NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD

Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd

27 October 2025

Forthcoming events

See our Calendar Page for operator details.

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 remainder

Saturday 10 November; Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales

Friday 14 November Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Noel Coates "Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Engine
Sheds".

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.

January 2026

Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Friday 9 January John Hooley "A Midlands Miscellany".

February 2026

Friday 13 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Paul Shackcloth "People and Places 8".

Other useful sites:

For up-to-date North Wales information
join the North Wales Trains News group

North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme

37 610 under a contrasting sky whilst working 1Q41 Ultrasonic Test Train on 20 October. Picture by Logan Humphreys.

Something of a 'Photograph Gallery' this week. Hope you enjoy it.- Charlie

Northern Belle

The West Coast Railways 'Northern Belle', topped and tailed by 57 313 and 57 315, ran from Manchester Victoria (dep 14:33) to Holyhead and return from Holyhead (dep 14:30) on 26 October. Above, 57 315 leads past Abergele on the outward journey ...

... and 57 313 returning non-stop through Llandudno Junction. Passengers could enjoy the Great 'British Sunday Lunch at £445' or 'Champagne Afternoon Tea' £365. Pick-up points were Manchester, Stockport, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, and Crewe.

Grids on the RHTT

20 October at Llandudno Junction with 56 302 and 56 078 (20 October).

56 090 and 56 078 passing over the A55 in Old Colwyn on 24 October (Jack Bowley)

24 October near Abergele (Greg Mape)

In close-up: Bangor on 25 October. 56078 ...

... and 56 090 (Logan Humphreys). The 'red diamond' symbols indicate that class 56 locos cannot work in multiple with any other British diesel loco except Class 58. (Older classes are 'Blue star').

Class 37s in focus

37 418 An Comunn Gaidhealach added a bit of colour along the coast on Tuesday working the 0Z38 Chester middle yard to Llandudno and Bangor light engine move. Seen here 37 418 approaching Llandudno Junction station on its outward run to Llandudno (Garry Stroud).

37 418 and 805 003 crossing paths at Chester, 20 October (Logan Humphreys)

37 418 making an explosive departure upon being given the path into the yard, tuneful too !

Photographing 37 418 at Chester - By Logan Humphreys

37 667 (D6851) Flopsie seen on the trailing end Of 1Q41, of the Ultrasonic train (Logan Humphreys).

Seen at Crewe - with Paul Hajdasz

On a visit in 22 October 197 005 was standing at platform 8 on TfW 3M02 ECS from Crewe to Barton under Needwood depot,

67 015 arrived into platform 6 at Crewe just over 30 minutes late with TfW 1W55 08:53 from Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly. The journey forward was then partially cancelled due to a signalling problem and the service ended at Wilmslow.

67 001 and their two brothers

On the subject of 67s (last issue), we have an answer to the location of stored loco 67 001: it is parked on a siding in Crewe electric depot, in company with various other locos. It seems to be in good outward condition, even retaining the 'HD' sticker. Clearly failed to find a buyer. 67 003, another of the three which were painted blue for use on the Holyhead - Cardiff 'WAG' service, is the first to be scrapped. The other member of the trio, 67 002 is currently in Doncaster Works, reportedly to be used in an ongoing 'European Train Control System fitment project'.

Steam corner

34028 Eddystone near Waverton with the Slough - Chester 'Varsity Express' on 25 October (Ian Pilkington).

Arriving at Chester (Anthony Thomas)

Owned by Southern Locomotives Ltd, this loco returned to service in May 2021 after a 10-year overhaul.

From Dave Sallery's archive

37 250 with an Up evening service to Crewe, 10 June 1999

37 509 passes Conwy Castle gardens on a Crewe to Bangor train, 24 June 1995.

37670 and 37 521 at Lostwithiel, 26 September 1996. A reminder of the days of 37s and CDA wagons on Cornish china clay trains. Lostwithiel is the junction of the line to Fowey from where the china clay is exported by sea.

LO633 calls at Mouldsworth while working a Mid Cheshire line service from Manchester to Chester. 29 May 1991.

Looking back: Diesels and Electrics 1970 and Monoloco - by David Pool

The 11:55 from Holyhead to London Euston on 30 March 1970 was headed by English Electric 213 (later 40 213) and making a smoky departure.

The 10:35 from Euston to Holyhead on that day had a Brush Type 4 (later Class 47) as it crossed the Menai Strait on the Britannia Bridge, the two lions being a distinctive feature. Unfortunately I was not able to get the number of the locomotive.

Leaving Deganwy later that day, the 16:45 from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llandudno was a Park Royal Class 103, units M50407 and M56150.

On 1 April 1970 I was fortunate to see a Derby built Class 24 5018 in Mold station with a freight working. The passenger services through Mold had ended in 1962.

There was much to see at Crewe Electric Traction Depot’s Open Day on 19 April 1970. EMU 073, a Class AM10 (later Class 310), was passing the exhibits, my notes stating that it was 12:10 Wistaston Road to Stoke. I assume this was a special working for the Open Day, but the destination blind shows Stafford.

For me the main attraction was HS400 Kestrel, built by Brush Traction in 1967 and intended to be a prototype demonstrator for a new design of mixed traffic diesels. Unfortunately this type of locomotive did not appear in the future requirements of British Railways, and with no orders forthcoming the locomotive was sold for use in the USSR. It was re-gauged and ran there on test for a few years. Although some of its features influenced the design of new Russian diesels, Kestrel was withdrawn from service and eventually broken up in the early 1990s.

I had travelled to Crewe from Liverpool, and on that day trains were being diverted via Chester. I returned behind a Type 4 1956 (later 47 260), and took the opportunity for a shot at Mickle Trafford Junction, a difficult location for photography. The line from Mouldsworth is coming in at the centre, while a link from the Warrington line is crossing it to join the freight line to Dee Marsh Junction, which today is the Chester Millennium Greenway.

At Frodsham Junction my train headed for Runcorn, and is about to cross the bridge over what would be the M56. At that time there was a double track towards Halton Junction.

The Monoloco

Nant Mawr in Shropshire is the home for a number of standard gauge locomotives and Multiple Units, together with the largest collection of monorail equipment in the UK. The star of the latter is the steam locomotive Monoloco, which was built in 1998 by Century Millwrights, but then spent many years out of use in a container. Following a recent fundraising campaign, Monoloco was restored at the Rudyard Lake Railway and returned to the Nant Mawr site in October 2025. Its first public appearance was on 25 October, when it was steamed and moved on a short (and relatively straight) demonstration line - the main monorail circuit at Nant Mawr contains several tight curves which Monoloco could not traverse. There have been other steam locomotives on monorails many years ago, in particular on the Listowel and Ballybunion Railway, but none have survived, making Monoloco unique.

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