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37 401 Mary Queen of Scots ready to depart with the 11:16 Bangor to Birmingham New Street |
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Ty Croes station was opened in November 1848. The Grade II listed signalbox dates from 1871 but now controls only the hand-operated gates. Rowan waits to set off for Valley. |
The next part of the plan involved cycling to the RAF airfield
at Valley to await the services from London and Birmingham which are timed
to deliver passengers for the 13:45 sailing to Dun Laoghaire and then take
people off the 13:00 arrival back to England. We arrived in plenty of time
to see 43 084/184 scream past with the 08:30 from Euston.
25 minutes later 37 418 East Lancashire Railway roared past
with the 10:07 from Birmingham. I took the HST shot from the bridge seen in
this picture but cycled round the corner for a different angle on 37 418.
The tram returned around 13:44, the time that 80079 was due to arrive
Maddeningly, my camera's autofocus failed to lock
on to 37 418, following on schedule 15 minutes later.
We then had to risk missing the tank as we'd arranged to meet my wife Christine
by Valley station. The original plan was to go there to watch 80079 turn on
the triangle while waiting for her - Christine doesn't see the appeal of hanging
around for trains. She got to Valley a few minutes after us and we waited
for the 13:18 stopper from Llandudno to Holyhead to pass, followed soon after
by the 14:39 Holyhead to Crewe.
The Network SouthEast liveried 101 approaches Valley station with the 13:18
from Llandudno
37 415 heads east with the 14:39 to Crewe
Predictably, Christine didn't want to hang around too long so after a quick look at the station we headed off towards Holyhead.
| The Thompson-designed Valley
station was opened in October 1849 and closed in February 1966. Local
authority funding allowed its re-opening in March 1982. The signalbox
glimpsed in the two previous shots was built by the LNWR in 1904.
All Anglesey stations apart from Holyhead are unmanned, and of these all but Llanfair PG are request stops. I could see no indication as to the direction of trains, hardly conducive to attracting passing holidaymakers, and the timetables at many of these halts are bleached white by the sun! |
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We found a gap in the wall at the eastern end of the Stanley Embankment, walked over the ungated pedestrian crossing and waited for the next train. We were hoping this would be the delayed special, but it turned out to be 37 421 with the 12:07 from Birmingham, due to arrive Holyhead at 15:26. By now we'd given up on the tank and continued on to Holyhead station.
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The Stanley Embankment was originally constructed for Telford's London to Holyhead road, later classified the A5. It was widened for the railway and the dividing wall seen in the background was constructed so the trains wouldn't frighten the horses. Shame that latter-day roadbuilders don't afford similar consideration to pedestrians and cyclists endangered by motorists. |
Approaching the station we caught a glimpse of a freight
train, something of a rarity on this line. I accelerated rapidly towards the
station in time to see 56 043 detaching from its train of 17 hoppers,
running round very briskly and departing at 15:45. This was the petroleum
coke train from Humber oil refinery to Rio Tinto Zinc, Holyhead.
56 043 is re-united with its load at Holyhead station
The other two platforms at Holyhead are way over to the right of this picture, and it's quite a walk from one to either of the other two. There's a manned ticket office but no monitor, which would surely be of benefit to passengers arriving from Ireland. 37 421 was waiting to take the 16:50 service to Birmingham but we caught the 16:17 stopper to Llandudno. A curious symmetry was evident at Bangor - we arrived on the same 101 we'd caught in the morning and as we stepped off, 37 401 drew up on the down platform. We later discovered the special hadn't run but we still saw plenty of interest and had a great day out.
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