North West Area Group

The North West Area Group exists to promote the Talyllyn Railway in the North West. We publicise the Railway at Model Railway Shows throughout the area. We also need help manning the sales/publicity boards at shows (mainly Barrow and Southport in October).  We typically have two Working Parties a year on the Railway, one in Summer and Autumn.

As regards social events, we have a Group outing in the Spring/Early Summer, an AGM with speaker in October and in January we have a Christmas meal.

We keep try Members in the Area informed of forthcoming events by e-mail; if you would like to be on the the e-mail mailing list, pleae contact the Area Secretary or Webmaster (contact details below).

Please contact the Secretary for further information.  The next Norwest Area Group Committee Meeting wil be on Wednesday 8th February 2012.  Please contact us by e-mail or telephone if you have any questions or issues you wish your committee discuss.

Forthcoming Events

Area Cristmas Dinner 20th January 2012

The Area Cristmas Dinner will once again take place in January.  We have booking the Spooking Romm at The Horesehoe Inn, Smithy Lane, Warrington, 7.30pm for 8pm. For more details please contact Tony Kletz.  For more details of the Horsehoe Inn go to

www.thehorseshoeinnatcroft.co.uk

Area Annual General Meeting 2012 Wenesday 10th October 2012

We hoping to hold the 2012 area AGM at the "Hazel Pear", Acton Bridge.  A speaker will be announced nearer the time.

Furness Model Railway Club 50th Model Railway & Transport Exhibition, Barrow Saturday & Sunday, 13th & 14th October 2012

We are hoping to take the area sales stand (as well as the publicty boards) to this 50th annual FMRC exhibition.

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Alan Chorlton Photograph Collection

Alan Chorlton (a former member of the Northwest Area Committee) bequeathed his collection of mainly railway photographs to the Area when he passed away.  These photos cover the TR (mainly the early years of the TR under the Society), Manx Electric Railway, Isle of Man Steam Railway, Welshpool & Llanfair Railway, Leek & Manifold Railway and British Rail main line steam locos to mention just a few examples.  A number of photos of the TR from this collection have been published in a number of books.  The whole photo collection is now in the process of being scanned/digitised with the ultimate intention of making the collection available via this webpage.
 

Recent Events

TR Autumn Outdoor Week 4th - 13th November 2011

This is society-wide event (rather than being an Area Working Party) but this year around 5 North West Area members (plus frieinds and one work colleague) participated in this effort which was mainly concerning the relaying to the track trhough Wharf Cutting.  With slight tongue-in-cheek here is a picture of your web scribe doing some real railway work for once in the role of rail mule (hauling a pair of rails on a track skate to the "rail head").

TRPS Northwest Area AGM & Talk Wednesday 12th October 2011

The Area AGM once again tookplace at the Ship & Mitre, 133 Dale Street, Liverpool, L3 2JH.  A minute's silence was observed in light of the then breaking sad news about Roy Smith.  The AGM was followed by a talk by Dave Smallshaw of the Sankey Canal Restoration Society on the Sankey Canal (which was the earliest canal built during the industrial revolution).  More information about that society can be found on their website.

www.scars.org.uk

The Sankey Canal Restoration Society (SCARS) was formed in 1985, with the help and encouragement of the St. Helens Groundwork Trust. The principal aim of the Society is to achieve the full restoration of the Canal. To bring this about, the Society actively publicises and promotes the cause of the Canal, particularly in the three Boroughs through which it runs - Widnes (Halton), Warrington, and St Helens. To date most of the canal has been conserved, much of it is still in water and a small part is navigable.

Furness Model Railway Club 49th Model Railway & Transport Exhibition, Barrow Saturday & Sunday, 8th & 9th October 2011

The North West Area were represented at the Furness Model Railway Club's (FMRC's) 49th annual exhibition at their new venue of Barrow Sixth Form College, Rating Lane, Barrow in Furness LA13 9LE.
 
The Club had taken the decision, after many year's at the Forum in Duke Street, formerly the Civic Hall, to move to this new site and this proved to be successful. The free parking and the free shuttle bus (Vintage, of course, provided by the Barrow Transport Group) to and from the city centre (Town Hall) and railway station, helped and the influx of visitors as the bus arrrived was noticeable.
 
The well attended show had 12 excellent and varied layouts, including their own "Coppell" OO, supported by many other attractions including model boats, aircraft, radio cars and the usual trade and sales stands and the College's cafeteria did a roaring trade from both visitors and exhibitors alike.
 
Our publicity boards, with new DVD presentations, attracted much attention being near the entrance and we were able to talk to many and encourage them to make the visit to ourselves. We need to ensure that we always have have good supply of information not only about the TR but our area and accommodation. It was noticeable being able to supply this made the visitors think about a visit.
 
We have attended every exhibition the FMRC have held since 1972 (except 1976 when all our volunteers were required in Tywyn to help with the deadline for opening the Extension!) and their 50th show next year should be something special.

http://furnessmrc.webs.com/exhibition.htm

Southport Model Railway Society Exhition Saturday 24th – Sunday 25th September 2011

The 38th Annual Model Railway Exhibition presented by Southport Model Railway Society took place at  Birkdale High School, Windy Harbour Road, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 3DT.

For more details follow this link: -

http://www.southportmodelrailway.org.uk/page9/page10/index.html
 

We took the area publicity boards (with many new photos) and more stewards than in recent years.  Also this was the first outing of our new flat screen TV DVD player which we have obtained recently to replace our ageing portable TV and VHS video player.  The Talyllyn Railway stand was near the entrance to the hall. We couldn't have had a better location!  Our display looked superb down to the efforts of Tony Barbara and Derek setting up on Friday and manning the stand on Saturday.  How do you measure whether the show was a success for TRPS?  We received 21 questionnaires, more than previously. 
A number of comments were overheard about how good the display at Talyllyn looked.  We received invitations to several shows which are new to us.

One Day Canal Cruise Saturday 3rd September 2011

We arranged 1 day canal cruise from Burscough on 3rd September.  The canal trip was good though it rained most of the day.  The trip was attended by eight either members or friends of members.  However the various planned itineraries from Burscough to either Wigan or Tarleton were impossible after the boatyard prohibited us from going through locks (due to “insurance” considerations) and then removed the windlass from the boat. We considered buying a windlass, forfeiting the deposit and leaving their boat half way up the Wigan 21!!  So as it turned out we just cruised form Burscough to Appley Bridge Lock and back again.  One of the crew (Rob - see broad grin on lower photo below) did manage to borrow a windlass when we reach Appley Bridge Lock as we helped several other boats through the lock.  Sadly we did resist the temptation to follow one of the other boats through that lock.  We moored up slightly below Appley Bridge Lock and had a vary pleasant buffet luch prepared by Carol and Barbara.

Garden Railway Visit 17th June 2011

All those who attended Barbara and Derek Eaton's Garden Railway event on Friday 17th June had a very pleasant evening.  As well as the excellent display of radio controlled 32mm gauge live steam models, Derek, Barbara & Phil laid on two barrels of excellent real ale and an excellent buffet supper.

Southport Model Railway Exhibition 24th & 25th September 2010

We took the area publicity display boards to this model railway exhibition.  We organised questionnaires for visitors to the exhbition to complete to find out how much they knew about the TR.  Unforunately due to a last miniute change of plan, it was not possible for the stand to be stewarded this year (so members of the public did not get to see our video of "Railway With a Heart of Gold").

IWA Tom Rolt 100 Rally in Chester 26th & 27th June 2010

Chester was Tom Rolt’s birthplace so in the Centenary Year of his birth, the Chester Branch of the Inland Waterways Association organised their Centenary Rally at the city’s Tower Wharf.

TR loco no. 7 Tom Rolt was taken to the event and displayed there on a low loader (reflecting Tom's involvement with both the TR and the IWA).

Staff and volunteers from Tywyn "manned" no. 7 at the event (see article in September 2010 TR News).  TR Northwest Area members manned a sales stand - the first Area sales event for a number of years.

Canal Trip 12th June 2010

We hired a small day boat ("Poppy") from Black Prince Narrowboat Holidays, Bartington Wharf near Acton Bridge for a day cruise along the Trent & Mersey Canal to the Anderton lift and thence along the Weaver Navigation to Saltersford Lock (and back again).  The part of about 8 people enjoyed glorious weather and a lovely picnic on board.  Going down then later back up the Anderton Lift was a particularly impressive experience. 

Heaton Park Tram Musuem Visit in Memory of Arthur Sancto 25th April 2010

This event was in memory Arthur Sancto who was a life member, from the 1960s, a volunteer in the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and latterly a member of the TRPS North West Area committee for several years.  He died on 3rd March 2009 after a short battle with cancer.

The operation of their horse tram (see picture below) had been sponsored for the day in Arthur’s memory by TR member John Pigott, who was an apprentice along with Arthur at Swindon Locomotive Works and took part in working parties on the TR with him in the 1960s. The 25th April would have been Arthur’s 66th birthday.

Sadly on the day, due to the wet conditions, the museum decided not to operate the horse tram.  Those who attended had to content themselves with rides on the various electric trams (including Manchester 765).

After this event (over the spring and summer) over £600 was raised for the TR from the sale of Arthur Sancto’s railway models.  Arthur's widow Elaine agreed that this money be used to buy a new strimmer for the Outdoor Gang.

Contacts