coachmann Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Inspired by Beast 66666's threads, I have gathared together a few photos of the signals ad other changed that have taken place at Abergele & Pensarn since 1946. The tall repeating semaphore was mentioned in Beast's thread. This is it being plucked out of the ground after Merfyn Jones of parish RMweb attached the cable.....And it rained & rained! I'll start with the approach to Abergele in the (Up) Chester direction with 40029 ans 40155 working the 09.23 Holyhead-Crewe on 19 August 1981, and the signals' subsequent demolition on 12 June 1988 and replacement with a colour-light signal..... Nearer Abergele, a Stanier 2-6-0 speeds down the gradient with cattle trucks and frozen meat containers from Holyhead at around 7pm on 23 August 1963... A panned shot of Fowler Class 4 0-6-0 heading back to Llandudno Junction after doing the Abergele yard shunt on a Saturday afternoon in 1963... Double-headed Black Fives passing under Sea Road Bridge, Abergele in 1964. A poor shot but it is included to show the scene before the Abergele bye-pass bridge appeared alongside it in 1967-8. Note also quadruple track....... The first shot shows one of the last surviving LNWR 'Precursor' 4-4-0s heading a Chester local into the station past some interesting signals. The second picture shows the Down starter was of the familiar LNWR type with two underslung arms for sighting purposes. A 2P double heads a Compound on an Up express....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 40 131 passing the site of the timber yard on 7 February 1978. The Up repeating signal shows well as does the old promedade before sea defences were constructed in the early 1990s. The timber yard used to be situated on the Up side and is seen here awaiting lifting. Smoke in the background is from the old Abergele refuse tip..... This shot shows 40170 speeding the same location with Gwrych Castle in the background..... Merfyn Jone was also involved with removal of the Up 'fast' signal (he is seen on the right in familar "Hows it going pal" mode.... This is the station in the earlier 1960s with a Class 47 heading the 1D56 though on the Down Fast track. Black Five No. 45249 is heading through on the Up Slow trakc under the old covered footbridge. The platform canopies are intact and the goods shed is on view behind the Down platform. Within three years the rapid decline of the Beeching and beyond years would send much of this scene into history... This was Abergele in 1964, with quadruple tracks, a goods yard and headshunt, cattle sidings beyond the station and a carriage landing behind the Up station buildings. The railway scene looked much fussier in those days becasue of the posts that helped support bracket signals and of course the telegraph poles.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 A mere two years after the previous shots, the station looked naked. By late1966, gone were the platform canopies and footbridge. The orignal station building from the pre-1902 remodelling can be seen behind the signalbox, and beyond stand the LNWR Camping coaches. The building were in full use at the time but this would end in the 1980s. These shots were taken in the very early 1970s.... A sequence of shots showing the changes at the Up platform end..........Black Five No.44857 departs on the Up Slow line to Rhyl in 1963.... 40 192 speeds though after the Up Slow signal and track had gone.... 37412 newly converted to ETH departs past replacement signals with the 11.15 1V33 14.17 Bangor-Cardiff. It is in harness with 33060 on 17 October 1985, soon after the signals were installed.... Later still, the semaphores were removed altogether. Standing in for withdrawn Class 155s, brandnew 156471 and 156472 depart Abergele with the Sundays-Only 14.25 Holyhead-Cardiff on 26 February 1989. Arriving at Abergele on the Down is a green Class 40 in 1963. Of note is the old "see-through" footbridge.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I really like Gele 26.jpg.. There is real animation in that shot though i do question the escape route <g> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 25078 truddles past the Down banner signal with the early morning parcels from holyhead, known locally as the 'Horse & Carriage'. A Class 47 hauled ballast from Penmaenmawr is held in the Up through line while 45103 departs from the platform with a TransPennine working to Newcastle.... This view was inspired by an official BR photograph and was taken from one of the bracket signals the day before it was pulled down. A Class 33 is working the Bangor-Cardiff. I believe the platform photographer is David Jones of Rhyl, signalman on the Llangollen Railway these days.... This is the old Down bracket signal at Abergele, with 40138 leaving for Crewe in 1977.... The replcement signals were placed on the Rhyl side of the Tennis Court road footbrdge fr better sighting in the Spring of 1986. This is 47339 with ballast empties from Carnforth to Penmaenmawr on 25 January 1989.... The new Up outer home signal is seen here being passed by 45141, which is not running wrong-line, but is pushing a failed 47321 and its Freightliner train to Rhyl after it blocked the line for several hours on 28 November 1985..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 The final signal was the Down Distant, later replaced by a colourlight signal. It is seen behind a Craven DMU working to Llandudno in 1977..... THE END Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckdancer Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Lovely! Many thanks for these photos. A family holiday in the early 60s introduced me to this line. The year before we had spent a week just north of Barmouth on the single track Cambrian line so I wasn't expecting much. Treat one was that the caravan was next to the railway. Treat two was that the railway was unbelievably busy! Not much time was spent on the beach when there was constant action on the 4 lines. It wasn't all peaches and cream as 4 lines meant you sometimes missed a train as it was blocked by others.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Silly question but what were the cattle trucks being used for? I understood that cattle traffic had gone by 1963. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hi Larry, Superb selection of pics. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Silly question but what were the cattle trucks being used for? I understood that cattle traffic had gone by 1963. I hadn't given this much thought to be honest as cattle trucks had always been a regular feature of this particular working. I didnt know they were out of use by this date so perhaps they were being taken to a collecting point...........Sidings near Mold Junction maybe. I do know the date of my picture is accurate as we lived in Oldham at the time and I only photographed the North Wales scene while at on hols at my parents home. I never saw anything other than a Stanier 2-6-0 on this working, though I suppose it was coincidence more than anything. I was fond of this class...........They were unusual whereas Crabs and Black Fives were everywhere! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 One final shot showing green celebrity 40106 departing Gele with the 11.30 Bangor-Manchester Victoria on 27th September 1980. My reason for including this shot is to show the workstrained appearance of the Mk.I's. How many modellers would weather their blue & grey Mk.I's like this and yet it was very commonplace at the time, as indeed it had been at the end of the maroon period. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2011 Silly question but what were the cattle trucks being used for? I understood that cattle traffic had gone by 1963. Ed When the big cull of cattle loading/unloading stations was carried out in the late 1950s (1958?) Holyhead was one of the 10 or so places in Britain which was left on the list of being capable of handling cattle traffic. I know some cattle flows continued into the 1960s but not for how long but most likely, whenever, from Ireland. Cattle wagon use went on a bit longer than cattle traffic and the last flow I know which used them was imported donkeys via Fishguard Harbour to Reading (and perhaps other places?) which definitely continued sporadically to the late 1960s possibly even into the very early 1970s - the cattle dock at Reading being retained to deal with the traffic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2011 When the big cull of cattle loading/unloading stations was carried out in the late 1950s (1958?) Holyhead was one of the 10 or so places in Britain which was left on the list of being capable of handling cattle traffic. I know some cattle flows continued into the 1960s but not for how long but most likely, whenever, from Ireland. Cattle wagon use went on a bit longer than cattle traffic and the last flow I know which used them was imported donkeys via Fishguard Harbour to Reading (and perhaps other places?) which definitely continued sporadically to the late 1960s possibly even into the very early 1970s - the cattle dock at Reading being retained to deal with the traffic. I remember seeing a cattle train at Chester, sweeping off the coast lines, sticks in my mind because of the unhappy moos coming from it - I remember the trip was a day out with my Nan, we went to Llandudno Junction but the exact year escapes me, however it must have been around 1973-1975 and was probably one of the last cattle workings from Holyhead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I went to Blaenau Ffestiniog on a railrover ticket in the summer of 1973 (I think) and there was a line of about 6 cattle wagons in the sidings opposite the station building. Quite what they were doing there I don't know, but they looked out of use. Cattle trains from Birkenhead to Banbury and York survived until about 1967 or slightly later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 I went to Blaenau Ffestiniog on a railrover ticket in the summer of 1973 (I think) and there was a line of about 6 cattle wagons in the sidings opposite the station building. They may have been empties picked up at Tal-Y-Cafn and taken up to Blaenau for storage. I remember a lot of sidings along the North Wales line had cattle wagons in them, but there was so much scrapping going on in the mid to late 1960s and siding space was probably at a premium. A lot of nice coaches went into Crumps for scrapping........Now that was a shame! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2011 Although they were cattle wagons, could they have been carrying vegtables ? There was a lot of outgoing traffic from Cornwall like this - it must have gone somewhere, maybe to Holyhead for the Irish Sea ferries ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2011 Although they were cattle wagons, could they have been carrying vegtables ? There was a lot of outgoing traffic from Cornwall like this - it must have gone somewhere, maybe to Holyhead for the Irish Sea ferries ? I doubt it Stu - Holyhead was a major loading point for imported cattle and that inevitably required a whole load of cattle vans in a hurry so the usual practice was to keep them handy. At one time I think considerable numbers were kept at Holyhead but it sounds to me as if there wasn't enough room there so the empty wagons were spread back along the route for convenience, and sat there. As I understand it the Cornish veg went to the main conurbations for local wholesale markets and were basically quick transits. Shipping to Ireland would, i would have thought, have been not too likely and in any case the Western would have shipped via Fishguard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 The Stationmaster is right, a trip along the North Wales line in the earlier 1960's would have found cattle wagons laying in sidings from Mold Junction to Caernarfon and across Anglesey. We used to refer to the trains as live and dead meat depending on whether they consisted of cattle wagons of refrigerated containers. Even small country stations such as Bodorgan had a small cattle dock, but I am not sure of all such 'docks' had wagon cleaning facilities. I remember they had in Abergele. The sight of cattle being driven (on foot) down the main street on market day must have been something to behold. When I started work at Abbeyford Trailers in June1965, the cattle facility had gone and the land had been built on by Jones Brothers, carriers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy C Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Thanks for showing us these Larry, really enjoyed looking at them, and its provided a bit of get up and go for the new corporate blue layout! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Andy C : ........ its provided a bit of get up and go for the new corporate blue layout! Glad to assist in any way I can with photos of the era. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RELIEF SIGNALMAN Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 A mere two years after the previous shots, the station looked naked. By late1966, gone were the platform canopies and footbridge. The orignal station building from the pre-1902 remodelling can be seen behind the signalbox, and beyond stand the LNWR Camping coaches. The building were in full use at the time but this would end in the 1980s. These shots were taken in the very early 1970s.... A sequence of shots showing the changes at the Up platform end..........Black Five No.44857 departs on the Up Fast line to Rhyl in 1963.... 40 192 speeds though after the Up Slow signal and track had gone.... 37412 newly converted to ETH departs past replacement signals with the 11.15 1V33 14.17 Bangor-Cardiff. It is in harness with 33060 on 17 October 1985, soon after the signals were installed.... Later still, the semaphores were removed altogether. Standing in for withdrawn Class 155s, brandnew 156471 and 156472 depart Abergele with the Sundays-Only 14.25 Holyhead-Cardiff on 26 February 1989. Arriving at Abergele on the Down is a green Class 40 in 1963. Of note is the old "see-through" footbridge.... I believe the replacement to the "see through" footbridge (Tennis Court Rd) came from Mostyn station 2nd hand - a plated footbridge approx 1968. Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RELIEF SIGNALMAN Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 They may have been empties picked up at Tal-Y-Cafn and taken up to Blaenau for storage. I remember a lot of sidings along the North Wales line had cattle wagons in them, but there was so much scrapping going on in the mid to late 1960s and siding space was probably at a premium. A lot of nice coaches went into Crumps for scrapping........Now that was a shame! Cattle wagons were also stored in the sidings at Llanrwst prior to their lifting in 1974. Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Those days travelling up the Conway Valley in the early threepennybit-front Derby Lightweight DMU's seems so long ago now. The lines in North Wales were steeped in character and the lines to Amlwch and Afon Wen were always journeys of discovery, as indeed was the route to Holyhead. The books by J.M.Dunn and Pat Whitehouse had set the scene and I thank my lucky stars I was around at the time when the railways were still fully operational and so full of historical interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Nevard Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Thanks for a wonderful selection of photographs - many of them reminding me of the much missed Modern Railways Pictorial. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Thanks for a wonderful selection of photographs - many of them reminding me of the much missed Modern Railways Pictorial. Ah, the old MRP.....I think most of the Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle were involved with that one! Happy days capturing the period of loco-hauled trains and heritage DMU's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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