Early Morning Trains on the Welsh Valley Line - Monday 19th August, 2019

Today in the early hours of the morning, we went to railway stations Ystrad Mynach and Lisvane & Thornhill to film the two morning loco hauled Class 37 passenger sets on the Rhymney to Cardiff Central run, with a couple of Class 142 / 143 Pacer units, and Class 150 Sprinter units seen in the mix.

We visited these two stations as part of our current project, which is entitled, 'Return of the Welsh Valley Tractors', which will showcase the epic return of Class 37 hauled passenger services on the Cardiff to Rhymney line after 13 years since their final appearance in service with Arriva Trains Wales in December 2005.

The Class 37s are to hopefully continue running loco hauled services into 2020, as they have been proven very popular with railway enthusiasts. Transport for Wales are looking to keep them running services into the New Year.

37025, 37421 & 37418 were all running on the loco hauled service trains, with 025 and 421 being top and tailed together on the first train.

The Pacer units are due to terminate their long-term runs on the Welsh Valley lines by the end of 2019, after serving well over 30 years in passenger service. The Pacer units mainly featured in this short film are 143605 & 143601.

A railtour organised by the Branch Line Society group will be in Cardiff on Sunday 6th October, 2019, entitled 'Cardiff Valleys Pacer Farewell', which will see Class 143s on a railtour across the Welsh Valley lines in a final farewell event to their 30 years in service on the Cardiff Valleys.

Filmed on Monday 19th August, 2019.

Filmed by Thomas Coombes and Scott Coombes
Produced by Thomas Coombes

(C) 2019 GrimlockTrainz Productions