedly) in charge of the P-way train.
From Dave Sallery's archive
08 846, Holyhead, March 1984. One of the two resident class 08 shunters at Holyhead is busy shunting empty Freightliner flats out of the container terminal in March of 1984. The terminal closed in 1991 and the site has since been redeveloped for Stena line. The two ship-to-shore container cranes survive and may be seen on the way into Dublin Harbour from the Irish Ferries service. 08 846 survives and is operated by Railway Support Services.
25 201 passes through Stoke on October 1 1985 with empty Freightliner flats from Holyhead to Derby for maintenance.
Class 45 Peak 45 043 brings the Lawley Street - Holyhead Freightliner through Prestatyn on the sunny evening of 16 July 1984. At the time this service was always hauled by a Peak. The now-lifted slow line is seen to the right of the train.
A clean 47 162 heads west at speed past Talacre signalbox on 26 June 1985. In the right foreground can be seen 'Dick the lamps' barrel of signal oil. 47 162 wasn't long for this world as it was withdrawn from traffic in January 1987 and cut-up at Crewe Works during May of that year.
Looking back: Class 40s pre-TOPS - by David Pool
By 1962 the Class 40 diesels had taken over most of the workings between Lime Street and Crewe. The line through Mossley Hill at the back of Briardale Road was a good location for photography, although trains from Lime Street were close head-on shots. On 31 March 1962 I was using my first roll of Kodachrome II in my Vito B camera, and D339 was carrying the Merseyside Express headboard, so I was pleased with the resulting shot, even if the locomotive was not particularly clean! I noted it had been a 10:05 departure instead of the usual 10am, but it was a Saturday and the timings may have changed for the weekend. Electric haulage would be used from Lime Street in the following year.
The water troughs at Brock, north of Preston, were a good location for photographs of trains on the West Coast main line, with a good view from a local road bridge. On 20 April 1965 D275 was on the 10:10 Euston to Perth – with only five coaches it is possible that the train had been split earlier on the journey. These locomotives were fitted with water scoops to permit refilling of the boilers for steam heating, and this added to the interest in the shot Note the rather deserted M6 in the background, and the absence of trees between the railway and the Motorway.
The troughs at Moore, near Warrington, were nearer for me, and the footbridge is still today worth visiting for a photograph, although the overhead wires and structures make it very difficult for Southbound workings. On 11 September 1965 the Royal Scot (10:00 Glasgow to Euston) was being hauled by D221, with the water scoop in use. Going for a ground level shot was not advisable near troughs if you wanted to keep the camera dry!
Class 40s were becoming common on the North Wales coast, and the 10:35 Euston to Holyhead on a sunny 11 February 1967 featured D210. The train is approaching Rhyl, and the blue/grey coaches are now making an appearance.
The freights to Holyhead were regularly hauled by Class 40s in the following year, and on 27 December 1967 D314 was approaching Penmaenmawr with a long train of AF containers on Conflats, presumably heading for Holyhead. There is sunshine on the Great Orme, and I would have liked it to have been a little brighter here, but it was after all mid Winter.
The 13:25 Manchester Victoria to Warrington Bank Quay had just joined the main line at Winwick Junction on 19 July 1969, headed by D337. The duplication of the 1D57 headcode is a little surprising – why should there be one displayed in the central cab window?
A far cry from the present appearance of Ramsbottom station and its surroundings, the daily coal freight 9T86 to Rawtenstall on 5 August 1971 was headed by 375, in BR blue but without the D prefix. The station facilities look rather basic, and the passenger trains between Bury and Rawtenstall ceased the following year.
There was a Freightliner departure at 19:20 from Garston to Trafford Park in 1972, which passed through Hunts Cross with just enough sunlight in the summer months to give a reasonable shot. I don’t know how it got onto the CLC line, but presumably reversed somewhere – possibly at Edge Hill. The locomotive was 291 on 28 July 1972. The lines on the right went to Gateacre, which had a passenger service until 17 April of that year, but one track looks as though it was still being used – maybe for demolition trains?
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