NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY:NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd

27 December 2021










 
 



Contributions to the Notice Board are welcome, although they may not always be used, due to time constraints, especially if they don't follow the file name convention given on the  Contributions Page.



Forthcoming events

Charter trains may be subject to cancellation or postponement.

December 2021

28 December:  Our regular contributor  Ian Pilkington will be presenting “Steam in North Wales and the Border” on Friday  at RCTS Lancashire & North West Branch, Fulwood Tennis Club, Highgate Avenue, Fulwood, Preston PR2 8LN.

The show will be a mixture of main line and narrow gauge steam taken since 2010.

January 2022

Wednesday 5 January   
RCTS Liverpool    AGM    followed by: Paul Chancellor    ColourRail - 9th Journey   (Non M,C&NW Members and Non-RCTS Members will not be able to take an active part in the AGM) 

Monday 17 January    RCTS online Zoom    Professor Stuart Cole    Rail Policy in Wales

February 2022 Monday 21 February RCTS Chester Martyn Hilbert Network North West



March 2022
Wednesday  2 March RCTS Liverpool Paul Shackcloth L & Y Engines At Work, Part 1

Monday 21 March RCTS online Zoom Geoff Plumb The Wrexham & Shropshire Railway

April 2022 Monday 25 April RCTS Chester David Powell Merseyrail Fleet Replacement


(see  our Calendar page for venues)






Loading at Penmaemawr, as evening's shadow falls, 20 December. Picture by Brian Jones.

More about the Penmaemawr trains

Thanks to freight train expert Paul Shannon,  and Mr Chaplin of Hanson Concrete,  we can bring you more detail of the workings of the new Penmaenmawr - Tuebrook Sidings service.  This is not a revival of the railway ballast traffic, but aggregate for concrete construction projects, to a recently-created Hanson terminal at Tuebrook Sidings, Liverpool. (It should be noted that the location called Tuebrook Sidings are some way away from  Tuebrook itself.)

The first twelve wagons were to be loaded with '10mm' aggregate, the remainder of the train with '20mm' aggregate. Unfortunately  due to a issue with the hopper doors which delayed loading by three  hours. Out of the 23 wagons only 15 were loaded before the train had to depart. The next train will be during January 2022.

The train used the wagons that normally have been carrying a similar flow of stone from Shap Harrisons Sidings to Tuebrook Sidings and Ashton-in-Makerfield.


Llangollen Railway Cancellation

Due to the latest restrictions imposed by the Welsh Government from 26 December the 'Mince Pie Specials' which normally run in the days after Christmas have been cancelled.


From Dave Sallery's  archive



37 294 passing through Newport High Street on an oil train in June 1977. Built as D6994 at Vulcan foundry it is now preserved on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey steam railway.



20 902 on the annual weed-killing train visit to the Conwy Valley. Seen at Blaenau on 17  August 1993. 20 903 was on the other end of the train.


Looking back:  Diesels 1999 part 4 - By David Pool



Friday 9 July 1999 was a day I shall remember!  A Regency Railtour with Deltic haulage was due to leave Chester for Carnforth at 09:12, and this turned out to be 55 019 Royal Highland Fusilier, with 1Z53 headcode. 



There was a Diesel Event at the East Lancs Railway, so I headed for Bury and the Burrs Country Park where Peak 44 004 Great Gable was approaching Bury.  This locomotive was a visitor from the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley. 



Moving on to Irwell Vale, my first shot there was Hymek D7076, a resident at the Railway, returning from Rawtenstall.



The footpath up the hill from the station was a good location for photography, and another East Lancs resident D5054 (24 054) was now in black, with British Railways branding.  I remember the first Class 24s when they arrived in the region, and they has green livery from the start. The BR black scheme for diesels was applied only to some shunters and very early prototype main line locos. 



From the same viewpoint, the next train from Irwell Vale was headed by 5580 (31 162), also visiting from Butterley.  This was in a pre-TOPS BR blue livery, without the D prefix to the number. 



I had by then got the photos I had come for, and decided to call in at Winwick on the homeward journey, where another Deltic D9009 passed a Northbound light engine with a 1F50 headcode.  I was to see this locomotive later in the day.  Next of interest was DRS 37 611 with 6C20, the Sandbach to Sellafield acid tanks.   



Hargrave was my next chosen spot, and in the late afternoon D9009 Alycidon duly appeared from the Crewe direction with what I noted was the Regency Railtour, still showing the 1F50 headcode, with 55 019 at the rear. 



My final photograph of the day was at the site of the closed station at Waverton, where 55 019 was now heading the train towards Crewe, and it seems that D9009 was at the rear.  My notes indicate that this was an empty stock working, but it was showing a class 1 headcode 1Z52, or more precisely something between 1Z52 and 1Z53, neither of which may have been correct. If anyone has more accurate information, or who travelled on the Railtour and can confirm the details, I should be most grateful.  


Christmas Eve at Skelton Junction - pictures by Greg Mape



 A few pictures on the curve between Skelton Junction and Deansgate Junctions on 24 December. Above, 70 010 and 66 615 are the 12:01 positioning move from Earles Sidings at Hope to Freightliner's main depot at Crewe Basford Hall. Complete with lineside Christmas Tree!



70 014 on  the 11:00 Runcorn Folly Lane - Brindle Heath empty Greater Manchester refuse containers.



66 050 on the 10:46 loaded Merseyside refuse train Knowsley to Wilton. This flow is easily identified by the DB Cargo traction.



A pair of class 150s, 150 149 and 150 108,  working  the  12:39 Manchester - Chester waits for the 12:02 Chester - Manchester formed of 156 420 and  150 110  to clear the single line between Deansgate Junction & Navigation Road Station. (Next to the parallel Metrolink single line.)


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