SHREWSBURY
GROWLINGS
3rd
April 2002 |
In the
days of the North Wales Coastal 37/4's, you muttered a silent
prayer for the driver to stop the locomotive short of the overbridge
and out of the shadows at Crewe - today the prayer was answered.
Having seen that 415, an old NWC regular, was on the Wales &
Borders Cardiff-Crewe service, I decided to ride the rails again.
This time it was to Shrewsbury and 2 x 158's in order to pick
up 1Z43, the 15.20 from Cardiff Central. The photos tell the story
and there is a lot to see so please give the page time to load........
Two types of architecture,
a part of Shrewsbury's heritage.
Great Western
Railway finials extant!
60043 passed through
the station with a steel train.
The distant growl
and 37415 picked its way carefully through the tangle of pointwork
to reach platform 4.
Over the points,
over the points......
What can one say?
The train was
running about ten minutes down so it loaded quickly and was soon
away passing yet more semaphore signals.
156415 "Wendy"!
Scrap class 47
diesel locomotives lined up by the "Mornflake" factory
just South West of Crewe station. The factory loading bay canopy,
adjacent to the line, is the site of the GWR sub-shed in the steam
days.
Entering Crewe
station and platform 12.
I once photographed 37419 in exactly the same spot
with the late Winter sun streaming onto the EWS red and gold -
beautiful.
Classic 37 nose end.
415 has acquired black headcode
boxes since its Coastal days.
The locomotive was detached and
ran out along platform 12 onto the Chester/North Wales line where
it stopped.
A few minutes wait while a Liverpool
train left and the growler ran back through the centre loop and
round its train.
Out to the South end of the station
where, again, it paused before returning to 12 and reattachment
to the stock.
And Finally.....off to the LNWR
carriage sheds. If only these runs were a permanent feature of
the W&B timetable. Ah well, we can dream can't we. Thanks
to Wales & Borders for the runs that we did get.