LarryG's general album

[LarryG]

We are now into the holiday camp belt which stretches from Bagillt to Llandullas. 25095 with its unique black windscreen surround passes Nant Hall with a train of sheeted sulphur from Mostyn Docks to Associated Octel at Amlwch on 12th February 1986.. This traffic ceased on 17th May 1989. Much of the trackbed associated with the old 4-track formation was still visible...


Class 45 No.45107, resplendent with orange stripe, departs Prestatyn with the 11.45 Bangor-Newcastle on 18th June 1986...


Crewe Works was busy refurbishing Class 37 and 47 locos in the mid 1980's and the locos were tested on a couple of service trains as well as with a dedicated rake of redundant coaches. Representing regions from extreme ends of the British Isles, ScotRail 47706 livened up the motive power scene when it turned up in harness with Class 33 No. 33022 on the 11.15 Crewe-Holyhead, pictured approaching Prestatyn Station on 18th June 1986. This was the start of the Down Slow line to Rhyl retained to allow faster moving traffic to pass stopping trains and freight traffic...

 

[oldravendale]

Is that first image printed back to front, Larry? The number on the loco front looks to be a mirror image.

Brian

 

[AndyB]

But the number on the side is the right way round.
Some discussion here - Class 25 with backwards numbers?

Andy

 

[oldravendale]

Thanks Andy. I'm not on RM Web so haven't seen the stuff about the reverse numbers. When I looked at the image I couldn't read those on the cab side easily so I've made a misjudgment!

Apologies all round.

Brian

 

[simond]

I’ve not been in the cabs of that many locos, but I don’t recall ever seeing a rear view mirror…

 

[LarryG]

Ex.Works 47424 on test ahead of 47607 working the 11.16 Crewe-Holyhead along the slow line out of Prestatyn on 4th March 1987. Dyserth Branch passenger trains departed the bay on the right until services ceased around 1930. The branch had been removed by this date...


One of those instances when you can hear something approaching from behind and you wonder if it will enter the viewfinder before the shutter is pressed. 40 020 Dracula heading the 11.57 Bangor-Manchester Victoria and 47452 working the 10.45 Manchester-Holyhead meet outside Prestatyn on 12th August 1982. The Class 40's name was neatly painted on locally...


47270 was on test from Crewe Works showing that not all 47's were outshopped in Large logo livery. Pictured at Prestatyn, the train engine was 33005 working the 11.15 Crewe-Bangor on 29th May 1985. A new white line had recently been painted along the Down Slow platform edge...

 

[LarryG]

I was doing less and less photography by this date as it was all Class 37's and increasing lineside vegetation. 47812 is seen departing Prestatyn with the 09.19 Holyhead-Euston Virgin train on 25th June 1999...



A distinctly out of beat 4472 Flying Scotsman departing Prestatyn with the 'North Wales Coast Express' on 23rd July 1991. The Slow line was already out of use following the demise of freightliner traffic earlier in the year...


25173 chugging through Prestatyn with empty sulphur wagons from Amlwch to Mostyn Dock on 18th June 1986. The ex. gunpowder van held the wagon sheets...

 

[Khris]

Hi Larry,
Pardon my ignorance, but, why is the Virgin train being hauled by a loco please?
I've seen pics like this before. Surely it is not a loco failure in each case, is it?

Khris

 

[LarryG]

Hi Larry,
Pardon my ignorance, but, why is the Virgin train being hauled by a loco please?
I've seen pics like this before. Surely it is not a loco failure in each case, is it?

Khris

There is no special note in my photo diary so one must assume the HST had failed. It didnt take much! One morning, a front light bulb had failed on the first train (HST) out of Holyhead. Thankfully for the passengers, the driver walked to the back of the HST armed with screwdriver to retreave a good bulb.

 

[LarryG]

Next station after Prestatyn is Rhyl. Following a series of signal checks, 40106 resprendent in green livery accelerates through the station with the "Amlwch Tanks" plus other traffic from Llandudno Junction yard on 10th July 1980...


I make no secret of my admiration for the 40's and 45's, hence this shot of 45020 hammering through Rhyl with a Holyhead-bound Freightliner at 18.15hrs on 6th September 1980. The evening light intensified the reds at this time of year...


Twelve months previously, Class 24 No. 24081 slowly approaches Rhyl from the west with a ballast working from Penmaenmawr Quarry at 09.30hrs on Tuesday 5th September 1989. The remaining locos of this class were quite a 'grab' by this date. The silver painted buffers might indicate it had been on some special duty over the previous weekend...


EDIT 18.07.21 : I drove over the 'H' bridge today shown in the above picture of the Class 24. It isnt often I go this way. A steam train was simmering in the Marine Lake station (there was even steam on the mainline too), but the outskirts of Rhyl has changed so much and for the better with a great shopping centre for household goods. I haven't seen Towyn heaving so much with holiday makers for over 60 years.

 

[LarryG]

The demolition of Rhyl carraige shed had opened up a clear view of trains on the down side of the line and I was waiting to see what would turn up. Newly refurbished 37680 resplendant in red band livery provided camera-fodder as it sped under Grange Road Bridge with the Crewe test train at 11.40hrs on 8th May 1987...



From the same vantage point, but looking towards Rhyl station, 45145 was departing the platform loop past Rhyl no.1 signal box with the 11.15 Bangor-Newcastle on 8th May 1987. One of Crosville's Leyland National buses was crossing Vale Road Bridge. I was using a Tamron 80-150 zoon on loan from Cambrian Photography, but I quickly learned one can fore-shorten a Class 45 too much as seen here...


One of the very few colour photos I took of the 1M75 15.00 Cardiff-Rhyl, which brought Class 37 locos to the Chester-Holyhead line on a regular basuis for the first time in 1989. 37427 Bont-Y Bermo was entering Rhyl just as the sun dipped behind a cloud on 26th April. A Nikkor 105mm/f2.8 lens was used here. I took mostly video of these short-lived trains....


A view of Rhyl looking towartds Chester shows the large island platform on the down side for handling excurskion traffic. The trackless bays were once used by the Vale of Clwyd trains to Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen. 47105 and 47198 were leaving the yard with ballast for realignmnent work at Kinmell Bay whilst a Class 47 and Class 25 look on. 17th March 1985.

 

[LarryG]

I'll end Rhyl with the upheaval that started in early 1990 which resulted in the elimination of track and points and the closure of No.2 signal box. Class 155 No. 155002 stands in the down platform with the Up 14.30 Holyhead-Cardiff running wrong line while the Up fast track is sleweed across to form the new platform road on 11th February 1990...



Ballasting the sole remaining Up track leaving the signal in the foreground with nothing to control. A crossover would eventually be installed so thta Down trains could get direct access to the Up platform...


31147 with ballast waiting until needed outside No.1 box on 15th February 1990. The PW sidings in the foreground were new, laid on the site of the demolished carrage shed...


The gantry had already had some signal arms removed. I wished this shot was in colour seeing as 47426 was positively grimy. This loco was also involved with the PW work. On the 18th Febraury, single line working extended from Llysfaen to Rhyl and to Prestatyn using the Down Slow line...


A general view of the east end of Rhyl with 31425 passing through with a Chester-bound ballast working from Penmaenmawr. Photographed at 10.20 hrs on Friday 16th February 1990. Ten days later, the infamous "Towyn Floods" hit the north Wales coast...


With everything in storage in between houe-moves, we were living with one of our sons at the time and my films were developed commersially ~ hence the grain. The floods struck while we were there and my sons living room was under water by the Thursday. My sister in towyn got struck the very first morning and the car floated sideways on the drive and then got wedged! All sewerage was driven back, one of the biggest health problems in flooding.

 

[LarryG]

40057 has passed under the 'H' Bridge outside Rhyl and is heading for Penmaenmawr with 16 Ton mineral wagons on 2nd May 1984. The old Down Slow track in the foreground was used as a headshunt for Rhyl yard...



45120 skirts the Marine Lake at what used to be Rhyl fairground heading the 11.15 Bangor-Scarborough on 2nd May 1984...


Rhyl fairground miniature railway in action with Joan working a late afternoon train on 29th August 1993...


The driver seemed to be a man on a mission as his steed roared through Foryd Junction on 27th March 1978. 40150 was working 16 ton mineral wagons to Penmaenmawr. One again, a stub of the closed Down Slow track is seen...


LMS 6203 Princess Margaret Rose tearing down the coast between Towyn and Abergele with 'The Midday Scot'special on 16th January 1994. Its a grab shot while filming hence I took down no details...

 

[LarryG]

English Electric Type 4 No. 215. heads a Euston bound dining train away from Abergele & Pensarn, seen in the distance in 1971. It was futile trying to photograph anything fast with the camera I was using at that time. This foot-crossing was a public right of way, but it also served the caravan camp where we stayed in one of the family vans from 1951 onwards when I lived in Oldham. The Up Slow was removed in 1966 but the Down Slow lasted uinto the very early 70's...



A Brush Type 4 speeds towards Abergele with oil and possibly cement in 1971. A characteristic of the time were the telegraph poles, but at least there was a clear view of trains from here before BR planted a semphore signal in the foreground. Note the Up mainline was still bullhead...


These were the days when the Holyhead-Euston trains were all hauled by English Electric Type 4 locos. No. D218 is about to depart past the LNWR Camping Coaches at Abergele...


Another shot of a London train in 1971, photographed from one of the Camping coaches. They were out of use by this time and were about to have their bodies removed from the underframes and rolled onto the beach for burning. I purchased a whole coach door for £1.00 and incorporated the droplight and door handles into my workshed. The difference between an 8' 6" wide all-third and the adjacent 9' wide 'Toplight' coach is very apparent....


Resplendant in corporate blue. EE No. 313 coasts into Abergele with a Down working to Holyhead. It seems strange now to think that the most Euston trains called at this wayside station...

 

[LarryG]

The workmen gave me a can of petrol and said burn it if you like. A sad end to an LNWR coach but there we are. The boss also presented me with a Mansell wheel cut from its axle for the garden. Anyone ever tried to lift one? I politely declined what was really a very kind offer seeing as it was their bread 'n butter.



Still on LNWR matters, this railway was fond of tall repeater sgnals, but there weren't many left on the North Wales line by 1976. 40173 had been stopped and was opning up for the climb to Llysfaen wth a Holyhead-bound Freightliner on a warm August evening. This was before I started a photo-diary...


I

 

[LarryG]

Shot on impulse, a Met-Camm DMU departs Abergele with a local stopping train for Crewe in 1971. The Up slow track ceased to be used during early 1966 at the time when many wayside stations between Rhyl and Chester were also closed for good. The Up and down Slow track beyond Abergele to Llandullas ceased to be operational from the end of the summer 1964 timetable. They had been used as carraige siding during the Winter months for years...


A comparison view from the same bridge showing 47346 with additional white adornments to its blue livery heading the 'Cokes' on 22nd May 1986. These wagons conveyed imported petroleum coke from Humber Oil Refinery to the Rio Tinto Zink Plant at Holyhead. Major sea defences were built along the shore in 1990 following the floods...


With Class 150/2 Sprinters due to take over the following morning, the very last loco-hauled Trans-Pennine train, the 17.00 Holyhead-York, leaves Abergele behind 45103 and 45133 on Sunday 10th May 1987. The extra loco was just a positioning move to get it back to base...


No. 47050, the first Class 47 to carry Railfreight grey livery looks resplendent in its new garb as it passes Abergele with an Up Freightliner working at 08.00hrs on 11th September 1985. One morning, a Class 40 ended up to its nose in ballast when it took the points at the end of the loop (left) onto the non-existent Down Slow line that had been taken up...


Once the lid was off the paint box and Corporate blue seemed doomed, one never knew what to expect next. Class 31 No. 31413 Severn Valley Railway in a strange mix of blue with red-band ends heads the 'Trip 56 Penmaenmawr Quarry to Anywhere Required' through 'Gele on 18th May 1988...

 

[LarryG]

I was filming this and grabbed a quick 'still' after seeing all the smoke. The Severn Valley's Stanier 2-6-0 with Stanier 4000 gallon Tender recovers from a slack through Abergele on its way to Holyhead on 19th October 1997. Guaranteed no photoshop trickery. That smoke was real...

Commencing in early June 1978, a use was found for the few remaining Class 24's on DMU replacement services while the latter were being refurbished and asbestos removed. The loco-hauled services ran from Manchester and Crewe to North Wales. This photo shows 24o23 departing Abergele with a Crewe-Bangor train at 20.30hrs on 11th July 1978. Shot on 35mm Ektachrome 200...



37412 heads the 07.49 Holyhead-Crewe past an early morning rainbow at Abergele on 12th October 2000.....


47545 heading the 09.52 Holyhead-Euston, the very last train to pass the Up distant bracket signal a mile west of Abergele on 12th June 1988. As soon as it had passed, the post was mostly cut through and then the guide wires were cut. It toppled with a bang and the signal went up for the last time! I had been invited along on this quiet Sunday morning to photograph the signals demolition, which I did mostly in black & white...


I couldnt resist inserting this shot of GWR 'Hall' No. 5972. It had stopped before reaching Abergele for a blow-up on 28th April 2001. I waited until it passed Gwrych Castle, well know for hosting 1950's boxer Randolph Turpin and latterly TV's 'Get me out of here' is on the hillside...


Further along was Beach House Road where the 'Irish Mail' came to grief in 1868 killing 32 people. This section of the road had been severed by the Abergele Bye-Pass (A55) in 1967-8 and made a picturesque composition for as long as I kept the location clear of lineside vegetation! Class 47 No. 47331 climbs past with 29 POA 'Tiger' wagons branded 'ARC' on its way for loading at Penmaenmawr Quarry. It would return with 1,334 tonnes of granite chippings to Ashburys for distribution in the Manchester area...


Not the best of shots, it shows a returning Llandudno-Manchester excursion crossing Llandulas viaduct in 1972. Interestingly, this was the last summer in which maroon liveried coaches could be seen. The disused bracket once signalled the start of quadruple track in the Up direction seeing as the section from here to Colwyn Bay was impossible to include in the quadrupling of 1900-1902 mainly due to Penmanhead Tunnel...

 

[LarryG]

A closer view of Llandulas viaduct with Southern Railway No. 777 Sir Lamiel working The 'North Wales Coast Express' on 13th august 1991. The area had been badly hit by flooding the previus year and at least one tennant was still living out of a caravan.



After the viaduct, there followed a 1-in-100 climb to Llysfaen. Dipping down the incline are 31201, 31255 and 37108 working the combined Wylfa and Trawsfynedd nuclear flask from Llandudno Junction to Sellafield on 13th April 1995. This train was regularly triple-headed and I took it for granted. Not so Peter Kelly, Editor of Rail. We had done a job together and he went ape when he saw this working leaving the Junction because I had never sumitted a photo!...


This view was one of three I took after clambering to a position above Penmaenhead Tunnel along a dodgy cliff edge, which eventually crumbled away. It shows the coast before the A55 Expressway was built. The lefthand side of the railway cutting was completely levelled as well. An unidentified Class 25 was working the Amlwch Tanks on 27th July 1981...

 

[Andy P]

Hi Larry, Martin /Gismorail, pointed me in this direction as I hadn't been here before. I have to say, what a fantastic collection of photos, brilliant quality, thanks for sharing, now I need to start from Page 1, I could be gone for some time.

 

[LarryG]

Andy, you're a gentleman and a scholar. Trannies and negs had been in the attic unseen for over 20 yearsand to be honest, if someone had asked me 4 months ago what I aimed to do with them, I would have replied the burn-y-bin.