NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARDRheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
|
||
Home | Notice Board | Contribitions | Travel Info | Calendar | History | Route Guide | Trains and Traffic | Links | ||
03 February 2025![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Forthcoming events See our Calendar Page for operator details. February 2025 Wednesday 5 February Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales Branch Liverpool: Chris Poole “Czech Railways” Thursday 6 February Clwyd Railway Circle David Jones and Dave Southern “Annual General Meeting” followed by “Rails to Bala” Friday 14 February. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Macclesfield Area Railways in the 1950s and 60s" by Martin Welch. March 2025 Saturday 1 March - Railway Touring Company - 'The Mancunian' from Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno and Holyhead via Altrincham. Steam hauled. Thursday 6 March Clwyd Railway Circle Jeff Nicholls “A Baptism of Fire and Water-My First Wolsztyn Experience” Part One Friday 14 March. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Navigation Road and All That" by Ted Buckley. Local rail scenes, mainly of steam, from the 1960s in the Altrincham and Dunham Massey areas and elsewhere taken by Ted's father Bill Buckley. Monday 17 March Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales Branch: Charles Roberts “On Line Transport Archive (OTA) Images” April 2025 Wednesday 2 April Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales Branch Liverpool: Paul Shackcloth “L & Y Engines at Work, Part 3” Speaker and Subject TBC Saturday 5 April Saphos Lakelander from Llandudno Junction to Carlisle. Diesel to Lancaster and return, steam from Lancaster, return via Cumbrian Coast line. Saturday 5 April UK Railtours - The Snowdonian. No further information available at present. Saturday 11 April Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast Express' from Swindon to Pwllheli Friday 11 April. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Steam, Diesel and Electric in the Northern Fells" by Ian Pilkington. A joint meeting with the Irish Railway Record Society Manchester Branch. Saturday 12 April Midland Pullman Torbay Riviera Pullman from Chester, Wrexham General and Ruabon to Paignton. Saturday 19 April Northern Belle - Settle and Carlisle Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to Carlisle via the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam for remainder. May 2025 Thursday 1 May Northern Belle "Conwy Castle & Bodnant Gardens" charter from Coventry It includes other off-train options. Saturday 5 May - The Victorian Festival (Intercity). Birmingham International to Llandudno and return with a pair of LSL class 20s. Saturday 9 May Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast Express' from East Midlands Parkway to Pwllheli Saturday 10 May UK Railtours Llandudno and Chester. London Euston to Llandudno Junction and Penmaenmawr freight yards. Saturday 16 May Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast' Express from Bristol Temple Meads to Pwllheli Saturday 31 May Northern Belle Conwy Castle & Bodnant Gardens from Cardiff June 2025 Friday 20 June Northern Belle Spirit of Travel Lunch. Circular tour picking up at Chester and Wrexham General. Diesel hauled. Friday 20 June Northern Belle Champagne Afternoon Tea. Circular tour picking up at Chester and Wrexham General. Diesel hauled. Saturday 21 June North West Rail and Transport Collectors Fair Crewe Alexandra Football Club 10:00 - 16:00 Thursday 26 June The Railway Industry's "Three Peaks by Rail" will be down the Coast on the evening of 26 June and heading onwards in the early hours of 27 June. July 2025 Saturday 5 July Railway Touring Company "North Wales Coast Express" from London Euston to Llandudno. Electric to Crewe, with steam along the Coast. Sunday 13 July Railway Touring Company charter from Liverpool to Holyhead on with steam throughout. Tuesday 15 July Midland Pullman Yorkshire Coast Pullman from Ruabon, Wrexham General and Chester. August 2025 September 2025 Friday 5 September Clwyd Railway Circle To be announced Saturday 5 September Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast Express' from Cardiff Central to Pwllheli Wednesday 10 September - Snowdonia Statesman. Cardiff Central to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Saturday 12 September Pathfinder Tours '.Cambrian Coast Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Pwllheli Wednesday 17 September Midland Pullman Settle and Carlisle Pullman. From Ruabon, Wrexham General and Chester. Saturday 20 September Northern Belle Settle and Carlisle Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to Carlisle via the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam for remainder. October 2005 Friday 3 October Clwyd Railway Circle To be Announced Wednesday 8 October - Snowdonia Statesman. Durham to Blaenau Ffestiniog. November 2005 Friday 7 November Clwyd Railway Circle Jeff Nicholls “A Baptism of Fire and Water-My First Wolsztyn Experience” Part Two Saturday 8 November Northern Belle Settle and Carlisle Steam Special. Wrexham General and Chester to Carlisle via the S&C. Diesel to/from Carnforth, steam for remainder. ![]() North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme |
![]() On 27 January at Flint, 197 104 on 1H91 15:42 Llandudno to Manchester Airport meets 153 311 2Q20 13:00 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Chester Middle Yard via Tamworth, Crewe and Llandudno. The 153 now is owned by Network Rail as 'VIU 1' - (Video Inspection Unit 1). We understand its role is to inspect pointwork and track that can be missed by the New Measurement Train, although it has also been used for driver training. Scenes from here and there
|
37 058 1D57 0506 Birmingham -
Holyhead Between Chester - Holyhead 1G96 0836 Holyhead - Birmingham NS 1D71 1203 Birmingham NS - Holyhead 37 250 1G76 0143 Holyhead - Birmingham NS 1D57 0506 Birmingham - Holyhead Between Birmingham NS - Chester 1D79 1717 Crewe-Bangor 2D72 2022 Bangor - Crewe 37 298 1K53 0739 Chester - Crewe 1D60 0819 Crewe - Bangor 1K61 1022 Bangor - Crewe 1D69 1220 Crewe - Holyhead 37 413 1G91 0422 Holyhead - Birmingham NS 1D62 0810 Birmingham NS - Bangor 1G97 1116 Bangor - Birmingham NS 37 429 1G95 0640 Holyhead - Birmingham NS 1D67 1007 Birmingham NS - Holyhead 1G11 1354 Holyhead - Birmingham NS 1D82 1721 Birmingham NS - Holyhead 37377 on Standby all day at
Chester |
Alan Crawshaw's view taken at 10.20 at Bangor, shows 37 371, returning light after working the petroleum coke train to Holyhead, as it draws alongside 37 298, about to set off with the 10:22 to Crewe.
Yet another livery - the old British Rail 'Dutch' engineers' livery - and another rarity, 37 058, pictured by Nick Gurney calling at Rhyl. Regarding the cause of all this, Nick writes:
"I have heard from two sources now, that something called a "transition arm" which is similar to a shock absorber fell off 37 421 on the Britannia bridge. A permanant way worker walking the track picked up this piece of 37 421 and thinking it was rubbish tossed it off the bridge into the Menai Straits. Then on two occasions divers have been hired to try to recover the offending article from the water. The WKCD pool of 37/4s are parked up in a siding at Crewe apparently untouched."
At this point your compiler decided to pay a visit to study the festival at close quarters; the picture above shows the 14.23 Birmingham - Holyhead at Crewe, with 37 413 The Scottish Railway Preservation Society in charge.
Clearly 'anyone who was anyone' in the local railfan world was heading this way - who should appear in my field of view at Crewe but writer, photographer and uk.railway stalwart Tony Miles, who complained that he'd never been featured in these pages, so here you go! Thanks are due to Tony for keeping us in touch with events at the heart of First North Western - ironically, he recently attempted (unsuccessfully) on our behalf to persuade the management to use some unusual locomotives to raise revenue from enthusiasts!
Anyway, back to locomotives and on to Chester with 37
413. The train was just four coaches and pretty crowded,
although I did manage to get a seat among some bemused
Japanese visitors who probably wondered by British
travellers like to travel with their heads out of the
windows. At Chester a large crowd of people were waiting
for the train, which stayed in the station with the doors
open for some time, perhaps as people tried to lever
themselves aboard. 'Dutch' liveried 37 377 was
stabled in the sidings which are currently acting as depot
for Chester, presumably as a spare loco in case of any
problems.
Normally, the loco runs round to haul the 17.17 back to Bangor, but this time 37 298 went off to Crewe diesel depot and was replaced, after an interval long enough to delay the departure by ten minutes, by 37 250.
I headed back home with mixed feelings; great fun of a sort, and and interesting article for the website on one hand, but on the other hand the last day before timetable cutbacks, and to be honest with you all I myself really prefer a train with one of the normal locos and rather fewer fellow travellers. It seems likely I have now been deprived of a farewell ride behind some of the locos which have served us well, which does seem a shame. But who knows what will happen in the future? Make the best of Summer 1999, as it may be the last Summer of locomotive haulage on this line.
My thanks to all the rail staff of the North Wales Coast, and to all who have helped with this report. - Charlie