LarryG's general album

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Bodorgan sported one of Francis Thompson's cottage style buildings. It is a listed building, but this didnt stop BR removing the roof ! Heritage liveried Met-Camm unit No. 101685 pulls in with the 15.25 Holyhead-Llandudno Junction local on 5th August 1995. They were eventually osold for a £1.00 and some work on the roof is visible...

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Intercity liveried 37420 Scottish Hosteller speeding through with the 14.24 Crewe-Holyhead on 5th August 1995. Visible on the wall is the maroon painted slate tablet with engraved name, a style used on many of the original C&H stations...
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The station was purchased and the buyer put a roof on it before setting to work restoring all the internal floors and rooms to make a home for his family. This is how it looked on 30th August 1997 during restoration, the owner having also repainted the lamp posts in steam-era London Midland colours. 37429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethal was passing with the13.54 Holyhead-Crewe. I often used my ladders for a different viewpoint...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
The next station is Ty Croes (ti-croy-iss). It has staggered platforms astride a level crossing. 37414 Cathays C&W Works 1846-93 had charge of the 12.20 Crewe-Holyhead on 16th August 1997, and is pictured passing the very unusual signalbox, integral with a booking office and waiting room...

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After 37414 came 37415 passing in the opposite direction at with the 13.54 Holyhead-Crewe on 16th August 1997. The old cattle dock at Ty Coes is visible in the trackside undergrowth. This is a fast stretch of line...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
I can't locate this shot in my diary, but I do remember it was the last picture of a winter afternoon out day because of fading light and a distinctly chill breeze. The loco was 37402 on a Holyhead-Crewe turn in 1993. Rhosniegr station is visible through the arch...
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37401 Mary Queen of Scots bowling along at Rhosneigr with the 11.58 Birmingham-Holyhead on 20th May 1999. I used to call at the farm to inform the farmer I was in his field after a dispute he had had with photographers...
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Fragonset Class 47 No. 47701 passing the station at Rhosniegr with the 13.38 Holyhead-Euston Virgin DVT set on 27th August 1998....
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Summer & Winter on Anglesey

37426 wheels the 13.54 Holyhead-Birmingham New Street southwards past Rhosneigr Lake on a hot 27th August 1998. The village station opened in May 1907 although the present buildings date from 1953. Sea water is always under the ground on the Isle of Anglesey and surfaces at very high tide. The moto is, watch where you build new properties...

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Extraordinarry lighting accompanied by the death and decay of winter often produces wonderful colours. This was the scene north of Rhosneigr station as Large Logo 37408 Loch Rannoch sped past with the 13.36 Llandudno Junction to Holyhead on Armistice Day, 11th November 1993. My silver Ford Fiesta visible at the roadside was written off 6 months later leading to 10 years of operations and clinics for me. Moto, Wrap yourself up in a big SUV ha ha...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Remember in the old days (?) when camera manufacturers just had to include safety devices that usually led to missed pictures! A note in my photo diary says I missed three shots at Rhosneigr that day because the wind-on lever had to be left in the stand-off position otherwise it locked the shutter button! Stupid on a camera body aimed at professionals. However I must have been pleased with the results from the Canon A1 + 50mm/f1.4 FD lens seeing as I kept it for another 10 months. It took the picture above.

Given a choice I would opt for Nikon optics, but for many years now their cameras have had a thunb operated rotary indexing wheel which conflicts when my left-eye is at the veiwfinder. So reluctantly, I have mostly used Canon with an forward mounted index finder operated wheel since the late 1990's.
 

Stephen Freeman

Western Thunderer
I too have an A1 with lots of lenses etc but never had that problem, I invested in a motor drive, you just had to make sure you didn't take too many shots or you'd run out of film! Not used it in years but keep checking it still works. I can still sort of use the lenses with the EOS, though a lot of the functions are of course missing. Not at all sure where I could actually get film and have it processed these days.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Not at all sure where I could actually get film and have it processed these days.

You can actually get it processed fairly easily. A quick internet search shows a couple of UK companies that will develop 35mm film by post. Like vinyl records, film photography is making something of a comeback. I think the restricted number of frames helps slow you down to think about each shot, instead of blasting off dozens of frames like you can do with digital.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The present Holyhead station opened on 17th June 1880. Class 31 No. 31418 Boadicea stands under the Euston type overall roof in No.1 departure platform after arriving with the 5D03 12.16 Crewe South Yard mail train on 11th February 1991. Equipment installed in the 1960s and 70s for handling Freightliner containers is seen in the background just weeks before closure of the terminal on 18th March...

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Eight years later, the track in No.1 platform had gone while the new departure platform was outside the train shed. Mainline liveried 37203 stands awaiting departure with the 13.54 to Birmingham on 22nd May 1999. Track on which the train is standing once led to a large export goods shed...
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Stephen Freeman

Western Thunderer
Showing my age, I can recall one visit to Holyhead in particular, we travelled by car. At that time they used to move the ferry from one side to the other (don't think they turned it but could be wrong) Whilst this manourve took place they served afternoon tea on the ferry. Nothing like the modern ferries I can tell you. Linen table clothes and proper anti spill crockery with waiter service.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The light couldnt have bene much worse, but I was here and had to make the most of it. 47782 enters Holyhead with new Anglia stocvk on a NENTA Snowdonia and Llanberis tour on 22nd May 1999...

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37408 Loch Rannoch was pulling out of Holyhead ready to reverse its ex.Network SE stock into platfrom 2 to form the 14.30 to Crewe on 6th September 1993. The engine shed was long gone but there remained a diesel fueling point...
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The changed scene on 22nd May 1999 with Gwynedd Shipping having taken over some of the old railway land. The green buses bare a distinct resemblance to the old Crosville Motors. 37203 again climbing the 1-in-90 out of Holyhead with the 13.54 to Birmingham New Street. The digital age allowed us to clone out waving arms... :p
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
It is the first time I have seen most of these pictures and I discovered for the first time that all the trannies processed locally have a vertical orange line down them, be they 35mm or medium format. The railway press and Amadeus Press must have done a lot of post-processing on my behalf.

I'll conclude the Chester to Holyhead journey in colour with two final pictures in Holyhead station. It is probably not generally known that some trains went through the wash on arrival at Holyhead. 47471 Norman Tunna GC has just passed through the plant prior to forming the InterCity 16.16 to London Euston on 11th February 1991. Class 08 shunter No. 08743 stands alongside the old manual carriage washing platform...

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47586 Northamptonshire displays a different form of InterCity livery in Platform 3 while working a Regional Railways train for Crewe on 11th February 1991. This was the main arrival platform and it too once had an overall roof until rebuilding of the station in the 1970's...
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have never taken the Holyhead-Dublin ferry, somehow my trips to Ireland in the mid 1960s always went across the Fishguard-Rosslare route. On one return journey just after Easter the ship was full of Irish workers returning to England. They, like us geology students, found that the best place on the ship in a storm is the bar as in this case it was located in the centre of the ship. We were entertained to several hours of Irish folk singing which we English could not match for trying. One very short Irishman, full beer glass in hand, started a multiple verse dirge which did seem to go on and on. Finally, said Irishman began to slide down the wall and onto the floor, still singing, still holding his beer upright. I have to say there was no fancy table cloth or anti-spill china to be seen.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
To really complete this Chester to Holyhead 'album', I was pleased to find this printout of a photo I had published some 15 years ago. I was careless, to put it mildly, with images shot on digital and a great many were lost over the years through one reason or another, including this one. The result is I have no details of the train or the date, although Gorse dates it early in the year.

I wasn't taking much notice of the Red Arrows training from Rhosniegr airfield until I could see that with luck everything would come together if only the train from Holyhead arrived on the scene at the right time...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
One from the archives that I have only just found on my hard drive. It is a 7mm model painted for Adrian at Northstar Design. I haven't got the original images anymore and so the digitals have kind of messed up my horizontal lining. I wouldn't have remained in business very long if it really was like this haha...
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Thanks genghis for the offer, but it doesn't matter so much now. What i have on file acts as a record of just a few of the paint jobs I did. In fact, most are on black & white film becasue that it what was wanted for box lid illustrations for so many years.

Cheers,
Larry
 
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