LarryG's general album

[LarryG]

By the mid 1960's, summer-Saturday departures from Chester for North Wales every 10 minutes were a thing of the past. Nevertheless, traffic was still quite heavy with a seemingly endless procession of Class 40's heading down the coast for Llandudno and Holyhead. Shabby looking 40100 crosses the Dee Bridge with the 10.20 Manchester-Llandudno on 20th May 1978...


Class 25057 heads through Curzon Park Cutting with the Horse & Carriage from Holyhead on Saturday 3rd September 1977. An interesting mixture for the modeller...


I did not catch the identify of this Class 25 hauling the 10.47 8-car DMU from Holyhead which failed at Llandudno Junction. Pictured approaching Chester at 14.35 hrs. A Gloucester RCW Class 100 heads a Derby and two Metro-Cammell sets...

 

[LarryG]

Curzon Park cutting lost much of its attraction once the tracks had been reduced to two. I was on the shadow side of the line but the juicy sky and an orange filter helped make this picture worthwhile. 40186 was heading a Holyhead-bound Freightliner on 8th April 1980...



Moving on down the line... Class 08 shunter No. 08156 was shunting in the yard at Mold Junction in the Autumn of 1976. I didn't start a photo diary of details on individual photos until the following year and don't even remember why I took this detour to the overbridge....


At Sandycroft, the last remaining section of quadruple track was still in use on the North Wales line. 47445 heads the 15.54 Trafford Park-Holyhead FLT on 4th august 1987...

 

[LarryG]

40135 was running ahead of an ominous looking storm which had reached Sandycroft a mile or so in the distance. The train was made up of fuel tanks, cement wagons and barrier wagons from Llandudno Junction, which had originated in Colwyn Bay goods yard. I hurried back to my car afterwards narrowly avoiding a right soaking...



Courtaulds had a large presence around Greenfield and had it#s own internal railway at one time. An unidentified Class 25 rolls past with an assortment of ballast wagons and brake vans on 12th February 1986... i


Mostyn Dock continued to have an internal railway, and dock shunter No.2 is seen drawing wagons off the weighbridge within the complex on 10th January 1991...


For many years, sulphur arrived at the dock for rail shipment to the Associated Octel plant at Amlwch on the Isle of Anglesey. Sulphur is a messy traffic and the vacuum braked HKV wagons were always sheeted over before leaving the dock. 25191 had backed its train out of the exchange sidings and was setting out over the crossover to the down line on 26th February 1986. The final shipment took place on 17th May 1989...

 

[LarryG]

A familiar and rather dramaric sight on the north Wales line is the old Heysham-Belfast steamer Duke of Lancaster beached near Mostyn, and which from this angle appears to have sailed up stream! A Class 150/2 Sprinter speeds past with the 11.20 Holyhead-Hull on 14th November 1987...



This was the first Class 155 in North Wales. No. 155314 was working the 1T05 demonstration special from Crewe to Holyhead and return on 24th February 1988. Pictured passing Mostyn exchange sidings...


40135 was one of only two surviving split-headcode Class 40's in late 1984. Photographed passing through the sea mist at Mostyn with the 7F18 Associated Octel tanks from Amlwch to Ellesmere Port on 16th August 1984...

 

[LarryG]

Remodeling took place at Point of Air colliery in October-November 1988 at North Wales's last major colliery in Talacre. A 'ladder' was installed to eliminate a diamond crossing and double slip plus several semaphore signals and part of the up Slow line was reinstalled to act as a shunting neck. Class 20's No.20073 and 20183 were crossing the revised layout with newly painted empty wagons from Fiddlers Ferry Power Station on 31st October 1988...


From 28th September 1982 to September 1983, Class 56 locomotives were a familiar sight in North Wales hauling fly-ash trains to Llandudno Junction for the A55 Expressway construction. 56087 leaves a smoke haze over the station while heading empties back to Fiddlers Ferry on 19th August 1983...


On a cold 7th February 1977, Class 25 No.25042 cautiously approaches Prestatyn station before switching onto the down Slow line from there to the next station at Rhyl. The train was the early morning daily goods which called at most station yards en route to Holyhead...

 

[LarryG]

The seldom used No. 1 platform on the down Slow line had a healthy load of passenger on 17th March 1990. Class 150 No.150127 was working the 11.20 Stalybridge-Llandudno. The line and platform were taken out of use seven days later. Of note is the LNWR wooden station building...



Comings and goings at Prestatyn on 10th July 1978 with a class 119 Gloucester Cross Country Unit leaving for Llandudno with the Manchester Club train while Class 24 No. 24047 sets off with the 16.42 Llandudno -Crewe. The old 'spider bridge' has been replaced twice since then...


Mid-summer in 1977, and 24082 drifts slowly through the station with an assortment of mineral wagons bound for Penmaenmawr Quarry...

 

[LarryG]

Three of us were chatting at the platform end when one suddenly exclaimed "$$hite%!!!" I barely had time to flip open the waist level viewfinder and aim before this Class 40 was upon us leaving a spectacular smoke screen across the station as it sped past at 70mph. 40113 was heading the 11.05 Manchester-Holyhead Boat train on 4th august 1979...



Telegraph poles, goods yards, much Bullhead track, Class 40's and Holyhead Freightliner Terminal all belong in the past, but in 1979 it was all so different. 40097 is passing the junction with the Dyserth Branch at Prestatyn with the 11.12 Trafford Park-Holyhead FLT on 4th August 1979...


It was a case of cold comfort for travelers aboard the 10.00 Euston-Holyhead Boat train on 9th January 1982. Speeding non-stop through Prestatyn 25 minutes late, 47328 was a Class 47/3 with no provision for train heating. There had been problems all morning with frozen points and signals. I too had problems with the 'Sweeney' Ford Granada, which was definitely not designed for maneuvering on snow and ice.,,,


Class 45 No. 45119 working the 08.15 Newcaste-Bangor along the down slow line at Prestatyn so that the 10.00 Euston-Holyhead could pass it before it reached Rhyl on 18th October 1984. Note both signals off...

 

[Dave Holt]

Larry,
Clearly, the fireman (second man) on 40113 had put too much coal on a once!
Dave.

 

[LarryG]

40 086 crawling section to section along the Down Fast line between Prestatyn and Rhyl with the 10.29 Birmingham New Street-Holyhead during a busy spell on 16th August 1980...



A view from Rhyl No.1 signal box overlooking the carriage shed on the evening of 27th May 1977. 47444 was approaching the station at 8.40pm with a Euston-Holyhead working...


Class 24 No. 24082 entering Rhyl with the 15.32 Manchester-Bangor in June 1978...

 

[richard carr]

Some more lovely photos Larry.

Can I ask what camera were you using to snap 40113, taking a shot like that in a hurry takes some doing on medium format, I certainly couldn't have done it on the Bronica.

Richard

 

[LarryG]

Some more lovely photos Larry.

Can I ask what camera were you using to snap 40113, taking a shot like that in a hurry takes some doing on medium format, I certainly couldn't have done it on the Bronica.

Richard

Hi Richard, A Mamiya 645 1000S with a waist-level finder was used to take 40113.

Film was mostly Tri-X developed in Guinness diluted 1+9 and agitated at 33rpm on a record turntable. I jest of course.

Despite using other cameras from time to time, I kept to the infinitely lighter and more convenient Mamiya 645 type until buying a DSLR.

 

[LarryG]

40114 leaves Rhyl good yard on the local pick up goods for its next stop in colwyn Bay on 6th March 1978. Long gone are the days when 'The Welsh Dragon' left from platforms behind the signal box and Clwyd Valley trains for Chester, Denbigh and Ruthin departed from the bay platforms in the centre of the picture. (Olympus OM1/Zuiko 50mm)...


Rhyl's gantry on 14th January 1990 when its signal arms were being repositioned yet again following remodelling of the station. Hand signalling was in operation as 150120 working the 12.33 Crewe-Llandudno crawls past 150136 heading the 12.30 Holyhead-Stalybridge. The driver of Class 47 No. 47010 standing on the occupied Down Fast line was receiving instructions. (Olympus OM1/Zuiko 84mm)...


A broken rail had caused all traffic from the east to use the Down Slow andenter Platform 3. 40032 Empress of Canada was approaching the wonderful wooden LNWR signal controlling exit from the platform (signaled for 2-way running) with the 07.40 Manchester-Bangor on 16h August 1980. Olympus OM1/Zuiko 100mm)...

 

[LarryG]

47556 leaving Rhyl during a snowstorm with the 10.00Euston-Holyhead Boat Train on 9th December 1981. No. 2 signalbox is now a listed building...



I wandered off down the banks of the River Clwyd after leaving the station. Another snow storm was on its way, but I managed to capture this shot of the 11.18 Crewe-Holyhead crossing Foryd Bridge behind an unidentified Class 47...

 

[LarryG]

One for the 40 Bashers! This was Rhyl on a busy Saturday morning with 40095 leaving with the 09.00 Llandudno -York on 16th August 1980. Even the cab has acquired a few extra Second Men. Wow, some of them lads will have had a life and be retired now...



47146 Paridae approaches the end of its useful life flanked by another Class 47 working the 13.15 Llandudno Junction to Euston and a weary looking BR-built LMS 20 ton Goods brake No. DB950227 on 18th March 1990...


A Holyhead-Crewe TPO headed by 47442 pauses at Rhyl at 10.05pm on 27th October 1977. I often posted invoices on this train with an additional halfpenny stamp when it stopped in Abergele. This train was discontinued on 9th February 1979... (Pentax K2/50mm. 8 sec @ f11 on Tri-X)

 

[LarryG]

In 1986, tracks were switched onto the bridge built in 1880 over the River Clwyd at Rhyl because of the condition of the 1901 bridge. On the first weekday of using the new formation, Class 45 No. 45117 heads the 11.15 Bangor-Newcastle over the 'new' Up line on 10th February 1986...


25219 and 25197 head a later afternoon freight past Foryd Junction on 2nd February 1979...

 

[LarryG]

On 29th March 1979, the annual high tides were being driven ashore by very high winds and so Cyril the station master at Abergele suggested we drive up the line for a look-see. While there, I photographed this Class 101 on the 11.30 Bangor to Manchester, taking a battering of sea and flying pebbles. Shortly after, this section was closed until it was safe to allow trains on it again...



Far worse were the so-called Towyn floods of 1990 which struck on the Monday morning of February 26th. The last train through was the 09.00 Holyhead-Euston, but the following train from Penmaenmawr quarry hauled by Class 31 No.31174was forced to sit it out in the flooded station at Abergele until it could reverse its train back to Llandudno Junction. 200 metres of sea wall had collapsed at Towyn after which the area was hit by five successive high tides...


Approaching Abergele are two Class 24's with a day excursion to Llandudno in 1977. I was messing around with an elderly 400mm lens that had more in common with a Bazooka than a camera lens...


Class 24 No. 24035 passes Abergele & Pensarn with the daily goods on 20th January 1978. Barrier wagons were in place either side of the nuclear flask, for these were the days before Nuclear traffic ran as a separate train. The rest of the train is general merchandise and coal for the yards at Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction and Bangor, while the empty Freightliner flat wagons were destined for Holyhead FLT...

 

[LarryG]

The May 1985 summer timetable introduced Class 33 'Cromptons' to the Chester-Holyhead line on a regular basis. This view of Abergele station, which includes 33063 working the 14.17 Bangor-Cardiff on Saturday 21st June 1985, was taken from a bracket signal that was due to be pulled down the following morning. The late David Jones is on the platform. He later became a signalman on the Llangollen Railway...


When the 'Peak' class migrated to North Wales on Trans-Pennine services, it wasn't long before they appeared on freight workings too. 45006 speeds through Abergele with the 17.45 Holyhead-Crewe Basford Hall Freightliner on 19th May 1986. Also seen are the separate signals that replaced the old bracket signal mentioned above...


Class 24 No.24133 on PW duty looks on as the Sundays-only 12 noon Holyhead-Willesden headed by Class 40 No.40113 raises the dust on freshly ballasted track west of Abergele. Also visible are the old steam-era signals including the bottom of the ultra tall repeater signal. 19th June 1977.

 

[LarryG]

Following a signal check at Abergele, Class 24 No. 24087 chugs off into the setting sun with a Llandudno Junction bound PW train on the evening of 19th May 1977. The guard obviously has his stove well built up...



Type 2 motive power of a different kind found work in north Wales after the demise of the Class 25's in 1987. Class 31 No. 31312 passes Abergele Up Distant signal with a vacuumed braked train of Suphur bound for Associated Octel at Amlwch on 17th December 1987...


HELLO DOLLY! Class 31 locos Nos. 31411 Our Eli and 31421 heading the 08.23 Warrington-Bangor are given a cheery wave at Hen Wrych Bridge on Saturday 15th August 1992. Granddaughter Zoe often stayed with us at weekends and was a regular companion on my photographic outings...

 

[oldravendale]

....talking of waving to trains (which you weren't really) I have fond memories of waving to the drivers of trains in a field off Stem Lane, New Milton when picking mushrooms and accidentally stepping in cow pats with my sister and dear departed mother and father. Probably around 1953, I guess. They usually waved back, but there wee always a few grumpy ones.

Brian

I should amplify.... the trains weren't in the field. I was. Oh, the glories of the incorrect use of English grammar!

 

[LarryG]

....talking of waving to trains (which you weren't really) I
Brian I should amplify.... the trains weren't in the field. I was. Oh, the glories of the incorrect use of English grammar!

It is one of my pet hobbyhorses, although I stumble as well ha ha..