LarryG's general album

Overseer

Western Thunderer
37403 Isle of Mull comes off the viaduct with the 16.21 Crewe-Bangor on 15th July 1999. I slipped on the green slime seen down on the shore and was covered from head to toe with the stuff, such is the price we pay for exploring numpty locations...
Looks like 37403 slipped in some green stuff as well.

My favourite of your recent postings is the photo of 37414 - very atmospheric.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Bulleid Pacific No. 35005 Canadian Pacific winds its way around the bends on the approach to Llanfairfechan with the 08.30 Euston-Holyhead on 20th June 1999. Historical accuracy aside, the blue livery certainly looked good on the Rebuilt MN...
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Looking towards the station, white-liveried 47846 Thor, in harness with Res47538, heads a Bangor-Crewe test train on 17th July 1996. Llanfairfechan has a nice seafront deserving of holiday makers, but sadly the car travelling tourists don't see it when heading past on the Expressway. The sea always looks bluer west of the Orm...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Today's visiting photographer will be very disappointed to find their efforts to shoot trains on the C&H frustrated by lineside growth. Forget bushes ~ much of the growth is trees and still spreading! It is tempting to see what my old haunts look like now, not having visited them for 20 years or more. Many were kept 'open' through the efforts of my 'gardenning'.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
BR Class 8 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester was making good progress through Llanfairfechan with 'The North Wales Coast Express' on 6th May 1995. I don't mind admitting it was a bit of a struggle through bushes to reach this vantage point. It will almost certainly not look as open as this today...

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Going back a few years, Class 25 No. 25140 ambles through the original Llanfairfechan station with a Holyhead - Llandudno Junction freight on 4th September 1979.
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The scene after the station was rebuilt. 37423 Sir Murray Morrison powers through Llanfairfechan with the 12.22 Bangor-Crewe on 10th July 1999. The choc & cream coaches were in hire...
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From March 1993, Class 37's began to dominate in North Wales. After 6 years there were only so many views one could take of them and so I opted for making the landscape the dominant feature. 37414 Cathays C & W works 1946-1993 speeds along the promenade at Llanfaurfechan with the 14.23 Birmingham-Holyhead on 28th July 1999...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
A slight backtrack here because I was unsure whether to post these two photos or not. The first image shows the winter high tide being driven on by fierce winds up the 'beach' on the land side of Pen-Y-clip viaduct. That in itself was worth capturing on film, but the icing on the cake was LMS Black Five No. 45110 storming out of Pen-Y-Clip tunnel with the 'Ynys Mon Express' on 7th March 1999. An exposure of 125th@f2.8 on 100ASA gives an indication of the poor light...

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In contrast, the sea couldn't have been calmer on 9th April 1997 as 37426 made its debut run in a shiny new coat of EWS maroon while working the 11.22 Bangor-Crewe through Llanfairfechan...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
37 429 sweeping out into the countryside on the outskirts of Llanfairfechan with the 14.23 Birmingham New Street- Holyhead on 21st August 1999...
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Rape seed abounds at Madryn Farm as 37415 speeds past towards Aber with the 12.20 Crewe-Holyhead on 17th April 1999...
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37420 The Scottish Hosteller briefly shatters the small village solitude of Tal-Y-Bont as it heads towards Bangor with the 10.22 from Crewe on 17th September 1999...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
After several weeks of driver training, the Class 37's took up revenue duties on Monday 17th May 1993, the first day of the summer timetable. 37421 Strombidae (nameplates removed) heads the 13.30 Holyhead Manchester 'Irish Mancunian' through Tal-y-Bont on 24th May 1993...
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Sunlight and shadows at Llandegai Tunnel, 505 yards long, which passes under part of Penrhyn Castle estate. Class 31 No. 31200 has charge of the Nuclear flasks from Wylfa Power Station on Anglesey on 8th April 1992.....
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
47436speeds through the centre road at Bangor with the non-stop 10.00 Euston-Holyhead on 4th September 1979. Dining Car at the front...

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40024 Draws to a halt in Bangor on 4th september 1979 with a train Manchester Victoria that terminated here. For me, this scene sums up the diesel scene that I remember with affection. The big English Electrics were a familiar sight the Chester-Holyhead line for over 25 years...
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40018 Carmania heads out of the tunnel with the 12.57 Holyhead-Euston Relief Boat Train on 4th September 1979.....
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Stephen Freeman

Western Thunderer
My own personal view on the class 40s is not good. I can still remember from my youth going Crewe to Euston. Electric to Stafford by Electric, Stafford to London by class 40. No comparison (any skin of rice pudding was undisturbed). The previous year we had a Princess all the way, of course not quite up to electric but far far better than a 40. Even a 37 was tons better.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
16 years later in a somewhat different era at Bangor, although blue paint was still around! 47513 Severn in Large Logo livery enters bangor with the 13.38 Holyhead-Euston Driving Van trailer set on 2nd August 1995. The shabby appearance of the loco was in keepng with the buildings and weed-strewn track at this time...

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Holiday makers disembark from the 12.24 Crewe-Holyhead hauled by Transrail 37402 Blackpool Tower on 2nd August 1995. At least someone has been at work with weedkiller on the platforms...
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Another large logo loco, but 37408 Loch Rannoch was a celebrity having been honoured with another repaint in that livery. It is starting from here with the 13.23 Bangor-Crewe on 2nd August 1995. I am not sure if the lack of weed control that year was political or simply leading up to privatisation...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Bangor was our jumping off point for Afon Wen and the Cambrian coast up until 1964. It is stll recognisably 'steam-era' even today. LMS Pacific 8P No. 46203 Princess Margaret Rose sped through on 17th September 1995 hauling 'The Shamrock' at 17.10 hrs. Where else can one see mainline steam without any lineside observers...?
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A quiet spell at Bangr on 19th September 1996 showing two of the heritage liveried Mk.I coaches on hire to Regional Railways in 1996...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Following the Chester-Holyhead route (the Caernarvon branch closed on 5th January 1972), we reach Menai Bridge over the turbulent Menai Straites. This is the rebuilt version of course with the A55 road running above the railway. The apertures for the original tubes are visible in the columns. Barely visible is an EWS Class 37 on a Holyhead-Crewe working on 20th March 2000. I have to admit it is hautingly grim down there...
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The scene at the end of the lane was nothing like the open view we had of the tubular bridge in the early 1960's. Back then there was a clear view of trains leaving the tubes between two imposing stone lions some distance away. On 30th March 2000, 31421 swings from beneath the A55 with the 13.23 Holyhead-Manchester 'Irish Mancunian' on a fine Spring morning...
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simond

Western Thunderer
Always loved the Menai. Dived there many times, indeed, the club used to organise an underwater orienteering competition annually, starting at the "new" bridge, how close to the old bridge could each pair get. This is challenging with shallows, creeks, tidal streams, and rocks, all in visibility of less than 2 metres, possibly much less. With the aid of a bit of local knowledge, (my buddy was born and bred in Nefyn), a bit of invention (we fitted our compass on a "trapeze pole" attached to our surface market buoy), and some careful counting of fin beats, we were the first pair who managed to navigate our way past the old bridge and out towards the Liverpool Arms - and a win!

worth having a look at the charts & tidal streams carefully before navigating in anything other than an inflatable.

If you want grim, Dorothea on a November Sunday will do that...

Meanwhile, back at the railway, the lions are apparently still there
Britannia Bridge Stone Lions | Holidays Anglesey

Pedwar llew tew
Heb ddim blew:
Dau’r ochr yma
A dau’r ochr drew

History Points - Stone lions, Britannia Bridge
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
18th March 2000 was the 150th Anniversary of Britannia Bridge over the Manai Strait and 47849 was named Cadeirlan Bangor Cathedral that day. There were celebrations at Llanfair PG, the first station on Anglesey. These two ladies obligingly faced the camera as 158745 entered the station to introduce a new service of DMU's to replace traditional loco-hauled trans...

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Sadly I no longer know why this stage coach was running on the 18th because I would scribble key points of a days story on scraps of paper rather than clutter up my photo diary. However, I suspect it has something to do with the Royal Mail...
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As a link to the first picture in this post, 17th May 1993 was first day the Class 37's took over the Regional Railways loco-hauled workings. I drove to this spot just for the "news" shot. 37414 Cathays Carriage & Wagon approaches Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch with the 14.30 Holyhead-Crewe...
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EDIT: Llanfair PG station was closed because the platforms were too short for social distancing. This also applied to Gan Conwy but curiously not Pont-Y-Pant not Roman Bridge.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Malltreath Viaduct crosses country lane, a stream and a river and is a mile or so south of Bodorgan. LMS Jubilee No. 45596 Bahamas storms across the viaduct heading Pathfinder tours 'The Cymru Coaster' from Swindon to Holyhead on a still 27th November 1993...
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Anglesey is relatively flat, but there is a short rise at Bodorgan necessitating two short tunnels. Res Class 47 No. 47530 was working a Track Test Train along the coast on 16th April 1996...
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The gracefully arched viaduct viewed from the embankment between two water courses. I talked to the sheep in the hope they would stay put until 37408 Loch Rannoch had whisked the 10.07 Birmingham New Street-Holyhead past on 20th May 1999. By this date the onetime celebrity loco had exchanged its large-logo livery for the colours of English, Welsh & Scottish Railway...
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Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Larry. I expect that sheep in that part of the world only speak Welsh, so I don't expect they took much notice - unless you know the lingo:eek:.
Dave.
 
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