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On Saturday 24th
August 1957, I was off to Butlins. With friend Roger Walters (where are you now?), We caught the 7.55am Aberystwyth
service from Birmingham Snow Hill, which was hauled by Manor class 4-6-0
no 7818 Granville Manor, then a Tyseley engine. We called at
Wolverhampton, then travelled round the Shrewsbury curve to our next stop
Welshpool. On the single line sections we suffered a few delays, and had
a banker (46523) from Moat Lane up to Talerddig. We arrived at Dovey
Junction, where we were to change to a coast line train, 11 mins late at
11.27am.
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Collett 0-6-0 no 2295 was on the 6 coach, 12.00pm from Dovey
Junction, which took us to Barmouth, where we arrived 19 mins late. Here we
changed again, to the 1.00am Ruabon to Pwllheli, which would take us to
Penychain, the station adjoining the Holiday Camp. An extremely full 8 coach
train came into Barmouth 30 mins late with a pair of Collett 0-6-0's, 2286 and
2264 up front. |
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Despite
some hard running, station overtime, and a delay at Afon Wen, meant that
we were not into Penychain until 3.35pm, 55 mins late. The pilot, 2286,
came off at Criccieth. |
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And
so we started an enjoyable weeks holiday, which was something of an
eye-opener to two fairly innocent lads.
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The
main railway interest for Roger and myself was on Thusday 29th August,
when we took a trip down the coast on the Pwllheli portion of the
"Cambrian Coast Express", Dukedog no 9021 with 5 coaches, as
far as Towyn. Here we had a ride on the Talyllyn Railway, to and from
Abergynolwyn. The 2.10pm from Wharf had "Sir Haydn" up front
with a 6 coaches. We ran to Abergynolwyn in just over 40 minutes,
including a 5 minute stop at Dolgoch. |
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We
had 2 hours at Abergynolwyn and walked up to what is now Nant Gwernol,
and then up the inclines to the quarries. Quite an experience. The
return to Towyn, on the 4.45pm service, was with "Edward
Thomas", so we had both Corris engines.The downhill run took 43
minutes, with an 8 minute stop at Dolgoch. |
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We
arrived at Wharf station at 5.27pm, and walked around Towyn for a while,
since our return up the coast, on the 5.40pm from Machynlleth, was not
due away until 6.15pm. In fact it was 6.19pm when 2-6-0 no 4377 headed
away with 8 packed coaches. The locomotive was worked really hard
throughout, and made some fine sounds. But with heavy station work, we
were 11 late into Portmadoc, where the load was reduced to 4 coaches. So
it was not until 8.39pm that we made our way back from Penychain into
the holiday camp. A super day, made all the better by cloudless
sunshine, a rarity in North Wales.
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I
came across 4377 again a year later. From Machynlleth on the Cambrian
main line. And once again some superb running. No doubt that 4377,
together with Tyseley's 5369, were the star performers on the Cambrian
in the late 1950's. Much as I admire the Manors, they couldn't compete
with these two.
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And
so to the journey home on the Saturday. This time no changes were
necessary. We caught the 7.20am Pwllheli to Paddington, which took us
right through to Birmingham Snow Hill. This train ran via the Barmouth
to Corwen and Ruabon line, and we had the splendid combination of
Dukedog no 9004 and Collett 0-6-0 no 2296 double heading the 10 coach
train all the way to Ruabon. They had a spot of bother up the 1 in 58 up
to Garneddwen, but otherwise ran well. At Ruabon, we had 6841 Marlas
Grange to Wolverhampton, with 6357 pilot from Shrewsbury. Then 5032 came
on for the last 12 miles back to Snow Hill. We were 18 mins late, but
who cared. |
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And
so a very successful holiday ended. We didn't find any birds, but I did
discover "Forest Brown", which I drank for a number of years
until I discovered "Watneys Brown". I always enjoyed Brown
Ales. And we did spend a hilarious night on the beach with the Scoucers,
singing "Maggy May" and other songs. It was all rather
innocent in 1957. |
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