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Peak Rail General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by kestreleyes, Nov 22, 2009.

  1. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    This weekend we split into two , Andrew carried on with the finishing of the glands on the station lamps at darley and i split off to repaint location cupboards between darley and church lane, so the crossing ones da2, da6,da5,da4, motor point locs and the telecomms loc in North yard are all redone, but I will come back and grind down the roof on da1 next darley box as it needs stripping down and repainting

    The pipe for the car park lamps at Rowsley has also been dug in from the power loc to the fence line

    And I finished off whiting out the box sign too

    Roger was busy sorting out some sleepers for the headshunt relating up at riverside and the VBA wagons were out in the loop so the yard could be accessed.

    The Ashover light railway were also about it being their agm, managed to have a quick chat and the work they’re doing is making good progress, the continued work on their vertical boilers “Jaywick” is continuing,

    Up at the HST work
    Continues on various locos, one 060 was having its bodywork redone and some door metal work on one side , I also managed to help out Kev with some wiring with the hipress crimper to finish some battery lugs.
     

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  2. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Bit of a busy day this weekend and whilst it started cold it ended lovely and warm, managed to repaint the up starter signal, meanwhile Andrew finished off the testing and wiring up of the platform lamps and all ten on both platforms now illuminate, then we decamped to riverside to move a sleeper back off the bridge point where it’s been binding up on the detector rods, that done we made new sleeper ties , drilled and spiked them down on both sides to stop the sleeper drifting forward again.

    Darley station has had a good deal of repainting completed lately which looks good in the autumn sun

    I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with the various loco groups but did manage to ferry several car loads of half sleepers upto the Renown and Repulse group for their upcoming engine lift.

    Work continues on getting the fittings for the Rowsley lamps up and running, some of the restored fittings are starting to be reassembled by Ben, keep up the good work folks.

    Elsewhere the locking demonstration model is slowly coming together , just got to fit the Perspex cover now it’s all painted up.
     

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  3. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Ben is doing an excellent job with those lamps!
     
  4. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Started off the day Last weekend with some maintenance work early on up at Church lane and found some battery wires at the motor point that needed replacing so attended to those before moving onto Rowsley with John and tried all the points off the frame, again all working well though we adjusted number 3 and 6 ends a little to balance up the action exactly. We’ve decided the Fpl crank on 3 could really do with being 3 inches in to the rail so next Friday wel unscrew the chair and redrill the plate with the mag still to move it in then Itl be properly on action

    Elsewhere some of the VBA wagons on store moved off on Allelys wagons , the permanent way were out with D8 on the works train meanwhile 5553 work progresses on fittings and fiddly bits she’s looking good.

    At least we beat the rain
     

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  5. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Andrew , John and myself set about altering the position of the Fpl drive plates at Rowsley box this morning before the impending rain was forecast , which held off long enough to get it done, Wed worked out that the centre line of the point operating box should be the centre line of the cranks slipper after colleagues noted the off action operation affecting the length the rod went through the Fpl, the easy part being to unscrew the chair screws tht hos the plate down and also jack the rail slightly to free the plate for moving, that done the plate was reset up in line and the rod temporary G clamped to test, then once right the rod cut and repunched withbthe rodding punch and all put back together again, then some fine setting on the rod end to length

    With time still available John went to the ahed and stiles some locking bolts for R clips and Andrew Civil kindly lathed down a pin for the other mainline end point so that all are fitted with quick release pins

    We also started trimming up the fence line which was full of deadwood and needed some tidying up, the foliage will get mulched up soon.

    The shed gang have been doing sterling work, 5553 cab looks like a proper loco again, she’s coming along nicely.

    Finally a photo of the darley station lamps illuminated after all the recent hard work, thanks to Benjamin Riley


    The permanent way have been changing bridge timbers on maintenance and some more spot sleepering is due to be done at Rowsley soon.


    and for the love of it a nice photo of one of the many local rainbows we had yesterday in between the rain hail sleet and sunshine round here .
     

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  6. dggar

    dggar New Member

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    Is there any feedback or report about this year's AGM?
     
  7. Vulcan Works

    Vulcan Works Member

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    Don’t be silly!

    If shareholders care to read the latest PR accounts that have been filed you will see that the Board can’t entirely blame Covid for its financial woes because the decline predates Covid by several years.

    https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02071143/filing-history

    ‘Material uncertainty’ on page 10 and note 3 are interesting or depressing depending on your point of view. The Auditors report is less glowing than presented in the summary accounts. It’s almost as if the Directors forgot to mention some important information to shareholders before the AGM!
     
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  8. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Andrew and myself spent the day rebuilding the south yard loc which is wooden, the left hand side had rotted away so a new piece was made and fitted and the whole location cupboard repainted in base coat.

    We also repainted the other wooden loc by the signalbox and after grinding off the loose stuff on the metal loc we call DA1 by the box that had primer and then a base coat put upon it too, the base coats will be repainted on dark grey next time weather permitting

    John is sorting out the cable between the distant and the loc by the telephone exchange which whilst not in use there is a plan to get the cable back into use as a good operational cable to replace the rubber four core to the distant. There also a redundant telephone cupboard by the point to be taken out once we’ve sorted out where the cable joint inside goes as that cupboard being wooden is also life expired and the cable can be better put onto a joint unit.

    Up at Rowsley the lamp posts have had a second coat of red , more to come. The top hats for these are in production but the Rochesters are overhauled and starting to be put back together.

    Mr Briddon had “Ludwig Mond” in the south yard headshunt so couldn’t resist taking a nice shot with the light in the right place

    The Renown and Repulse gang were doing some restoration on the cabs , filling and repainting with the good weather.

    Lastly managed to check out the Datley Station lamps lit at dusk we’ve recently finished wiring up and putting the heads on, all work well and look good.


    Apart from that Andrew has located a document in the Midland Record relating to wire worked points local to Derbyshire so I shall be digesting that over the next few days.
     

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  9. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

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    I'm no accountant so can you or someone explain Page 16 "Cash Flows from Financing Activities":- Amount Withdrawn by Directors - £40,000 ???
     
  10. huochemi

    huochemi Part of the furniture

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    Likely to be repayment of the interest free Director's loan referred to on p4 in line 3 of the review of business. However, although whoever wrote the review considers this loan repayment contributed to the loss of £87,493, a loan repayment has no impact on the P&L account, unless the "contributing factor" they refer to was the interest payment on a commercial loan facility which replaced this interest free one.
     
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  11. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Looking at the published figures:
    The enormous loss was 'caused' by the absence of legacies, worth £110k the year before. If you take that out the company is trading at a loss, well before COVID. They have the same number of employees (7) as the much larger GWSR, mostly shop and cafe staff. (4). I wonder if the shop/cafe actually contribute to the bottom line, given the total wages paid (90k)
    The loss and part repayment of a director's loan have made the company illiquid, more than last year. Cash reserves were down to £1k.

    Time to prune the expenses, I'd say. I don't think money people leave you should be counted as operating income, as it disguises how well you are operating without it. It should be exceptional income, much further down the P&L.
     
  12. Alistair Lofthouse

    Alistair Lofthouse New Member

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    Did anyone hear what happened re Grinsty case?

    Guess that would have been talked about at AGM

    Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
     
  13. Vulcan Works

    Vulcan Works Member

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    Some really nice pics there Kestreleyes. Darley lamps are atmospheric.
     
  14. Vulcan Works

    Vulcan Works Member

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    Improving the railway’s offering to passengers or an online shop would increase revenue and reducing loco hiring fees and operating costs and avoiding legal debacles would reduce expenses.

    In answer to gwilialan, a Director made a substantial loan to PR in 2017. £40k of it was still on loan at the end of 2018 to make PR’s year end cash-at-bank look better than it was. It was repaid in the first few weeks of 2019 and hence appeared in the 2019 accounts. Technically nothing wrong with that but yes as with the legacy income, not good accounting practice because it masks the true P&L trading performance of the company. We can only wonder why the Directors would embark on such a strategy...
     
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  15. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

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    Still claiming £142k and no provision has been made according to last accounts
     
  16. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Had a day doing all the oiling and greasing prior to the next lockdown so at least now winters here everything’s ready, also adjusted 8 points at riverside which wouldn’t detect reverse and tried all the signals again before moving onto church lanes motor point and giving that a heavy degrease and relube, clean the detection contacts and find any blocked up grease nipples.

    In the end between showers and sunny spells I managed to find only one nipple on all the signalling that needed replacing which is nice

    John has finished fixing the motor point battery charging circuit and is on with new battery straps for after the lockdown and we’ve all got some homework to keep us occupied during the next month at least

    5553 continues to go back together well, most of the big bits are all on bar a few fittings in the cab and from the cylinders but she’s looking good, as are a few of the heritage shunters locos that are coming back together nicely too, one pictured just having had a load of bodywork completed and on with painting.


    The mists and rainbows giving the area some interesting weather today.
     

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  17. daveannjon

    daveannjon Well-Known Member

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  18. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    With only important work for now on site , the damaged fence atop Rowsley cycle trail/field boundary has started to be looked at , several of the posts and fence had ended up on the trail , either through foul weather or vandalism, luckily it was spotted on Facebook and passed onto us,

    On signalling the old signalling cable between darley crossing and north yard has reached the time To be replaced as these things do after many years to keep things safe, so a trip upto Rowsley to find the replacement drum from the store and then run it out, bury part of it and clear the rest up and that part of the day fortunately went well and reasonably quickly too.

    Next time the middle joint and the ends will be stripped , loop And megger tested and then hopefully the same day put onto the terminals in place of the current old rubber cable.

    Apart from that I checked over some of the boxes for security and with Rowsley being damp aired it out while
    Letting the stove dry the place out a little

    Whilst popping the unused drums back into store I noticed amongst the shelves two sperry pump units, which it turns out have never been used, so they’ve also gone in the store to dry out and had a once over , theyl get tested on a 110 supply sometime
    And if good will go to church lane as spares for the motor point pump units, they still have the factory grease on

    At present not much else to report on though I know the HST chaps were checking over their fleet for security and to make sure all were good over the winter period with freezing conditions affecting things like radiators and batteries etcetera.
     

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  19. Vulcan Works

    Vulcan Works Member

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    It’s good to have a website at last. If it can be kept up to date with details of progress, tasks and fundraising then it might inspire people to support the railway, practically and financially.
     
  20. Alistair Lofthouse

    Alistair Lofthouse New Member

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    For those missing Peak Rail we still have a few of these MonsalTrail Then & Now books left at

    Www.aldmodels.co.uk/shop[​IMG]

    Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
     

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