NORTH WALES COAST
RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
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14 September
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28 September
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Thursday 3 September Clwyd Railway Circle "Severn Valley Steam" Highlights of 2012 and 2013 Steam Galas - Glyn Jones
9 September Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group. Chris Jones – The Ff&WHR Archives & Dave Russell – The CRhE/WHRS Archives.
19-20 September Bala Model Railway Show
Saturday 19 September Northern Belle "Settle & Carlisle Steam Special", Wrexham General and Chester to Carlisle. WCRC steam locomotive over the Settle & Carlisle line. Diesel hauled otherwise.
October 2026
Thursday 1 October Clwyd Railway Circle 'The view from a signal box window' Adrian Bodlander
Friday 9 October: Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Lee Stanford "The Norman Harrop Collection Part 1. A selection of photographs from the Manchester Locomotive Society archive of 1960s steam in the North West of England taken by Norman Harrop".
14 October. Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group. Dave Kent – "Here's one you might recall...?" – (Early rebuilt WHR & South African steam.)
November 2026
Thursday 5 November Clwyd Railway Circle "40 years of Railway in the Chester area" - Geoff Morris
11 November Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group. Dave Waldren – ‘My View of Reconstructing the WHR.’
Friday 13 November Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Tom Ingall "The Reunification of the Great Central Railway". The talk describes the plan to reunify the Great Central Railway (North) and the Great Central Railway preserved lines by building a new link in the centre of Loughborough. Tom is a BBC presenter who has been a volunteer at the Great Central Railway since the age of 14.
December 2027
Thursday 3 December Clwyd Railway Circle Ian Mainprize 'German Railway Development'
9 December Welsh Highland Railway North Wales Group – Mike Blackburn – The Chester & Holyhead Railway.
January 2027
Friday 8 January Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Jeremy Nicholls "100 Years of Trains to Audlem" and "Nantwich and the Railway". Contact Andrew Macfarlane, (0161) 928 9394)
February 2027
Friday 12 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Chris Davies "The AERPS and the Last Years of the 1500 volts dc Altrincham Electrics". Chris is a Vice-President of the Society and he has been involved since the early days in the early 1970s. Contact Andrew Macfarlane, (0161) 928 9394
March 2027
Friday 12 March Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Paul Shackcloth "People and Places 9". More images of the pre-1968 steam railway with at least one person visible. Contact Andrew Macfarlane, (0161) 928 9394 for confirmation)
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
[The items usually in this column are temporally out of service for re-construction]
A final look at the train on 22 August showing 50 050 Fearless passing Llandudno Junction with the 'Thistle and Dragon' excursion. Picture by Ken Robinson.
News pictures
Pwllheli on 8 September on test runs. 197 029 and 197 030 (Greg Mape). Does this suggest that passenger service will soon be in passenger traffic? Probably not.
0n 7 September 70 812 crosses Llandulas viaduct on the way to collect a load of stone from Llandudno Junction for the terminal there ...
... and a view of the loading operation. The stone is from Penmaenmawr quarry transported by road. (Greg Mape). The track of the short sidings his been lifted, It seems that they are planning a loading pad like the one at Llandudno Junction so two trains load at once.
5 September – 158 835 slowly passing through Meole Brace on 1S10, the 06:17 from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury, prior to the 'Cambrian Coast Express' from Dorridge to Aberystwyth run by Vintage Trains going the opposite way. Picture by Graham Breakwell.
The Cambrian Coast Express, with 97 302 approaching one of Meole Brace’s three foot-crossings. 37 420 is seen on the rear, still sporting the 'Cambrian Coast Express' headboard. This crossing has no warning lights but the fixed camera can be seen monitoring pedestrian movements.
The return trip was double headed as far as Shrewsbury with 37 420 working the final leg back to Dorridge. Seen here in Belle Vue passing one of the two semaphores remaining on the Cambrian line, a short distance from joining the main line at Sutton Bridge Junction.
A classic view of a 'Pullman' HST set 43 046 Loch Eil and 46 046 Geoff Drury 1930–1999 Steam Preservation and Computerised Track Recording Pioneer resting in the siding at Chester. LSL now have nine working HST power cars, all now painted in this livery.
In contrast, Colas test train on 1Q55, a round trip from Derby including reversals at Tyseley and Wrexham General on Friday 4 September. Colas 43 301 on the rear as it runs through Shrewsbury station. 43 313 leading (Graham Breakwell)
Out and About - with John Oates
On 2 September on a Visual Inspection Unit run is VIU 6 (153384) stopping for a layover in Hereford whilst operating 2Q48 Leominster to Pontrilas via Hereford thee times to cover all the Hereford lines, starting and ending the day at Shrewsbury Coleham Sidings.
On 4 September on a trip from Worcestershire Parkway to Gobowen via Hereford with cement tanks is 66 304 in the remains of its DRS livery at Worcestershire Parkway on 6M42 northbound on the main line having just passed under the Cotswold Line at 11:40, and then...
... later at 16:04 passing Gobowen having come via the West Midlands. Note the nicely re-restored station building awaiting prospective tenants.
Meanwhile on my trip via Hereford, 66 654 passed 44 late on 6V75 Dee Marsh to Margam with coated steel, short-terminating at Llanwern.
Short notes
The Class 175 units transferred from TfW are still giving trouble; GWR have decided to take them all out of traffic for repairs at once, meaning some routes have a reduced timetable. The main problem is that when the units were stored outside of use for some time. This led to corrosion with water coming inside, and causing damage to equipment.
DCR Loco 60 022 Ingleborough has been turned out in in the livery of the Midland Railway. Picture on the coast please!
From Dave Sallery's archive
Test train substitute, 11 March 1992, On March 11 1992, due to a derailment in Crewe South yard, no test train coaching stock set was available. In order to give 37 019 a suitable dead load to haul, it was decided to couple 3 other 37's, that were in for works attention, to it. 37 019, 37 057, 37 140 and 37 358 P & O Containers are seen at Prestatyn on their way back to Crewe from Llandudno Junction.
73 002 and 73 006, Prestatyn, 12 March 1994. A rare passenger outing for two of the Merseyrail fleet of four 73's. They worked this excursion from Crewe to Blaenau Ffestiniog as far as Llandudno Junction, where 31 421 and 31 455 took over. 73 002 is now owned by LSL and 73 006 is now 73 967.
37 892 is seen running around the Crewe test train at Rhyl, 17 September 1987. The loco is in plain grey livery pending the launch of the freight sector liveries a few weeks later.
37 711 is seen on the petroleum coke empties from Holyhead to Immingham at Prestatyn, 10 April 1994.
25 286 seen stabled on Birkenhead shed, 7 January 1984.
40 118 with a returning excursion near Gronant, 22 July 1984.
Looking back: Part 4 Scotland - With David Pool
There looks to
be a Wedding Party on the platform of Falkirk
(Grahamstown) on 20 May 1972. The 13:30 from Falkirk to
Glasgow Queen Street was a three car Metropolitan Cammell
Class 101 (Sc51533, 59561,51436), so the seating
capacity would not be a problem.
Later that day
I was at Kirkcaldy, where another two Class 101 sets were
passing with workings between Dundee and Edinburgh. A
Class 06 shunter is parked in the siding by the Signal
Box.
By 23 May I
had reached the Far North. The 11:28 Thurso to Inverness
coaches were arriving at Georgemas Junction behind a Class
26 5335.
These coaches
were to be attached to the rear of the 11:25 from Wick,
which was hauled by Class 24 5116. Note the twin
headlights on the Class 24.
I headed for
Thurso to see the arrival of the 10:50 from Inverness. 5335
was then refuelled at the station by a Leyland tanker.
On the
following day 24 May 1972 I was photographing at Wick. On
this occasion the 11:25 to Inverness was headed by 5346,
the last Class 26 locomotive. The mail coaches would be
attached from the Thurso portion, Scrabster near Thurso
being the port which handled most of the traffic to and
from Orkney. The ferry service from Aberdeen to Kirkwall
on Orkney and then onwards to the Shetland Isles may carry
mail parcels, but I would think that the air services
would now be used for the conveyance of letters.
After
exploring the Far North, I returned to the Inverness
region on 28 May 1972. The viaduct at Culloden Moor makes
an imposing picture, and the view of a Class 27 and a
Class 24 heading the 16:30 from Inverness to Glasgow is
where the double track from Inverness is singled with
passing places for much of the route. Since 1972 there
have been some locations where the original double track
has been restored, and more improvements are likely.
On the West
Highland line the Class 27 locomotives were working most
of the trains. On 29 May at Spean Bridge the 07:25 from
Mallaig to Glasgow had arrived behind 5396, and
was awaiting the tablet from the overnight 1955 Kings
Cross to Fort William, headed by 5352.
Returning to
Inverness on 30 May, I was a little surprised to find a
diesel multiple unit, but this was apparently normal for
some trains from Aberdeen. The 0747 from Aberdeen was
arriving, a Swindon Class 120 DMU (Sc51786, 59685,
51794). The red stripe on the centre car indicates
it was a TSLRB with food available.
The 17:00 departure from Inverness to Euston was shown as the 'Royal Highlander'. Two class 24s were heading the twelve coaches plus two parcel cars. The Restaurant/Buffet car seems to be in front of six Sleeping cars, so the seated passengers in the rear coaches would have had a long walk for food or refreshments. Looking at Google Maps, this location is now at the junction of two dual carriageways, and a similar shot would not be possible today.
Our Holiday Part 2 - with Charlie Hulme
We spent four nights in Porthmadog; our hotel was the .Premier Inn. which was built a few years on the site of a tax office.
We chose a 'Premier Plus' room, which turned out to be on the third floor with a panoramic view of the trains through a wide and clear window.
The hotel forming this backdrop of the 'Sunsetter', which leaves Porthmadog on Thursdays in the Summer Holidays at 17:15 and runs on the Hafod y Llyn on the Welsh Highland Railway and return. We didn't ride on this; but many people did - clearly a success!
We did ride on the Woodland Wanderer which offers a trip to from Porthmadog to Tan-y-Bwlch and back to 'go back the 1960' when that was only the part of the line in use. You get an hour at Tan-y-Bwlch to take a walk or visit the cafe, although we got less time because of the time taken at the start to 'baby chairs', Personally I didn't like the use of 'heritage' coaches, but some will enjoy them. Some say that fares on Ffestiniog are high, but this one cost £29.
My first visit to the Ffestiniog, Minffordd, July 1966.
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