Peak Rail General Discussion

Il kick start this week with news that one of mr Watermans 6 wheel,double bogie coaches has arrived, I also had a chat with the folks in the shed working on Penyghent who have now got all the cylinders and liners back into the main block and were in the process of bolting the connecting rods back on,no small men feat given the room available and the fact the engine is a beast of a thing to behold.

The contract on the wickham continues,the roof is now reprinted,the framework built and the wheel sets ready to be put back together again, also the education coach work progresses and the windows are out now to check on the bodywork etcetera, Chris has been busy with pipe work on the j94.

The cycle way continues and the contractors are busy surfacing the cycle way behind ash rooks roofing presently,we are still awaiting the fencing through rowsley and other works which is in the contractors hands.

My own dept, Called down this morning to do a few jobs,firstly met with another contractor to get a quote for the box base at Rowsley, the contractor pointed out it would be cheaper to use newer bricks rather than reclaimed anyway as the cost is roughly 1£ per brick and roughly you'd go through a thousand doing a whole 20x10x10 brick structure, he also pointed out that if you wanted to do a half brick half wood structure as many midland boxes looked you would reduce costs vastly and keep the brickwork to the cast iron window level then and clad above with the wood we already kept back from Luffenham, you would also be able to use 9 inch blocks inside reducing the outer skin and letting you gain the space to fit the cladding boards as required, I'm awaiting costings but given the amount raised he thinks it should be well under that and a lot less than the previous quote,so il wait and see.

On a similar note I've had a chat with rob and Jackie and we should be able to do the foundations with our own jcb now when we get a free Sunday when robs around,il keep all in loop on that as I know john wants to be there also.

Recoveries

Am pursuing a few lines of enquiry at the moment however completely by surprise one chap has managed to gain a complete pair of slotted weights,full signal arm and casting to BR pattern and a reasonable disc doll,plus another vertical pulley wheel for us in exchange for some old magazines, many thanks to that gent and a bit of a surprise to find the gear sat in the shed waiting for us,I've placed them all in the store too,move also come across a vertical midland lever tail weight which I've put down riverside as will fit to number 6 lever when I get a chance.

Other jobs


David has been busy cleaning down the cast iron windows for Rowsley cabin and next comes the reglazing on them ,then the final painting on the cabins outside weather permitting.

The telecoms chaps are continuing to fit the signal post and point phones onto the new concentrator at Rowsley and john has been busy wiring them a new mains feed so they can run off a separate transformed supply.


Stay warm folks,have a brew.

 

DCC have only just advertised the tender for the fencing work through the car park - it could be a few months yet before you see any action.

What is the purpose / role of the "Education Coach" ?

 

Tell us about it woodster volunteers do things a lot quicker than the council, I'm not sure if the coach is being converted into a normal passenger carriage again or kept as is,its a contract job by the gang in the shed for an outside party,Il ask when next down unless someone knows

 

I'll check what the expected timeline is - it was a very comprehensive pack of information

 

I t

I think it's a contract job for Grinsty Rail from the East Anglian Rlwy Museum.

Dave

 

So the new signal box will have a red brick base rather than the standardised midland wooden design?

 

I was a bit unclear from Dom's post above, if a brick or block base was dimensioned appropriately I guess it could be clad to look proper Midland?

Dave

 

Is it this http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=245 GWR 9082 that has now arrived?

 

Ah yes maybe Or perhaps one such as this:
Of course with the base dimensioned appropriately for the existing wooden superstructure, which is the one from darley dale I guess. The mention of red brick is a good sign, that snippet of info means it will already be better than riverside box. All this talk of signal boxes makes me remember the one that was at Matlock, imagine if that was still around!

 

that's one yes ,id based the other proposal on grindlefords base too, there are several options price dependant as that's what we have to work within, option 1; all wood as was, option2; part brick part wood base ,as has been done before on more than a few MR cabins, option3; all brick either MR or LMS styles, no one more than us would like a proper brick base but again its down to costs, riverside was so designed to be reasonably vandal resistant, having seen the after effects of vandals its a different kettle of fish when its all your hard work that's gone into building it.

worse case scenario it gets a blockwork inner faced with wood,but if your going to the expense of that then you may as well keep it all steelwork as is church lane and hide the steel corner posts behind clad board so as not to notice and that way save the costs of blocks,though with blocks you do get easier construction over steel,plus theres the need to have it structurally ensured by a competent person if you do it in steelwork as who proves the loadings?? etc, things were simpler in olden days and blocks allow you to set in the windows and have good load spread for the upstairs.

 

Courtesy mr S Graves,the works train at Darley Dale dropping off sleepers for an upcoming relaying in the section.

 

Thornbury Castle in 0-6-0 form arrived today.

Dave

 

Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2016 at 7.30pm
For a requested £3 donation on the door, all welcome to:

"Doug Copley's Lineside Images" + "The David Odd Collection"


A two-part evening from our legacy collections. Doug Copley's cine films include his own commentary, and tonight's film (53 mins) is 2005 recent nostalgia of the 35 miles of East Coast Main Line between Newark and Doncaster when GNER 'The Route of the Flying Scotsman' deep-blue livery reigned supreme, and even on class 373 eurostars then operating 'The White Rose' service between Kings Cross - Leeds.


After the interval, Roger shows more steam gems from the 1950s and 1960s from the David Odd slide collection.



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


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

bus routes 3, 7, 8, 8a, 83 and 83a stop near the front door.

hope to see you!
Dave


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

David Sharp
Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch

(E): d.sharp@sheffield.ac.uk
(H): 0114 274 5478
(M): 07950 787 231 (text or call)

The branch programme, and directions
to The Harlequin, can be found at:

http://www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch

 

Weekends news

Called in today to get some maintenance done and other jobs, the gang working on Penyghent have refitted all the pistons and cylinder liners back now and are on with the cylinder tops which were having a hand grind,the last ones are going back in now, the saddle tank is having it's pipe work for the cab fabricated up by Chris and the contractors in the shed have been busy, the wick ham trolley now has new sides and framework as well as the roof completed and painted though the roof hasn't been reattached as yet till other bits inside have been finished and the work on the education coach continues with window and metal work around the sides being undertaken, the dmu coach is having bodywork and filling undertaken prior to its base ocats of paint, quite a busy scene in all.

Rod has been busy making up new railing sides for the access bridge Into rowsley which have for many moons had a fabricated pole handrails fitted,the new sides will match the gates.

Down the line the gang were changing sleepers and will be doing more in the coming week and a tamper has arrived to undertake tamping of the line.

At Darley I managed to have a chat with mr Briddon who has been busy on his class 14 and cheedale as well as other projects.

Myself like the Pway I got wet doing maintenance,between brews of tea of course , Dave has been busy with more painting work on both rowsley and church lane cabins and Jon has been helping the telecomms lads with the new concentrator installation for church lane as has Pete.

And as Dave already mentioned Thornbury Castle arrived in 060 form

 

Also forgot to mention the narrow gauge shed is making good progress as the end walls have started to go up,I didn't get a picture but the double door ends look great

 

Has any work started on the other GWR loco's yet?

 

Not sure,there's one of the (large prairies??. Probably got that wrong :/. In the shed ) the rest are outside and it'll be a while before Thornbury Hall gets complete again. Potentially there's things planned but that's in Mr Watermans hands time and money permitting of course, it'd be nice to see one of the GWR locos put back to use ,got a soft spot for the smaller panniers ,just a nice square beastie

 

Looks like small prairie 4588 in the shed,nothing to do with Waterman.
Thornbury Castle won't appreciate being downgraded to a Hall.
Appears storage charge at Matlock cheaper than Crewe?

 

Had a close look at Thornbury, there's a big chunk of the smokebox saddle casting missing on the right hand side, which I guess is part of the cylinder casting. Signs of some work having been done, the dragbox looks OK for example.

Dave

 

From what PW said some time ago Thornbury Castle is not exactly top of the list for restoration.The other two seem substantially complete as its not that long since they were in service.
I believe the prairie in the shed belongs to a PR director and is to be restored for PR use at some point