NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
26 August 2024
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 advice and 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, society and tour operator details.
August 2024
24-26 August Bala Lake Railway August Steam Gala
24-25 August Model Railway Exhibition in Machynlleth in support of the Corris Railway
30 August - 1 September - Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway - Steam Gala with model railway exhibition
September 2024
Wednesday 4 September Statesman High Wycombe - Blaenau Ffestiniog
Thursday 5 September Pathfinder Tours The Cambrian Coast Express Bristol - Pwllheli
Friday 6 September Clwyd Railway Circle The Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway in the Vale of Clwyd - Fiona Gale
12 September Pathfinder Cambrian Coast Express Swindon - Pwllheli
14-15 September Welsh Highland Railway Super Power Weekend celebrating the successful restoration of the NG15 locomotive.
Sunday 15 September Steam Dreams 'Welsh Dragon' steam-hauled London Paddington - Shrewsbury, then diesel through to Pwllheli. For more on this and this and the next two entries see the Steam Dreams website.
Wednesday 18 September Steam Dreams 'Welsh Dragon' steam hauled Bangor - Crewe, then diesel to Cardiff via the Heart of Wales line
Thursday 19 September - Steam Dreams 'Welsh Dragon' steam hauled Cardiff to London Paddington via Gloucester and the Golden Valley line
Saturday 21 September - Northern Belle Telford - Carlisle pickups Shrewsbury, Wrexham General, Chester.
21-22 September Bala Model Railway Show Ysgol Godre’r Berwyn Secondary School, Ffrydan Road, Bala, Gwynedd LL23 7RU. (Bus link to Bala Lake Railway station). Note that dogs dogs, other than registered assistance dogs, are not allowed at the School. Opening times: 10.00-16.00 on both Saturday and Sunday.
October 2024
Friday 4 October Clwyd Railway Circle Wrexham’s Second Railway Mania - David Parry
4-6 October Ffestiniog Railway Bygoneds weekend
5-6 October Llangollen Railway Heritage Railcar Weekend
Friday 11 October. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "In Search of Steam in Japan. Six different steam locomotives in steam on different days on the LCGB tour of Japan in August 2023" by John Owen.
November 2024
Friday 1 November Clwyd Railway Circle Chinese Steam in 2001 and 2003 - Phil Thomas
Friday 8 November. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Then and Now" by Bob Barnard.
December 2024
Tuesday 10 December Midland Pullman from Holyhead to Edinburgh Waverley - Edinburgh Christmas Pullman
14-15 December Manchester Model Railway Society - The Christmas Model Railway Show. The Sugden Centre, Sidney Street, Manchester
January 2025
Friday 10 January. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Engine Sheds" by Noel Coates of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society.
February 2025
Friday 14 February. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Macclesfield Area Railways in the 1950s and 60s" by Martin Welch.
March 2025
Friday 14 March. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Navigation Road and All That" by Ted Buckley. Local rail scenes, mainly of steam, from the 1960s in the Altrincham and Dunham Massey areas and elsewhere taken by Ted's father Bill Buckley.
April 2025
Friday 11 April. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Steam, Diesel and Electric in the Northern Fells" by Ian Pilkington. A joint meeting with the Irish Railway Record Society Manchester Branch.
North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme
805 003 leads 805 004 through Abergele and Pensarn station with 1A26, 08:53 Holyhead - Crewe, running 25 minutes late. This was the return working of the 05:30 Birmingham - Holyhead which was delayed at Llandudno Junction and arrived at Holyhead 48 minutes late. We don't know why - does anyone know? Picture by Greg Mape.
Freight news
The main purpose of the slate facility at Llandudno Junction was to provide a supply of chippings to Hope Earles Cement works. Their present shale quarry near the plant is now exhausted. As the new plant at Hope needed planning permission, being in a National Park, there were delays in building it. Meanwhile the traffic has gone by road from Penrhyn Quarry.
However all is now apparently ready and Real Time Trains shows three trains from 17 September, running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week. The outward working is booked to leave at 22:09 and it's not immediately apparent when the wagons will arrive to be loaded but Wellingborough looks to be a good bet. As with all RTT workings treat the starting date with a touch of salt (not slate!).
News pictures (not many this week)
67 020 dragging 67 025 and coach set HD02 Over Malltraeth Viaduct on 23 August (Logan Humphreys).
43 357 (with 43 277) seen on the approach to Abergele & Pensarn station on 8 August whilst working 1Q30 1054 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail).
Where I was on my holiday - 45596 Bahamas in action at Matlock on the Peak Rail's Steam Gala on 11 August.
Shrewsbury scenes - by Graham Breakwell
Three views from 19 August: 82216 in Hope House Hospice livery leading 1W57, the 10:52 Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly...
... 67 012 on the rear.
66 433 Carlisle Power Signal Box named on 7 June 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the PSB. Working 4V44, the 09:37 from Daventry DRS (Tesco) to Wentloog, diverted via Crewe and Shrewsbury, taking 30 lorry loads of containers of the roads.
Chester classics - report by Richard Snook
Making a change from the mainly Class 197 DMUs now infesting Chester, visitors from the past arrived on 9 August in the shape of a Class 45 'Peak' with a class 50 test train in the morning, followed by a Colas Ultasonic test train top and tailed with Class 37s in the afternoon. Above: 45 118 The Royal Artilleryman after arrival from Crewe.
50 050 Fearless on the other end.
Returning to Crewe with 50 050 leading.
37 421 resting at Chester after a trip feom Crewe and down the Cheshire Lines...
... with 37 405 on the rear.
Evero improvement notice
Railway Magazine tells us that the Office of Rail and Road have (six months after allowing the 805 trains to run) decided that the new 805 and 807 units should be equipped with 'automatic speed supervision' equipment which will prevent drivers exceeding the speed limit. The existing Pendolinos have a version of this which also supervising their tilting system, and ORR thinks that all the Avanti fleet including the 805s and 807s (which don't tilt) should have a version which just supervises the speed. They have been given two months to get this done, but Avanti had lodged an appeal.
Bala Gala
Bob Greenalgh writes: I was rostered signalman at Llanuwchllyn on the Bala Lake Railway on Saturday 24 August. The day started wet but soon turned sunny and warm. Here are some photos I took during the day.
Llanuwchllyn. Chilmark, Ruston and Hornsby 194771, brings the coaches into the platform at the start of the gala.
The crew of Maid Marian Hunslet 822 of 1903 chat prior to her leaving with the first train of the day to Bala.
Llanuwchllyn. The crew and guard couple the Penrhyn goods wagons to Winifred.
Holy War brings her last train of the day into LLanuwchllyn station...
... and ECS to shed.
The railway operates throughout the summer; see their website for information and timetables.
From Dave Sallery's Archive
37 146 and 37 043 on loaded coils for Shotton works, 3 June 1999
47 237 nears Blaenau on a charter from Lincoln, 3 July 2015.
Linda at Tan y Grisiau on empty stock, 3 July 3015. It will meet the charter from Lincoln (above photo) and then give its passengers a ride to Tan y Bwlch.
37 420 nears Chester at Rowton on a working from Crewe, 20 May 1995.
Looking back: Ireland 1996 part 1 - by David Pool
My holiday in Ireland in 1996 enabled me to see the RPSI Railtour “Knocknarea”, which featured the GNR(I) No.171 Slieve Gullion (Built by Beyer Peacock in 1913) and DSER No.461, travelling between Dublin and Sligo. On 11 May 1996 I headed for Mullingar to see the Railtour. Much of the main line to Sligo is single track, and 071 Class 083 with the 08:40 Dublin to Sligo was entering Mullingar alongside the Royal Canal.
The Railtour train had been split at Enfield, with the two steam locomotives taking separate trains to Longford, from where the train was to be double headed to Dromod. I was particularly keen to photograph No.171, and found a suitable location at Lough Owel, a few miles beyond Mullingar. There was only a glimpse of sunlight, but it made a reasonable shot as it traversed a short causeway.
I was luckier with the sun at Mostrim, my photo of No.171 being in the NWCR News of 17 May 2021, then made my way to Dromod. This is the base for the preserved Cavan and Leitrim Railway, which has a short length of line and a collection of narrow gauge rolling stock. The Kerr Stuart steam locomotive Dromad was in steam, as illustrated in the Notice Board of 23 November 2020. A Bord na Mona railcar C47 and a Simplex LM350 were on display, the latter being in a fictitious CIE livery. A Fowler 40hp diesel, No.3900011 (1947), carried the name Dinmor, but I have been unable to ascertain its history.
Dromad was propelling two coaches, the first being No.345, a trailer which had been rebuilt as a railcar by the GNR(I) in 1955 and fitted with an AEC Regal bus engine. The second trailer was No.47C, previously a West Clare Railway railcar which had been built on a Tralee and Dingle Railway coach chassis.
The Railtour then arrived, double headed by No.461 and No.171, and the participants alighted to enjoy the narrow gauge attractions. No.461 was about to come off, leaving No.171 to take the Railtour train onwards to Sligo.
It appears that the collection at Dromod has since expanded significantly, and now comprises a Museum plus a large collection of buses and aircraft, in addition to the narrow gauge stock.
Looking for another location for a shot of No.171, I went to overbridge 503, South of Drumsna, being the site of Drumsna station, closed in 1963. 071 Class 073 on the 13:25 Dublin to Sligo gave me a better shot in sunshine than No.171 later in shade.
Later that day I was in Tobercurry, a station on the closed “Burma Railway” from Collooney to Claremorris, which was described in the Notice Board of 29 July 2024. The platforms, buildings and track are presumably still “mothballed”, but no reopening proposal is included in the final report of Ireland’s Strategic Rail Review dated July 2024.
12 May 1996 was a Sunday, and an 07:40 departure from Ballina connected with a train from Westport at Manulla Junction. The station here is rather unusual, in that there is no access for pedestrians or vehicles, and no tickets are sold to or from the station. 141 Class 147 had arrived from Ballina, and 201 Class 232 was on the 07:50 from Westport.
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