27 January 2020
Contributions and comments are encouraged: see the Contributions Page
Forthcoming events
(see our Calendar
page for venues)
February 2020
Tuesday 4 February North Wales Railway Circle Robin
Humphrey-Davies ('Humph'). The route of the Welsh Highland
Railway, Part 2, Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog.
Wednesday 5 February RCTS Liverpool "The Black & White
Collection Of Bill Ashcroft " John Sloane. Bill Ashcroft was
a well-known name in Lancashire steam railway circles and
John Sloane from Wigan will present some of his large
collection of monochrome pictures from the steam era.
Friday 7 February Clwyd Railway Circle 'Rheilffordd Talyllyn
Railway' David Murphy
Thursday 13 February Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway
Society Llangollen Railway Dave Southern
Friday 14 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation
Society People and Places 4. Images of the pre-1968 steam
railway including trains and railway staff, enthusiasts or
the general public. a digital presentation by Paul
Shackcloth.
Monday 17 February RCTS Chester "The Unknown Warrior – The
Patriot Rebuild" John Hastings-Thomson. The LMS Patriot
project are rebuilding a Patriot, ‘The Unknown Warrior’ and
this presentation will describe the huge amount of work and
money involved to build a new steam locomotive.
Saturday 22 February Stephenson Locomotive Society.
Manchester Centre. Tony Wright ‘Aspects of the Origins &
Development of Monorails including Behr, Lartigue and the
Manchester to Liverpool Lightning Express Railway’ You may
remember Tony’s excellent presentation on Mayfield Station.
Don’t miss this intriguing meeting.
Tuesday 25 February 18:30 Stephenson Locomotive Society.
Manchester Centre. Joint meeting with the Newcomen Society,
Location to be confirmed. Bob Gwynne, Associate Curator,
National Railway Museum ‘Sticking with steam – an
examination of why Britain’s railways stuck with steam into
the space age’ This talk examines some of the complex
history behind moving on from the steam age on Britain’s
railways and attempts an answer as to why the UK’s love
affair with the steam hasn’t ended.
March 2020
Friday 6 March Clwyd Railway Circle Annual General Meeting -
followed by a Film Show
Thursday 12 March Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society
plan to have a visit from a representative from Transport
for Wales. More details later
Friday 13 March Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation
Society Wheels on Reels. Transport Films – taken with a cine
camera and shown using a cine projector. Geoff Lomas
presents a selection of his Films in the traditional manner.
Tuesday 3 March North Wales Railway Circle Barry Wynne and
Steve Morris. Another show from Barry's superb collection.
Monday 16 March RCTS Chester "The Lever Brothers Railways Of
Port Sunlight" Mike Lister Telling the story of Levers’
railways. The soap factory was constructed in 1888 and its
railways covered 54 track miles and the talk will describe
the railway within the soap factory and other factories at
Bromborough.
Saturday 21 March Stephenson Locomotive Society. Manchester
Centre. Melvyn Roberts ‘Indian Summer of the Somerset &
Dorset Railway’ The S & D was (and still is) many
enthusiasts’ favourite cross-country railway. We will hear
about its unusual history, but the main feature will be a
slide show of its operations in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
April 2020
Wednesday 1 April RCTS Liverpool "L&Y Engines At Work"
Paul Shackcloth. Paul Shackcloth is the photographic
historian for the Manchester Locomotive Society who have a
large collection. This talk will show Lanky locomotives at
work over the whole of the ex-L&Y network, including
Liverpool Exchange.
Friday 3 April Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation
Society Great Named Trains. (note: first Friday) featuring
postcards of named trains and video of the engines which
hauled them and survive in preservation. a digital
presentation by Society President Nick Dodson
Tuesday 7 April North Wales Railway Circle Richard Sant,
Secretary of the LMS Patriot Company. Progress on The
Unknown Warrior
Thursday 9 April Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society
Trams in Llandudno (Including L & CBER and Great Orme
Tramway) John Davies
Saturday 18 April Stephenson Locomotive Society. Manchester
Centre. Tim Owen ‘The activities of the Furness Railway
Trust’ The Furness Railway Trust has a collection of six
steam locomotives, including Furness Railway No. 20, plus
historic carriages. The illustrated talk will cover the work
of the Trust over the past 30 years.
Monday 20 April RCTS Chester "Another Colourail Journey"
Paul Chancellor. A ninth Colour-Rail Journey will again
trawl this vast collection of images for both views from
across the country and through time, so expect both steam
and modern traction to appear with may be the odd bit of
infrastructure thrown in for good measure.
May 2020
Tuesday 12 May North Wales Railway Circle AGM and Photo
Competition.
Thursday 14 May Llandudno and Conwy Valley Railway Society
Evening Train Trip to Betws-y-Coed, where we will spend an
hour in the Gwydyr. (Times will be confirmed later)
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67 010 at Llandudno on 26 January, having arrived with the
16:50 from Manchester Piccadilly. It will return propelling
the 19:35 to Crewe. Picture by Ryan Lloyd.
In Limbo
The North Wales Coast railway seems to have entered a quiet
period in which we wait for things that were supposed to
happen. At the time of writing: no Mk 4 coaches on the
loco-hauled trains, no Class 230 units on the branch lines,
ans no sign that the new freight flows from Penmaenmawr
(stone) or Llandudno Junction (slate waste) that we
were told about last year. Does anyone
know if anything's happening?
Update 28 January: Something has
happened: 67 025 came out on a 'proving run'
from Crewe to Holyhead with the first Mk4 set. Geoff
Morris photographed it leaving Chester.
Coast views, 24 January - by Ian Wilson
As planned , Class 153 units have taken over the Conwy
Valley line until such time as the promised Class 230 units
materialise. (All five units were promised to be in traffic
by May 2019.) On 24 January, 153 327 approaches
well-kept Glan Conwy station headed for Llandudno.
A raised section of platform has been provided here, but
there's still a horizontal gap to the train.
From a vantage point at Llandulas, Ian photographed the
09:53 Manchester - Holyhead approaching from Pensarn with 67
010 leading ...
... and crossing the low bridge at Llandulas. A view at its
best in the winter with no leaves on the trees.
Decision time for Northern
Amid press speculation concerning part nationalisation of
the Arriva Northern Franchise, sets 195 103 and 150
150 wait at Chester at 15:10pm for their next duty.
(Picture by Martin Evans). Some newspapers seem to
believe that nationalisation is already decided, but
Northern's official position is as below.
'We expect an announcement by the end of January 2020 on
whether Arriva will continue to operate the Northern
franchise under a short term Direct Award, or whether an
Operator of Last Resort will be appointed by the Department
for Transport. I can assure you that whatever the result my
team and I remain committed to the programme of
transformation to improve rail services across the north.'
Meanwhile, Northern's Class 142 'Pacer' units are now hard
to find, and only allowed to run in service if coupled to a
unit equipped with the required disability features.
Several have already been dispatched to scrap yards.
North Wales classic video
Chris Jones-Bridger writes to tell us that Alan Snowdon,
well known to Swiiss Railways fans for his videos if that
country, is releasing his UK films on YouTube, in particular
an item called 'Holyhead
1961 Port and Rail Action' but there are an number of
other North Wales films on his Channel.
Not HD, by any means and silent exceot for commentary, but
well worth investigating.
From Dave Sallery's archive
For a period in the 1980s there was a daily Cardiff - Rhyl
service, worked by Class 33 diesels originally built for
Southern Region use. Here's 33 029 at Prestatyn on
24 June 1985, in the days before the track layout was
reduced. 'Bashers' in the front coach enjoy the journey.
In the first summer of the Class 37/4 era in North Wales, on
3 June 1993, 37 418 Pectinidae departs from
Rhyl, still in its Petroleum sector colours and Pectinidae
nameplate hauls a rake of Mk 2a coaches, mostly
hand-me-downs from Network South East, mostly with the red
band repainted blue in advance of the application of full
Regional Railways livery.
The loco, which later gained the 'E W & S' maroon of the
freight sector's American buyer, is in 2020 in
peak-hour service on the Cardiff - Rhymney service.
9 April 1986 at Prestatyn: 47 644 on a test run
after overhaul at Crewe Works. On entering traffic it was
named The Permanent Way Institution. In 1990 it
became 47 756 Royal Mail Tyneside and was withdrawn
in 2005 and scrapped.
Chester and Llandudno 26 January - images by Ryan Lloyd
Northern 150 122, still in de-branded Great Western
blue, stands in Platform 6 at Chester awaiting departure for
Manchester Piccadilly via Northwich.
175 007 calls at Platform 4.
Later in the day, 156 427 in Platform 6.
221 117 after arrival in platform 1 from London.
175 112 on Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly duty.
158 819 in Platform 2, the Wrexham bay.
158 821 shows off the new livery.
67 010 at Llandudno.
Out and about with Greg Mape
A UK Railtours excursion on 25 January from London Euston -
York ('Robert Burns) passing through 'two trains a
week' station Reddish South. 67 013 was leading
withArriva blue 67 002 at the rear.
Also earlier in the day 35018 British India Line
passing Kearsley Station on the Manchester - Bolton line
with a Manchester Victoria - Carlisle railtour.
North Wales
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