Peak Rail General Discussion

from the Peakrail enthusiasts forum

Peak Rail presents:-

Rob Foxon "Railways Remembered" Film Show
Tomorrow night (Wednesday 29 December 2010)

The Library Theatre (near The Crucible), Tudor Square, Sheffield S1 1XZ.
Doors open 1900, show starts 1930
Tickets on the door £6.00, concessions £5.50.

"End of Year Special"

Light-hearted with some old favourites, special requests, and material
which doesn't fit into the year's other themed evenings. Programme includes:-

* Steam in the 30’s.

* Railways in winter time.

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

In the foyer will be our usual sales stand with bargain-priced second-hand
books, model railway items & videos.

We will also have 2011 Calendars from Platform 5, with Steam, Modern Tra_ction,
and Light Rail versions available at £6.00 (RRP £6.95), and also hope to have
some copies of Ken Horan's new book "On Parallel Lines", see:-

http://www.on-parallel-lines.co.uk

Ken will be selling & autographing copies at our Branch Meeting on Mon 3 Jan
2011, to which all are invited.

 

Busy day today, if a bit short. Weather has warmed up enough for me to crack on undercoating the west side of the NRM LMS third open in the carriage shed. Going for all red, and hopefully should be refitting the revolving glass ventilators to the side at the end of the week. Mike Fearn was in yesterday to continue the endless cycle of 'flip it over, paint it, leave it to dry, flip it over, paint it', and did some sanding round the vent mounting frames.

Made some progress on some other items of carriage woodwork also.

Briddons were around lumping heavy things around the site, and some of the HST boys were working ant-like in their shed, and someone was making a fair bit of noise, so it might have been them...

 

7828

Another few days, weather has warmed up enough to undercoat and gloss the sections of framing on 7828 which hold the stones vents, which are glass vanes which rotate ina brass frame. Mike and I refitted these to the west side on Friday. The whole side has now been undercoated in Madder, and with the imminent arrival of our new sanding system, should be rubbed down and repainted a couple of times before the end of the week, weather permitting.

Some more wood sections have been machined for the side doors of this coach, with a view to getting the doors on and working over the next few weeks. Will have to go rummaging for some more door handles and plates, we're a few short; if nobody hears from me in a week or so, it's because I'm trapped in the stores and would appreciate rescue.

Pas comm gear is now fitted to the ends- thanks Harv.


Roof to repaint next (it's already in undercoat, due some more and then gloss).

A platform bench for Darley Dale station has been loaded onto the works train ready to oiked off en route to Matlock next week.

The front of the carriage shed has been cleared and reorganised ready for the next phase of work on various projects.

Harvey has been doing some post frost maintenance to the running set.

 

S & T

Pete,Lewis and myself started to build up the mechanical detectors for riverside today, these are complete save for some basic freeing off off odd nuts here n there as well as cutting the timber ends off to make them equal, we also built up the floating wheel bench too.

Elsewhere

The class 50 lads and Mr Briddon senior and younger were working too,the class 50 lads in their engine rooms and the Briddons on the 14,s.

Ben was continuing working in the LMSCA shed on making panelling.

More trackwork at Riverside is sue to commence,with an s&t work week later in the month to follow also.

 

A few pictures of last weekends work by the S&T Dept have been added to the recent work gallery and new gallery has been created to show the Darley Dale footbridge restoration. At the moment it only covers the acquisition and recovery but will be updated as work progresses.
The footbridge pictures may be seen here http://photosbyp.fotopic.net/c1928340.html

Pete

 

Update

Pete,John and myself spent the day moving items round for the next work week at Riverside,as well as moving some tools round between Harvs dept and ours,also spent the day doing some more store work late on and attended to some maintenance and faulting.

didnt get round the site,but noticed the class 50 lads were about working on their locos.

Work progresses at Matlock,more track and signal work on going in the coming week and wel be having another work week on our dept at the end of the month.

 

I have been told today that 46115 Scots Guardsman is too heavy for the bridge at Matlock Riverside and the planned railtour to Rowsley is subject to change.

Would anybody with a bit more knowledge like to comment?

Also out of interest, what loco's are allowed over the bridge nowadays? The only ex BR steam loco's that I can think have been over the bridge recently are 45337, 92203, 48624 & 9600 (or one of the other Tyseley Panniers) but I'm trying to think what mainline steam locos could bring charters in. I'm assuming the various black 5's, 48151 and any of the mainline panniers would not have any trouble weight wise, but as these are all restricted to 60mph or less I can see a few possible pathing issues on long distance runs. Are there any 75mph locos that would not be overweight on the riverside bridge - a Light Pacific perhaps?

Also what modern day mainline diesels would be able to cross the bridge on incoming charters? I know you've had representatives of classes 31, 37, 47 and 55 across the bridge but given that these limited use on the mainline these days, I wonder if the likes of 66s and 67s will be allowed across?

Hopefully there's a good few loco's that will be able to reach Rowsley unhindered as I think the charter market might be very lucrative with people wishing to visit Chatsworth House, Bakewell and The Peak District - and of course Peak Rail itself!

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

In 2000 the axle load limit was so low that coaches were delivered by pannier tank because no available diesel was light enough; I don't know if this has changed since, or whether the problem is Matlock bridge or the (normally DMU only) line to Ambergate.

 

all i know is that the tickets have already gone on sale for it with scots gaurdsman, seen one of the chaps yesterday!!!

beyond that its in the hands of higher authorities

 

The piece on the link would tend to suggest a bit of a problem for loco hauled trains then! Working on the principle that PR have class 37s, 47s etc based there that have run over the bridge at riverside (and there were plenty of 37s and 47s on the mainline at that time which could have done the move), I can only assume the weight limits which imposed the use of the Pannier were be on the line to Ambergate.

Since when that working occured I think some work may have been carried out on the bridges on the mainline as I seem to recall class 66s have worked up to Matlock (or somewhere up that end of the line) fairly recently on engineers trains. If that is not the case though I would have thought that limits the possibility of incoming charters down to running with DMU's - or a Pannier Tank! I do hope we see something proper up there soon though!

As for tickets already been on sale I don't think that should mean anything really. Railtour companies have it in their terms and conditions that they can basically change whatever they like with the tour so that it keeps NR happy. Until a tour has arrived at it's destination I don't think anybody is 100% sure what is going to happen - take the Tin Bath in November as an example... It was booked Stockport - Sheffield via the Hope Valley, but due to a derailment it went Stockport - Stoke - Lichfield - Derby - Sheffield! Not at all what was described when people booked on it but necessary in the circumstances. Another few examples.... Pathfinder Tours have recently been advertising (and accepting bookings on) a tour using one of the connections into Tinsley Yard at Sheffield.... yet the Gypsies nicked that track years back and all trains now have to use the other connection instead as I don't think NR plan on reinstating said bit of track! And finally I'm booked on a tour in September that doesn't have any confirmed motive power as yet... so some fairly significant details can be left up in the air for a long time but companies are still more than happy to start selling tickets for them.

 

I remember reading in one of the Rail mags that a Brit would be allowed.

 

indeed the bridges on the branch have been rebuilt in the last few years since the scotsman came,and larger locos have worked over the line which was previously only dmus,that was indeed also around the time scotsmans coaches arrived before the works, i cant remember the W classification of the line now,since the upgrading,but thats easy enough to find out.

on the subject of railtours advertising haulage different from what actually turns upon the day, that may be true and does happen, but i disagree when you say it doesnt matter at all,it mattersmost definitely, no good advertising a steam special then completely changing the goalposts and putting a dmu on instead,you could get away with a smaller loco--thats happened before on other railtours, though if he operator starts messing the public around they tend to go out of buisness,times are hard people are paying for a particular ride or a particular loco on a particular line soconsidering no one from the railtour company has yet said,"sorry guys.were not actually using that loco!" then it could very well be that were all wrong and that loco is indeed running up the branch and over the bridge.

but then im not a bridge engineer,nor a psychic , il wait till we know more,thats th only real way to know the facts!,anyhow for me the fun will be inn seiing the first railtour come onto the line and upto rowsley since the early 90`s when we had that dmu trip that went wrong routed and got half way up the branch in the midlands before the driver stopped through not being route learned on that particular line.


much fun!!!

 

update 16th january 2011

S&t

this week away from the line ive stripped down the guts of the mechanical detectors ,and refurbished up the rods together with new adjustable rods,these are going in this week at Riverside, also have fettled up a load of facing point lock kickers to go from the fpls we put in to the detectors.

the remaining derwent end signal and the location are in now,so more work this week at Riverside will see things connected upto it.

to finish the day off ive also built some more shelving in the store and started sorting out the mechanical locking rods into piles of differing lengths and stacking on the racks for ease.

elsewhere

The class 50 lads and Mr Briddon senior and younger were working on their respective locos today,Harvey and Ben have been busy repanelling the NRM coach, some internal panneling has been completed and the top glass of the windows has started to go in again,the exterior is now all painted in the first coats of paint.

the tracklads have been tree cutting again and the fences at Rowsley have been attended to also.

David and Jim of the telegraph dept were busy working away at Rowsley.

other works continue elsewhere but as ive not got to chat to many folks today round the site i cant say acurately what theyve been upto!!..

i know the rain in the afternoon came down right at the time i really needed to be outside!!!!!!thanks!!!

 

Riverside

Over the last four days-The mechanical signal detectors are in the ground ,the signal detectors at the derwent end are also wired to the location now as is the point detector at that end,some setting up of the signals and points has been completed while the weather was good too today.

the trap point detector is still to be fitted when the trap is layed,and Paul and me are working on setting up the point detector tommorow.

The lineside lads have been busy improving the treeline down the station.

Many thanks to Pete,John,Paul,Neil,Tom,Ted,Rob,ian and Peter and all for your help on that lot.

the ballast bed between the new point and the boundary fence has been cleared ready for new ballast,then track,the drains have also been completed.

Elsewhere;

Paul has been continuing with the Tank waggon at Rowsley, its had all the old fittings removed and restored,the first coats of paint to the exterior have been applied,and the fittings have been overhauled too.

Harvey is busy with window work on one of the carriage sets.

Mr Bodden has also been busy working on his tank waggon frames.

 

The first set of pictures from the S&T work week at Riverside have been added to the gallery
http://photosbyp.fotopic.net/c1922332.html

Pete

 

Just to clear this up,the tank that has recently received a coat of paint is the water tank from Darley Dale. Robin has constructed a housing for the water valve to prevent frost damage,and Paul and myself have given it a very quick going over with red oxide. Hopefully it will receive lettering at some stage.
The 4w C.Roberts co. tank that I have been working on at the back of the shed has had the southern end stanchion removed,with the aid of Robs JCB,allowing for the tank to be lifted out. A sandblast and full repaint will follow,as well as mechanical attention to the underframe.

 

excellent,thanks Chris for updating more info on the waggons than i could,(me not knowing much about waggons and all) any chance of some nice pics please boss!!

is it possible to ask mr Bodden for a technical update on his waggon works too!!

cheers boss

 

Back to the subject of the inbound railtour, a major event in PR's history in my opinion.


According to UK Steam Info the tour has been redated to 22nd May and will use 70013 (I think - if not 70000) instead of 46115. I appreciate that the Railway Touring Co have not changed their website and I have not seen the change of date/loco mentioned elsewhere but UK Steam Info is usually correct and RTC's website is often a little out of date as their webmaster is frequently away on their foreign tours as I recall.

In response to Kestreleyes' comment... hopefully you may have misunderstood me a little... In my personal opinion any changes on the day are passable to ensure that the passengers go somewhere in the event of a problem even if it is changing the goalposts a little. Just consider that on the day even if there is a problem, many people have gotten up quite early, driven some distance or even gone to the expense of booking accomodation before they actually board the train. So in this case I would prefer to go somewhere on a DMU, or take a trip to a different destination, or use a different loco etc etc than to be told that everythings off and I've had a wasted trip and wasted my day. I think this sort of thing takes place quite often really on a lessor scale - diesels covering for steam loco failures at the last minute and so on.

However, when alterations to the schedule are known of well in advance I think the tour operator ought to advise potential passengers and those who are already booked on the tour so that they can choose whether they want to travel or not.... Unfortunately some operators do not allow passengers to cancel (without some loss of deposit or some such) if changes are made to the plan... that is changing the goalposts though! And because of that I think many people leave booking right until the last minute (or even pay on the day if there are seats left). Believe me, people are getting fed up of it!

Anyway regardless of the background I do hope to a well loaded train (preferably with hauled by steam rather than diesel) heading for Matlock on either of the aforementioned dates and I hope that it becomes the first of many.

 

Dom - is the work on the tank wagon the "old" Esso Tank or the "newer" Shell wagon. If it is the former, will the later ever be replaced by a Water Tank at Rowsley?

 

thanks Ian, tis ok i see your point of view!, would be as you say great to see a good turnout too!

(you can answer me a question in return please, your Pinxton box,what plans are there for its control operation etc,general signalling interest etc! send me a PM,ta boss)

Woodster; now then im going to try to remember here, i think it is the old esso black waggon, Chris or Paul would be able to correct me better and tell you more here about it as theyre the lads doing all the work on it, i know the tank waggon andy`s working on is the old CME drain train tank.

there is a water tower (sectional fibreglass type) in store at Rowsley and i remember tim got a load of valve gear for it,etcetera.i would assume if youre having incoming charters coming in regular that youd need a better water supply than the temporary waggon supply we use, especially with larger engines being thirsty beasts and needing quick filling rather than the slower filling we use on our smaller tank locos we have now.

jokingly aside i remember watching the rain pour off our shed roof last year,it rained for about half an hour but the rain kept pouring off the roof for the whole day,time for a tank off the shed eh hehe!

on other news there an ultrasonic vehicle on test on the line,going back n forth and the lads are continuing this week at Riverside,keep up the good work all!!