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North Wales Coast |
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Last modified : 4/1/01 |
Trainload Coal Motive Power Day - 1991 |
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One of the major
traction events of 1991 was the Trainload Coal Motive Power Day, which took
place on the North Wales Coast Line on Sunday 11th August. The day was a fund raising event to help a
sufferer of Cerebral Palsy with funds for much-needed treatment (around £20,000
was eventually raised!).
Trainload Coal provided
no less than eight pairs of locos for the event, with a further pair of
class 37s provided by Railfreight Distribution. Three rakes of coaching stock was provided by Regional
Railways. A friend and myself were
lucky enough to get tickets for the event, which we included during a two week
tour of the network. The tickets
allowed unlimited travel on all of the trains for the event, including the
Saturday evening trains. The Sunday
trains were to run between Crewe and Llandudno, stopping at several stations
en-route to provide connections.
For the record, the
locos involved were
Saturday:- 60010+60041 58047+58029 20143+20214
Sunday:- 37045+37225 20059+20151 56028+56009 60061+60044
58003+58007 56111+56112 58047+58029(again!)
Unfortunately, as this
was mainly a haulage event, I took far too few photos. However, a selection are shown below, which
have been posted in the order in which they were taken. A fun time was had by all!
The event started
on the Saturday evening.
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With the three rakes
of stock needing to be moved to Crewe after their summer Saturday diagrams, an
excuse was created for a Motive Power Evening event! Two rakes needed to be moved from Derby,
with a third rake from Birmingham. We
boarded 60010+60041
at Derby, intending to connect with a pair of 58s at Stoke. However, a monumental delay at Lichfield
Trent Valley (someone had decided to open the door of a 304 unit while on the
move) meant that we missed the connection! |
60010+60041 at Stoke-on-Trent on 10/8/91 while
working the delayed 1T60 16:54 Derby Crewe. This was probably the pairs first passenger working. Behind, the stock for 1T20 is being drawn
into the station. |
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20143+20214 at Crewe station, having worked 1T20
19:55 Stoke Crewe Chester Crewe on the evening of 10/8/91. The train reversed at Chester by using the
triangle at the Holyhead / Birkenhead end of the station. |
We decided to wait for the following pair of 20s, which soon arrived, and took these to Crewe, and then onward to Chester and back to Crewe via the Chester triangle. |
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Sunday 11th
August 1991
After over-nighting on Crewe station (these were
the days of being a student!), we started early on the Sunday morning with the
RfD class 37s. The trains ran pretty
much to time all day long, with good connections allowing us to travel behind
each pair of locos at some point. Also,
since the number of tickets for the event were limited, overcrowding was never
a problem. The organisation during the
event was amazing. When one afternoon
train was slightly delayed leaving Crewe, it took up the path of a local Crewe
Chester shuttle, much to the amusement of most on board, as the ticket
conductor tried to find normal fare paying passengers!
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37045+37225 wait at Crewe with the first train
of the day 1T37 09:52 Crewe Llandudno. |
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37225+37045 stand at Llandudno before setting
off with the 1T37 12:07 Llandudno Crewe |
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20059(leading)+20151 rounding the sharp curve at
Llandudno Jcn while heading the 1T20 11:40 Crewe Llandudno |
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56028+56009 at Llandudno before departing with
1T56 13:25 Llandudno Crewe |
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20059+20151 wait at Llandudno, before backing
onto stock to form the 1T20 14:45 Llandudno Crewe. Yes, the trains even had catering!!! |
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Working their first passenger train,
60061(leading)+60044 depart Flint with 1T60 14:30 Crewe Llandudno. |
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20151+20059 enter Flint with 1T20 14:45
Llandudno Crewe. Each train was
fitted with a discrete headboard featuring the TLC logo. |
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58047+58029 Stand at Crewe station. 58047 had been specially requested as one of the final 58s in the old Railfreight livery. This was the pair which we (and many others) had missed the previous evening, and in view of this, had turned-up to work one of the specials back to the midlands. Service! |
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Specially requested for the event 56111+56112
back onto stock at Crewe, before working the slightly delayed 1T56 17:30
Crewe Llandudno Jcn. This train also
conveyed several normals as far as Chester! |
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56112+56111 back onto stock at Crewe to form
1T56 17:30 to Llandudno Jcn. 58047 stands alongside. |
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56112+56111 prepare to depart from Chester with
1T56 17:30 Crewe Llandudno Jcn. The
acceleration as the pair passed Crewe Electric Depot was amazing almost
sports car-like! |
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58003+58007 stand at Crewe with 1T58 17:45
Llandudno Derby, which the pair worked throughout |
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How times change
could you imagine EWS putting on a display
like this today??