Spa Valley Railway - Latest News

No, the Bluebell are heading south, turning left and following the formation of the Ouse Valley Railway to Uckfield...

Tom

 

This maybe calls for some joined up thinking!

 

Hooking up with the Lavender Line along the way, of course... and given that the Ouse Valley line was intended to get as far as Hailsham... well, I'll leave y'all to join up the dots

There have been / are / will always be some madcap schemes for reopening disused railways... but opening even just a tiny bit of the Ouse Valley branch for the first time would cap the lot!

 

We take heart from the positive reception afforded the Meon Valley Railway scheme in parts of the mainstream press

Tom

 

If anyone actually wants to see what's round the Ashurst Spur then book Thursday 31st July - Sunday 3rd August in the diary, as part of the Summer Diesel Gala I'm planning to make use of the left hand siding, which will be empty (very very rare situation to arise) for those wanting to 'obtain the track'. I wouldn't expect it to happen all too often as the shunting to make it free does take a bit of time and planning.

 

welcome aboard sir, good to see more railways doing the updates too

 

April 26th 2014 needs to be a date for the diaries as the Spa Valley Railway is re-opening part of Groombridge's Old Station Building for railway use. This will become our new entrance way to Groombridge station and include a new ticket office as well as an admin office. We are sub-leasing a section of the building from the Parish Council.

Work was well on the way to completion on Tuesday and Wednesday of the rebuilt ticket office, the next stage is re-instating the platform side entrance doors.

 

Good news Jonnie just the signal box to be finished now

 

Its getting there but like everything its the time and money factor stopping it from happening overnight, a lot has progressed with Groombridge S&T this past year though.

 

Get notworkrail to put the junction onto the main line and the money could come in handy from track hire for there trains to TWW

 

At what cost?
Two million pounds just for the signalling. At least that is what the council paid towards the Worgret Junction upgrade for Swanage Railway.

 

A mainline connection would be lovely and there's nothing to say we won't seriously try in the future to connect up physically with the national rail network. The biggest issue will be butting into a mainline rather than butting onto (such as Alton) the protecting signals for anything going in would be at Ashurst Junction or Crowborough so we'd probably have to look at a Ground Frame type connection but there's a lot more to anything we'd put in that what I could type away on here.

First things first will be Eridge Run-Round Loop and Groombridge Signal Box coming live.

 

A quick update on the locomotive side of things:

Jinty - The stripdown of the loco is progressing very well, although we have had to divert resource away from it recently to focus on the working fleet. An update can be found on the loco elsewhere on this forum, but we are pleased with progress and hopefully very soon there will be some visible progress to show.

Spartan & Ugly - Both locos passed their dry annual boiler exams last week and are being reaseembled for their steam tests in 2 weeks time.

RSH 'Samson' - The frames of this loco were stored over the weekend following preparation over the last couple of months. They are now stored on a new siding at Tunbridge Wells with fellow RSH 'North Downs'.

Sutton - A new lifting hoist and associated strops etc has now been purchased and fitted. This now allows the existing A frame in the shed to be positioned so that we can lift the cylinder into the frames for final fitting.

C&W - The MK1 TSO that has been in the shed was lifted off its bogies at the weekend so that these can be fully stripped down. This will be ongoing into the spring until our May Thomas weekends come due.

A new Coal Hole! - At long last funding has been secured which allows us to complete the new coal hole, started around 3 years ago. Our civils team has swung into action and construction is well underway. Hopefully this will be completed in the early season which will allow our current area to rever to its originally planned ash tip. The whole project will significantly tidy up the whole yard in that corner.

Landslip - Unfortunately the recent atrocious weather has highlighted further problems with our landslip at Tunbridge Wells and the planned return of passenger trains to the old formation is on hold for the moment. our civil engineer was on site yesterday and a planned repair has been agreed and work will be starting very soon. Unfortunately we do need to get hold of another excavator from somewhere.

Matt

 

To add to Matts news, on the Diesel side situation is :

33065 Sammy - metalwork renewal is coming along nicely, almost one side completed between cabs with new engine room door step, 50 % done on the other side. The loco is a lot less corroded than a lot of BRCW bodies.

Class 10 TOM now back on works trains after the rod brass bushes have been made a tight fit in the rods instead of sliding in and out on curves causing the rod its self to be ground away by the cap. A new oil radiator element has been fitted as well.

33063 REG is available for traffic, I will soon start the annual round of VMI checks. The loco was started, with brakes and traction power tested out ok couple of weeks ago.

1317 The overhauled turbo is now back on site and is planned to be put back on the engine this week during a weather window using our new lifting gantry from Mercian. The engine has been stripped and painted, the engine room alloy side sheets all put back on and cleaned down , new window trims fitted, and new blue silicon flexible hoses bought.

Southerham the 040 Drewry has had its new axleboxes machined so once the brake rods and bushes are fettled up the loco can be rewheeled. The lovely Gardener engine has been run up regularly and batteries kept charged whilst the loco has been perched on a Lomac and the fluid flywheel oil has been changed for modern equivalent of the original specification oil.

Class 37 was started last week but still needs a fan clutch and other brake work.

Class 12 is stored.

15T Taylor Hubbard self propelled crane is in the shed for the House to get attention and repaint in crane appropriate bright yellow. After the paint flakes have ceased, the electrical systems will get a make over with the intention of making the Crane self propelled again. Some ex ODM chaps who looked after these cranes in BR days have offered to hold our hands with the recommissioning of the electrical systems.

Class 31 is stored during the winter

Class 73 has been used on the works trains over the winter whilst the Class 10 was having its rod work done. It is planned to go into the Shed for a much deserved clean down and repaint in the Spring as well as a few maintenance jobs on the list. The owners have been teasing us as to what livery it will reappear in.

Brian

 

A quick update from around the railway:

Jinty 47493 - We had another hugely successful works party yesterday and the loco is coming apart quite rapidly. There is a separate thread in the 'Steam Traction' part of the forum.

RSH 'Ugly' - The loco successfully passed it's boiler test last week and is undergoing final maintenance to ready it for the new season. This has included a new coat of paint on the running plates as well as some extra little additions.

TKh 'Spartan' - Unfortunately we are still having a few boiler problems with the loco but our boilersmith and inspector were on site last week and a way forward formulated. Apart from this, the loco has a couple of other minor items to rectify but is generally ok.

Terrier 'Sutton' - The second water tank is now receiving coats of paint following completion of it's repairs. We hope to re-commence work on this very soon.

33063 'R.J. Mitchell' - Currently in the yard undergoing its annual Vehicle Maintenance Inspection (VMI) prior to be released back into passenger traffic.

A New Kitchen Car! - The railway has recently purchased a MK1 BG, which will in the medium term, be converted to a kitchen car. This will significantly improve the catering services we can offer visitors, from full-blown meals, to breakfasts or additional catering facilities at Eridge on busier days. The main drive behind this purchase is to allow our caterers to prepare food on-site in a suitable vehicle. It does require full restoration and an appeal will be launched soon to raise funds, which will be significant due to the nature of its purpose. This weekend saw the vehicle lifted off its bogies and these swapped, which necessitated lowering the TSO back onto its bogies temporairily; the joys and ease of having Matterson jacks!. The reason for the bogie swap is part of the very good deal we got on the vehicle.

Coal Hole - Out in the yard the Civils team are making some good headway towards getting the area ready for concreting. It is hoped our first coal delivery of 2014 will use this space.

Landslip - The team have been clearing the site in preparation for commencement on the revised design. They are currently building up the logistics/methodology side of things before a start is made.

Groombridge Old Station Building - If you were not aware, the opportunity came up last year for the railway to lease part of the old station building at Groombridge from the local parish council. This givesw the railway a real presence in the village again, and something grand our visitors will now be welcomed with when they arrive, instead of the former side gate which was difficult to locate. The building does require some conversion works but we are planning to have a grand re-opening on Saturday 26th April. Currently building and electrical works are underway.

Matt

 

Well done!

 

Been suggested to me that visiting the SVR and the town of Tunbridge Wells would be a good idea. Could anyone suggest to me the best route by rail ? I understand it can be reached on foot from TW, or if we travel to Eridge, (changing at Uckfield), it's even easier ?

Many thanks

 

Change at Oxted not Uckfield for Eridge, if you are on an East Grinstead service from London Victoria.Uckfield services run to/from London Bridge. Where are you travelling from?

 

You can walk through Tunbridge Wells from the main line station to West or you can get the London Bridge-Uckfield service and get off at Eridge. There's no need to go through to Uckfield unless you want to.

 

It'd be London Bridge for us I suspect as originating from Harpenden