NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
30 September 2024
Manchster Victoria
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 advice and file name convention given on the Contributions Page.
Forthcoming events
September 2024
Thursday 19 September - Steam Dreams 'Welsh Dragon' steam hauled Cardiff to London Paddington via Gloucester and the Golden Valley line
Saturday 21 September - Northern Belle Telford - Carlisle pickups Shrewsbury, Wrexham General, Chester.
21-22 September Bala Model Railway Show Ysgol Godre’r Berwyn Secondary School, Ffrydan Road, Bala, Gwynedd LL23 7RU. 10:00 - 16:00 (Bus link to Bala Lake Railway station) Opening times: 10.00-16.00 on both Saturday and Sunday.10.00-16.00 on both Saturday and Sunday. Please note that dogs, other than registered assistance dogs, are not allowed at the School.
Saturday 28 September 2024 (re-dated from 25 May: Railway Touring Company, Manchester Piccadilly to Holyhead and return. Hauled by Bahamas, being run in memory of Steve Peach with funds going to the Maggies Charity.)
October 2024
Friday 4 October Clwyd Railway Circle Wrexham’s Second Railway Mania - David Parry
4-6 October Ffestiniog Railway Bygones weekend
5-6 October Llangollen Railway Heritage Railcar Weekend
Friday 11 October. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "In Search of Steam in Japan. Six different steam locomotives in steam on different days on the LCGB tour of Japan in August 2023" by John Owen.
November 2024
Friday 1 November Clwyd Railway Circle Chinese Steam in 2001 and 2003 - Phil Thomas
Friday 8 November. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Then and Now" by Bob Barnard.
30 November 2024: Pathfinder. 40 145 from Dorridge to Chester via Wrexham General
December 2024
Tuesday 10 December Midland Pullman from Holyhead to Edinburgh Waverley - Edinburgh Christmas Pullman
14-15 December Manchester Model Railway Society - The Christmas Model Railway Show. The Sugden Centre, Sidney Street, Manchester
January 2025
Friday 10 January. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Engine Sheds" by Noel Coates of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society.
February 2025
Friday 14 February. Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society "Macclesfield Area Railways in the 1950s and 60s" by Martin Welch.
March 2025
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.
April 2025
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.
North Wales Coast Railway website created and compiled by Charlie Hulme
A memory of the 1990s - Jump off the train, run over the bridge, and take a picture...
This issue is uploaded while we are on holiday - all errors are mine. Back to normal next week. - Charlie
Cambrian Open Day - visited by Paul Hajdasz
I attended one of the Heritage Open days at Cambrian Heritage Railway, Llynclys on Sunday 8th September. It was a rather wet morning, however I warmed up with a cup of tea from their buffet. I enjoyed a brake van ride being hauled by their diesel Telemon.
Stabled at Llynclys was a Pacer unit 142 055.
The ride took us about half a mile south to Penygarreg Halt.
On arrival back at Llynclys one of the volunteers, Martin kindly took me around the site, where I was able to take photos of their rolling stock.
Amongst those were class 08 D3019...
... a blue diesel shunter named Kimberley ...
... a class 101 two-car DMU which didn’t have any visible numbers although I was advised were 56055 & 51187 ...
... and new arrival, number 28690, a surviving coach from the LMS-Built fleet of EMUs built in the 1930s and plied the Merseyrail lines before the recently-withdrawn Class 507s and 508s.
A week in Wales - by Richard Putley
Sunday 8th
Drove to Llanfair Caereinon in time for the 13:00 to Welshpool. No 822 The Earl was the motive power. Then drove on to Derek's at Tywyn. Rained most of the day.
Monday 9th.
Watched No 4 Edward Thomas in its new Grey Livery being prepared before it hauled the 10:30 from Tywyn Wharf. We took this service to Nant Gwernol. Weather dry and sometimes sunny. We alighted at Nant' and walked from there to Castell y Bere. We return to Abergynolwyn in time for the 15:50 back to Tywyn, also hauled by No 4.
Tuesday 10th
Drove to Fairbourne for a ride on Fairbourne Railway, we had "Sherpa" the model of a Darjeeling - Himalaya 0-4-0ST for haulage. Afterwards we drove to Dolgoch where I managed to take a picture of TR No 3 "Sir Haydn" on the viaduct with my phone.
Wednesday 11th
Again we took the 10:30 from Tywyn Wharf to Nant. This time we explored the old Slate Quarry, again returning on the 15:50 from Abergynolwyn to Tywyn.
Thursday 12th
In the morning I photographed the Swindon - Pwllheli Pathfinder Railtour with 97 302/4 crossing the Dysysnni between and Tonfanau. I then drove up to Llandecwyn, where I photographed it's return leg from the platform of that Halt. Having previously arranged to spend the next three nights at the Queens Hotel, Harlech I then checked in there. (please see previous email for photos).
Friday 13th.
The weather was very good, so instead of taking the bus to Llanbedr for the Beer Festival there, instead I took the 10:29 train from Harlech, formed by 158 836 and enjoyed the walk to the village from Llanbedr halt. During the daytime the G23 Barmouth - Harlech - Porthmadog Bus runs at hourly frequency. So I opted to catch the penultimate service, 16:52 from Llanbedr back to Harlech.
Saturday 14th
I caught the 10:29 train from Harlech to Porthmadog. First of all I visited the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. Steam loco Gelert was hauling the passenger train while a demonstration freight was also running, top and tailed by MotorRail locos 4 and Odin.
In the yard at Gelerts Farm, they were offering the chance to drive diesel locos Taxi 2 (built by Andrew Barclay in 1970) and Glaslyn so I had a go on both.
Among the locos on display on the shed was flame-proofed Ruston diesel loco No 2 which once worked at Gresford Colliery near Wrexham.
While at Gelerts Farm, we saw Beyer Garratt 87 on the other Welsh Highland arrive from Caernarfon. It was still at the Ffestiniog station when we got there.
Linda was in the carriage sidings on a set of coaches. Then the latest Double Fairlie James Spooner arrived with a train. In due course it ran round and departed again. This was the first time I'd managed to photograph it.
On Sunday 15th September, I returned home, calling in at Dinas to see the ex South African 2-8-2 Tender engine.
Waterman honoured
Richard Snook was at Crewe on 11 September when he noticed something happening on Platform 12, which turned out to be the naming ceremony for Freightliner loco 90 041 - The recipient, who apparently wasn't expecting it, was Pete Waterman OBE, famous music producer, model railway enthusiasts, and locomotive owner. The presenter was Tim Shoveller, CEO of Freightliner.
The ceremony was a collaboration between the Railway Benefit Fund, Freightliner, and Avanti West Coast to honour Waterman's contributions to the railway industry.
Looking back: North Wales 1998 - by Tim Rogers
A selection of images from 23 September 2008, with notes by Charlie Hulme. 37 414 Cathays C&W Works 1846-1993 1D75 14:23 Birmingham New Street to Holyhead passing Holywell Junction. Holywell Junction was a favourite place to photograph, with its semaphore signals and signalbox, and historic station building.
37 426 1K71 14:50 Holyhead to Crewe. When it first arrived on the Coast this was in BR's Intercity Mainline livery, with an an unofficial 'Mt Vesuvius' name marking it as one of a number of 37/4s sent to work on the Buxton limsetone trains; flames could be seen at the exhaust as the loco banked trains from the Tunstead Quarry to Peak Forest. By 1998 it had the EWS (revised, no ampersand) livery.
150 238 1H44 15:43 Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly. The lines here are a remnant of the time when there was a long four-track section; today the signalbox is no longer used and all the semaphore signals have gone, although the station was closed in the 1960s.
150 137 1D43 15:16 Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno. The livery is that of Greater Manchester Transport; it was also applied to buses. Privitisation of buses ruined this idea, but today there are plans to revive it in the form of the 'Bee Network'. Today, all the 52 class 150/1 units are still in use, allocated to Northern, except three which are on loan from 2023 to London Northwestern to work the Bletchley - Bedford line. As it happens, 150 137 is one of those.
Next, some views at Shotton. 158 754 1D44 16:16 Manchester Piccadilly to Bangor. This was in the later days of the Class 37/4 services, and 158s worked some of the Manchester services. Notice the 'Beechams Pills' on the gable. Is it still there?
150 144 1H45 16:40 Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly. The older Class 150s were also seen on the Llandudno - Manchester. First North Western had taken over the franchise in 1997, but most trains initially ran in British Rail's 'Provincial' livery scheme.
37 426 1D79 17:17 Crewe to Bangor. 37 426 was one of a small batch of locos destined for South and mid-Wales, and was named Y Lein Fach /Vale of Rheidol. It was taken away to adventures elsewhere, and lost its name, before returning to Wales.
37 422 Robert F. Fairlie 1G86 16:50 Holyhead to Birmingham New Street. The extension to Birmingham was a late change to the loco-hauled service. To avoid running round the train, trains would run from Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street via Bescot and Aston, returning by the main line. 37 422 worked on the Coast throughout the 37/4 era, and is still in action today, having been bought from DRS by the Harry Needle company.
60 089 Arcuil 6M86 10:59 Margam to Dee Marsh. Loaded Steel. (The name is not a French village, but a Scottish Mountain). The advantage of Shotton is that you can also view the trains on the Bidston - Wrexham line from the upper level of the station. The class 60s were the last freight locomotives to be built in Britain. Recently DB Cargo, successors to EWS, have been removing them from their fleet, with sales to various other companies.
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