NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
08 July 2025
Forthcoming events
See our Calendar Page for operator details.
July 2025
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.
Saturday 21 July Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
August 2025
4 August Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
11 August Belmond Britannic Explorer Six day tour of Lake District & Wales
25 August Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
22 August Belmond Britannic Six day tour of Cornwall & Wales,
September 2025
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
11 September Belmond Britannic Explorer Six day tour of Lake District & Wales
Saturday 12 September Pathfinder Tours '.Cambrian Coast Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Pwllheli
15 September Belmond Britannic Explorer Britannic Explorer Six day tour of Cornwall & Wales,
26 September Belmond Britannic Explorer Six day tour of Lake District & Wales
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.
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
20 October, Belmond Britannic Explorer 3-day Tour of Wales
17 October Belmond Britannic Explorer Six day tour of Cornwall & Wales,
10 November; 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 remainder.
December 2025
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
47 593 Galloway Princess (recently repainted in Intercity Executive livery) and 47 805 Roger Hosking MA 1925 - 2013 passing Dwygyfylchi on the 26 June working from Crewe to Bangor for railway staff participants of the 'Three Peaks by Rail' challenge. They climb Snowdon (in the dark) then down back to Bangor, where the train is waiting for them after a trip to Holyhead to take them to Ravenglass to climb Scafell Pike then another train ride to Fort William to tackle Ben Nevis. Picture by Logan Humphreys.
News pictures
Adding a splash of colour along the coast on 8 July, Track condition monitoring unit 1, 153 379 worked the 2Q34 Chester to Holyhead and return test service. Above, passing Conwy station on its outward turn en route to Holyhead...
... Returning to Chester, having departed Llandudno Junction, approaches Mochdre on some new-looking track. It was in this area in 1860 that the LNWR installed the first set of 'Water Troughs' which allowed locomotives to collect water from a trough between the rails while on the move, In 1871 the troughs were moved to Aber; in the 1980s the the track itself was moved to make way for the making of the new A55 Expressway. Pictures by Garry Stroud.
Rhyl (Ivor Bufton). The unit, dubbed 'TCMU 1' is now fitted with 'OmniVision' equipment created by Balfour Beatty who say 'Smarter, faster, and fully autonomous - OmniVision Edge takes track inspection to the next level.'
Bangor (Logan Humphreys).
Saturday 5 July saw Railway Touring Company's "North Wales Coast Express" from London Euston to Llandudno. Electric to Crewe, with steam along the Coast, in the form of ' Black 5' 45212 which was to join the to train at Crewe, and at Chester the 'triangle' used to reverse the train, which then ran with the loco tender-first to Llandndno. Unfortunately some problem at the London end resulted in a delay of 87 minutes before departure from London and arrival at 12:34instead of the advertised 14:11.
Above, Rhyl Junction in tricky sunlight and with 45212 working well on the slight climb towards Prestatyn. Despite a 33 mins late departure from Llandudno, it was fortunate that the Black 5 was allowed away from Llandudno Junction ahead of the slightly delayed 15:30 Holyhead-Birmingham International. Realtime Trains shows that, with a clear route ahead, some 8 minutes were then clawed back en route to Crewe. However and for reasons not yet known to me, this particular excursion was delayed considerably before leaving London Euston that morning and with little of the lost time regained in either direction (John Myers).
An aerial view of Colwyn Bay. The loco on the rear was 47 812 (Logan Humphreys)
On 25 June at 20:17 67 008 passes Old Colwyn with the 17:14 Cardiff - Holyhead (Logan Humphreys)
On 24 June the Chaddesden to Penmaenmawr stone empties ran, about 90 minutes late, seen here passing Morrisons, Saltney with 60 046 William Wilberforce in charge (Bob Greenhalgh)
200 Wheels on the Cob
Jim Ikin was in Porthmadog on 22 June to watch the cavalcade, in which the entire Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway fleet made its way onto the Cob.
Ready to go! Prince began the cavalcade with a special banner where Railway 200 was celebrated with 234 wheels on the Cob and 25 engines lined up.
Locomotives appeared in the order that they entered service, and each engine had a story of its history told by Tim Dunn and Anthony Coulls. Even locos currently partly dismantled were included.
From Dave Sallery's archive
47 976 on an Up service at Colwyn Bay, 12 June 1995. 47 976 met its end at Wigan CDRC in April 2000 .
37 066 on ballast empties at Prestatyn, 28 November 1994. Something on the left seems to have caught the crew's attention.
60 081 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' at Chester on 21 December 2000. The loco was withdrawn shortly afterwards due to internal damage. In March 2024 the loco arrived at Hornby Wonderworks in Margate for use as a stationary exhibit.
37 107 with the empty loco fuel tanks from Holyhead to Stanlow passes Rhyl, 24 June 1995.
Looking Back: Electric and Diesels 1967 part 4 - by David Pool
There were still semaphore signals on the Merseyside electrified lines in 1967. On 12 August Wirral Electric (1956 stock) M28387M (later Class 503) was heading a train from West Kirby and approaching Hoylake Station. These units were fitted with end doors in 1972 to operate on the new Liverpool Loop line. One Driving Motor coach has survived and is at the Cambrian Railways site at Llynclys.
In Scotland the re-engined Class 29 diesels were frequently seen at Oban. On 26 August 1967 D6102 was on freight duties, while D6112 was waiting to leave with the 12:25 to Glasgow.
The Skye Bridge had not been built in 1967, and Kyle of Lochalsh had steamer sailings in addition to the ferry service to Kyleakin on Skye. Tolls were retained when the Skye Bridge opened in 1995, but were abolished in 2004. On 31 August 1967 the ferry Kyleakin was arriving from Skye, while RMS Loch Seaforth was about to leave with the 15:00 sailing to Stornoway. The freight from Stornoway would be on wagons attached to the 17:50 departure from Kyle to Inverness.
Meanwhile the ex Devon Belle Observation Coach Sc281 was being shunted on to the turntable by D5123, which would also be on the 17:50 departure.
Druimuachdar Summit on the main line between Perth and Inverness is 1484 feet above sea level, the highest standard gauge rail line in Great Britain. In 1966 the line between Blair Athol and Dalwhinnie was reduced to single track, and on 1 September 1967 D5331 and D5336 were double heading the 1120 Inverness to Glasgow at Druimuachdar, the Summit sign being on the right of the image. This section was redoubled in 1978.
Moving on to Pitlochry, I came across this rather unusual ground signal, apparently out of use. Any information on this signal would be appreciated.
Further South on the following day, I called at Dunblane, where an engineering train had just arrived behind Clayton D8515. The crane is not one of the larger Breakdown types, and is possibly one made by Taylor & Hubberd. The marking 1063/30 on the match wagon suggests it may have been a 30 ton crane, and any positive identification would also be appreciated.
In 1967 the 09:10 from Aberdeen to Glasgow was given the title of the “St. Mungo” and routed through Forfar to Perth, and not the coastal route via Dundee. Beyond Perth, this train passed through Dunblane, the locomotive on 2 September 1967 being D361 (later 40 161).
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