Top photo: The now preserved 47 449 heads a boat train working towards Crewe on the 16th August 1980. Above: Little has changed at Chester and the station still has all the recognisable landmarks from twenty-nine years earlier. The platform canopies though, do seem to have had a good clean, or indeed have been replaced. As with all things 21st century the platform clutter of barrows and Brutes has long since disappeared. (17th April 2009). Of note in both scenes; the absence of the platform roofing midway along its length. This evolves from a severe accident in 1972 when a 38 wagon freight train, headed by Class 24 locomotive No. D5028, 'ran away' on the lines from Warrington and collided with a DMU in the Platform 11 bay. The damaged roofing was never replaced. More here.