NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd

21 October 2025

Forthcoming events

See our Calendar Page for operator details.

October 2025

20 October, Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales

November 2025

Thursday 4 November Clwyd Railway Circle Jeff Nicholls “A Baptism of Fire and Water-My First Wolsztyn Experience” Part Two

Saturday 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

Saturday 10 November; Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales

Friday 14 November Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Noel Coates "Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Engine
Sheds".

Saturday 22 November Pathfinder Railtours The Chester Christmas Explorer Oxford Parkway, Golden Valley and Marches line to Chester

December 2025

Monday 1 December Midland Pullman Edinburgh Christmas Pullman from Bangor to Edinburgh

Thursday 4 December Clwyd Railway Circle 'Railways & Tramways of the Isle of Man' Geoff Morris.

January 2026

Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Friday 9 January John Hooley "A Midlands Miscellany".

February 2026

Friday 13 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Paul Shackcloth "People and Places 8".

Other useful sites:

For up-to-date North Wales information
join the North Wales Trains News group

North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme

Holyhead on 6 October: 56 090 and 67 014 rest between duties. Picture by Stuart Broome.

Aplogies for the late arrival of this update, 'technical issues' Charlie

The Statesman from Durham

8 October's Statesman Rail 'Snowdonia Statesman' from Durham to Blaenau Ffestiniog 1Z53 Durham to Blaenau Ffestiniog passing Chester some 10 minutes early. D1935 (48 805) Roger Hoskins M.A. eases 1Z53 through the centre road (Roland High).

Arriving at Llandudno Junction. Class 47LSL loco 1935 (47 805) (Garry Stroud).

At the other end, 1924 (47 810), takes the route to Blaenau. (Garry Stroud).

Back at Llandudno Junction, 47 810 awaits departure to Durham (Logan Humphreys).

Mk 3s to Blaenau - solved

We have had several emails about the apparent ban on Mk3 coaches from the Conwy Valley line. Ths situation is that any vehicle could run to 'banned' routes if special permission is obtained. And recently a document has been issued giving full permission for Mk3s to run on Cambrian, Conwy Valley among others' This changes have not yet reached the Sectional Appendix, but it is in other internal documents.

Some notable occasions for permission are a number of HST which have Mk3 Coaches, and a unique run of a 'WAG' set to Blaenau on 28 October 2013, as seen above; the loco was 67 001. Hugh Napier was on the Ffestiniog line. The occasion was a Community Rail day at Blaenau. Picture by Dave Sallery. The loco, 67 001 hs not run for some time. It is one of the locos which DB have offered for sale; sister loco 67 003 has been scrapped, but we can't find out the status of 001 - does anyone know?

Conwy Valley Consulation

TfW have a plan for the December 2026 timetable, to make changes to the Conwy Valley line service to improve its usefulness. Full information here.

Betws Y Coed Railway Station, Station Road, Betws Y Coed, Conwy, LL23 0AE    Thursday 23 October    10.00 12.00

Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway, Cromwell Street, Blaenau Ffestiniog, LL41 3HG
Thursday 23 October    1.00 - 3.00

Llanrwst Library, Glasdir, Plas Yn Dre, Llanrwst, Ll26 0DF    Friday 24 October    10.00 - 1.00

Llandudno Library, 48 Mostyn Street, Llandudno, Ll30 2RP    Monday 3 November    10.00 - 1.00

Freight Scenes

Seen at Crewe on 24 September by Richard Snook: 68 007 named 30 Years of DRS, sporting a new one-off livery passing through from Carlisle to the DRS depot at Crewe. Richard notes: '30 years of the DRS - it doesn't seem that long ago that the company started. The 68s were built in Spain between 2012 and 2016'. ...

... and later, another a new livery appeared, on 66 791 which passed through with 4H61 Small Heath - Hindlow empty stone JNA box wagons.

66 791 was given a new green livery and named Settle & Carlisle 150, Celebrating 150 years of freight over the Settle and Carlisle. The naming event was held at Horton Quarry near Horton-in-Ribblesdale, owned by Heidelberg Materials whose livery is applied to the loco. The quarry was connected to the main line earlier this year after many years.

At Shrewsbury on Thursday 17 October, a very clean 66 728 Institution of Railway Operators heading 6M42 Avonmouth to Penyffordd (John Oates).

66 751 Inspiration Delivered passes Penmaemawr station with the partly loaded 6Z87 11:56 Penmaenmawr Quarry to Brindle Heath Eurofreight. The passenger train is 158 822 and 158 829 working the 07:08 Birmingham - Holyhead which this day started at Wolverhampton due to a fatality between there and Birmingham.

Passing Dwygyfylchgi (Logan Humphreys). The route taken was Chester - Warrington - Preston (reverse)- Bolton - Brindle Heath.

Llandudno Junction Garry Stroud, who notes 'Could this be a new GBRf flow from the quarry, only time will tell.'

Shunting at Coleham - by Graham Breakwell

The Rail Head Treatment Train returned to Coleham depot on the afternoon of 10 October top-and tailed by 56 090 and 56 302 whereupon a lengthy and complicated manoeuvre took place to hand over to 97 302 and 97 304 for the Cambrian line's signalling system.

1. 56 090 on the left in the Sutton Bridge Junction headshunt with the tanks and 56 302 moving running past to get into position on the rear.

Once out of the way 1W61, the 14:50 from Cardiff to Manchester passed by ...

... 67 013 providing the power.

The 56s then moved the tanks into the depot, past the powered up 97’s ready for the next moves to get one on the front and the other on the tail for the run to Machynlleth. Left to right 56 090, 97 302, 97 304, 56302 and 97 303.

An RHTT selection

Bangor, 14 October (Ken Robinson).

Chester Locks, 8 October (Logan Humphries),

Holyhead, 6 October (Stuart Broome)

From Dave Sallery's archive

20 218 and 20 099 with the return working of the Derby - Llandudno train enters Rhyl, 4 July 1989.

37 422 Robert F. Fairlie Locomotive Engineer1831-1885 in the process of running round a Crewe - Bangor train in readiness for its return to Crewe, 13 June 1995.

66 951 with an up ballast passes the since replaced semaphore signals at Rhyl, 28 June 2005.

90 020 Collingwood at London Liverpool Street with an arrival from Norwich. The class 90s on these services have since been replaced by a fleet of 10 class 745 EMU's built by Stadler.

Looking back: Steam in 1970 - by David Pool

I was looking through my list of 1970 slides and noticed one taken on the KWVR which was labelled “saddle tank” with no other identification - at that time I would have been primarily interested in ex BR locomotives. I found the slide and scanned it, and it looked like a Manning Wardle, but the cab was different. Searching the website for Preserved Industrial 0-4-0ST locomotives built in the 19th century (preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com) it listed Hudswell Clarke No.402, built in 1893 and later named Lord Mayor. I found an image of this locomotive, and it was the one I had seen at Haworth on 1 March 1970. It had been built for use by contractors, and started life at Salford, but ended up with George Cohen & Co, who used it during the demolition of the Liverpool Overhead Railway in 1957. The LOR had Lively Polly, a steam locomotive used by the LOR Engineers Department, and an image of Lord Mayor on the LOR appears in several sources incorrectly described as Lively Polly. Lord Mayor was donated by Cohens to the Lord Mayor Trust in 1968, and may today be seen at the KWVR in the Museum at Ingrow.

A much better known locomotive at Haworth in 1970 was Joem, the J72 Class 69023, previously Departmental No.59. This had been bought in 1966 by the son of Joseph and Emily Ainsworth, and was named in their memory. By 1968 it was at Haworth, where it was to be restored. It has since visited several preserved railways, notably the Derwent Valley Railway when it was operating from York, and is currently reported to be at the Wensleydale Railway.

Another locomotive nearby was the ex LNER N2 Class 4744, previously 69523. This locomotive was bought by the Gresley Society in 1963 and later moved to the KWVR, but a boiler tube failure then caused it to be stored awaiting a major overhaul. The Main Line Steam Trust offered to carry out the necessary work, and it moved to Loughborough in 1975. Subsequently it has also visited several preserved railways, most recently the North Norfolk, where it is due to return to service after another expensive overhaul.

The locomotive operating passenger services on 1 March 1970 was the “USA Tank” No.72 (BR 30072). This had been painted in an American style livery, and made an impressive departure from Keighley.

Having photographed an SNCF Pacific 231G42 in Calais in 1969, I never expected to see one in the UK in 1970, but on 8 March 1970 a Chapelon Pacific 231K22 had arrived at Steamtown Carnforth, having been bought by Dr Peter Beet. Being outside the British loading gauge, it would not have been possible to run it on BR lines even if the steam ban had been lifted, and subsequently it and two German locomotives moved to a museum in Germany in the late 1990s, where the two Pacifics have been returned to steam.

In 1966 the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway acquired a Bagnall articulated locomotive from Bowater’s Paper Mill in Kent, Monarch being the last Industrial narrow gauge steam locomotive built in Britain, and was photographed on 22 March 1970. It was not a success on the W&L, and at one time was going to the Ffestiniog Railway where it would have been regauged, but this never happened. Cosmetically rebuilt, it is currently displayed at Welshpool.

One of the original W&L locomotives No.2 Countess was working a special train on 22 March 1970. The 14:30 from Llanfair to Castle Caereinion was conveying members of the Wirral Railway Circle and the Liverpool Locomotive Preservation Group, and is passing through Heniarth.

The locomotive ran round at Castle Caereinion, and is about to rejoin the train. I would be interested to know if any of the readers of the Notice Board recognise themselves!

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