1398

me Valley Canal at Golds Hill Crossing between Wednesbury and Great Bridge.
vigation closed 19.00 to 07.00 each night. (Peter Humphries, 26 Mar 2022.)

X.91] BELOW: Larne Harbour with the 14.55 to Great Victoria St. Behind P&O

'European Causeway' is not going anywhere. (Martin Baumann, 25 Mar 2022.)

X.92] BELOW: (BLN 1397.804) Ronaldsway Halt request stop with its smart r
alighted as he had a flight to catch. Only one way to the airport... The 14.0

recently refurbished sign, our Port Erin member requested a stop and had just
00 from Port Erin leaves for Douglas. (Graeme Easton, Mon 28 Mar 2022.)

BELOW: (Item 924) No11 'Maitland', on its first revenue earning run
The smaller rear vehicle is the kitchen car - did all the staff used to wor

n since returning to steam, with the Mothers' Day Sunday lunch train.
rk at the Little Chef? (Sun 27 Mar 2022, Steve Chapple with permission.)

BELOW: (Item 925) Public running starts on the Mountain Railway at Laxey.
(centre) rail emergency braking system 'grippers' below floor level at the fr

. This pictures shows the bow electricity collectors on top of the cars, the Fell
ront and, last but not least, our Chairman! (Jenny Williamson, 19 Mar 2022.)

BELOW: (Item 926) Through a window, work on the landslip just south of Ram

msey where there is Single Line Working. (Jenny Williamson, Sat 19 Mar 2022.)





X.93] PREVIOUS: Two random passengers, who happened to be on Manx Electric Railway Car 6,
photo taken en route between Dhoon Glen and Laxey. (Sara Goodwins, Sat 18 Mar 2022.).

BELOW: Just to prove that our Chairman can take a good photograph, and Jenny Williamson can
appear in them occasionally, here she is at their home stop, Laxey. (John Williamson, Sat 18 Mar 2022.)

ABOVE: (Item 922) Until Jul 1960 Portrush had a partial train shed, your (local) Ireland Regional Editor
only discovered this very recently. Loco 96 is at Portrush on 19 Mar 1955 with the 14.00 to Coleraine.
(Leslie Hyland, IRRS Archive, with thanks to Ciarán Cooney.) BELOW: Looking towards Coleraine on
4 Apr 1980; reassuringly, the signal cabin at the end of P1 was switched out! (Angus McDougall.)

921] Cork Commuter Rail Programme: (BLN 1389.3043) In mid-Mar Irish Rail manager Billy Gilpin gave
a talk to The Modern Railway Society. Much has been reported but he expanded on plans. There will
be partial electrification with trains running on batteries where there are no wires. Cork to Mallow will
have a train every 10 minutes with new intermediate stations. From Cork to Glounthaune (Cobh Jn)
there will be a train every 5 minutes alternately to Cobh or Midleton. Glounthaune to Midleton is to
be completely doubled as part of the project. April 'Modern Railways' reports completion by 2026 and
that the project is funded with €184.7M from the European Union. Mott MacDonald has won the
contract for preliminary surveying, design/planning, detailed design and construction of works.

922] Portrush: Until Jul 1960 this branch terminus had a partial train shed at the buffer stop end.

923] Is someone off their trolley‽ https://bit.ly/3uzGw9V gives details of all catering services on the
various Belfast to Dublin 'Enterprise' services - of note 'trolley' is misspelt 'trolly' 15 times.

1398 ISLE OF MAN (Graeme Jolley) [email protected]
924] Steam Railway: On Sun 27 Mar No11, Maitland, operated fully booked Mothers' Day lunchtime
dining and afternoon tea trains These were its first revenue earning trains since returning to steam
after a successful test train with six coaches to Port Erin on Tue 22 Mar. No15, Caledonia, is still off its
wheels and three steam locos were needed to operate the two service trains and the dining specials.

925] Mountain Railway: On Sat 19 Mar Car No5 operated the first passenger working of the season up
Snaefell and No1 the second. There was single line working on the Down side track (left hand track on
ascending - it's right hand running) between Lhergy and Bungalow, with Lhergy Crossover in use (see
TRACKmaps 1 p26D 2021). This crossover is normally partly dismantled and only assembled as needed.

On Mon 21 Mar (no public service) Tram 4 ascended Snaefell with a wagon; two different loads were
taken and offloaded at Bungalow. On the afternoon of Mon 28 Mar, the Up track just above the level
crossing had new tarmac laid between the rails and a row of bollards placed to protect it.

926] Electric Railway: Single Line Working continues between Lewaigue crossover (15m 72ch) and
Ramsey (17m 60ch). This is for repairs to a landslip which occurred a couple of years ago and is still
being worked on. It seems that problems keep being found which need extra work, extra days (and
extra expenditure). A solid looking retaining wall is being built. Eagle eyed members might spot that
the main MER timetables this year have a Laxey starter but not a Laxey terminator. There is an
unadvertised 09.25 Douglas to Laxey for coach parties because the 09.40 was regularly full last year.

1398 SCOTLAND (Mike McCabe) [email protected]
927] Bad luck Rannoch and Corrour: Buses replaced all trains (OK, not the alumina freight workings)
between Crianlarich Jn, Fort William and Mallaig from Sat 19 until Sun 27 Mar (incl) for engineering
work. This included the Lochailort work (BLN 1396.671). Rail replacement buses were provided - but
not at Rannoch or Corrour. The all stations Mallaig to Fort William bus took 1hr 28min and the
'nonstop' bus 1hr - the trains takes 1hr 20min all stations. At Fort William both connected with an all
stations Tulloch to Fort William and return bus and a bus to Crianlarich to connect with a train to
Glasgow (and vice versa). There were also direct Fort William to Glasgow buses. Mallaig to Glasgow
typically takes 5hr 30min (with the usual stops) by train and the 'fast' buses matched that with just the
Fort William change. Caledonian Sleeper ran to Kingussie with a Fort William bus connection as usual.

Most interesting was an Orange Army special train. West Coast Railways provided a Class 37 and a 47
'top & tail' with two Mk1 coaches to access the very remote worksites that were otherwise difficult/
impossible to reach by road. The Army travelled by road to join it at Bridge of Orchy. Our member has
not heard of a 'proper train' being used like this before - required due to the large numbers travelling.

928] Anderston: (BLN 1396.679) (715,000 passengers in 2019-20; 120,000 in 2020-21.) This station
with an island platform serves Glasgow's financial district and is mostly underground. It CP 3 Aug 1959
and the original ornate, historical building was demolished in 1968 (like many other similar buildings in
the area, to build the M8 urban motorway). ROP with the Argyle Line 5 Nov 1979, it will not reopen
with the rest of that line (expected on Mon 8 May 2022) after replacement of the concrete slab etc.
Anderston should ROP Sun 5 Jun; reducing the total time needed to renovate the station by 12 weeks.

929] Carstairs: Just after 19.30 on Fri 4 Mar the 18.51 Mossend EuroTerminal (sic) to Daventry DIRFT
was brought to a stand on the Up Main south of Carstairs with brake blocks seized against a
wheel. After fitter's attention it was on the move again after 3¼ hours, reaching its destination 114
minutes late at 03.55. The 20.06 Glasgow Central to Crewe was stuck behind it. To allow it to proceed
Single Line Working was put in place between 22.15 and 22.46 over the Down Main between Carstairs
South Jn and Symington trailing crossover. A 01.31 arrival into Crewe meant it was 124 minutes late.

930] Blackford: (BLN 1376.1311 with photos) Track laying has started at the Highland Spring terminal.

931] Edinburgh Trams: (BLN 1395.524) Bad news for any members who were hoping to do West End
crossover with our 8-10 Apr 'Tyne Tees Tractors' railtours! The work to remove York Place tram stop
(CP Thur 10 Feb) and connect up the existing line to the new extension went well, finishing ahead of
schedule. From Mon 28 Mar services were extended from West End to St Andrew Square (no terminal
's'). They run ECS to turnback via what has become a trailing crossover just before the site of York
Place stop. Anyone who has taken a tram from that stop will effectively have done on departure.

…… 1398 WALES & THE MARCHES (Chris Parker) [email protected]
932] Cardiff: (BLN 1395.538) Crowd control measures in connection with the Wales v France rugby
international on the evening of Fri 11 Mar were announced as including the closure of Queen Street
station from 21.15. Passengers were advised to join the post match queuing system at Central instead.
However Realtime Trains data still shows trains as calling; was this for alighting passengers? For the
final match v Italy on the afternoon of Sat 19 Mar (BLN 1395 transposed the times), the use of Class
387 EMUs was increased with experience gained on 12 Feb when some fans opted to head home later
in the evening for some mysterious reason! The 18.06 & 18.42 departures from Central became extra
Newport shuttles; the workings to Reading and Swindon were put back to 19.13 & 19.46 respectively.

933] Welshpool floods cause Holyhead cancellations: (BLN 1397.819) From Mon 28 Feb the TfW SSuX
08.05 Holyhead to Cardiff service has started from Chester with a 09.25 connecting special service
from Llandudno Junction. A replacement bus from Holyhead to the Junction misses this 09.25 train!
Reportedly (in advance of 1 Apr) all this is because the Holyhead driver who normally works the 08.05
(let's call him Aled) is required to shunt DMUs at Holyhead instead. Why? Because Machynlleth
depot's isolation by the Welshpool flood (BLN 1397.819) damage has increased maintenance work at
Holyhead on TfW Class 158 units stranded on the wrong (English) side of the blockade. Not an April
Fool spoof; the actual ones are, of course, pretty hard to spot in BLN…

The final Welshpool washout count was no less than 33. £2M emergency funding has been allocated
for the restoration work to include provision of 5,000 tonnes of rock armour to prevent a recurrence,
with the success of similar work on the Conwy Valley (BLN 1365.3403) and Marches (BLN 1390.3173)
lines. 10,000 tonnes of materials were also required for a 700m temporary access road. Culvert
refurbishment, track renewal and hedgerow planting are also being carried out. Shrewsbury, Sutton
Bridge Jn to Newtown (TCP since mid-afternoon Sun 20 Feb) was expected to reopen on Sat 2 Apr.

934] Penmaenmawr: (BLN 1397.818) The GBRf working from/to Tuebrook Sidings ran to the same
timings on 11 & 18 Mar. The wagons may not be dedicated but 60026 provided motive power for the
first three Fridays of Mar. However there was no working on Fri 25 Mar or during the preceding week.

935] Wrexham Central - Bidston: (BLNs 1394.404 & 1384.2561) The hourly SuX service was restored
from Sat 12 Mar. Preparing for the half hourly service and perceived increased risks, the foot crossings
at Gwersyllt, Hope, Buckley and Hawarden Bridge stations are to be closed; new passenger access
points will be provided at the first two. At Buckley, a temporary footbridge will be installed and TfW
will provide taxis for those requiring step free access to cross the line; a permanent ramped structure
will follow 'in the immediate future' (!). The cycle paths will be utilised at Hawarden Bridge with an
adaptation on the west side to provide a ramp compliant with disability legislation. NR describes the
May 2022 service increase as aspirational and the possessions to carry out the work have yet to be
scheduled but some of it can, and presumably will, be deferred until after the new service begins.
Unspecified crossing work is also planned for Cefn-y-Bedd, Penyffordd and Hawarden stations;
BLN 1382.2133 suggests two other (non-station?) locations are, or originally were, also to be included.





PREVIOUS: (Item 927) No need to go to Specsavers … if you can spot the Ora
between Upper Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy during the recent

NEXT TWO: The Orange Army commuter train at Bridg

ange Army in this photo of the worksite at County March Summit (43m 03ch)
t West Highland line closure. BELOW: A close up of the work site.

ge of Orchy station. (All Nick Jones, Wed 23 Mar 2022.)





















PREVIOUS: Another eyesight test - spot the worksites, Ach
NEXT: A closer view - note the full height pylon

hallader (52m 20ch) between Bridge of Orchy and Rannoch.
bottom left for scale. (Nick Jones, 23 Mar 2022.)

X.94] BLN 1398 Guess the Location: BELOW: A well known member is waitin

ng to catch a train (but not a passenger train) on 22 Jun 1978 - it did turn up…

936] Central Wales line: (BLN 1397.814) The SSuX rail replacement buses of the first trains each way
were re-replaced with trains from Mon 14 Mar. Four full line round trips now operate again weekdays
(two on Sundays) but the short morning workings at each end of the line have not yet resumed.

937] Free Travel! For six months from 17 Mar, free travel on TfW services (in fact all national services
from 20 Mar) is available with a Ukrainian passport. Journeys must be completed within 48 hours.
Obviously intended to assist refugees, no other proof is required so resident Ukrainians are eligible.

938] Hereford: The signal box closed nominally 11.00 until 18.00 on Tue 22 Mar as no signaller was
available. (In practice the 07.32 Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly (MAN) was not out of section
at Moreton-on-Lugg (MoL) until 11.04 while the 15.31 MAN to Carmarthen entered that section at
17.47). TfW advised long distance 'customers' affected by cancellations between these times to travel
via Birmingham New St and Bristol Temple Meads instead; tickets were accepted by West Midlands,
CrossCountry, Avanti and GWR. Rail replacement buses were advertised as hourly Newport - Hereford
(1hr 35 min each way) and Hereford - Shrewsbury (2hr each way), calling at intermediate stations.

Changes at Hereford were required in both directions with (according to the published timetables)
25 min connections northbound and nil (or 60) min connections southbound. Fortunately in practice
such buses are usually a law unto themselves, quite apart from the effects of Hereford's notorious
peak time road congestion with only one road bridge over the River Wye. In any case, most Down
trains actually ran to Leominster then ECS to ML to reverse; likewise most Up trains turned back at
Abergavenny (ECS shunt). Perhaps someone had realised that the potential Shrewsbury - Newport
bus journey of 4hr 35min (60min Hereford 'connection') was too great a test of 'customer' endurance!
West Midlands Railway and GWR both gave up more easily (as usual - Ed.) No train services ran west
of Great Malvern (they can turnback at Ledbury). No, you still haven't found the April Fool spoof…

939] Timetables: (BLN 1395.543) The 17.39 SSuX (17.37 SO) Liverpool Lime St to Wrexham General
via Frodsham resumed from Sat 19 Mar; the morning Wrexham to Liverpool train remains suspended.
The TfW Liverpool to Chester service is 2-hourly, rather than hourly, usually with a duet of Class 153s.

940] Genwen Loop - maybe: There are Swansea Loop West Jn - Llandeilo Jn engineering possessions
from 01.00 Sats 6 & 8 May until 05.00 Mons 8 & 15 May with diversions via the Swansea District Line
and Genwen Loop. Wait and see what this includes as Swansea to Llanelli replacement buses will run.

1398 MINOR RAILWAYS (Peter Scott) [email protected]
MR56] Avon Valley Railway, Gloucestershire (MR p6): Saturday 5 March was 'Shunter Day' and our
reporter walked from Keynsham station to access the railway. It started sunny and cold - but rapidly
clouded over with a fair breeze. Their two working Class 08 locos provided a 40 minute interval service
to Oldland Common - using each alternately - starting at 10.00 with 08359 and then 08202 at 10.40.
Three coaches were in use: 35255, 25040 & 4058. Our reporter made four return trips, two behind
each loco. Because of the token section, after each trip the new loco was coupled on and then had to
pull out (with passengers on board) to release the other loco, and then propel back into the platform
before departure. A variety of other coaches, wagons, industrial locos and also 31101, 31130, 07010
(currently out of use with no brakes) and Polish TkH 4015 were visible. Also present were 08888 and
09015 and DMU 52006 & 25. Services currently run only to Oldland Common, as the line towards Bath
has been damaged about halfway along. A tamper came in and fettled the track up nicely but
damaged some 300 sleepers. The railway is waiting to replace them. Unfortunately, this is too small a
job for commercial outlets, so it is hoped that a volunteer NR or Army group might be able to assist.
Frequent services run this summer including dining (breakfast and lunch) and a beer festival.

MR57] East Somerset Railway, Somerset (MR p6): The single concrete platform Cranmore West
station closed after the 2021 season. From the Railway's website on 8 March 2022: Due to essential
work being carried out on the platform, the station is currently NOT IN USE and trains will not stop
there. Trains will continue to run to Mendip Vale as normal. Visitors will be able to visit The Engine
Shed and view the workshops as usual, via the footpath from Cranmore station. Thank you so much for
your patience. We aim to get the platform back up and running as soon as possible and apologise for
any inconvenience caused. The first public running of 2022 season was on Saturday 12 March.

MR58] East Lancashire Railway (ELR), Greater Manchester (MR p8): A £12M restoration project has
been given the go ahead to transform the Railway into one of 'the country's best heritage sites'.
The current buildings at Buckley Wells have been deteriorating and are in urgent need of restoration;
the money will be used to revamp the site. Work includes restoring the listed 1857 locomotive works
building and the construction of a new locomotive running shed along with workshops and a training
centre. A large new carriage shed will also be built to store rolling stock undercover, which the railway
said could double the lifespan of coaches. At a meeting of Bury Council's Planning Committee on
Tuesday 22 February, chair of the ELR, Mike Kelly outlined the many benefits of the proposals. He said:

This is an important and groundbreaking application. For the last 50 years running as a charity the ELR
has been ably supported by thousands of volunteers who freely give their skills and time to protect and
preserve this area's rich industrial transport heritage. The ELR currently attracts over 200,000 visitors
per year. The contribution to the local economy grew significantly between 2008 and 2019 where
visitor's jobs and value added has doubled. A new 10-year strategy has been developed which predicts
visitor numbers growing by 30% and an increase in jobs from 150 to 220. Without this plan it's unlikely
the infrastructure could grow to meet the plans. Our vision for Buckley Wells is to be an engineering
centre of excellence building on our apprenticeship programme and encouraging more young people
into this specialised and sought after employment. We want to be the best heritage railway in the UK.

The Buckley Wells site is on Baron Street, close to Bury Girls and Boys Grammar schools. A report to
members of the planning committee outlined the background to the development of the 22 acre site.

The ELR plays a key role as a visitor and heritage attraction in the North West. It has its main workshop
at Buckley Wells where locos, carriages and wagons are housed. In recent years the ELR has been
pursuing works to help improve visitor experience at Buckley Wells. It is the critical and indispensable
base for storage and maintenance of historic locomotives and carriages such as Flying Scotsman.

The report added that the current building was deteriorating badly so needed restoration and that the
new building would be used so the fleet could be maintained to the highest possible standards.
The eastern part of the site by the entrance will be developed into a car park for staff, volunteers and
visitors. This would result in the removal of some buildings in that area which would not be needed
due to the new facilities. Members of the Planning Committee present unanimously backed the plans.

MR59] Swindon & Cricklade Railway, Gloucestershire (MR p6): A visit was made to this railway on
Sunday 6 March - a rather cool damp breezy and cloudy day, with a little sun. Class 73 electro-diesel
E6003 'Sir Herbert Walker' made a triumphant return to service after some years out of use because
of a cylinder block failure. The train was formed of 975403, 34941, 13233 & 13303. Services started at
11.00 and as usual ran roughly every 70 minutes, first south to Taw Valley Halt and then north to
Hayes Knoll. Here the Class 207 '3D' power car and two other Mk1s were opposite the platform.
Merchant Navy 35022 and another steam loco are under restoration in the shed - its boiler under a
tarpaulin. 35022's centre driving wheels and middle crank axle are missing; they hope to have them
manufactured soon at the South Devon Railway. A new cab and smokebox are needed, along with a
tender - it is intended to borrow a tender at first and then manufacture a high side large capacity
tender. Main line running is envisaged and a ten-year horizon for completion is hoped for.

MR60] Melton Mowbray Miniature Railway, Leicestershire (MR p19) (BLN 1314.MR200): The There &
Back Light Railway has announced that it has made an agreement with Melton Mowbray Town Estate
to bring back the 10¼" gauge 480yd railway to operational condition. It means that the TBLR will take
over day-to-day operation, which opened on 26 July 1975, but has been out of use since mid 2019.

The Railway's locomotive will be checked over and externally restored to its original condition along
with a second passenger carriage, which will be reunited with the train. It is hoped that the railway will
be reopened in time for Easter 2022. The entire railway was acquired from a line in Hamworthy Park in
Poole, which had a boating lake and paddling pool. By 1971, but possibly from the late 1960s, a 10¼"
gauge miniature railway was also a feature. The line was a circuit, said to be around ¼ mile long, but in
all probability was more like 200 yards! Motive power was a 4w petrol loco built by a Mr G Wilcox.
That railway closed in 1974, no doubt at the end of the season. The fare was 5p (worth 56p now).

BELOW: (Item MR60) Melton Mowbray Miniature; the very simple station (th

he operator hopes to reinstate the second coach). (Peter Scott, 27 Aug 2018.)

BELOW: (item MR 64) Wirral Heritage Tramway; Liverpool

l Tram 762 runs along Shore Road. (Peter Scott, 5 Apr 2015.)





PREVIOUS: (Item MR66) North Dorset Railway at Shillngstone station site. BE
The clearance work on the right is to create the new cycle path and involves t
infill site. The track extension will be on the left where the path currently runs

ELOW: Looking towards Sturminster Newton from the end of the current line.
the removal of later tipped material. This is being taken over the bridge to the
s and continue on over the road bridge. (Both Nick Bowditch, 10 Mar 2022.)

[BLN
BELOW: Leighton Buzzard Railway, the recently opened Eastern Link Road

1398]
d Tunnel deviation - see Item 834 about our 25 Jun comprehensive railtour.

X.95] BELOW & NEXT: Strathspey Railway Diesel Gala, Fri 18 Mar 2022. D30
On Sat 19 Mar the Scottish Railway Preservation Society ran a railtour from t

095 & D2274 gave brakevan rides at Boat of Garten from the Dock platform.
he south which did the main line connection at Aviemore. (All Mark Fishlock.)