Saturday 4th May 2019 (the May Bank Holiday) saw yours truly take himself off to the North Wales Coast, in particular to the small seaside area of Abergele & Pensarn. The reason for this was because no less than four charters were passing through that morning; two steam specials and two diesel charters. Two charters were bound for Holyhead, while the other pair were heading to Llandudno, coinciding with the annual Victorian Transport Festival. The first special of the day was UK Railtours' Ynys Mon Express to Holyhead. Starting out from Leicester with diesel traction, BR A1 60163 Tornado took over at Crewe and made a cracking run along the coast. She passed Abergele & Pensarn at great speed, like so: Next, all the way from Norwich, a pair of DRS Class 68 diesel locos (68018 and 68033) top and tailed the Nenta Tours' 'Welsh & Victorian Highlander' tour to Holyhead. An hour or so after 60163 had passed, the second steam special of the day came charging through. Vintage Trains ran their 'Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza' excursion from Dorridge to Llandudno. The recently restored GWR 7029 Clun Castle was at the head of this charter; going like the clappers and no mistake! Tyseley based BR Class 47 diesel 47773 tagged along at the rear. The fourth charter of the day saw a pair of West Coast Railways Class 47's top and tail a Pullman set, on the 'Llandudno Day Pullman' charter from Peterborough to Llandudno. 47854 and 47832 were the locos in charge. Not bad for a morning session, made even better by the good weather (although less wind would have been nice! ) The following video shows the quartet of charters in action...
Shenanigans galore. I hear as well as a 37 up my local line (Rhymney Vale) Transport for Wales have several upped Arriva Trains Wales and got their hands on a couple of shorty HSTs
