NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY :NOTICE BOARD
Rheilffordd arfordir gogledd Cymru: Hysbysfwrdd
02 February 2026
Next Update:
16 February
802 213 passing Astley
Forthcoming events
See our Calendar Page for operator details.
February 2026
Thursday 5 February Clwyd Railway Circle Annual General Meeting followed by David Jones 'Recollections of CRC Railway Trips 2005 to 2017, Still Images and Video Footage'
Friday 13 February Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society Paul Shackcloth "People and Places 8".
March 2026
Thursday 5 March Clwyd Railway Circle Peter Hanahoe 'North Wales Railways in the 1980s'
April 2026
Thursday 2 April Clwyd Railway Circle David Parry 'Swiss Rack Railways'
Thursday 9 April Statesman Rail "Royal Windsor Statesman", Chester, Wrexham General, Ruabon, Chirk to Windsor & Eton Riverside. LSL 47 or 57s.
Friday 17 April Vintage Trains "The Cambrian Coast Express", Widney Manor to Pwllheli. Diesel hauled by 37240 to/from Shrewsbury, then double headed with a Network Rail 97/3 to Pwllheli.
May 2026
Saturday 2 May 125 Group London Euston to Llandudno, with mini tour around North Wales TBC. 125 Group TBC.
Saturday 2 May Vintage Trains "The North Wales Coast Express", Birmingham New Street to Llandudno. Diesel hauled Chester to Llandudno, steam back from Llandudno to Nuneaton. Vintage Trains pool.
June 2026
Saturday 6 June
Railway Touring Company London Euston to Aberystwyth. WCRC 47/57 to Shrewsbury, two * Network Rail 97s or one 97 and one * WCRC 37 to Aberystwyth.
Saturday 13 June North West Rail and Transport Collectors Fair
July 2026
Saltburn Railtours
3-6 July tour Saltburn to Llandudno, Three days' hotel accommodation with breakfast.
August 2026
Saturday 15 August
Railway Touring Company Oxford to Blaenau Ffestiniog, WCRC diesels TBC
Wednesday 19 August Midland Pullman "Torbay Riviera Pullman", Chester, Wrexham General, Ruabon, Chirk to Torquay and Paignton. LSL Midland Pullman HST.
29-31 August 2026 Bala Lake Railway Steam Gala
September 2026
19-20 September Bala Model Railway Show
Thursday 3 September Clwyd Railway Circle To be announced
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 To be announced
November 2026
Thursday 5 November Clwyd Railway Circle To be announced
December 2026
Thursday 3 December Clwyd Railway Circle Ian Mainprize 'German Railway Development'
Belmond have advertised their 2026 three-day Britannic Explorer trips to the sidings in Barmouth, start dates are: 30 March, 13 April, 4/11/25 May, 1/8/15/22/29 June, 6/20/27 July, 3/17/21/24 August, 14/28 September, 19 October and finally 9 November.
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
DCRail loco 60 046 William Wilberforce passes Beeches Farm with a load of stone from Penmaenmawr Quarry for Wembley on Sunday 26 January, 20 minutes early. Picture by Bob Greenhalgh.
Freight notes - by Gary Thomas
70 817 took another load from Penmaenmawr to Bradwell Up Sidings near Stoke-on-Trent on Wednesday 28 January, seen above at Pensarn. Other trains have run too, including by DC Rail, with 60 055 running from Wembley and back over the weekend of 31 January/1 February.
Photo Miscellany
The 'Rail 200 - Inspiration Train' passing Sandbach 26 January going from Crewe to the East Lancashire Railway at Bury . Topped & Tailed by 66 710 Karen Harrison ...
... and 66 719 Michael Portlllo (Greg Mape).
'West Country' loco 34067 Tangmere makes itself known with a steam display when passing Astley on the original Manchester to Liverpool with the outward leg of The Railway Touring Company's. 'Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express' from Manchester Victoria to Carlisle. 47 746 Chris Fudge was on the back (Greg Mape).
Graham Breakwell writes: Quite an unusual movement through Shrewsbury on 26 January when a trio of ex GWR HST power cars passed through Shrewsbury station destined for Carnforth Steamtown having been acquired by West Coast Railways. Real Time Trains showed some confusing information with 5Z43, the 11:34 from Totnes being partially cancelled between Exeter St Davids and Carnforth then replaced as 0Z43 with no sign of disruption, passing through Exeter 133 minutes early.
Not the best of light for using a mobile phone camera but the best I can offer! The name plates and GWR vinyls have been removed, 43 198 and 43 098 were powered up with 43097 dead on the rear.
Colas HST Power Cars 43 301 & 43 303 negotiate the Northwich East Junction to South Junction Curve on 20 January, returning from Manchester Piccadilly to Derby Via Stockport, Northwich and a reversal at Crewe Gresty Green through siding routing back to Stockport via Northwich and then the Hope Valley Line. Is this road learning for the partial closure of Piccadilly Station from 14 February (see Network Rail information)
From Dave Sallery's Archive: Some Growlers in action
37 710 is stabled in Rhyl p w sidings, 8 March 2001.
And a Cambrian selection: 37 418 on the 09.36 Pwllheli to Birmingham train near Llwyngwril, between Tywyn and Barmouth, 17 August 1991.
37 421 Strombidae brings the (not quite) empty stock of the last 'Cambrian Coast Express' to London into Aberystwyth, 12 May 1991. The following day the train went over to Class 150 operation.
37 427 + 37 430 at Tywyn (on the Cambrian Coast) on a train to Euston, 12 September 1987.
37 427 was named Bont Y Bermo (Barmouth Bridge). It was named on 13 April 1986 to commemorate the reopening of the Barmouth Bridge, having originally been numbered D6988 in 1965 and becoming 37427 in 1986. It carried a Large Logo blue livery in the 1980s and was a Cardiff Canton engine.
37 430 was named Cwmbran to mark the official opening of the new Cwmbran station on the Newport-Hereford line on May 11, 1986. Both locos were from the five 37/4s allocated to Cardiff Canton depot.
Looking back: Isle of Wight and Solent 1970 - by
David Pool
My previous visit to the Isle of Wight had been in 1963, when the lines were still worked by steam. In 1970 the railway had been reduced to a single electrified line from Ryde to Shanklin, so I decided that the opportunities to photograph the various ferries and have day trips to Southampton and Portsmouth would be more interesting than photographing second hand Tube stock. At Lymington the Yarmouth ferry was now operated by Sealink, and the line from Brockenhurst had been electrified. The ferry Freshwater was my first shot as it approached Lymington Pier on 26 September 1970. This vessel had been built by Ailsa SBG at Troon in 1959, and was eventually scrapped at Garston in 1997.
The other ferry on the service that day was the Farringford. This was a particularly interesting ship, being a diesel electric paddle vessel built by Denny in 1947 for the Southern Railway, but in British Railways ownership when delivered in January 1948.
The Farringford moved to Hull in 1974 to supplement the Humber paddle steamers until the Humber Bridge had been completed, and was modified to permit side loading of cars. My photograph taken on the Humber on 12 October 1974 shows the modifications. It received a major overhaul in 1977, requiring replating of the hull, then remained in service until 1981, when the new bridge was opened. It was then laid up, but plans to use it elsewhere fell through, and it was scrapped in 1984.
The Isle of Wight has one of the few remaining chain ferries, which were often described as floating bridges. The crossing of the River Medina between East and West Cowes has been operated since 1859, and on 27 September 1970 the view from West Cowes shows the seventh chain ferry to be used, confusingly named as Bridge No.4.
Another Denny vessel was the Southsea, built in 1948 for the Portsmouth to Ryde service and photographed on 28 October 1970. This operated until 1987, then was retained for two years for cruises. No buyers were found, and it was scrapped in 2005.
Having taken a day trip to Southampton on 28 October, I visited the site of Southampton Terminus Station, which had been closed in 1966. The diesel 6522 (later 33 014) is on the line which continued to the Ocean Terminals.
The locomotives in use at Southampton Docks in 1970 were the Ruston and Hornsby diesels, later designated Class 07. 2995 was at the Town Quay on Canute Road. This locomotive would later become 07 011. The Class 07s had been built with short wheelbases to replace the USA tanks, and were useful for the work in the Docks. Unfortunately they had a major problem with overheating of the axleboxes on any longer or faster workings, but six of the fourteen built have survived into Preservation. 07 011 is now privately owned in St Leonards.
Returning to the Isle of Wight we passed an incoming liner. The France was impressive, being one of the longest and fastest liners on the Atlantic crossing. It had been built by CGT in 1960, and operated in the Atlantic until 1979, also being used as a cruise ship out of season. The increasing cost of fuel was a major problem, even with a reduced power plant, and eventually it was sold and renamed Norway in 1980. Its subsequent life was not without incidents, and has been well documented. It was finally scrapped in 2007.
The last of the Isle of Wight paddle steamers was the Ryde, which had been built by Denny for the Southern Railway in 1937, being finally withdrawn 1969 and moored on the River Medina at Binfield, where it was photographed on 29 September 1970. It then became the Ryde Queen Botel, and subsequently the Ryde Queen nightclub, but preservation attempts failed and the remains are still at Binfield.
The tube stock used on the Isle of Wight was at first the London Transport “Standard” stock, built between 1923 and 1931, comprising six four car sets (Class 452) and six three car sets (Class 451). These arrived in 1967. and the rather drab Rail Blue livery could not be described as attractive. The four car sets became 4Vec and the three car 3Tis, the Roman name for the island being Vectis. Under TOPS, these were Classes 485 and 486 respectively. On 30 September 1970 the four car set 041 comprising cars 13, 41, 27 and 20 was approaching Smallbrook Junction. to the South of Ryde. This is now the interchange for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, which has aspirations to reach Ryde on one of the two tracks. The “Standard” stock was replaced by 1938 tube stock between 1989 and 1992, which in turn has now been replaced by new Class 484 units, based on London Transport D78 stock.
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