21 October 2024





Stoneblower DR80211 At Llandygai, 18
October
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
See our Calendar Page for operator
details.
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.
Wednesday 13 November Welsh Highland Railway North
Wales Group Humph Davies ‘An historical look at
the route of the Lynton andBarnstaple Railway, 1898-1935.’
Monday 18 November Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Branch Bromborough: Ted Buckley “Navigation Road and
all that”
Sunday 30 November : Pathfinder. 40 145 from
Dorridge to Chester via Wrexham General
December 2024
Wednesday 4 December Merseyside, Cheshire and North
Wales Branch Liverpool Brian Roberts “Merseyside Area
Connections in the 1970s”
Tuesday 10 December Midland Pullman from
Holyhead to Edinburgh Waverley - Edinburgh Christmas Pullman
Wednesday 11 December Welsh Highland Railway North
Wales Group Fred Howes - “From Train Spotter to Civil
Engineering Manager”.
Saturday 14 December Intercity Y Cracyr Nadolig” (The
Christmas Cracker) Wolverhampton to Llandudno and Blaenau
Ffestiniog with class 40 and class 45 locos.
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.
Monday 20 January Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Branch Bromborough: AGM followed by: Jon Penn “A
Miscellany of Railways” (Non M,C&NW members and
Non-RCTS members will not be able to take an active part in
the AGM)
February 2025
Wednesday 5 February Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Branch Liverpool: Chris Poole “Czech Railways”
Friday 14 February. Altrincham
Electric Railway Preservation Society "Macclesfield
Area Railways in the 1950s and 60s" by Martin Welch.
March 2025
Saturday 1 March - Railway Touring Company - 'The
Mancunian' from Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno and
Holyhead via Altrincham. Steam hauled.
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.
Monday 17 March Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Branch: Charles Roberts “On Line Transport Archive
(OTA) Images”
April 2025
Wednesday 2 April Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Branch Liverpool: Paul Shackcloth “L & Y
Engines at Work, Part 3” Speaker and Subject TBC
Saturday 5 April Saphos Lakelander from
Llandudno Junction to Carlisle. Diesel to Lancaster and
return, steam from Lancaster, return via Cumbrian Coast
line.
Saturday 5 April UK Railtours - The
Snowdonian. No further information available at present.
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.
Saturday 12 April Midland Pullman Torbay
Riviera Pullman from Chester, Wrexham General and Ruabon to
Paignton.
Saturday 19 April Northern Belle - Settle and
Carlisle Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to
Carlisle via the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam
for remainder.
May 2025
Saturday 10 May UK Railtours Llandudno and
Chester. London Euston to Llandudno Junction and Penmaenmawr
freight yards.
Saturday 31 May Northern Belle Conwy Castle
& Bodnant Gardens from Cardiff
June 2025
Friday 20 June Northern Belle
Spirit of Travel Lunch. Circular tour picking up at Chester
and Wrexham General. Diesel hauled.
Friday 20 June Northern Belle Champagne
Afternoon Tea. Circular tour picking up at Chester and
Wrexham General. Diesel hauled.
July 2025
Tuesday 15 July Midland Pullman
Yorkshire Coast Pullman from Ruabon, Wrexham General and
Chester.
August 2025
September 2025
Wednesday 17 September Midland Pullman
Settle and Carlisle Pullman. From Ruabon, Wrexham General
and Chester.
20 September Northern Belle Settle and
Carlisle Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to
Carlisle via the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam
for remainder.
8 November Northern Belle Settle and Carlisle
Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to Carlisle via
the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam for remainder.
North Wales Coast Railway website created
and compiled by Charlie
Hulme Hulme
|

70 814 heads 6J37 Carlisle - Chirk logs near Crosby
Garrett on Saturday 19 October. Picture by Ian
Pilkington.
Collaboration

On loan to Colas due to a loco shortage, GBRf 66 792
Collaboration worked the 4D61 Bradwell up sidings to
Penmaenmawr quarry sidings. Monday 21 October. Above,
passing Llandudno Junction (Greg Mape)

Seen here at the quarry sidings ...

... 66 792 reverses the empty wagons after running round (Garry
Stroud).

The return leg - see item below (Ivor Bufton)
Sandy Lane Crossing - report by Ivor Bufton

Sandy Lane foot crossing in Prestatyn is, I believe, the
subject of a proposal to be replaced with a
footbridge. There is now a speed restriction at this
point and a camera which is monitored by control in
Cardiff. I decided to photograph the stone train there
on 14 October to try and record these additions.

First, we see 197 004 working 1W93 14:25 Chester to
Holyhead (with a friendly wave from the driver) passing the
camera that is now used to monitor the crossing, in the
distance can be seen the speed restriction sign.

Then we see 70 814 working 6K33 13:56 Penmaenmawr
Quarry Colas to Bradwell Up Sidings Colas passing the end of
speed restriction sign, I am familiar with the 'T' but can
anyone enlighten me what the 'A' represents?
Snippets
Loco 67 016 is back in service, now in the TfW
preferred black livery. Any pictures?
North Llanrwst station is to return to its older name
'Llanrwst and Trefriw' after pressure from locals to
publicise their village which is accessed by a bridge over
the river Crafnant. But will fun-seekers from England
be able to pronounce it?
Request stop signals have been installed at Llanfair
PG and Ty Croes stations; the idea is that the prospective
passenger presses a button which tells the driver to stop.
This removes the need to slow down and look for the
legendary arm-raise. Has any reader try this, and photograph
it?
News Pictures

The RHTT passing Llandudno Junction on 21 October, with
unusually a single loco, 56 302 (Greg Mape).

Old meets new at Llandudno Junction on 21 October. 197
110 is on the 10:42 from Llandudno to Manchester
Airport, and 158 827 and 158 729 form the
08:25 Manchester Airport - Holyhead (Greg Mape). Soon
after this the service collapsed, reportedly due to a power
cut in the Bangor area; several trains were cancelled and
others ran half an hour late.

Bob Greenhalgh writes: 'after a tip-off from the
Wrexham Gen news group I visited Chester station at 12:30 on
19 October. From platform 7 I was able to photograph a
snowplough: ADB 965206, 37 405, 56 090,
ADB965421.

66 419 - recently named in honour of a football
team, Lionesses Roar at Llandudno Junction,
after arrival with the 6D14 13;34 Ashburys, Manchester to
Junction slate waste empties on 18 October (Garry Stroud).

Flint (Stephen Dennett). Apparently this is a working
that appears once a year.
From Dave Sallery's archive

37 423 Sir Murray Morrison leaves Prestatyn
on an up service to Crewe, 15 July 1999.

47 295 near Abergele with the afternoon Speedlink to
Warrington Arpley, 12 June 1987. The train is mostly
comprised of wagons containing bricks made in Caernarfon and
loaded at Bangor.

507 006 leaves Sandhills on an Ormskirk service, 24
March 1984. The three chimneys were for Clarence Dock
power station which had closed in the 70s.

66 030 with a diverted Margam to Dee Marsh steel
train near Saltney Junction, 15 May 2000. Uncontrolled
vegetation is nothing new.
From Richard Snook's archive : The Peak Days

Prestatyn: 45 118 08:20 Newcastle - Llandudno, 26
May 1986.

Rhyl: 45 121 08:17 Holyhead - Newcastle 29 May 1986

Prestatyn: 45 146 08:20 Newcastle - Llandudno

Rhyl: 45 115 15:16 Llandudno - York 13 September 1986
Looking Back: Isle of Man part 4 - by David Pool

Ready for the day’s work, Snaefell Mountain Railway car Nos.
1, 3 and 4 are in the depot at Laxey on 29 June 1973.
On the left is a Wickham railcar used to convey Civil
Aviation Authority staff to the Summit to maintain the masts
there. It was probably CAA No.2, built in 1957, and
there appears to be a second railcar behind, which might be
No.1. SMR No.3 was destroyed in 2016 when it ran away
from the Summit and derailed, fortunately being without
passengers or SMR staff on board.

Steamers had ceased to use Ramsey Queen’s Pier in 1970, but
the 3ft gauge Pier Tramway was still open on 29 June
1973. A Wickham railcar was sufficient for the small
number of passengers. Three years later it had been
replaced by a Planet diesel and coach, the tramway
eventually closing in 1981. By the early 1990s the
Pier had deteriorated to the extent that closure was
inevitable, and the costs of renewal or demolition were both
excessive.
A campaign to renew the Pier was launched, but there was
little progress until 2009, when the Pier was recognised as
having Heritage significance. At first the proposal
was to restore the structure but not allow public access,
but in 2012 it was agreed that full restoration should
start. Nine years later the first phase was completed,
allowing public access to part of the Pier, and by 2024 the
Queen’s Pier train (as it was now called) was back in
operation.

The railway station at Ramsey in 1973 had changed little
since closure five years earlier. The signal shown in
part 1 of my IOM Railway photographs in the Notice Board was
still standing. It is not clear to me what its purpose
was, being a lower quadrant signal at the entrance to the
sidings and station. I assume it was a Home signal,
converted from a Distant arm, but why was it needed?
In my 1968 shot it had been in the “off” position for the
arriving train.

There was a little more activity at the Manx Electric
Railway station in Ramsey in 1973, and Nos. 12, 14 and 4
provided an interesting selection of vans. All had
been built by G.F.Milnes (Birkenhead) in 1898, 1904 and 1894
respectively. No.12 was for goods and parcels, and
later converted to a Tower wagon. No.14 was the last
van delivered, designated a luggage van, and No.4 became the
“TPO van” in 1993, acquiring a Post Office Red livery.

As part of the IOMR 100 years celebrations, there was a
display of locomotives in Douglas on 30 June 1973.
No.14 Thornhill and No.3 Pender were in the IOMR red, while
No.1 Sutherland and No.4 Loch were in the
apple green of the Ailsa era. The name on No.4
commemorates Lord Loch, who was the Lieutenant Governor of
the Isle of Man from 1863 to 1882.

Also on display at Douglas was No.15 Caledonia, the
0-6-0T locomotive built by Dübs & Co. of Glasgow for the
Manx Northern Railway in 1885, and used on the construction
of the Snaefell Mountain Railway. It had Manx Northern
branding and number (No.4), but No.15 on the chimney.
Since the IOMR is 3ft gauge, and the SMR is 3ft 6in,
temporary dual gauge track was laid for the SMR
construction. At the SMR centenary celebrations in
1995, a short length of dual gauge track was provided to
enable Caledonia to revisit the line.

The IOMR 100 years celebrations in 1973 featured an special
working, namely a ten coach train from Douglas to Port Erin
and back on 1 July 1973, to be top and tailed. After a
few shots in dull weather at Port Soderick and Castletown,
the light had improved near Port St Mary, and I was able to
get the whole train in the shot. No.10 G.H.Wood
and No.13 Kissack were the motive power, and an
extra coach had been added.

Port Erin station had on display a 1928 Thornycroft bus, a
Rolls Royce, a Bentley and an Austin 7, and a crowd of
spectators had gathered. Tickets for the return
journey to Douglas, advertised as being non stop, were £1
each. The reporter from the local Press was
interviewing one of the suitably attired passengers, who was
perhaps more photogenic than the locomotive
crew.
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