CREWE - CHESTER -- BANGOR - HOLYHEAD
 MONTHLY REPORTS
OCTOBER 2004 - PART TWO
 

 Miles away from the North Wales Coast for a visit to the East Lancashire Railway for the 2004 Autumn Steam Gala. Hunslet 68030 sits in Bury station with a demonstration goods train. 30/10/2004

Class B1 No. 61264 passes under the road bridge as it enters Bury from Heywood. 30/10/2004

 I later rode behind the B1 to Heywood and it is seen here passing over the "hump", created to allow clearance over the electrified Manchester Metro line. 30/10/2004

 61264 back at Bury. 30/10/2004

 Another locomotive in service was Standard Class 4 No. 75079 seen here standing at Bury. 30/10/2004

 Sadly the day was marred by an incident at Rawtenstall involving 71000 "Duke of Gloucester". This upset the timetable which, in turn, restricted the number of photographs I was able to take. 71000 is seen here at Ramsbottom station while being dragged back to Bury. Clearly one visitor is keen to know what happened. 30/10/2004

 Another shot of 71000 as the train that I was on left for Rawtenstall, the people seen here were only a fraction of the large crowds attending the Gala which continued to run right through the night and all the following day. 30/10/2004

 47853 "Rail Express" leaving Crewe with the 10.17 for Holyhead. The train was ready to leave on time but was made to wait for a Liverpool bound Pendolino which, by then, hadn't even arrived in the station. 853 eventually left 15 minutes down. 26/10/2004

 Buried amongst the carriages stored in the diesel depot yard was 37515. 26/10/2004

 20314 and 20306 appeared off the Manchester line and ran through to Basford Hall. 26/10/2004

 67002, which had been sat dead on the depot yard, burst into life! 26/10/2004

 47830 came into platform 2, reversed and ran into the LNWR carriage sheds. It later reappeared with three Virgin coaches in tow together with DVT 82150. The ensemble ran into platform 12 where the locomotive was detached to run round. I don't know the destination of the stock which comprised 11044, 11030 and 12119 plus the DVT. 26/10/2004