THE
NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:
TRAFFIC
Rheilffordd
arfordir gogledd Cymru Traffic
Last
update 20 January 2010
This page is mainly intended for railfans and others interested in
trains: for general timetable information please see our Travel Information section.
For information: National
Rail
Guidelines
for Railway Enthusiasts
PASSENGER
TRAINS

1. Chester - Holyhead and branches
Arriva Trains Wales operate most passenger services
along the North Wales coast line. Almost their services are
worked by railcars, usually of Class 158 or 175, with mostly
single-car 153 units or two-car 150s on the Llandudno - Blaenau
Ffestiniog and Wrexham
- Bidston branches.
The only exception is the new 'One Wales Express' or 'Y Gerallt Gymro'
('Gerald of Wales') which runs from Holyhead to Cardiff Central and
back once each day
Mondays - Fridays. This is formed of four coaches, including a buffet /
restaurant car, with a Class 57/3 locomotive each end. Here
is
Arriva's
leaflet about the train (PDF). Here are the timings at
all station stops:
- Holyhead 05:32, Bangor 06:02, Llandudno
Junction 06:19, Rhyl 06:36, Flint 06:52, Chester
07:07, Crewe 07:35, Shrewsbury 08:09, Newport 09:41,
Cardiff Central 09:58.
- Cardiff Central 16:15, Newport 16:31, Cwmbran 16:41,
Abergavenny 16:55, Shrewsbury 18:08, Crewe 18:46, Chester 19:09,
Flint 19:23, Rhyl 19:40, Llandudno Junction 19:55, Bangor 20:12,
Holyhead 20:49.
Virgin Trains
From 15 December 2008, almost Virgin services in North Wales are worked
by Class 221 'Voyager' diesel railcars. The operation of Class 57/3s
hauling Class 390 'Pendolino' units on the Crewe -
Holyhead - Crewe part of the journey between London and Holyhead, now
has a single Saturday diagram as follows:
Saturdays:
1D83 08:50 London Euston -
Crewe (add loco 10:35-10:50) Holyhead 12:56
1A55 14:36 Holyhead - Crewe (detach loco 16:43-16:57) - London Euston
18:36
2. The Cambrian lines and Shrewsbury - Wrexham - Chester
The lines west of Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli currently have
no freight service, and the routine passenger trains are always Arriva
Trains Wales Class 158s, maintained at Machynlleth depot and equipped
with the Radio Electronic Token Block signalling in use on the Cambrian
system. There are, however, special trains from time to time, including
steam-hauled trains: watch our Calendar page
for details.
The Shrewsbury - Chester via Wrexham line sees greater variety, Arriva
Trains Wales services being a mixture of Classes 175 and 158 with the
occasional 150 or even 153.
Virgin Trains serve Wrexham General with one through train to London on
Monday-Friday mornings and one return in the evenings. The Class 221
Voyager attaches to another from Holyhead at Chester, and detaches at
Chester in the evening.
The great passenger interest, from May
2008, however, has been the Wrexham & Shropshire company's service
between
Wrexham and London Marylebone via Shrewsbury, which uses Class 67 locomotives and Mk 3 coaching stock. Their
trains are serviced and stabled overnight at Wrexham General station.
See their website
for full train times.
The Wrexham & Shropshire services
require three stock diagrams: each night one train is stabled
in London at Wembley depot, one at Wrexham station in the secure area
created from
two disused bay platforms, and one usually runs from Wrexham via
Chester to Crewe
(LNWR) for maintenance.
See the links on our Travel Information
page
for more about passenger timetables.
FREIGHT TRAINS
These are very few and far-between at present: the usual workings along
the Coast are listed below. December 2008 has seen the end of the
long-standing railway ballast stone traffic from Hanson’s Penmaenmawr
quarry, due to the loss of the Network Rail contract; in fact the
quarry itself has been 'mothballed.' This train
has latterly been run by Freightliner, whose locos are therefore no
longer seen in North Wales.
Photopraphers should bear in
mind that freight trains often run very early, sometimes very late
and on occasions not at all...
DRS (Flask Traffic)
These short, but heavy, trains are the most interesting for variety of
motive power – usually double-headed two Class 20s, a 20+37 combination
or two 37s.
66s, and even 47s, make very occasional appearances. The service
runs on one or
two days a week on an irregular basis, sometimes ceasing for weeks at a
time.
The nuclear flasks originate from Wylfa power station on the north
coast of Anglesey, which uses Valley as railhead (the flasks are moved
by road to and from Valley). Loads vary from one to three or four
Flasks (and locos can even run light engine in one direction). Trains
run as:
6D41 05.35 Crewe – Valley (arrive 08.15)
6K40 15.14 Valley – Crewe
6K40 is booked to follow the 14.32 passenger train from Holyhead, so
can leave
just before 15.00 – once the 14.32 has cleared the section to Gaerwen.
Sometimes it can leave early, although it generally sticks to the
booked slot. The locos
use the Valley triangle to run round the wagons, the result being that
the loco which headed the train westwards also leads it on the way
back. When the train is ready to leave it
sets back into Valley station, alongside the signal box, before leaving
for Crewe.
A public footpath runs close to the triangle of lines, offering good
photo-opportunities; the triangle is also used to turn round any steam
locos which reach Holyhead on excursions.
DB Schenker (ex-EWS)
From 2005 to 2009 DB Schenker ran a weekly train of aluminium
products in
'Cargowaggon' ferry
vans,
destined for Braunau am Inn, Austria, from Anglesey Aluminium Metal’s
Aluminium Smelter Works at Holyhead to Warrington Arpley Yard.
This path remains in the timetable, on an 'as required' basis but in
Autumn 2009 smelting at the plant ceased, leaving only a
're-melt' operation which may
generate some further trains:
6D19 06:40 Warrington - Holyhead (Runs Round) - Anglesey Aluminium
[-The wagons are loaded while the train waits-]
6F18 14:50 Anglesey Aluminium - Warrington Arpley. Note: this usually up to two hours
early.
More to see at Chester
Chester sees more freight traffic than the North Wales Coast route as
some trains take the Wrexham line here. Trains
bring timber from the Carlisle area to the timber
products factory at Chirk on the Chester - Wrexham - Shrewsbury line:
these are now run by Colas Rail using Class 57/3 locos hired from
Virgin
Trains, and run via Warrington Bank Quay, Helsby and Chester.
6J37 13:27 Carlisle - Chirk : passes Chester c.18:35 Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays
6C37 23:07 Chirk - Carlisle
There is no crossover at Chirk: after unloading, trains continue to
Gobowen for the locomotive to run round.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, EWS run coal in MEA box wagons from
Warrington to Penyffordd
Cement Works (on the southern section of the Wrexham–Bidston line – the
loco runs round the train at Croes Newydd, Wrexham) in the early
morning. The return is 6E41 14:57 Penyffordd–Healey Mills, passing
Chester at around 18:10.
Over the Top
In addition to the above, steel traffic from South Wales to Dee Marsh
Junction (one mile north of Shotton) can be
seen using the 'top line' (Wrexham–Bidston) which crosses the Coast
line at Shotton station. The normal daytime trains are listed
below, but it should be noted that in 2009 they have all been running on an 'as
required' basis, no doubt due to market conditions in the industry,
Mondays - Fridays:
6V75 09:30 Dee Marsh - Margam (passes Wrexham 10:00)
6M86 13:13 Llanwern - Dee Marsh (passes Wrexham 17:35)
Saturdays:
6V75 09:30 Dee Marsh - Margam (passes Wrexham 10:00)
6M88 07:04 Llanwern - Dee Marsh (passes Wrexham 13:35 - runs when
required)
6V90 15:34 Dee Marsh - Margam (passes Wrexham 16:05 - runs when
required)
Sundays:
10:08 6M24 Llanwern - Dee Marsh (Passes Wrexham 14:05)
15:35 6V47 Dee Maesh - Llanwern (passes Wrexham 16:15)
11:02 6M30 Margam - Dee Marsh (passes Wrexham 17:05)
Rail Head Treatment Trains
The operation of Rail-Head Treatment trains each autumn usually begins
in early-October and ends at the mid-December timetable change. The
2009 trains were
being worked by DB Schenker locos.
Further reading
We highly recommend the regularly-published
book 'Freightmaster' for more details of freight services in the
area and everywhere else in Britain. For on-line orders for this and
all other
transport books and videos , we recommend the Transport
Diversions Emporium.
For fully up-to-date info you can buy a subscription to the online
version of Freightmaster: see the Freightmaster
website for details.
We acknowledge the help of Todays
Railways UK magazine in compiling the
above information.