|
Created:
18/10/00 |
|
|
|
|
North Wales Coast |
|
|
Last modified : 18/10/00 |
Dateline
3/6/00 - 4/6/00 Page3 of 4 |
|
Sunday 4/6/00
|
Sunday
started very slowly…. The
prospect of the by now famous Sunday 37 Double-header had lured me to the coast again. However, in order to get there meant leaving Birmingham
International by the ‘special’ connecting coach service to reach Birmingham
New Street in time for a Class 170 unit bound for Crewe. The short Birmingham journey
highlighted the major benefit of rail travel – what is normally an
insignificant 10 minute trip turned out to be a forty minute slog in a
cramped coach – rail wins! The
journey from New Street to Crewe was uninspiring. The Class
170s are nice,
stylish units – but at the same time they are almost overly sterile. The
compartment is almost too quiet, which makes the inevitable rattly luggage
rack all the more annoying! I was
glad to get back to the real world when I alighted at Crewe. |
|
||||||
|
|
Arriving
on-time at Crewe, I had half an hour to photo any passing trains. First to show at 15:03 was 87019 on an unidentified service
(13:30 Man
Picc – Euston?),
which travelled from the Manchester lines and straight through Platform 5
without stopping! |
||||||
|
Next
noteworthy train was the late-running 10:05 Poole – Man Picc, hauled by 47841. This was the train which I was planning to
take from New Street to Crewe, but I bottled-out when I saw that it was
running over 20 mins down on booked time.
The train departed Crewe at 15:16 (booked departure at 14:57, so
perhaps I needn’t have worried!) |
|
||||||
|
|
87009 then made an appearance at
15:19, hauling the 12:58 Euston – Man Picc. The train passed
through Crewe wrong line on the Up Fast, before diverging onto the Manchester
route at the North of the station. |
||||||
|
A
few minutes later at 15:22, 86240
on time with the 14:48
Liverpool Lime Street – Birmingham International. |
|
||||||
|
|
Running
barely a minute late, 37429
appeared at 15:24 with the incoming 1K57 15:03 Chester – Crewe. I
took a quick snapshot photo before legging across to Platform 12 to get a
decent seat in the ‘bashers’ coach at the front of the train. I
shouldn’t have worried too much – the incoming train was virtually empty, and
the assembled throng on Platform 12 only half-filled the train. 37429 did a quick run-round, and
we departed on time as the 1D62 15:53 Crewe – Holyhead. |
||||||
|
I
can’t remember anything exceptional on the outward run to Holyhead – just the
usual solid thrash which these trains are so well known for. On-time
arrival at Holyhead signalled the start of the complicated Sunday Shunt. 37412
was already waiting in the run-round loop, it’s stock in the adjacent
carriage sidings. Barely had we
arrived, and 37429 was being detached and
heading for the short head shunt.
Indeed, within a few minutes (and before a lot of passengers had had
time to leave the platform) 37429
was already running back past the stock it had just hauled in. This was just the beginning of the fun and
games…….. |
|
||||||
Back to Saturday, Page
2 Page 4 – Sunday 4/6/00