NORTH WALES COAST EXPRESS 2012

Just got an E mail from RTC offering a discount on the 29th July for £25 per person a massive discount ! must be struggling to fill seats.
Brian

 

I heard plans of LE: Crewe - Carnforth
Loaded: Carnforth - Hellifield circular

 

Cheers, bit irrelevant to me, but as with these things, No9 will prob put in an appearance sooner or later.

 

I'm not surprised this isn't selling. Holyhead is not an attractive destination, although Llandudno and Bangor aren't too bad. Plus getting back to Crewe at 23.24 on a Sunday night is not ideal, especially for people with work the following day. You can get back to Crewe 2 hours earlier by bailing at Chester and getting a local service.

 

A search for "Planet & the Special Visitors" in the style of Awdry will yield a clip of the two arrivals on youtube. I was away when they arrived. The two were stabled at the far end of the station due to two bridges across the line for the Bodyworlds exhibition.

Kind Regards

Duncan

 

The trip on the 29th starts from Liverpool not Crewe.

 

No 9 should be out on test next week, possibly Wednesday, but I am still awaiting details.

David

 

By next week, do you mean week commencing 16 or 23 July ? I would tend to think of w/c 16 as this rather than next week.

Cheers

 

My week starts on Monday morning !
Mon 16-July: Crewe-Chester-Crewe (4 times) t0716q.htm
Wed 18-July: Crewe-Carnforth-Hellifield-Carnforth-Crewe t0718p.htm

But don't forget that plans could change !

 

Thank You very much indeed. I doubt I'll be able to attend myself but it's good to know the great Number 9 will soon be turning its wheels again.

 

Many Thanks.

 

They certainly can, 60009 failed at Chester with 4/6 hot boxes on its first light test, so the loaded test run on Wednesday is unlikely to go ahead, but you never know, it will eventually get there for a loaded test run, just a matter of when.

 

Just read the latest edition of North Wales Weekly News where the front page headline reveals a ban imposed by Network Rail preventing all excursion trains of 10 coaches or more entering Llandudno station! The final one allowed was a Statesman Rail excursion last Saturday but only following intense protest by the tour organiser. May be this is the reason for the North Wales Coast Expresses now bypassing the resort. The article goes on to talk about the irony of the decision when Llandudno station is to undergo major improvements commencing in September.

 

Repairs were complete at chester I heard and continued on with tests later.

 

Un-bloody-believable!!!!

Only Network Rail could pull a stunt like this in the middle of summer - Are they now going to shorten the platforms to make them suitable for nothing bigger than three car 175s

I am lost for words - printable ones anyway!

 

Just so no one's confused, it's Llandudno Town on the branch that's the problem, Llandudno Junction on the Mainline is unaffected.

What I thinks happened (feel free to correct if wrong) is that overlength charters before were allowed to be beyond the start signal, after some recent changes this is no longer being allowed it seems, this is almost certainly the reason Steam this year will bypass the town branch.

Doesn't bode well for North Wales Steam in future, Llandudno's problematic unless you dump them at the Junction, leaving you with the "delights" of either Blaenau Ffetiniog or Holyhead.

 

Wouldnt the sensible thing for RTC, (or anyone else running a charter on that route to do in the meantime), be to provide info on local bus services into the town from the junction ? These might well connect better with the charter than local rail services. While we enthusiasts hate to desert the rail network in favour of road of course, the info might help those less afflicted.