CREWE - CHESTER - BANGOR - HOLYHEAD
North Wales Coast
February 2001 Part 3


 47818 "Strathclyde" waiting in platform 12 with the 15.00 Brighton train. 28/2/2001

 GNER livery (almost) on 90224 at Crewe. On shed were 66003, 66016, 37799, 67005, 47805 and "William & Henry" 28/2/2001

 47635 was stood at Crewe with a rake of 3 Merseyrail class 508 stock and Porterbrook match coaches at each end. 27/2/2001

 Bringing up the rear was 47792 "Saint Cuthbert", both locomotives were ticking over. 27/2/2001

 43088 headed the 13.43 Holyhead-London with 43006 at the rear. 27/2/2001

 The Liverpool-Cardiff football special arrived at Crewe behind 37029 and 37038 and entered platform 11 to a formal reception committee. Indeed at one point there were more police officers waiting than fans but there was not a hint of trouble. These two locomotives were used for part of the second farewell special to Southport, Barrow and Blackpool on May 21st 2000. 25/2/2001

 The train was running about 40 minutes late 25/2/2001

 Mr.Riley's engine sits obediently behind 37029. 25/2/2001

 The train headed South into the brilliant February sunshine and a sprinkling of snow. 25/2/2001

 43071 "Forward Birmingham" entered platform 11 with a Bournemouth train, 43161 was trailing. 25/2/2001

 56055 passed through with a returning spoil train and was one of four within a short space of time. The trains were coming off the WCML and, at one point, were queuing up to pass through the station. Other locomotives involved were 66172. 60083 "Mountsorrel" and 66039. 25/2/2001

 I was just about to leave when D172 "Ixion" appeared from Liverpool and conveniently sat on the middle road amongst the snow and sunshine. 25/2/2001

 Not the coast but.Sandbach station and again I try to catch that confounded Middlewich-Arpley Enterprise train but to no avail! The only thing that turned up was class 57 number 57001 "Freightliner Pioneer" heading towards Manchester. These trains are rarely seen at Crewe because they go down under on the avoiding lines. 23/2/2001

 The train is seen passing under the A533 road bridge with Sandbach signal box on the right. The Middlewich branch veers off to the left in the distance and is expected to reopen to passenger traffic in the not-too-distant future. 23/2/2001

 Crewe 10.45am and, while 90012 "British Transport Police" runs out onto the Chester line to await the Holyhead-London, there is no sign of the 8.38 London-Holyhead HST. Platform 12 is blocked with a London-Liverpool train terminated due to a loco failure at Hartford on the WCML. 22/2/2001

 175010 arrives with the 11.15 for Holyhead while 47776 "Respected" waits for a green to enter the Diesel Depot. 22/2/2001

 The 9.19 from Holyhead arrived ahead of time behind 47847. No attempt was made to unhook the locomotive from the train and, while I went to the rear to photograph the class 90 attaching, the train left. I assume it left behind the 47 but does anyone know why and where it came off? 22/2/2001

 While the 47 was waiting to depart, the 8.38 London-Holyhead HST arrived 50 minutes down with 43157 leading and 43094 trailing. Unbuffered sets are in common use on the coast at the moment. 22/2/2001

 While waiting for the Middlewich-Warrington Enterprise (which failed to arrive), Fragonset 31459 "Cerberus" appeared light engine off the Manchester line and ran South through the station. In the background is prototype class 90 number 90001 "BBC Midlands Today" which had pushed its train into platform 5. 22/2/2001

 The class 90 was detached from the rear of the train and reattached to the front. Was this a problem with the DVT controls? 22/2/2001

47812 arrived and departed with a Poole-Liverpool train. 22/2/2001

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