A trip to North Wales (Operation Station 2563), Day 1
The day began in the hotel in Crewe, with a slow walk pass the station to the little Tesco Express to purchase something to eat for breakfast and a couple other bits I needed, before heading to Crewe station. Spotting a LM 350 departing the lesser used platform 2 and an ATW 158 in platform 10, both times being the first time I’ve seen those platforms being used. A 390 was sat on platform 12, looked like it hadn’t been cleaned from the night before (I assume it was meant to go to Liverpool).
A short wait before the first service out West rolled in from Birmingham, a lightly loaded 221115 where it was easy to get a table seat in coach D for the nice run towards Chester before going onto track lesser travelled, although it was still dark with dawn breaking at the island platform of
Prestatyn. Evidence of former side platforms as I suspect it used to be 4-tracks along this section of line in the olden days, anyhow a nice looking small town split by the railway with a Tesco Express getting spotted on the south side. My time at Prestatyn was short before Llandudno bound 175011 rolled in a few minutes late from Manchester to skip the next station as this was the hourly service which called at
Abergele & Pensarn, making use of the new platform built earlier this year over the former platform loop.
This station gives a beautiful view of the beach at Pensarn, and my half hour fester here was quite nice watching the waves, before heading into the small shelter to shelter against a chilly wind. I was glad when 175007 rolled in from Llandudno to take me back one stop to
Rhyl. An impressive building, with former platforms in evidence from the glory days of the 60s when this was a top holiday resort, a rusty through line remains on the westbound platform (can’t see that getting used by that many trains as the vast majority call here with a couple non-stop services heading east (those which have an odd service pattern of calling at all stations [by request] from Holyhead to Llandudno Junction before running fast to Chester).
I noticed ticket barriers are in operation here, so didn’t fancy a quick visit to the outside of the station as I only had 10 or so minutes before the next train, which was formed of low mileage 175104 to take me to
Colwyn Bay, a station currently getting refurbished, featuring a nice plant-pot train & barriers. With 25 minutes to kill I headed out of the station (needless to say my rover didn’t work the barriers), watched a small market being set up before heading out following a path underneath the railway to reach the sea front with an old disused pier looking sad boarded up with high fences to prevent access.
Old Pier at Colwyn Bay
Returning to the station for the next Holyhead service formed of a busy 175003, time to request my first request stop of this trip, the short platforms of at
Conwy. This is where I changed my plan as I had planned not to be able to make the +4 connection here, but the next eastbound service was running a couple minutes late so it was a short walk over the roadbridge [Holyhead end] noticing the rather nice looking castle overlooking this small town to head to the opposite platform, flagging down 175102, which was local door only for the tiny leap back across the Conwy Railway Bridge to take me to Llandudno Junction, where a short walk took me to bay platform 2 to board 175104 working the next Llandudno shuttle service.
I was now ahead of my plan and after a quick look on Google found something I could pull off, getting a bonus shack, so after requesting and alighting at
Deganwy, which gives very good views of the water front, but I didn’t hang round for long crossing over the road to wait for an Arriva bus working a route 13 service (fleet number 2571) to take me back towards Llandudno Junction, remaining on board to exit the bus at the Black Cat Roundabout, noting the location of my hotel for the Sunday night, and firing up Google Maps for a gentle walk along the A470 (pavemented) giving good views of the River Conwy to reach
Glan Conwy station. Not often am I blown away by the view, but this platform sits on the side of the river giving excellent views, I can only be amazed at what it would be like on a sunny day, but even on a day with the sky showing 50 shades of grey the view was still breathtakingly beautiful.
View from Glan Conwy Station
This was a bonus shack, which I had previously had down for doing on the Monday morning, so with a note in my memory to change my plan for Monday, I had a short wait. Sadly the little waiting shelter lacked a bench, the only seat being out in the open (and hence it was wet). That didn’t matter than much to me as it was only a short wait before low mileage 150267 came round the corner, as I requested for it to stop to allow me to board a busy service. I put my request in for the guard after a nice run along a scenic line I alighted at
Dolwyddelan, where like others before me, I took a gentle walk into the village centre to visit the little Spar, coming away with a packet of sausage rolls and some cold drinks, which passed the time in this little village.
Returning to the single basic platform, with a small shelter from the rain for a short wait before 150267 returned, a bit emptier now than before, for the trip back up north to
Tal-Y-Cafn, with a manually operated level crossing and a former platform on the opposite side. I didn’t hang around for long as I exited the station, passing a pub/hotel to wait where Google suggested was a bus stop. Like the ones in the highlands I used it was a hail & ride service with no giveaway signs that I was in the correct place, so it was a case of keeping my eyes peeled for the “Express Motors” route X1 service, flagging down bus “YJ66 APO” for the short ride down the busy road to reach another unmarked bus stop opposite a posh looking hotel and the platform at
Dolgarrog.
A completely random platform, with a foot crossing at the southern end, so with time to kill I decided to head for a little walk down a muddy path, eventually coming across an old railway bridge (there was once a little branch line towards an Aluminium works, long closed), and as regular readers might know, I do like an old bridge for engineering reasons. Sadly the banks of the River Conwy were a bit overgrown so places to be able to get a picture of the bridge were limited.
Old Railway Bridge over River Conwy at Dolgarrog
Once I returned to the platform, for a short wait for the delayed 150267 to return, taking me to another remote Welsh request stop, this time
Pont-Y-Pant, located on the south bank of the river with a busy sounding road on the north bank. I did start going for a walk, reaching a road bridge giving views of the line coming out of a short tunnel in a rock face, but the rain had returned, so I returned to the safety of the little waiting shelter, noting that there was still a “First North Western” information poster up above the disused pay-phone.
My fester went fast, the departure time came and went, with 150267 rolling in around 5 minutes late, making up a bit of time along the way to reach Llandudno Junction, where I had a quick dash out to Asda for a sandwich before returning in time for the next Holyhead service. A reasonably busy 158819 rolled in as I put my request in to the guard, and took a seat for the short run to
Penmaenmawr. Another basic 2-hourly served station, nothing of note around the station itself as I went for a little walk up to the main-road, for it was time for a bus move. This time it was a route 5 service bound for Bangor (timetable suggests 4 buses an hour on this route), as bus 3174 rolled in for the short ride along the road, joining the Expressway for a short section via a tunnel, exiting at a bus-gate.
Interesting this bus had automatic announcements at the stops, something I haven’t seen for a while, but my time was short as I alighted at Llanfairfechan, spotting a little Co-Op which was visited for some dinner before following a road down (passing a few takeaways), underneath the main road and up a little path to reach
Llanfairfechan station itself. The station is underneath the main road (North Wales Expressway) so there was a lot of road noise, nothing of note on the station itself, a nice footbridge at the Conwy end, a small waiting shelter. I noted the next Holyhead service was on time, and hence gave a reasonable connection at what will be shack 2553, so I changed my plan once more.
175115 was up next for the 10 and ¾ mile run west, crossing over the double deck Britannia Bridge (guarded by them lions) as I left the main-line and entered the Island of Anglesey. My first point of call was that famous station which many people was thinking would have been the last as I alighted via the local door at
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysilio-gogogoch, otherwise known as Llanfairpwll. A massive name for such tiny platforms, after a picture of the famous sign I headed over the footbridge to join a crowd of passengers waiting for the next service towards Shrewsbury, formed of 158819 returning from Holy Island, which took me back over the bridge, back to the main-land at
Bangor.
Llanfairpwll Station Sign
Bangor has two through lines (again both looked very rusty and I doubt they see much use these days), evidence of former bay platforms and other platforms. One impressive station building set back from the remaining part of the station. I had an option, either hang around for an hour for the return of 175115, or go for a bus trip back to Llanfairpwll to cross the famous Menai Suspension Bridge…
It was such a hard decision as I ended up at the bus stop for a route X4 (bound for Holyhead) service rolled in, formed of fleet number 2914, it took me over the narrow suspension bridge, giving good views of the Britannia Bridge (sadly I was on the wrong side of the bus for a picture), as it dropped me off at Llanfairpwll for a 2nd time. Once more I wasn’t alone as 175115 returned in the darkness, as I took a seat for the nice run back eastwards, back to Crewe where the train terminated into platform 9.
I walked back to the hotel, reflecting on a productive day, 15 shacks entered my book, leaving 8 to hunt down, which would be split over the next 2 days owing to the fact that the Conwy Valley line has no service on a Sunday this time of year (and surprisingly neither does Llandudno itself, not even an hourly shuttle service timed to connect with the roughly hourly Holyhead services).
I shall leave you with a picture, all other pictures are available in this Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/27666294@N02/albums/72157687716620694
Flower Pot at Colwyn Bay
I'm quite pleased with how that picture of the bridge came out. I try to explore the local area when visiting random stations, some areas are better than others.
68010 at Leamington Spa
