class 47's......

on First North Western


47746 at Holyhead waiting to haul 1K73 1549 Holyhead-Crewe on 1st April 2003
Copyright: Rowan Crawshaw.

Latest FNW 47 News

For more class 47 news visit the class 47 list, and for FNW 47 diagrams click here

wednesday 2nd april 2003


    summary
    47732=1G95/ 1D67/ 1G11/ 1D82
    47746=1H44
    47773=1D45
    47789=1G76/ 1D57/ 1G96/ 1D71/ 1K73/ 1D81

    And a bonus in the form of Virgins......
    47843=1D88 1945 Crewe-Holyhead!!!

    No less than FIVE 47's to/from Holyhead today!

tuesday 1st april 2003


  • The same three loco's began the day: 47746 worked 1G76 0150 Holyhead-BNS, 47773 did 1H44, and 47789 was 1G95.
  • For the evening 47732 replaced 47773 and hauled 1D45 1719 Manchester-Holyhead, this being the first time FOUR different 47's have worked for First North Western in one day.
  • More carriages have arrived! Previously a total of NINE coaches were at Crewe and only four were needed.
    For all three diagrams 12 coaches were needed, so 47773 brought three from Old Oak Common on 27th March - meaning all coaches would need to be in service!
    So a total of six extra carriages arrived behind 47747 to Crewe today - providing a relief to Riviera Train maintenance staff who maintain the stock on behalf of First North Western.
    Carriage identities are unknown.
      summary
      47732=1D45
      47746=1G76/ 1D57/ 1G96/ 1D71/ 1K73/ 1D81
      47773=1H44
      47789=1G95/ 1D67/ 1G11/ 1D82

    monday 31st march 2003


  • 1T99, the 0010 Crewe-Holyhead additonal service was used to get two 47's and two sets of coaching stock to Holyhead for Monday morning.
    47746 "The Bobby" hauled the train with 47789 "Lindisfarne" dead in tow, notably this was the first time an FNW 47 hauled service had contained as many as EIGHT carriages, although the rear four were locked out of use.
    No services to Holyhead for FNW have contained a loco dead in tow either, although 1H44 going the other way has on two occasions had a 47 dead in tow after failures.
    Lindisfarne was involved in GSW drags to Glasgow on Saturday 15th March this year, and 746 had been left at Holyhead on both Christmas day and New Years day and had not been to Holyhead since 7th January this year.
  • 47773, having arrived at Holyhead last night with 1D67 formed the 0140 Holyhead to Birmingham New Street, this along with 47746 going the other way, were the first "overnight" 47 workings to/from Holyhead since Virgins Sunday only 1A02 0358 Holyhead-Euston was briefly loco hauled in 2001.
  • After the two sets of stock at Holyhead were shunted, 47789 hauled one set ECS to Bangor to work 1H44, with 47746 starting the final diagram of the day - 1G95.
  • All trains kept admirably to time all day, perhaps thanks to the lack of other services getting in the way due to strikes(!) but 1G96 0852 Holyhead-Birmingham was delayed leaving Holyhead due to a shunter being unavailable to run 47773 around its train. The train left 35 minutes late.
      summary
      47746=1G95/ 1D67/ 1G11/ 1D82
      47773=1G76/ 1D57/ 1G96/ 1D71/ 1K73/ 1D81
      47789=1H44/ 1D45

      47746 was hauling: 3520-6202-6221-9480
      47773 was hauling: 3261-6213-6206-9501
      47789 was hauling: 5636-5737-6200-9494
      Note this was 5636, 5737 and 9494's first day in service since leaving Great Western, and 9494 is the first hauled coach on First North Western with a wheelchair accessable toilet!

    sunday 30th march 2003

  • Rather surprisingly the new workings began a day early, Holyhead standby 47773 working 1K64 1649 Holyhead to Crewe. This service was not expected to be a 47 until next week! 47773 returned with 1D67 2026 Crewe-Holyhead, both of these workings routed via Sandbach and Middlewich, 1D67 leaving from platform 1 at Crewe.
      summary:
      47773=1K64 and 1D67

    saturday 29th march 2003

  • Timings page launched - click here to view these!