A North Wales Railway Holiday July/August 1963

I did say we had a variety of content lined up! With C&W out for a few weeks, Dave took the opportunity to go through some of his old photos and thought a write up of a collection would be of interest. Fascinating stuff, what I wouldn't give to have been there! -Ed.

In the late Summer of 1963, towards the end of my 15th year, I spent a very enjoyable camping holiday near Oswestry with a friend whose sister was in the local orthopedic hospital. To our delight when enquiring at Oswestry Station we discovered that there could be purchased a runabout ticket that went as far as Chester and on to Llandudno, Bala, Whitchurch and Gobowen, and what's more we managed to obtain them for half price (14s 6d rings a bell), in effect a child fare as we were just about within the limit. With a little extra spending we could continue journeys as required, thus venturing on to Crewe from Whitchurch and Holyhead from Llandudno Junction.

By 1963 the motive power was of course very varied with diesel and electric motive power increasing daily. If I remember correctly it was a DMU on the short shuttle between Oswestry and Gobowen, not the original 14xx hauled auto. Some of our main journeys were also diesel hauled, but we had some gems too, and I came to love the little Ivatt Moguls, always so typical of the mid-Wales cross-country lines along with the Dean Goods when they still existed. I guess we were privileged to see what was the final season of Duchess-hauled expresses to Euston. Withdrawal of Stanier's finest had already begun in 1963 and by 1964 all of them were gone, while the Princesses were all gone by 1962.

Crewe was very much a changeover location with fresh engines coming on for the final run to Euston. Thankfully steam could still run south of Crewe but it would not be much longer before that ghastly yellow strip adorned the cab sides of the Pacifics and other larger engines and steam was banned. I'm sure there could have been a far better way of indicating the ban.

Crewe on 29th July 1963 and the splendid sight of maroon 46251 "City of Nottingham". I nearly broke my neck in the rush up the platform to catch her before she moved. I was totally in love with the Duchesses having seen my first two, again in gleaming red, sweeping through Willesden Junction the year before on a London stations tour. We had based ourselves on the outermost platform and 46251 had quietly drifted in without either my friend or I being aware until the safety valve blew. What a magnificent engine, and taken with a Brownie 127 camera loaded an 8-shot Ilford roll film - how times have changed!

A year later I was thrilled to see 46251 again, under the coal tower at 5A (Crewe North); she was still running thankfully. I was also to discover two more Duchesses and and a rusting 8P 4-6-2 71000 "Duke of Gloucester" inside the shed, all sadly withdrawn from service.

On the same day 46250 "City of Leicester" leaves with a southbound express for Euston. This time the loco was in green and thus one of the northern based Duchesses, shedded at 12B (Carlisle Upperby) from 1958 until withdrawal in September 1964.

We were to see a number of Scots. Another engine exchange in progress with the now preserved 46115 "Scots Guardsman" and behind an electric..

Crewe was too great an attraction not to have a second visit, so we returned on 3rd August to the far platform at the south end of the station.  Once again we were well rewarded in the form of Stanier 6P5F 2-6-0 42949 stationed for a while right next to us. Shedded at 5D (Stoke) the engine had just 3 months left before being withdrawn on 9th November 1963.

 

Crewe rush hour, or so it seemed, as suddenly there were trains everywhere. From left to right: E3011, D321, 70018 "Flying Dutchman", (out of sight behind 70018 with safety valves blowing is 46141 "North Staffs Regt"), and E3021.

Britannias were very much around that day, with 70054 "Dornoch Firth (above) and 70051 "Firth of Forth" (below) with a Euston train.

 

Being a changeover location, light engines were very prevalent. Standard Class 2 78030 shuffles slowly by. This may have been destined for the run to Oswestry, these engines being very little different from the Ivatt Mogul that brought us to Crewe.

It was good to see a rebuilt Patriot with 45527 "Southport" on another loco exchange. In the background are two electrics, and blowing off steam on the far right right is 46118 "Royal Welch Fusilier". 

Yes, I did note the numbers and even took the odd photo of the various diesels and electrics during my 3 years of trainspotting. Taken from the other side of Crewe Station (we had either just arrived or were awaiting the train back to Oswestry) is green liveried English Electric Type 4 Co-Co D372 with a southbound express. I didn't note on which of the two trips this had been taken.

Overall it had been a trainspotters dream, and you may ask why over two weeks we didn't return for a third time, a question I have since asked myself very many times!

On the return to Oswestry Ivatt Mogul 46507 waits at Whitchurch. We were based in the first compartment, hence the open door. This was a lovely link line, and as with the Oswestry-Bala line which we also travelled that holiday, sadly is also gone. The trip to Bala was also behind an Ivatt Mogul. no. 46508. These were an excellent design for the smaller cross-country lines. Both engines were shedded at Croes Newydd; 46507 was withdrawn in June 1965 and 46508 in December 1966.

Many years later it was one of these, no. 46443 on a 4-5 coach train, that provided the most realistic journey I have ever undertaken on the Severn Valley Railway.

On 6th August we decided to go to Chester and then on to Llandudno Junction, all within the confines of our railrover ticket. 

 A hasty shot of large Ivatt Mogul 43036 taken from the train at Rhyl.

On arrival at Llandudno Junction we just couldn't resist a visit to the place with the second longest name in the World (the New Zealanders can claim to have the longest). When we bought the tickets we naively pronounced part of the famous name in a horribly English form, "Two half fares for Lanfare, um, place with the long name, please". The booking clerk took our money, stamped our tickets and banged them down on the counter with a muttered "Clanvire P G", his scowling look showing very obviously was he thought of two bungling English lads who couldn't speak or even pronounce a Welsh word to save their lives! I still have the enormous platform ticket, no doubt sold more for a souvenir than genuine platform use.

Black 5 4-6-0 45231 entering Llanfair P.G. on 6th August 1963.

While Standard Class 2 2-6-2T 84001 was running the shuttle.

We returned to the Junction and decided to go on to Holyhead, which meant another cash payment but we knew it would be worth it.

 

Our train hauled by Standard class 5 4-6-0 73070 is approaching Conway Castle. 

It was a real pleasure about 50 years later to do this journey again as far as Llandudno Junction, and yet again to Llandudno itself, both times behind 5043 "Earl of Mount Edcumbe" on Vintage Trains excursions. Conway Castle is an amazing structure, as is the town itself which we drove though on the coach returning from Caernarfon to the Junction in time for the returning train to Tyesley.

Back to the holiday, I think we were diesel hauled (Class 4 D200 series) on the return from Holyhead to Llandudno Junction.

While waiting for our return train to Chester, Britannia 4-6-2 70022 "Tornado" appeared with a single coach - who would have believed then that 40 years later a new engine with the same name would be running! 

Again, I can't remember what hauled us back to Chester though it may have been another D200 class. I have a list of locos that I was pulled by during my trainspotting years and it includes D267 and D374 - as this class was not seen in the Cheltenham/Gloucester area, it must have been on this holiday.

Looking back on it all, I often wonder why didn't we pay for an extra ticket from Bala to travel that lovely line through the west Welsh mountains to Dolgellau and Barmouth. After all we happily paid the extra from Llandudno Junction to Llanfair P.G. and then on to Holyhead. I also wished I had taken more photos and at places like Holyhead and Bala. The big consolation is to have been able to do this at all, and even though now a very long time ago, I can still see so much of it in my mind and hear the chattering of the little Ivatt Moguls as we sped along those lines that are no longer with us. 

In 1986 I travelled on the Llangollen Railway and the following day did a walk which took me across the old line south of Llangollen. Staring along the disused trackbed I found that it was that, and not the trip along the revived section of the Bala line, that was the most poignant of the two.