THE YNYS MON EXPRESS 13 June 2009

http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t09/t0613b.htm

Sheffield to Holyhead, from Crewe to Holyhead and back with 6233.

Anyone going? After a quick check with the Mrs I just made a last minute booking, thought I'd get
another run behind the Duchess while she was stil in ticket.

I went to Carlisle and back from Crewe last year behind 6233, but the Anglesea route is a new one for me.

 

My Father managed to get hold of a pair of tickets for this one. Should be a good day out! \/

 

You make it sound almost idyllic Ralph!

Trouble is, the Driver doesn't know if they are waving or chucking stones!

 

What are you trying to say Ralph? I spent many a happy holiday as a child mooching through burnt out caravans and scrap cars at a certain caravan site that runs alongside the North Wales coast line ;-) Something to do on those rainy days!

Neil.

 

I just hope we don't get one of those large pictorial headboards on front of the engine that seem to be prevalent to this route! Harold.

 

Par for the course with this engine, I'm very much afraid!

Someone really SHOULD tell these guys that LMS named-trains absolutely did NOT carry headboards!!

Either, that, or let's get 46233 painted back into it's BR green livery for its final months in traffic. (Oh! Why did a vision of 43106 just flash before my eyes??)

 

i can understand why headboards can annoy people, some of them have been pretty terrible(!), but ultimately its an advertisement - to give the general public something to google when they get home or to remind them of the advert they saw in the paper. Personally i'd much rather a nice looking, albeit not always historically accurate headboard, to one just with a website address or the charter company's name on like a lot of modern traction tours, or large adverts down the side of the carriages. I find the kaleidoscope of different coloured and weathered coaches from Riviera lately much more concerning, as thats probably just as off putting to potential punters as it is to enthusiasts. Is Ynys Mon a Riviera job?

Chris

 

Do you really believe that your average non-enthusiast customer cares too much what colour their carriage is, or whether it's the same colour as the next one, just so long as the seats are comfortable, you can see out of the windows, and the lights, heating (in winter) and toilets work?

 

I suspect THEY know that and love putting large headboards in LMR style on the front of the Duchess, just to wind-up the 'headboard police.' =D> My view is they look great and don't spoil any photo's I've taken - long may it continue.

 

. PMR organise these tours, take the financial risk, and its their loco to paint what ever colour they wish; and they certainly don't run tours to please photographers like you sir.

 

Going back to the topic, has anyone been to Holywell Junction recently? I thinking of going to the bridge before the signal box but want to know is it accessible to get to, and it is OK for photographers?

Cheers.

 

I don't give a monkeys what colour my coach is, as I'll be inside looking out, and when all's said and done I'm the one paying the £75, not the photters.

 

No, i dont. But said non-enthusiast customer has already bought their ticket. If you are going to attract some of the tens and hundreds of thousands of people who see a steam train from the lineside, on TV and in photos onto your tours, you need to do that through presenting an attractive image.

I specifically mentioned this because a few weeks ago i read a blog post from someone, not a railway enthusiast, praising Tornado but saying how awful the train behind looked with the argument along the lines of 'why spend £3m on a steam engine when its pulling such a mess of a train'. Im quite sure its a sentiment echoed by many. You dont entice people watching a steam train go by with rolling stock that looks old, cobbled together and dirty.

Chris

 

How, or where do they turn the loco at Holyhead?

I looked on Google earth, but don't see a triangle or turntable anywhere. A tender first Duchess back to Crewe? I doubt it.

 

The loco runs a few miles back to Valley and turns on the triamgle there.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 3&t=h&z=17

 

There is a footpath that runs from the level crossing at Valley to the triangle complete with foot crossing. Gives good view of the engine turning.