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Gerald is off to see the Rugby

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PHILIPE

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I don't think that Journey Planner would be much use for directing passengers to Gerallt as the normal 0822 Holyhead to Cardiff (via Wrexham) leaves Holyhead later and while Gerallt was running via Crewe, the 0822 precedes it from Shrewsbury.
 
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Welshman

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You're right about the limited usefulness of the journey-planner in this particular case.

My point is that if Gerald was intended to run as a relief to the regular 0822 ex Holyhead, it should have been prominently advertised as such on the ATW website, and elsewhere. For, at risk of repeating myself, how are folks supposed to know of it's running?

Personally, I would much prefer to travel in the relative comfort of Gerald's stock, even if the journey did take longer, than being crammed into what was presumably a 2 or 3 car dmu.

So, as I cannot see ATW financing these poorly-patronised jaunts from Holyhead to Cardiff and back, I do wonder who sponsoring them, and why are they not being more effectively marketed?
 
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jimm

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Welshman said:
It is understandable that it was poorly-loaded as it was not advertised on the ATW public website.

Realising that ATW is not a charity, who sponsors these occasional trips to Cardiff on a Saturday?

And what is their strategy for selling seats on the train, as ATW obviously does not see the responsibility as theirs?
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Depends what you mean by advertised. The use of the set on the day of the Rugby League fixture was mentioned in ATW's news pages.

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Templates/News.aspx?pageid=4238

With the queuing system after the match, people don't get to pick which train they use anyway, so the northbound departure time is irrelevant - all that counts is the added capacity.

Provision of an extra service from Crewe that morning, allowing passengers from rugby league's northern heartlands to make connections from various directions, made a lot of sense, especially if everything else heading south from Crewe had every reservable seat taken up, as that news item says.

As for the other weekends, rugby union isn't exactly big in North Wales, so I'm not at all surprised there were precious few people on board from Shrewsbury yesterday, as my understanding is this service (and other loco-hauled reliefs in previous years) have always been intended more to pick up people from Abergavenny southwards when Wales are playing in Cardiff, the region where the bulk of support for rugby union lies. Fill the train with a lot of people from further north and you entirely defeat the point of running it in the first place.
 
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Wolfie

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Hyphen said:
???

Salop isn't a Welsh name for the place...

The Welsh name for Shrewsbury is Amwythig.
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Hyphen

As a Salopian I have to say that the "Shrops" mentioned in your Wiki quote is rubbish! I have NEVER seen that used!
 
LNW-GW Joint

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Hyphen said:
The Welsh name for Shrewsbury is Amwythig.
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What does Amwythig actually mean?
I am familiar with Caer (fort) for Chester and in other place names.
And Trefaldwyn (Baldwin's town) for Montgomery (Roger de Montgomery's family name was Baldwin).
But I can't figure out Amwythig.

Aberdaugleddau is also a good one on destination displays (Mouth of the two Cleddau rivers, aka Milford Haven).
 
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Squaddie

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LNW-GW Joint said:
What does Amwythig actually mean?
I am familiar with Caer (fort) for Chester and in other place names.
And Trefaldwyn (Baldwin's town) for Montgomery (Roger de Montgomery's family name was Baldwin).
But I can't figure out Amwythig.
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As I understand it, Amwythig means "moated town" in ancient Welsh (Shrewsbury is almost completely surrounded by the River Severn, and its castle defends the only land access to the old city).

(Amwyth is an obsolete word for surrounding channel, or a moat, which in turn derives from gwyth, which meant canal.)

Many English cities have Welsh names, including Caerwrangon (Worcester), Caerloyw (Gloucester), Caergrawnt (Cambridge), Caerwynt (Winchester). These are generally Roman fort towns (casters).
 
LNW-GW Joint

LNW-GW Joint

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Squaddie said:
As I understand it, Amwythig means "moated town" in ancient Welsh (Shrewsbury is almost completely surrounded by the River Severn, and its castle defends the only land access to the old city).

(Amwyth is an obsolete word for surrounding channel, or a moat, which in turn derives from gwyth, which meant canal.)
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Interesting.
I discovered Wikipedia says this: Its Welsh name Amwythig means "fortified place" (which is not very different from Caer!).
 
Cheshire Rover

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The stock would we well utilised on the Chester to Manchester peak services. Not that I ever use them of course ;)
 
SprinterMan

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Last Saturday, the 0822 Holyhead to Cardiff also stopped additionally at Leominster, making my connection at Hereford very tight and making, Gerald's run even more redundant.

Adam :D
 
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Chester025

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Reported elsewhere that 001 is leading the WAG out of Cardiff this evening with 029 on the rear. So tomorrow 001 should work Holyhead - Cardiff for 029 Cardiff - Chester for 001 Chester - Holyhead. The wrong way round unfortunately. :(
 
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EltonRoad

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Passed through Shrewsbury this morning with 001 leading and 029 Royal Diamond on the rear.

Photo attached of it travelling through Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury.
 

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Chester025

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Since it's gone over to MK3s, when in use on the Ruggex it has usually been locked out of use. However on Saturday, surprisingly, it was open on the Southbound run. Don't know about the northbound.
 
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merlodlliw

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Plenty of pictures of Gerald in this weeks North Wales Rail newsboard,including the silver DB 67 seen at Colwyn bay and flats on the DVT at Chester. Link below.

http://www.nwrail.org.uk/nwnews.htm

Scroll down for "Premier Express at Large"

Out of interest SWMBO caught Gerald at Wrexham this morning, on her way to Cardiff for a WG National Access Forum meeting, so I did a rough count

around 40 got off mostly students for Glyndwr & Yale,some 20 boarded,spotted one person in First,train left half filled in standard.

and the bad news Gerald arrived Cardiff 18 minutes late at 1016
 
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Squaddie

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merlodlliw said:
spotted one person in First,train left half filled in standard.
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In an ideal world (i.e. one in which the UK's train services are comparable to those in Switzerland), 50% occupancy in standard and a handful of people in First would be about right. So, we're getting there... :lol:
 
kieron

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I noticed this train listed for last night (a 22:44 train starting from Cardiff, then calling at all stops to Holyhead to set down only, arriving at 4am in time for the start of morning services). I suppose that was a rugby thing, but does anyone know if it was actually a 150 with a trolley, or something else?

And does anyone know what happened to that train today?
 
SprinterMan

SprinterMan

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kieron said:
I noticed this train listed for last night (a 22:44 train starting from Cardiff, then calling at all stops to Holyhead to set down only, arriving at 4am in time for the start of morning services). I suppose that was a rugby thing, but does anyone know if it was actually a 150 with a trolley, or something else?

And does anyone know what happened to that train today?
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Good spot :P

I wonder how many people were on this train for most/all of it's journey :)

Adam :D
 
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SprinterMan

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Chester025 said:
The last LHCS ruggex of the year -

Saturday 30th November

1V54 0807 Holyhead - Cardiff Central: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V04124/2013/11/30/advanced

1W91 2120 Cardiff Central - Holyhead: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V04128/2013/11/30/advanced
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Well spotted, may have to a have a little trip to check it out this time :)

kieron said:
I noticed this train listed for last night (a 22:44 train starting from Cardiff, then calling at all stops to Holyhead to set down only, arriving at 4am in time for the start of morning services). I suppose that was a rugby thing, but does anyone know if it was actually a 150 with a trolley, or something else?

And does anyone know what happened to that train today?
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Just noticed that this train was never recorded at Holyhead, maybe it had no passengers on it and so went straight to the depot. I doubt it actually stopped at any of the request stations along the coast, made up 7mins between LLJ and Bangor :P

Adam :D
 
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craig87034

craig87034

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Just a reminder that the 6 Nations starts this weekend which means one thing the WAG set works Ruggex's. Should also be out Saturday 15th March as well as this upcoming Saturday.

This Saturday is a 1430 kick off and last time their was a 1430 kick off the set did 0807 Holyhead-Cardiff (via Crewe)/1821 Cardiff-Holyhead (via Wrexham) but as always with the WAG on Ruggex's it will not be known until nearer the time
 
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