Holyhead - Early 1970s

Four pictures from the early 1970s - two of mine from 1970 and two taken by Ian Fleming in 1972.

Class 40s at Holyhead 1970 (s0001.jpg)

This appears to be my first ever train photograph. 3 class 40s wait on the quayside for a trip by sea to Barrow-in-Furness. They have been stranded on the island by the Britannia Bridge fire, and British Rail is about to repatriate them to the mainland. They stand next to the giant CEGB crane installed to land equipment for Wylfa Nuclear Power Station, and which will load them onto a ship. June 1970. I didn't record the numbers at the time, but research suggests they are 3 of D231, D232, D233 and D241.

Holyhead Harbour 1970 (s0002.jpg)

On the same evening, a view of the inner harbour at Holyhead. There is an interesting mix of old and new here, with the station hotel, the ships in the old BR colours and the old style dockyard cranes contrasting with the new yellow container crane. The vessel on the right, alongside the giant shearlegs crane, is one of either the Hibernia or the Cambria, the two passenger-only ferries that were the mainstay of the route to Ireland from 1949 to 1975. June 1970.

D4137 at Holyhead 31-07-72 (if01.jpg)

D4137 is seen shunting coaching stock at Holyhead on the 31st July 1972. Just over 10 years old at the time of this photo, D4137 is in shabby green livery. It had arrived at Holyhead in September 1969, and was renumbered to 08907 in 1974, receiving a repaint into BR blue around the same time. It stayed at Holyhead until February 1983, and remarkably remained in service with EWS and DBS until 2016. It is now preserved at the GCR in Loughborough. Photo courtesy of and copyright Ian Fleming © 2006.

DMU at Holyhead 31-07-72 (if02.jpg)

A 2-car Park Royal DMU stands in Platform 1 at Holyhead on 31st July 1972. Note the small panel inside the cab winow denoting that this is set CR213. The overall 'Euston' roof was removed from here, as the first part of the painfully slow redevelopment of the station, in the mid 70s, and was replaced by improved facilities for train to ship transfer. This dark and gloomy shed was the site of a fatal accident in 1965 when a train from Bangor was signalled into a partially occupied Platform 1 and failed to stop in time because the driver could not see the other coaches in the poor light. Photo courtesy of and copyright Ian Fleming © 2006.