NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd

23 March 2020










 


 

Forthcoming events


(see also our Calendar page for venues)

Note:  we have removed all entries up to the end of May as the events are cancelled.

June 2020


Saturday 27 June Steam at Chester The Cheshireman (Railway Touring Company).    60163 London Euston - Chester and return.

July 2020


Sunday 19 July Steam on the Coast North Wales Coast Express (Railway Touring Company)  LIverpool - Manchester - Holyhead (15:05 - 17:40).

Tuesday 21 July Steam on the Coast The Welsh Mountaineer (Railway Touring Company) Preston - Blaenau Ffestiniog and return

August 2020

September 2020

Saturday 5 September Steam at Chester 'The Cheshireman' (Railway Touring Company). Norwich to Chester. Loco 6233 for part of the journey.


 



On 25 September 2002, in platform 3 at Holyhead, 47 733 Eastern Star prepares to leave with a First North Western service, the 14:02 to Crewe.

Carrying on

It's clear that taking train photos is not an 'essential' activity,  and we certainly don't encourage you to do it - there's very few interesting trains now anyway. So we need to have a think about what will appear on the Notice Board in the months ahead.  We will report (in text format) any railway developments, but otherwise, the obvious answer is to look back at the past. The 'past' in this context  can be any time before the oldest page in the Notice Board on-line archive, which is January 2010.

Please have a look through your photo collections, and submit contributions of the sort included below, three or four related images and a caption of what was happening, interesting facts about the loco, etc. 

Above all - stay safe.


The Railway and the Virus


From 23 March, Transport for Wales will be operating a Sunday service every day, with some extras in the early morning as  listed on their website. Obviously this takes-out all the loco-hauled passenger trains.

From Avanti West Coast:

1 train per day will run from Holyhead to Euston and return each day.
Calling at: Milton Keynes, Crewe, Chester and all Avanti West Coast calling points between Chester and Holyhead.

1 train per day will run from Euston to Chester and return each day
Calling at: Milton Keynes and Crewe.

1 train every 2 hours between Chester and Birmingham to maintain connectivity to North Wales and between Birmingham and the North West.

The timetable is downloadable here.

Meanwhile, the Department for Transport has temporarily suspended all the train companies' franchise agreements,  replaced by a system in which the DfT takes all the fares (less a management fee)  and pays the cost of running the services.

As for heritage railways, as far as we know, they have all suspended (or not started for the season) operation.  Let us hope that all the railways can survive without months' revenue lost.


A final (for now) news miscellany



The Sunday cement train on its way from Padeswood cement works to Dee Marsh where it reverses. Once again 66 708 was in charge with 16 wagons. It is held at a signal just down from the works and so starts to climb the 1 in 75 bank from a stand. Seen here at the top of the bank near to Buckley station (Bob Greenhalgh).



The Llangollen Railway's final  service before temporary closure  ran on Tuesday 17 March with the Wickham unit operating the off-peak service as seen leaving Glyndyfrdwy. 



LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 45212 and support coach coasting through Chorlton on the approach to Crewe returning from Southall back to Carnforth on 21 March, possibly the last steam working we may well see for a while.



18 March at Llandudno Junction, 37 612 pauses with a Bangor to Canton Pullmans Network Rail train (driving trailer 9702 at the other end). Picture by Ryan Lloyd.


Britannias in Chester, 1965 - by Peter Neve



Britannia 4-6-2 70042 Lord Roberts (minus nameplates and shed code plate) prepares to leave Chester (6A) Motive Power Depot for its next turn of duty in the Autumn of 1965. The shed code painted on the smokebox door (6J) indicates it’s a Holyhead based locomotive.

 

The same locomotive heads a freight train past the houses adjacent to Hoole Lane bridge and is about to tackle the long gradient up to Guilden Sutton on the outskirts of Chester. Since the previous photograph was taken, the locomotive is now facing east, possibly having been turned on the triangle at Chester or on the turntable of its home shed.


 
Britannia 4-6-2 70027 Rising Star (minus nameplates) brings a mixed freight into Chester from the direction of Manchester. The lengthening shadow of the telegraph pole suggests the photograph was taken towards the latter half of the day in the early summer of 1965.


 
The last of the class, Britannia 4-6-2 70054 Dornoch Firth (minus nameplates and shed code plate) emerges from Hoole Lane bridge with a parcels train for Crewe. The locomotive is crossing the turnout to Chester (6A) engine shed in the Autumn of 1965.


Cambrian and Chester - pictures by Dave Sallery



Criccieth Castle on the shuttle from Minffordd station to Minffordd yard passes 158 832 working a Pwllheli - Birmingham International during the  Ffestiniog Railway's  'Quirks and Curiosities II' event, 29 April 2017.



Classic view of a 158 crossing Barmouth Bridge.



Back in 1995, on 16 August 31 422 (in the 'Unbranded Mainline' livery) calls at Chester with a train from North Wales, reminding us that 37s did not totally dominate the loco-hauled services at that date.


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