Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

Five I think, including BR built LMS design. One brake in service, thos Third Open, plus another which is just about complete inside but needs painting, and a compartment coach which came from the Foxfield. Finally there is an inspection saloon whikch was used several years ago but probably needs a full rebuiold now.

 

Further progress on the LMS third open, shown succesfully re-united with its bogies, 8th July 2025. Subject to succesful brake tests, it will enter traffic at the gala weekend, 18th-20th July.

 

There is rain forecast for next week, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and fitting spark arrestors in readiness for next weekend.

Meanwhile, and additional feature of the gala will be demonstartion runs by one of our road/rail land rovers within the station limits at Wirksworth, and subject to availablity, we hope to provide Land Rover Driving experiences for £5-00.

 

Wirksworth had heavy rain yesterday, and both The Duke and Moorbarrow have had stainless steel fine mesh spark arrestors fitted. We noe expect to be running steam services this weekend.

Meanwhile there are plans for the event to include a film show and uncensored talk on the adventures of railway volunteers in earlier years, to be given in the conference room on Saturday Afternoon. If you have read any of the articles called "Memoirs of a Railway Volunteer" in the "Bullhead Memories" section of this site then you may have an idea of the content. If it works out we may do it again on Sunday.

 

Apologies for the late reply, I have been a bit busy. At the moment there are five LMS or LMS design coaches at Wirksworth:

Brake Third 27001 -in traffic
Third Open 27162 - in traffic
Brake Third 5734: restoration at an advanced stage, gloss painting in progress.
Third compartment 27249: at an early stage, but this coach was nominally complete when it came from the Foxfield railway.

There is also an LMS design inspection saloon. 27001 and 27162 are in regular daily use.

 

Other news from Wirksworth:

Work has started on the next phase of the station building, which is being managed and financed by EVRA. The aim is to get the second part of the business roofed and watertight before the winter. EVRA have got an absolutely massive stock of second hand books to sell, and some new ones. There is a specialmoffer on at the moment: buy three second hand books and get the cheapest one free. The books are generally priced to sell and I am aware that at least one outside group comes in to buy them for stock to re-sell.

One again we have had the pleasure of a visit from the staff and students from the University of Birmingham School of Railway Engineering, who spent three days with us at the beginning of this week and tackled a variety of tasks with energy and enthusiasm. First they levelled and packed a newly built turnout and headshunt which enables the shed yard to be shunted without going out on to the Ravenstor Incline. They also put a new switch blade into a turnout which needed a little love and care, assembled timber S & T support benches, dug several neat holes for the benches at Wash Green (just south of Wirksworth Station) to receive them, and went down the line to Gorsey Bank where they dug out and changed several timber sleepers. Finally, they trollied the benches down to Wash Green and began planting the benches in their holes, a tricky job as the holes are deliberately a tight fit. They managed to plant five out of nine by the end of their visit. Many of them had never done any practical railway work before, so this was a very good show.

The Duke happened to be in steam at the end of their stay, so we were able to give them a lift down to Duffield to catch their train back to Birmingham.

 

Was one of the LMS Carriages formerly resident on the Mid Hants?
Used to be used for Messing and Sleeping in the early 80's at Ropley bought by the LMS group and John Graham.
If not, any idea which one and where is it now.

 

The only possible candidate to the best of my knowledge would be 5734, which is privately owned and came via Butterley. If I get any definite information i will post it here.

 

5734 is now looking very smart in crimson gloss and was being prepared for lining last weekend.

Here is a picture of the EVRA station building extension, taken about a week ago. The work has come on rapidly since then; the timbering is just about complete and tiling is well advanced. EVRA have received further substantial stocks of second hand railway books; at this rate they are going to need the extra space!

I also attach a picture of our MH5 excavator unloading ground signals at Wash Green. This project started from scratch two weeks ago; good progress but there is still a lot to do. We are looking for FPL detector items if anyone has them to spare. We have a list of available signalling relays if anyone would like to arrange a swap.

 

The station building now has a roof. EVRA are raising money to complete the work; book sales are an important part of this and I gather a further 750 books have arrived. Meanwhile the signalling project at Wash Green, just South of Wirksworth Sation is making good progress. We now have most of the FPL detector parts we were looking for and can fabricate the rest if we have to. The ground signals have been wired in, and we are in the process of linking them to the ground frame; the picture shows a small milestone: the first signal to be operated from the frame.

 

The first stage of the signalling at Wash Green has now been commissioned, and controlled the 1700 departure from Wirksworth on 6th December, ;ess than two months from the start of the work This is thought to have been the first signalled departure possibly since 1934 when the Wirksworth signal box was closed. We will resume work in the New Year, the target is to complete the second stage in time for the Twin Peaks gala in March.

Meanwhile, one of the original yard lighting columns has been overhauled and re-erected alongside the new ashpit, at least one more is to follow shortly. 5734 was being lined out in the shed when i last saw it about two weeks ago, completion will depend on the weather and the shed remaining clear of condensation.