November 2024 – RailwayWorld.net

New and old in North Wales

The new order at Holyhead: 805003/011 depart on 28 November 2024 with 1A26 (08.53) to Euston

One year on from my last visit and the lure of seasonally cheap hotel accommodation tempts me to chance my luck with the weather and spend a couple of days in North Wales, to witness the ever-changing railway scene and some of its surviving semaphore signals.

Basing myself at the Holyhead Travelodge (27-29 November 2024) my aim was to photograph some of the new Avanti (AWC) Class 805 Evero bi-mode units that are now replacing Class 221 Super Voyagers on Euston-Holyhead services, along with the seasonal Class 56-worked RHTT and an HST-powered NR test train.

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Working semaphore distant signals at Heckington

Down distant signal HN15 is pulled off as the Network Rail test train 1Q49 passes on its trip to Skegness

More than three years after my last visit (June 2021), the irregular appearance of a Class 43-powered Network Rail test train makes the perfect excuse to pay an overdue return on Thursday, 21 November 2024 to delightful Heckington, first station east of Sleaford on the Poacher Line to Boston and Skegness.

Having been lucky enough to see another NR test train, the Class 37-powered Ultrasonic Testing Unit (UTU) at Skegness in October, my main aim this time was to photograph a different type of test working passing both the down distant signal, which is only pulled off for trains not calling at Heckington, and the up distant signal some way east of the station.

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Tourism crisis hits Wolsztyn

Pt47-65 propels its two coaches into platform 1 at Wolsztyn on 7 November 2024 before departing for Zbaszynek at 14.14

Being the last place in the world to operate scheduled standard gauge steam passenger services has not prevented a tourism crisis in Wolsztyn, the attractive town in Western Poland that until mid-2023 was home of the Wolsztyn Experience (WE) and its world-renowned footplate experience courses.

During the 25 years WE operated (1998-2023) countless thousands of overseas visitors flocked to Wolsztyn, but its closure following the death in June 2023 of founder Howard Jones MBE has led to the current crisis facing the town and its devastating impact on local businesses.

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Back to Peak Forest

GBRf 66783 “The Flying Dustman” at Peak Forest with 4H73 from Washwood Heath to Tunstead

Little more than two months after my last visit (27 August 2024) I am tempted to pay a return to marvellously photogenic Peak Forest South after being contacted by the signaller who had been on duty that day, who kindly invites me to return and pay a visit to the signal box itself.

Peak Forest South Signal Box is a delightfully preserved and recently overhauled box that will be celebrating its centenary in 2025. It is one of only two mechanical signal boxes I can name in this country, Crag Hall on Teesside being the other, which control nothing but freight traffic.