THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY: GUIDE TO TRAFFIC

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru Traffic

For latest news, visit the Notice Board

Updated July 2008

This page is mainly intended for railfans and others interested in trains: for general timetable information please see our Travel Information section.

Passenger | Freight | Rail Head Treatment Trains

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. All 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.

Virgin Trains Below is a list of the Virgin Trains service currently (June 2008) worked by Class 57s hauling Class 390 'Pendolino' units on the Crewe - Holyhead - Crewe part of the journey between London and Holyhead.

Mondays  - Fridays only:

1D55 09:00 London Euston - Holyhead
1D25 17:21 London Euston - Holyhead
1R18 05.32 Holyhead - London Euston
1A78 14.14 Holyhead - London Euston

Two Class 57 locomotives are used each day, as follows:

Loco 1
1R18 05:32 Holyhead - Crewe
1D22 10:55 Crewe - Holyhead
1A78 14:14 Holyhead  - Longsight Depot
0H78 17:02 Crewe Down Refuge Siding - Longsight Depot

Loco 2 
0T78  Stafford (after standby 'Thunderbird' duties) - Crewe Down Refuge Siding
1D25 19:28 Crewe-Holyhead  (works 1R18 or 1A13 the following morning)


Saturdays:

Note about weekends: Changes have been implemented in Summer 2008 because of the engineering works in the Rugby area. Not all details are clear at the time of writing, but there is an additional Crewe - Holyhead - Crewe working on Saturdays by Class 57 + Pendolino: 10:49 Crewe - Holyhead, 14:15 return.

1A13 05:32 Holyhead - Crewe

Sundays: No loco-hauled trains at present

Other Virgin Trains Mon-Fri services (and all at weekends) are handled by 5-car Class 221 'Voyager' trains.
On Mondays - Fridays two sets work the North Wales line, to the following plan:

Diagram 1

1A27 06:45 Holyhead-London Euston     
1D23 11:28 London Euston-Llandudno    
1A83 15:08 Llandudno-London Euston    
1D26 19:38 London Euston-Holyhead

Diagram 2

1G76 02:15 Holyhead-Birmingham New St
1D00 05:20 Birmingham New St-Holyhead    
1A46 09:50 Holyhead-London Euston        
1D24 15:49 London Euston-Holyhead    

2. The Cambrian lines and Shrewsbury - Wrexham - Chester
The lines west of Shrewsbury to Aberystwith and Pwllheli currently have no freight service, and the routine passenger trains are always Arriva Trains Wales Class 158s, maintained at Machylleth 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. The great passenger interest, from May 2008, however, is the Wrexham and Shrophire 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 train times.

The Monday - Friday, and Saturday, Wrexham & Shropshire services require three stock diagrams, as below: each night one train is stabled in London, and two at Wrexham station in the secure area created from two disused bay platforms.

Mondays - Fridays

Diagram 1

Empty Crewe (LNWR) to Wrexham
1P01 05:42 Wrexham - Marylebone 09:54
1J81 10:17 Marylebone - Wrexham 14:28
1P33 15:10 Wrexham - Marylebone 19:22
1J84 20:03 Marylebone - Wrexham 23:57

Diagram 2

1P03 07:25 Wrexham - Marylebone 11:49
1J82 13:17 Marylebone - Wrexham 17:25
1P65 18:10 Wrexham - Marylebone 22:15
Then empty to Wembley depot

Diagram 3

Empty from Wembley depot to Marylebone
1J80 06:45 Marylebone - Wrexham 10:44
1P13 11:10 Wrexham - Marylebone 15:23
1J83 16:10 Marylebone - Wrexham 20:28
Then empty to Crewe (LNWR)
 Saturdays

Diagram 1

1P01 05:51 Wrexham - Marylebone 09:56
1J86 12:17 Marylebone - Wrexham 16:29
1P33 17:25 Wrexham - Marylebone 21:40


Diagram 2

1P03 08:55 Wrexham - Marylebone 13:15
1J87 15:17 Marylebone - Wrexham 19:29


Diagram 3

1J85 08:17 Marylebone - Wrexham 12:28
1P13 12:55 Wrexham - Marylebone 17:21
1J88 18:37 Marylebone - Wrexham 22:37

Thanks to Mike Thomas for assistance with the above.

Sundays there are just three trains each way per day, although three sets of stock are still required: these  trains are suffering from engineering-work diversions at the time of writing (June 2008), so we have not included the diagram here.

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. Photopgarphers should, however, bear in mind that freignt trains often run very early, sometemines very late and on occassions not at all... however, what little traffic which does run is shared between three different companies, so there is variety of motive power to be seen.

DRS (Flask Traffic)

These short, but heavy, trains are the most interesting for variety of motive power – usually two Class 20s, a 20+37 combination or two 37s. 66s even 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 14.35 passenger ex-Holyhead, so can leave just before 15.00 – once the 14.35 has cleared the section to Gaerwen. Sometimes it can leave early – either just after the 12.35 or 13.35 departures, although it generally sticks to the booked slot. The locos shunt in the Valley triangle and when the train is ready to leave it sets back into Valley station, alongside the signal box, before leaving for Crewe.

Freightliner

Railway ballast is quarried at Hanson’s Penmaenmawr quarry. There is usually one train a day from Crewe Basford Hall Yard, in the morning, but sometimes extra trains run later in the day to meet demand. Freightliner took over these services from EWS in 1998, using 66s (often regeared 66/6s)  Wagons used vary but are usually Network Rail low-sided JNAs or the larger 'Autoballaster' hoppers. The daily timetabled train runs as:

6D21 06.32 Crewe–Penmaenmawr (ar. 08.20)
6J22 10.40 Penmaenmawr–Crewe

The following service runs as required (although Thursdays tend to be a good day to see it and some weeks two trains can run all week):

6D23 10.13 Crewe–Penmaenmawr (ar. 12.25)
6K23 16.34 Penmaenmawr–Crewe

If running early, or if 6J22 has not left Penmaenmawr, 6D23 can be held in the centre road at Rhyl awaiting acceptance by Penmaenmawr.

For a time EWS operated an additional service on Saturdays to Acton, but this service is not currently running, meaning no Saturday service for Penmaenmawr.

EWS

EWS runs 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.

6D19 06:40 Warrington - Holyhead (Runs Round) - Anglesey Aluminium

[-The wagons are loaded while the train waits-]

6F18 14:50 Anglesey Aluminium - Warrington Arpley.

On the eastern part of the line, steel is moved from Scunthorpe to Mostyn Dock for export to Ireland. The steel is brought from Warrington early morning, with the loaded service running as 6D30 03.18 Warrington–Mostyn. The return empties run as 6F39 06:16 Mostyn–Warrington, making this service difficult to photograph. The eastbound wagons is attached to the paper train from Knowsley, Merseyside (6E33) for the run eastwards.

More to see at Chester

Chester sees more freight traffic than the North Wales Coast route as some trains take the Wrexham line here. A Mon-Fri (as required) train brings timber from the Carlisle area and Scotland to the timber producrs factory at Chirk on the Chester - Wrexham - Shrewsbury line: this is now run by Amec Rail using Class 57/3 locos hired from Virgin Trains.

Mondays excepted, EWS run coal in MEAs 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.

In addition to the above, steel traffic from Margam to Dee Marsh can be seen using the 'top line' (Wrexham–Bidston) which crosses the Coast line at Shotton station. We can recommend  the regularly-published book 'Freightmaster'  for more details of freight services in the area . 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 comiling the above information.

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