New North Wales to Manchester train services

[37038]

The following diagrams operate Monday to Friday:

1D51 0711 Crewe to Chester
1H82 0738 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly
1D34 0950 Manchester Piccadilly to Holyhead
1H89 1301 Holyhead to Manchester Piccadilly
1D31 1650 Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno
1K96 1934 Llandudno to Crewe

These diagrams operate Saturday 20th & 27th December ONLY:

1D01 0846 Crewe to Holyhead
1K51 1222 Holyhead to Crewe
1D02 1424 Crewe to Holyhead
1K52 1715 Holyhead to Crewe

All of these trains are operated by the new Crewe-based LHCS set.

Adam

Excellent summation, cheers!

 

[merlodlliw]

Excellent summation, cheers!

Driver training on the new route goes ahead.Charlie Hume editor of North Wales Rail website informs us in today's edition 4th November

"In Manchester, the loop line opposite Longsight depot, the former Excursion Platform in the heyday of Belle Vue, will be used for the train to lay over, rather than Mayfield Loop just beyond Piccadilly which is normally used by Arriva trains. To familiarise drivers, the 06:34 Llandudno - Manchester train is already following this route ... at least on days when it it does not arrive late at Piccadilly."

 

[SprinterMan]

Driver training on the new route goes ahead.Charlie Hume editor of North Wales Rail website informs us in today's edition 4th November

The NWRail article stays the Christmas extras will run on Sundays as well, but I have searched the system for the paths and they do not appear. AFAIK it is Saturdays only.

Adam

 

[merlodlliw]

The NWRail article stays the Christmas extras will run on Sundays as well, but I have searched the system for the paths and they do not appear. AFAIK it is Saturdays only.

Adam

The editor may have got this from Rail Staff, Sundays is complicated and ATW may be testing the water with staff.
Ill ask Charlie Hume Editor.


Only five weeks to the new ATW timetable, nothing up yet.

 

[berneyarms]

The editor may have got this from Rail Staff, Sundays is complicated and ATW may be testing the water with staff.
Ill ask Charlie Hume Editor.


Only five weeks to the new ATW timetable, nothing up yet.

Only 4 operators have their timetables up yet - patience!

 

[merlodlliw]

Only 4 operators have their timetables up yet - patience!

You found my virtue,it just seems to get later and later,I wish to use the service pre Xmas,however without the official timetable nothing on any site is 100% with out the timetable to back it up,
ATW have had enough time to sort things out by now.

 

[Thomas6187]

The Loco set will be having another couple of runs out the Manchester on Sunday if anyone is interested.

 

[berneyarms]

You found my virtue,it just seems to get later and later,I wish to use the service pre Xmas,however without the official timetable nothing on any site is 100% with out the timetable to back it up,
ATW have had enough time to sort things out by now.

The new ATW timetables are now online at http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Timetables/


The link for timetable 2 is incorrect - it should be:
http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=12884901904

 

[merlodlliw]

The Loco set will be having another couple of runs out the Manchester on Sunday if anyone is interested.

Will it be the Crewe stabled set or Geralds set has before.

 

[Philip]

Are they still planning on moving some 3-car units from North Wales to South Wales? If so any idea which ones out of Manchester will become 2-car?

 

[krus_aragon]

Will it be the Crewe stabled set or Geralds set has before.

Going by the Short Term Plan, the set is coming from Holyhead:

• 5Z67 Holyhead - Chester
• 1Z67 Chester - Manchester Longsight
• 1Z68 Longsight - Chester
• 1Z69 Chester - Longsight
• 1Z70 Longsight - Chester
• 5Z70 Chester - Holyhead

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

[*]1Z67 Chester - Manchester Longsight

I note the terminal point is referred to as "Manchester Longsight Excursion Platform". When was the last time that this was used by excursion trains?

 

[Gareth Marston]

I note the terminal point is referred to as "Manchester Longsight Excursion Platform". When was the last time that this was used by excursion trains?

Possibly when you were young Paul!

 

[Welshman]

Wasn't it sometimes used to stable the stock of excursions to nearby Belle Vue, in the days when that was a tourist attraction?

If so, I can remember steam-hauled day excursions from Bradford & Halifax to Belle Vue in the early 1960s - certainly when I were nobbut a lad.

 

[Y961 XBU]

I note the terminal point is referred to as "Manchester Longsight Excursion Platform". When was the last time that this was used by excursion trains?

Where is this Platform? cant recall seeing it before

 

[SeanG]

Its overgrown, perhaps 1 carriage long level with the south of the main longsight shed on the main depot side (east) of the line

 

[CJ]

Where is this Platform? cant recall seeing it before

I believe it is this Platform (which can be seen south of the depot):

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3383532

 

[merlodlliw]

I note the terminal point is referred to as "Manchester Longsight Excursion Platform". When was the last time that this was used by excursion trains?

When I was a lad and used to spend a lot of time around Rhyl station,this was ln the 50s, Their used to be a parcels office at the back of the lifts on platform one, on the other town side was the Elephant siding.
On the walls were a number of LMS posters,I recall one listing a late afternoon special to Belle Vue Circus,this must have been in the late 30s, the coops used to hire trains for staff outings,I wonder if this was one of them.
This was a relief summer parcels office and the posters were never taken down.
Do you recall the Bobs Paul.Plus anybody see the Manchester trials yesterday? was it Gerald stock and did it run from Holyhead or just Chester
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Going by the Short Term Plan, the set is coming from Holyhead:

• 5Z67 Holyhead - Chester
• 1Z67 Chester - Manchester Longsight
• 1Z68 Longsight - Chester
• 1Z69 Chester - Longsight
• 1Z70 Longsight - Chester
• 5Z70 Chester - Holyhead

Thanks for the info,I look forward to seeing the train in action in tomorrows North Wales Rail website.I asked the question above without realising you had already answered it.

 

[oddiesjack]

Do you recall the Bobs Paul.

Also, do you remember the miniature railway, where the drivers of the proper steam locos were dwarves. I am sure I recall the tracks weren't separated from the roads or paths, so if you were wandering about, if you weren't trampled by an elephant providing rides, you'd be knocked down by a steam train! One could ask where was elf n safety then, but clearly the elves were driving the trains.

I'm also sure there were some carriage sidings just on the Reddish North side of Belle Vue station for excursions arriving on the MS&L/Midland joint lines.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Do you recall the Bobs, Paul.

I most certainly do and have ridden on this ride many times. Not only was the amusement park was on that site, but also the Zoological Gardens where elephant rides in a seating facility attached to the back of the elephant. There was a most unusual animal called a tigon, this being the result of the mating of a male tiger with a lioness. There was also a narrow-gauge railway on the site and a dance-hall facility.

If Manchester had retained such a facility, it would surely have been well patronised in these days.

 

[merlodlliw]

I most certainly do and have ridden on this ride many times. Not only was the amusement park was on that site, but also the Zoological Gardens where elephant rides in a seating facility attached to the back of the elephant. There was a most unusual animal called a tigon, this being the result of the mating of a male tiger with a lioness. There was also a narrow-gauge railway on the site and a dance-hall facility.

If Manchester had retained such a facility, it would surely have been well patronised in these days.

I worked on the circulation of the MEN, it was 100 years old in 1968,the newspaper invited all staff and family to a dinner at Belle Vue,it was I think in the Kings Hall,two evenings were on offer,Wednesday or Saturday, I choose Saturday & took along a girl friend.The food was served by the Forte family of milk bar fame and later hotels, they had a traffic light system serving over 800 of us simultaneously,the lights meant different meanings to the staff, I later found out they could serve parties of a thousand at one sitting,many of the works in Trafford Park used Belle Vue for Christmas parties,happy days.

I too recall the zoo and funfare, the Circus and speedway it was a vast place,I googled Belle Vue and the memories flooded back,especially the railway station.

 

[185143]

Its a unit today

Does anyone know why it isn't a loco today and when it will be loco hauled?

 

[Starmill]

The 0950 appears to be going to be Loco Hauled, the 67 with 3 carriages and a DVT is at Longsight.

 

[Welshman]

I passed through Crewe about 7pm last night, returning from London, and saw two ATW-liveried Mk 3 coaches parked at the LNWR shed just outside, one, I think in darkness, and one only dimly-lit, and a dvt. Then there was a cl.67 with one other coach parked in platform 8. I wondered what was going on.

 

[LowLevel]

Its overgrown, perhaps 1 carriage long level with the south of the main longsight shed on the main depot side (east) of the line

I disagree. I think you'll find that's the former staff halt (there's another one on the other side much more overgrown) and that the excursion platform being referred to is the full size platform outside the wheel lathe at the north end of the site on the other side of the line - NR have removed the vegetation on it recently.

EDIT - ie the one CJ put a picture up of earlier.

 

[Chester025]

Its a unit today

Wrong.

The 0711 Crewe - Chester was formed of 82308 12180 12178 12184 67001 in that order.

 

[Philip]

As far as today's concerned it seems the spare 3-car 175s are being diagrammed on Holyhead-Cardiffs more so than the Manchester-South Wales services, although the 18:30 Manchester-Carmarthen is down as a 3-car unit today, it was booked as a 2-car service previously.

 

[merlodlliw]

Wrong.

The 0711 Crewe - Chester was formed of 82308 12180 12178 12184 67001 in that order.

If thats the case, they are using the three spare Mark3s off Gerald, it should be four Mark3s, I was told a movement from Canton taking stock up North occurred last week, so one wonders whats happened to the four Mark 3s. ATW raved about.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Its a unit today

Does anyone know why it isn't a loco today and when it will be loco hauled?

Where did you get this from?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The 0950 appears to be going to be Loco Hauled, the 67 with 3 carriages and a DVT is at Longsight.

It seems to have kept pretty much to time today, max lateness about 5 minutes.
Currently west of Rhyl en route to Llandudno.

 

[berneyarms]

If thats the case, they are using the three spare Mark3s off Gerald, it should be four Mark3s, I was told a movement from Canton taking stock up North occurred last week, so one wonders whats happened to the four Mark 3s. ATW raved about.

Reported elsewhere that the refurbishment work on the new set is not yet complete, and that permission was granted to use the spare WAG set in the interim.

No great conspiracy I'm afraid.