Peak Rail General Discussion

Peak Rail presents:-

Rob Foxon "Railways Remembered" Film Show

'BRITISH NARROW GAUGE RAILWAYS'

Monday 16 November 2015

Central Library Theatre (near The Crucible), Tudor Square, Sheffield S1 1XZ.
Doors open 1900, show starts 1930
Tickets on the door £7.50

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A leisurely ride along some of Britain's long forgotten narrow gauge railways, calling at such delightful places as Sparrowlee, Wetton Mill and Woody Bay, by the sea! Ride the beautiful Lynton & Barnstaple Railway as part of your pre-war North Devon holiday or take a trip into the 'Secret Valley' in Staffordshire on the little-known Leek & Manifold Light Railway; then see the narrow gauge railways of Wales, still serving the slate industry they were constructed for more than a century before.

Some have been revived and are now part of the thriving railway heritage movement, but this special screening of rare archive films remembers them in their heyday doing the job for which they were originally intended.

Highlights of the evening’s programme are:-

* The Southwold Railway - This 3ft gauge railway from Halesworth to the seaside closed in 1929.

* Rare footage of the Corris & Welsh Highland Railways in commercial service in the 1930's.
* Take a trip into the 'Secret Valley' on the delightfully colonial Leek & Manifold Railwaywhich closed in 1934.

* The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in North Devon. Perhaps the most beautiful narrow gauge railway of all, closed in 1935 as just a bad debt on the books of the Southern Railway.

* Steam on the Galleries! - Rare footage of the giant slate quarries in Wales and their narrow gauge systems.

* Last train on the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway,closed by British Railways in 1956.

* The re-launch of the Talyllyn Railway in 1951. Britain's first preserved railway.

* plus much more.....

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IMPORTANT REMINDER – owing to the Council closing the Library Theatre between Christmas and New Year, our 'End of Year Special' is postponed until Monday 18 January 2016 and now becomes a 'Start of Year Special'.

Details of all our 2016 Meetings and Film Shows are in the new Sheffield Branch Programme 2016 available in the foyer, or on line at www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch - N.B.on-line details presently only to April 2016; May-December should be added shortly).

Interval drinks are available (please pre-order at the bar on arrival).

In the foyer, our usual sales stand with bargain-priced second-hand books, model railway items, videos & DVDs. Additionally a selection of railway-themed Christmas Cards (large and small sizes available) and 2016 Calendars from Platform 5.


Hope to see you.
Dave

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David Sharp
Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch

0114 274 5478
07950 787 231 (text or phone)

d.sharp@sheffield.ac.uk

For Sheffield Branch programme details:
http://www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch
(details up to April 2016; the May-December details should be added shortly)
(all meetings open to non-members)

 

Copied Message from Mr Bond, from the Facebook group;

don't forget the inaugural meeting of the Derwent Valley branch of Peak Rail is taking place in the Duke William on Church Street in Matlock at 7.30pm this Tuesday. Roger Hallatt is talking about 'The story of Peak Rail'. I hope to see you then. MickBond

 

PEAK RAIL EXTENSION PROJECT

Here is a link to news about a return to Buxton:

http://flickread.com/edition/html/index.php?pdf=5640cc96e64fe&w=1000&h=1383&p=76#4

Also see post 1332 re the link to the Bakewell Extension Project..

 

Another fine little update from the Renown and Repulse folks

http://www.renownrepulse.com/news-r...-15th-november-2015.html#sthash.qJXM4M7b.dpbs

 

http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/ne...ay-dream-on-track-to-become-reality-1-7578683

 

Do we need a new thread for this Kestreleyes?..

I suggest: 'Bakewell Extension Project' no silly ' Full steam ahead' nonsense..

 

Have the issues in the past with the Haddon estate, been sorted out now?

 

I would not read too much into this article, there is no reference to the land owners (the Haddon Estate) nor the relevant planning authority (the Peak District National Park Authority)
I hope that Peak Rails dreams are achieved, and I may be proved wrong. But I think that this article is reminiscent of the "we'll be in Buxton in 5 years / 10 years" mantra

 

From the link quoted in post 1332

We will be talking to the local
authorities and we will have to win
the support of the landowners –
Haddon Estates, Derbyshire County
Council and the National Park.”

I would take that as "no not yet "

 

where`s the LIKE button ???, NEED a LIKE button now....

 

only a small one this time;

Called in the other evening at Church Lane to atend to an errant sticky lever and managed to chat with the council team who`ve half rebuilt the dry stone wall alongside the crossing,which is being widened out to 3 metres for the pavement for the cycleway,they are messing about and I was quite impressed they`d done that much in a day or two, they have yet to drop the kerbs and resurface the pavement yet.

Then I called in for a quick brew at rowsley,harveys well on with the final top coat of gloss on the coach in the shed,Chris has reattached the bunker to the auseritys frame so that the bunker can be lined up,beading matched and the profile on the rear bunker to doorway cut and the Penyghent gang have removed the cylinder liners as the next job on their list of restoration items to attend to on the old girl.

till next time stay warm all.

 

Would you like a 10 or 15-min slot in 'YourPix' at the Peak Rail Pie, Pea & Chips Supper on 7 December? If yes, please let me know.
The evening will start as usual with a 'State of the Union' annual update address from a board member of Peak Rail Ltd.

This year it will be Roger Hallatt who has agreed that his presentation can be clipped to 45 minutes because John Wade has kindly offered to do a quiz. The quiz will mostly take the form of multiple-choice answers, but there may be one or two 'nasties' to sort out a tie-break! And there will be prizes. ☺
'YourPix' follows the quiz and supper. Roy Wilson has kindly volunteered a mini-review-of-the-year which 'may' include some local mishaps on road, rail and tram, the recent major changes to Sheffield bus routes, the Blackpool tram festival etc.etc. It is anticipated that Roy's review will last 30-45 minutes, but to allow for members contributions beforehand Roy's start will be postponed until 22.00pm to allow time for 3 or 4 members 'YourPix' slots of 10-15min each beforehand.
If you would like a 'YourPix' slot, it would seriously help if you could let me know a.s.a.p., and whether you would prefer a 10-min or 15-min slot. So far, we have offerings from regulars Stewart Donohoe and John Wade, but Stewart says he would be happy to step aside if there is a rush of 'new blood'!

~~~~~~~
FOOD
If you would like a Pie, Pea & Chips Supper, I will be giving final numbers to Liz tomorrow morning (Fri 4 December). If you don't yet have a ticket (£6), or haven't contacted me, please get in touch as soon as possible. E-mail or text will be best because I will be out this afternoon, and out again this evening. Contact details below.
thankyou,
Dave

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David Sharp
Peak Rail, Sheffield Branch
(h) 0114 274 5478
(m) 07950 787 231 (phone or text)
(e) d.sharp@sheffield.ac.uk
www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch

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more to update after the weekend as its planned to be joined by some colleagues from the Embsay to Bolton Abbey railway who are giving us a hand for two days down the line.

dom

 

Update from mr Briddon following completion of two barrier wagons Thelma and Louise, for a contract, the link to the Weekend Rails blog below has more details on the works and there's a couple of photographs courtesy of Mr Briddon.

http://www.weekendrails.co.uk/wrails2/latest-posts/282.html

 

A. Very productive weekend and a busy if a bit windy one too.

Saturday started by uncovering the buried signal cable in the house fence line behind church lane with Andrew, after several holes dug every few metres or so we gained enough to be able to pull it out along the surface,before running it trackside and reconnecting it again, there's still the telecomms cable to do but chatting to David and Jim today it may be an old cable not in service anymore,il have to trace the box end and work back from there.

That job done I headed upto rowsley again to look at the head shunt point which was giving the loco crews problems that morning,part of which is the sleepers at the front end had dropped onto the stretcher rods,thus a lift and a pack was done,but then it was spotted that the compensator bench had split itself right through the middle where the crank was bolted down,hence one end banging up and the other hardly moving, Tim and Pete from over the hill at the Yorkshire dales railway were coming on Sunday to give me a hand as part of a favour for services rendered ,so I sourced a good spare half timber sleeper and got that on site ready for Sunday to be done.

The day finished off with a nip upto Darley to square up two sleepers where the signal number 2 cross wire goes a roast he down,these had drifted together on the middle in a v shape,having jacked them apart I fitted a metal bar with coach screws to stop that end moving again,the other end being already fixed to a pulley wheel plate on the sleeper end.

Sunday,threatened to start off very wet,but by the time I'd got over tideswell the weather turned sunnier, Tim and Pete had arrived so after a quick brew we set about replacing the timber compensator bench and resetting the points up again, rob and john arrived but by finish we'd concluded it may be a good idea getting the stretcher rods changed as the lhs rail chokes up a little at the rear before the front,and likely the toes of the rails required squaring up again as an added measure, something for the last week in Christmas there, john has been busy sorting out various things midweek including the batteries at riverside and some more power sockets under church lane plus some power faults at Darley station.

After a quick look around site and a chat with Ian, we headed off to see David and Jim in the telephone exchange and look at the new concentrator to replace the protowire version currently in riverside which Peter has made with Pete,Jim and David have been working on recently.

We ended the day after more coffee and tea by ferrying the sleepers Roger set aside for us from the locos he'd down to the head shunt, these will be used to block the weights on the wire adjusters up so that they are level, it'd be an easy job for the loading shovel and some chains but with folks being busy at present I'd rather do it in house first,there's two ways, firstly we could jack the weights up with my 10 ton jack or we could use the turf or on the rear arm of the weight and sling this back underneath the supporting beam to the rail,pulling the rear arm down would lift the weights at the front, or a combination of both, wel see .

Dom S&T

 

The article in Steam Railway is causing quite a commotion on Facebook (Bakewell Start). Oddly no official comment from any of the parties who are key to this project

 

Why take anything in Steam Beano at face value?

 

A little pre Christmas update before the festivities begin, Santa trains are going well and are fully booked up, myself I've been busy,fitting all the wire and chains to the self adjusting gear at rowsley,creosoting crank benches at riverside as well as maintenance there,sorting out a leak on the cabin end,a drain at church lane,putting more wheel benches in the ground,making and finishing up the foot board on rowsley cabin,plus a load of other stuff besides there's still more to do in the next couple of days too

Down at rowsley the lmsca have been busy. Over the weekend, so have the Heritage shunters folks and the Ashover Group have been continuing to put the sections of their shed together ,the concrete base is finished for this now too.

In the loco shed,the Wickham trolley has been completely stripped to its chassis and new sections welded and fabricated,the bodywork will be remade and I told onmy the roof section will be kept from the original material, penyghent has had its cylinder liners returned,the piston rings are due to be sorted next and the pistons have been machined to accept the new rings, Chris has been busy putting all the valves and pipework back in the cab of the austerity ready for when then boiler is returned from its repair work,the bunker has been refitted and is slowly being completed and work is on with the steam crane too.

All in all very busy including mencap who have been tidying up the shed site too.

In all likelihood the next update will be after Christmas so a good Christmas to you all and a happy new year to you all out there in railway land from us all down at the Peak Railway

 

Just a reminder there is no running this weekend as the access bridge to the site at Rowsley is being re-decked.

Dave

 

The bridge deck at rowsley has been renewed with new sleepers ,done by rob and the gang today, the Hst and LMSCA chaps were also busy as was the team in the shed working away on the interior of one of the dmu sets.

Myself I was a little busy too as being rostered to work riverside but with no trains running I did some other stuff instead

Instead I nipped I to rowsley to finish off crimping up a sling cable on the self adjusting weights and then proceeded to mount the feet for the long square bars that form part of the adjusting mechanism, that done a bit of shed work on an old lamp case which used to be atop church lane gate required some migwelding to repair a rotted base which has had a new bit of thicker steel plate fitted now.

On other matters I've had a reply back regarding the other half of the wire worked frame which is available and we are in the process of trying to acquire,hopefully in the coming weeks il have a trip over to it and be able to see what available,with an update soon.

I've also had ten boxes of signalling and construction books donated by our colleague mr Alinson and after a bit of a sort out I've some signalling books in one large pile hat fills three boxes and some construction,British standards and electrical manuals in another two boxes which il get to the shed gang as particularly usefull things.

Beyond that I've not involved the contractors as yet for a quote on the brickwork base for rowsley shed as busy with riverside this month,but towards the end of the month il ask them in to get a quote.

Harvey has located around twenty pulley stakes from the old canopy for santas that were stored in the events coach and these are now outside the store, which will save having to make any more il for a while at least

I managed to clear a bit more of the stores out today and did some tidying up at rowsley and riverside,as well as a check on the frame at rowsley and showing a colleague around who was in the area on other matters signalling related.

Finally this week I recovered some lengths of old channel rodding From Litton mill which had been residing in the old gas house garden probably since the previous occupants acquired them from the scrap man when the line through millers dale was ripped up, they await shipping to the railway from mine but will do for either under box lengths or the shorter closure bits from cranks to point ends.

 

Received this by email today

White Peak Loop
White Peak Loop East – Matlock area:

Phase l between Matlock and Old Road, Darley Dale. Agreement has now been reached with Peak Rail over the final outstanding issue relating to the design of the proposed rail crossing and work is due to start on site in February 2016.

Phase 2 through the Whitworth Park between Station Road, Darley Dale and Church Road, Churchtown received planning approval in December 2015. As one of the sections on this phase is important for amphibians, work will not start on site on this section until after the end of April.

Phase 3 between Church Road, Churchtown and Harrison Way, Northwood - work is completed on the section alongside the railway between the southern end of the Peak Rail car park and Church Road. Several County Council work teams are on site working on the remainder of this phase including the highway sections at either end.


Phase 4 between Harrison Way and Old Station Close, Rowsley has received planning permission and work is due to start on site in January 2016.

​

Work is also progressing on the section betweenRowsley and Bakewell. Negotiations are ongoing with Peak Rail over the A6 road crossing and a number of bat surveys have been carried out over the summer months in the Haddon Tunnel to look at roosting and swarming activity. The red dots in the picture attached, taken with a thermal imaging camera in July, shows 2 bat roosts high up in one of the breeze block end walls of the tunnel. A recent meeting with Natural England reviewing survey work already carried out and discussing possible mitigation measures was positive. The next stage is to liaise with relevant groups and organisations and work up more detailed designs. As reported before, these issues will mean that this section will not be completed before the current project finishes.