Peak Rail General Discussion

il kick start the fine work by the previous gentleman from the lmsca on another topic thread.

whats been happening down the line this weekend;22/11/09

on signalling and telecommunications, david and jim have been working away in Rowsley exchange, repairing various telecomunications items .

ive undertaken to do more clearing out from under darley ex bamford signalbox,its now empty ready for lifting,which will be next year now.

weve had a visit by one of the senior engineers from NR,ive showed him round our installation at church lane and the new box being worked on at rowsley,he seemed to have enjoyed his trip out,before getting him back to his missus at rowsley so they could continue their day out.

following that i got a bit waylayed and assisted a gentleman in the shop with his questions relating to the railway, which just left enough time to go up to church lane and do some measuring up of the crossing and check the signs on the roadside that they still meet the current legal requirements et al!

work on the gate wheel gear in my garage continues, the missing cast cover for one end of the drive shaft is being machined out of a block of steel ,the holes are now drilled and the art of grinding it away will happen this week as im on lates and can do that in the mornings..

still awaiting wood for the ex luffenham box,will crack on with that when it arrives.

hoping for a january/february date for possible inspection of token works if the inspector is free,still working on final paperwork upon this to various departments happiness levels.

on the narrow gauge the volunteers have gained some waggon chassis complete from a quarry in derbyshire (cannot say where at present,an article on this should appear in the PEAK EXPRESS sometime.

i could see at least one regular volunteer on the class 50 locos working away against the rain at rowsley,but didnt get time to stop and chat unfortunately.

someone mentioned the possibility of an lms freight train sometime,the idea is being looked into,but is in very early days, il leave it upto the official anouncements from those concerned, it would be lovely to see tims,andy`s,bens and the lmsca associations waggons running on that event day..

more work has been undertaken upon the locomotive shed/workshops,looking towards a finishing off within a couple of months.

the guttering on the HST shed is complete,work seems to be concentrating on starting the framework for its doors.

please feel free to add to this;



while on id like to add my thoughts and well wishes to those who suffered in the recent weather up in Cumbria,the railway here is on the derwents banks and we see it regularly get very high and sometimes break its banks and flood the valley out,our best wishes to a speedy recovery to you all!

 

Cheers Dom.
As well as being a footplate and steam maintanance volunteer,I've been busy hiding in the Renown Repulse container for the last 6 months.
Since the summer,I have overhauled approximately 16 brake cylinders,many that had been salvaged from class 37s at Booths.This work involved unassembling the cylinders,making an intitial assesemnt of their condition and then cleaning down by various methods.When completely clean of rust and debris,the cylinders were honed to a polished finish.
This will provide us with a full set of 12 for 50030,but we still need another set for 029 and spares.
Working in conjunction with the team overhauling the ex-50008 power unit,I have started to remove external piping for cleaning and painting,and making a start of needle gunning and cleaning the main block,weather permitting of course!

 

At the Peak Rail Chesterfield branch meeting

At the Chesterfield branch meeting Mervyn Alcock of the Barrow Hill roundhouse assoc, did a presentation about Barrowhill roundhouse.

At the next branch meeting Ken Grainger is going to talk about the Lynton and Barnstable railway.

 

Peak Rail is now on Twitter! thanks to one of our volunteers Mr Tait.

 

Weekend 29/11/09

this reports slightly more biased towards s&t as thats what i was doing this weekend.

the other train ready to start button was fitted to the platform fencing at darley dale,this makes one in the middle and one at the end of the platform depending on the consist/rake set up.

the old telephone on the up platform that used to be used before two train running for calling church lane box has been removed, its in the garage being repaired and then wil, be mounted next the new platform button box so there will be a phone on the down platform too.

the gate wheel is now complete and it is planned to mount this upstairs in church lane box over the end of christmas week.

on a similar note were planning to put in another of Bens Midland signal posts by the crossing to illuminate the crossing,with a suitable midland style lamp top as the illumination on the crossing for both pedestrians and the signaller when working the gate is poor, i know i worked the box a fortnight ago!.

the white lines on the crossing are being renewed.

maintenance of the batteries completed for the signalling supplies too.

some gates still to fit to the down platform fence at darley as well as cut the metal tubular gate posts down to size.

bens down over christmas,so plans to do more work on the lamp post tops are in order,i think!

at rowsley, work continues on the shed interior,with fitting out, a new forklift truck has been gained by one of the class 50 volunteers for use there, the telecomms lads continue to work on the Rowsley exchange.

the tamper,sleeper changer,liner and wickham trolley have all been moved upto the turntable road as most of the yard has been shunted around.

the steam crane is in the shed at the moment.

the railway and the adjacent roofing buisness who share the access road to rowsley have complained to the council (theyre road) about the state of the surface again,awaiting action.

fishplate oiling and changing underway, finally the Santa season is upon us,so most of the volunteers work is on getting the place ready for this.....

oh yes ive put in for some more signalling recoveries,details once ive got them!

other stuff in the pipeline and planning,but thats better left till i can report it properly..

any news from you lads ON LMSCA or HST?????

dom

 

the Chesterfield branches next meeting is at 7.30pm on Tuesday December 15th in the upstairs function room at the New Inn on Mansfield Road, Hasland, Chesterfield S41 0JJ


All are welcome, there is no admission charge - we rely on raffle funds and a donation to cover our costs


posted by dom,from a posting on the peak rail forum

 

Harveys uploaded some of the pics of the platform works to the railways website, link is below, the platform is still to be tarmaced yet

http://www.peakrail.co.uk/news.htm

dom

 

On the turntable -new splice bolts have been put in and torqued to 41 tonnes per
bolt,the few remaining outstanding items are being attended too.

taken from peak rail forum.

dom

on s&t ive rebuilt one of the original wooden telephone boxes for reuse on darleys down platform, all that was saveable from the original was the door and the base,this will be installed this weekend.

 

Dom,

What of the turntable , when will it be operational?

Regards
Chris

 

there are always a few issues relating to getting new turntables passed by those who officially do this thing,they are being worked on by the volunteers and the board as we all want to see it up n running very soon, i believe the remaining issues are all minor ones, but as its not my project i cant be 100 percent definite on any of the fine details,more will follow from those doing it boss!!

also taken from the Peak Rail forum;the following;

Subject: (PRA Sheffield) Mon 7 Dec "Pie, Chips & Peas Supper" then "YourPix"

Monday 7 December 2009 at 8.00pm

£5 inclusive for supper (includes usual door fee) for:


"PIE CHIPS & PEA SUPPER WITH A PEAK RAIL DIRECTOR, then YOURPIX"
20:00 annual "state of the Union" address - latest news/developments
direct from a Board Member
21:00 Pie, Chips & Peas supper
21:30 "YourPix" - 15 minute slots for slides, video, digital, rants
etc (no karaoke please)


If you would like to come (most welcome) but haven't already booked,
please ring me a.s.a.p. on 07950 787 231 so that I can peel a few more
potatoes. (Otherwise you will have to answer to those present why
there are no seconds!)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the interval:-


1. railway themed Calendars & Christmas Cards on sale


2. see Ian for advance discount tickets for the Rob Foxon Film Show
on Tues 29 Dec


3. just released 2010 Platform 5 pocket books on sale at £3.75 (RRP
£4.35)
Book No 1 Locomotives
Book No 2 Coaching Stock
Book No 3 Diesel Multiple Units
Book No 4 EMUs & Light Rail Systems


I share our discount with you, please support us to make it
worthwhile!
If you wish to place an order for any Platform 5 title, I can bring it
to the
next branch meeting. I will match their magazine subscriber prices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


presented by: Peak Railway Association (Sheffield Branch) at
The Harlequin Pub (upstairs function room)
108 Nursery St,
Sheffield S3 8GG


www.theharlequinpub.co.uk


hope to see you!


Dave
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


David Sharp
Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch


d.sh...@sheffield.ac.uk
Mob: 07950 787 231

 

Sunday 6th December 2009

The morning was spent taking the kids on the Santa Special, they seemed to have enjoyed themselves with the clowns,magic artists,Santa,presents,sweets and all provided and the trains all day were full,i believe that the bookings are well full this year which is probably the same around the country with the reccession and all

The rebuilt wooden phone cupboard,new cable and joint boxes at Darley Dale have been installed,there were various people working around the sites but as i was located at Darley Dale i couldnt tell what specific projects they were working upon. for news.

Hopefully soon some more news on the footbridge as Bens down over Christmas and he has a recovery on the way over january to do with this, he may also be working on the station lamps at Darley Dale over Christmas.

Tims been sorting out his LMS goods van at Rowsley over the week with the help of Mr Briddon.

Chatting with Tony we are planning a painting session over the Christmas to New Year period so im thinking we will make a start on repainting the new box,the wood has been paid for so cant be far off delivery,so it looks like a new year start on replacing the rear boards.

Off topic a little the river Derwent was very high today, at Bakewell and Ashford in the Water the river had breached across the roads with some localised flooding in the morning, it was noted at Nannygoat crossing at the end of the Rowsley site to be quite high,but by the afternoon this had subsided again,watch out downstream if it rains again tonight.

 

Sat 5th Dec
Came down to Rowsley mainly to keep an eye on my baby (8624) but used some of the day to see how popular these santa specials are. And boy was I surprised ! The place was packed ! I had a ride on the last service and on stopping at Darley Dale was VERY impressed by the improvements on the north platform, a big pat on the back to the people involved. When can we get stuck into smartening the building up?

PS. When will the axleboxes be back for Zebedee ? Count me in for a Re Building group.

cheers

Simon H.

 

I think the contracter has been given till early next year to get the axleboxes done by,would be excellent to see them back,and we finally start to put Zebedee back together!
You have a private message Simon!

 

someone tell me how to put pics on here and il update them then weekly

news wise plans for over the crimbo to new year from the s and t are;

1.finally move the batteries out the old cupboard at darley so that the location can be removed for bens footbridge.

2.fit the gate wheel in church lane,so its not sat in a store for umpteen years doing nowt .at least it will look the part.

3.fit a wooden location over the electric supply board under darley dale box so that it can then stand alone when the box comes down.

work on getting the box moved to rowsley isnt standing still,early days yet but there may be more news on this in the new year,things are at present being planned out so to speak.

the wood for the ex luffenham box for matlock has arrived, im down saturday and will be removing the old back boarding on the box and refitting the new bits, there will be a single panel left out of each section of the back which we will need to cut and plane down to correct size.

any assistance is welcome.

dom

 

Reprinted from Mr Oaks article off the Peak Rail forum

"Tony Joyce and I made a start on clearing out the LMS van before going
down to Darley Dale to assess the Vulcan Van for clearance and
dismantling. At present the "plan" is to lift the body off for
dismantling for spares, and then assess the chassis. We salvaged a
very few useful items and began disposing of the rubbish.

The LMSCA are now making obvious progress on 7828 after months of
preparation, with one side largely re-panelled ready for application
of beading. Suddenly it looks very good indeed.


The HST contractors have been very busy fitting wind bracing to their
new shed. In the main shed work was continuing in the toilet/messroom
area.


I spent Sunday working on Duke, sanding down and priming the saddle
tank. Again this is just cosmetic work pending a full rebuild.
Recently I picked up the first replacent components, a pair of
laminated glass panes for the front spectacle plates specially cut by
Buxton Glass at a very reasonable price. We anxiously await the
arrival of the non-ferrous parts from Darley Dale where the old
workshop area is now very lonely and exposed.


Tim "

 

Mr Dyson and myself set to replacing the boarding on the rear of the ex Luffenham box today,by close of play three quarters of the rear have been done, this leaves one large panel and one small one on the rear and two small panels under the window end to finish off next time,i will also cut the pieces for the door which will go when the box goes up.

We also recovered out of the ground another large pile of signalling which needed moving to get the scaffolding up,finding more bits we can use for Matlock in the process.

Rowsley shed

Work continues on electrics for the inside ,the machine tools are all laid out ready for wiring in.

LMSCA

The group were working upon the National Railway museum coach,the side skins are on and the work looks realy really great,cant wait to see that finished.

Renown & Repulse

the lads were busy sorting out the woodwork round the windows today as well as other things.

apart from the santa trains the site at Rowsley resounded to many persons grinding and hammering things, all in all I think everyone on site at some point must have been doing something related to woodwork!

 

While dismantling the doors of the NRM Third Open we were surprised to find they had fittings for blinds - this is on vestibule doors. We were a bit puzzled as although you can understand it with compartment doors it seemed a bit odd with vestibule doors, however later in the day our LMSCA chairman said he recalled these blinds being used during the war for the blackout.

Dave

 

will be down next sunday working on the box again.#

ps while dave and myself were replacing the woodwork on the rear we found a whole load of original unused brad nails just sat on one of the beams,must have been left by the builders and forgotten about, also found a scribbled plan in pencil on the wood of what i can only assume was the plan of how the panels all went together,i have left that in place behind the woodwork for some future poor soul to ponder over..

some pics of the box and one of 48624 in sillouhette attached

dom

 

following a successfull meeting with NR on the 8th an agreement on getting the works started to reconnect PR at Riverside to NR at Matlock has been reached,the works are hoped to start in the New Year.

paperwork is ongoing, the reconnection works will require the infrastructure for the Riverside shunt frame pointwork and track circuits installed at the same time as altering the layout to reconnect,so that the track based bits are in place ready for the next step of putting in the cabin.

this will include some renewals of the pointwork as with the last twenty years of operations some track has been ridden over more in the years than the other half ,therefore any wear will have to be removed so all is perfect for the final layout!.

 

That's great news for Christmas, Dom! Look fwd to seeing PR connected to NR on my next visit!