NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
Home | Notice Board | Contributions | Travel Info | Calendar | History | Route Guide | Trains and Traffic
01 September2025
Forthcoming events
See our Calendar Page for operator details.
September 2025
1 September Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
Thursday 4 September Clwyd Railway Circle 'The Steelworks Railways at Home and Abroad' Adrian Bodlander
Saturday 5 September Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast Express' from Cardiff Central to Pwllheli
Saturday 6 September UK Railtours The 'Industria Ditat' from Watford Junction to Alstom Widnes and Llandudno Junction slate yard with GBRf 57 and 60
Wednesday 10 September Statesman Rail Snowdonia Statesman from Cardiff Central to Blaenau Ffestiniog with LSL 47 and/or 57
Saturday 12 September Pathfinder Tours 'Cambrian Coast Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Pwllheli
Monday 15 September Saphos Trains Edinburgh Summer Explorer Chester to Edinburgh with LSL 47 and/or 57 to Carlisle for steam to Edinburgh and back to Carlisle
Saturday 20 September Northern Belle Settle & Carlisle Steam Special Telford, Shrewsbury, Wrexham and Chester to Carlisle with steam WCRC diesel to Carlisle, steam over S&C, diesel back
Saturday 20 September Vintage Trains The Cambrian Coast Explorer Dorridge to Aberystwyth with 37 240 and a Network Rail 97/3
Saturday 29 September Belmond Britannic Explorer Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
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.
20/21 September
This year's Bala Lane Railway Model Show 10.00 - 16.00 both days. Venue: Ysgol Godre'r Berwyn (Bala School). Approximately 25 layouts and 11 traders, and there will be special extra trains on the Bala Lake Railway that weekend too.
October 2025
Thursday 2 October Clwyd Railway Circle 'Memories of railway operations at Llangollen from my childhood days growing up in the town during the BR era of the 1950’s and mid 60s.' Gareth Jones
Wednesday 8 October Statesman Rail Snowdonia Statesman from Durham to Blaenau Ffestiniog with LSL 47 and/or 57
20 October, Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
November 2025
Thursday 4 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 remainde
Saturday 10 November; Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
Saturday 22 November Pathfinder Railtours The Chester Christmas Explorer Oxford Parkway, Golden Valley and Marches line to Chester
December 2025
Monday 1 December Midland Pullman Edinburgh Christmas Pullman from Bangor to Edinburgh
Thursday 4 December Clwyd Railway Circle 'Railways & Tramways of the Isle of Man' Geoff Morris.
North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme
34046 Braunton in action on the Marches on 27 August. Picture by Logan Humphreys.
I've run out of time this week, partly thanks due to having to research captions for images. Please try to give brief details of the train, and where it is and whats it is doing, making it clear what caption fits with the right picture. Otherwise it won't be included. A longer caption will be even more welcome. - Charlie
News pictures
70 803 passes Chester Northgate locks on 25 August
with the logs from Carlisle to Chirk. (Logan Humphreys).
Photography on the Marches: Craven Arms on 27 August: the 09:31 loaded steel train from Dee Marsh to Margam with 66 658...
... the 10:30 from Manchester to Cardiff ...
... and the main target - 34046 Braunton on a Saphos tour from Bournemouth to Shrewsbury (Logan Humphries)
Stokport station is open for trains; here are two pictures by Richard Snook of trains taking the Styal line at Wilmslow station. 67 020 is working the 10:30 Manchester Piccadilly - Cardiff on 12 August ...
... 67 017 calling at platform 2 with the 05:42 Swansea to Manchester PIccadilly, next stop Stockport.
Wilmslow is quite a good place to watch trains, as several freight trains pass as well as the loco-hauled trains. Their a wide area at one end so you can stay out of the way. And the town has a wide range of shops if that is your 'thing' as the Northern's adverts say.
To Blaenau and back - by Paul Hajdasz
On Thursday 21 August I took a return trip to Blaenau Ffestiniog on Tfw 2D14 10:12 service from Llandudno to Blaenau with 197 019.
Arriving at Betws-y-coed station I managed to take a photo of Gwydir Castle, which runs on the Conwy Valley Railway Museum’s miniature railway for about 1 mile around the site.
Once I reached Blaenau I also saw one of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland railway’s services hauled by Linda, which was built in 1893.
From Richard Snook's archive
On 10 August 1984 25 235 passes Bagillt with empty tanks from the 'Octel' works at Amwlch to Ellesmere Port.
On 24 August 1984 45 015 passes Rhyl with a Birmingham Lawley Street to Holyhead. The final Freightliner left Holyhead on March 18th, 1991, hauled by 47 301, according to an interesting feature on the 6G website.
A Class 40 passes Flint one day in 1983 with a load of ballast from Penmaenmawr. The edifice is Courtauld's Castle Works, which produced rayon synthetic thread. The building was demolished not long after this picture was taken.
Bagillt on June 1982: 47 507 with the 17:10 Bangor - York. The signalbox nameboard is missing as the box was de-commissioned in 1973.
From Dave Sallery's archive
37 255 with ballast empties passes Holywell Junction, 18 February 1998.
47 747 and 47 566 leave Llandudno Junction while returning to Crewe on a loco test train, 17 June 1994.
47 747 again, this time in EWS livery, on a Manchester - Holyhead train in May 2003. The coaches were borrowed from the First Great Western; the livery was known unofficially known as the 'fag-packet' scheme, said to resemble the strip which one peels round to open cigarette.
Chester based DMU set CH351 near Mostyn, 6 June 1990. Note the red dragon from its time in South Wales. The beached Duke of Lancaster remains in place in 2025 as a Landmark on the North Wales Journey. The latest news about the ship's future is that there is no news.
Looking Back: Diesels and Electrics 1969 part 2 - by David Pool
Continuing my holiday in Kent, on 20 June 1969 I was in Folkestone, where a 4-CEP unit 7141 was leading on the 1 in 30 gradient from the Harbour with the 16:27 to Victoria. Gone were the days of front and rear double headed Class R1 locomotives, all withdrawn by 1960. Bachmann have produced a model of this particular unit.
Four days later there was no sign of June sunshine as another arrival from Victoria entered the Harbour Station. The leading unit was a Class 419 parcels car S68004, which would have been on the rear until the train reversed at Folkestone Junction.
By the next day the weather had brightened, and Rye Windmill made an interesting background as a Class 205 unit 1118 approached with the 12:11 from Hastings to Ashford.
This had been one of the first batch of “Thumpers”, being a 2 car unit built in 1957 for use in Hampshire. Under the TOPS system, these became Class 205, and a third car was often added, as in this case.
The gauge restrictions on the line between Tonbridge and Battle had led to the construction of 6-car narrow bodied diesel electric units, usually known as “Hastings” Class 201 and 202 units, the original Class 201 unit being slightly shorter than the subsequent Class 202. Unit 1035, one of the latter Class, was approaching West St Leonards on 25 June 1969.
There were still Boat Trains from Victoria to Newhaven Harbour in 1969, being hauled by Class 73/1 Electro Diesels built at Vulcan Works between 1965 and 1967. On 26 June 1969 the 09:30 from Victoria was arriving at Newhaven Town behind E6046.
On an earlier visit to Newhaven Town on 18 June 1963, the Boat Trains were the main reason for the retention of the Bulleid “Booster” Electrics. 20001 (originally CC1) was the first of the three built, and had left Newhaven Harbour at 17:14 for Victoria, the passengers having arrived from Dieppe.
In 1969 the scene at Brighton Station had also changed, as the Brighton Belle had just been repainted in the blue/grey livery of British Railways, having lost its Pullman livery. It survived for another three years, but could never recover the prestige it once enjoyed. We are fortunate that all is not lost, now that the new Brighton Belle is being rebuilt at Crewe to present day standards, and will be such a welcome sight in its original colours.
The line Southwards from Uckfield to Lewes had been closed on 5 May, so at the time of my visit on 28 June 1969 Uckfield was the terminus for trains from Oxted. The 1254 from Oxted was arriving, a Class 207 “Oxted” diesel electric unit 1309. Uckfield station was later repositioned on the North side of the level crossing, but the line has never been electrified. Recent proposals to reopen back to Lewes are not likely to be viable, and the service from Oxted is today provided by Class 171 diesel multiple units.
An image was accidentally omitted from the previous set: It shows North Woolwich where a Derby Class 125 High Density unit was arriving from Stratford Low Level.
Home page | Archive | Previous Notice Board