NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD

More about DRS and their sale Class 37/4 locos. Some new owners are: 37 407  to Europhoenix, 37 419 and 37 422 to Harry Needle. 
Most interesting  is that 37 424 and 37 425 have gone to Meteor Power,  'an innovative company specialising in low carbon powertrains and control systems'. They have converted a Class 08 to work on batteries, and are working (very slowly) on a Class 37, 37 207, which belongs to a preservation group. 



37 425 (minus nameplates which are to be / have been auctioned) appeared at an East Lancashire Railway at 27 June,  said to be loaned from HNRC. There is some controversy about this Meteor Power company, and it's acquisition of the locos but we won't go into it here because it's not clear. Picture by Greg Mape.

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From Dave Sallery's archive

37 885 on test returns to Crewe through Abergele, 14 October 1988.



45 108 on a Trans Pennine service near Prestatyn, 15 November 1984



47 199 with the Trafford Park - Holyhead Freightliner passes Prestatyn on 7 August 1984.



47 351 with empty OTA log carriers at Penyffordd, 20 October 1992.

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From Richard Snook's archive

Flint, July 1982. 40 177 on Amlwch - Ellesmere Port acid / chlorine tanks.



Rhyl,  9 July 85: 25 278 on container flats.



Flint, 14 June 1985: 33 013 14:17 Bangor - Cardiff.



Rhyl,  17 August 1984: : 40 135 7F18 Amlwch - Ellesmere Port chemical tanks.

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Looking back: Southport part 1 - with David Pool

I had got a Vito B camera for Christmas 1959, so on 5 January 1960 having loaded it with a 10ASA Kodachrome film I went to Southport in search of some steam.  One of my favourite locations has been the long footbridge from London Street on the East side of Southport Chapel Street Station, and I have seldom been disappointed.  On this occasion the station pilot was an Aspinall 2-4-2T 50781, soon to be withdrawn, and the sunshine in January was very welcome.



A few hundred yards from the long footbridge, another footbridge crossed the lines to Wigan and Preston, giving a view of Southport shed 27C in the distance.  A shot from this footbridge on 18 April 1960 shows Black 5 45061 working the 10.00 Southport to Manchester, about to take the direct line through St Lukes Station.  The electrified lines on the right went as far as Crossens on the West Lancs line to Preston, which closed in 1964.  Some trains to Wigan took the electrified lines as far as the triangle at Meols Cop, then passed through Meols Cop Station on a line which once continued to Downholland and the junction with the CLC at Altcar, but now rejoined the Wigan line.  In 1960 there was a level crossing at Blowick on the direct line to Wigan, but this was a traffic bottleneck, and in 1965 the line through St Lukes Station and Blowick was closed, with all Wigan trains now routed via Meols Cop. 



Southport was once a favourite destination for the special trains from the Lancashire mill towns which ran during the annual holiday weeks.  The number of platforms at Southport Chapel Street station were supplemented by more platforms on the North side of the station, which were denoted the London Steet Excursion Platforms, the entrance and exit to these platforms being in London Street and not Chapel Street.  A Standard Class 4MT 75017 was leaving the main station on 18 April 1960, but I had not noted its destination, although it was probably Preston. 



Southport shed 27C closed in 1966, the site consequently becoming neglected and partly derelict.  Members of a Southport transport society decided it would be an appropriate location for a transport museum, to be called Steamport, and after successful fund raising acquired what was left of the buildings in 1971.  Two locomotives Lucy and Efficient were loaned by the Liverpool Locomotive Preservation Group – these two locomotives have been used on various “Docker” Railtours on Merseyside. 

My first visit to Steamport was on 25 August 1975, and in steam on that day was Peckett 1999 (1942) on loan from the K&WVR.  This was particularly interesting to me, since 30 or so years earlier I had lived in Southport, and as a child often wanted to see the nearest steam locomotive, which happened to be No.1999 working from Blowick sidings to Southport Gas Works along Crowland Street.  At the time I was mildly disappointed, since although 1999 was in LMS red, the number was not in my 1942 Ian Allan ABC of LMS Locomotives, so it was not a number I could cross off…



Hudswell Clarke 750 (1906) was originally named Waleswood, and rebuilt in 1930, returning to service in Yorkshire collieries.  Withdrawn in 1962. it moved into preservation with the name Samantha.  On 25 August 1975 it was the oldest locomotive at Steamport, and giving brake van rides.  Subsequently it regained the name Waleswood, and after boiler problems in 1980 it moved to a number of preserved railways where eventually it was returned to steam.  It is reported as being at Peak Rail in 2024.  



My next visit to Steamport was on 6 October 1979, when Avonside 1568 Lucy was giving brake van rides.  Built in 1909, Lucy worked in the Widnes dock system until retirement in 1971, when it joined Efficient in store at Seacombe.



The main building on 24 June 1984 was less full than might have been expected.  Peckett 1999 was in front of the two car Class 502 units M28381M/M29896M. 



Two mainline diesels were outside the main building on that occasion.  24 081 was one of the last Class 24s to be withdrawn from BR service, and D1048 Western Lady was making a rare visit away from the Western Region, although it had been built at Crewe.
The steam locomotive visible in the shot was Fitzwilliam, Hunslet 1954 (1939), which had been Kinsley at South Kirby Colliery near Barnsley, but renamed at Steamport when the saddle tank was found to have come from another locomotive named  Fitzwilliam.  Many of the steam locomotives at Steamport were moved to the Ribble Steam Railway when Steamport closed in 1999, the site becoming part of the Central 12 Shopping Park.  I am grateful that the long footbridge still exists, and will feature again in  part 2 of my Southport images. 

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