Peak Rail General Discussion

As far as I am aware the speed restriction is a statutory requirement as part of the Light Railway Order (or its successor), virtually all Heritage Lines are restricted to 25 mph

http://orr.gov.uk/about-orr/who-we-work-with/rail-infrastructure/minor-and-heritage-railways

So it is absolutely nothing to do with the state of the trackbed or trackwork, I believe that PR recently hired in a tamper to maintain the track

 

I understand the 25 mph restriction, but @Luke McMahon seemed to be implying that trains don't even get to that speed.

 

25mph is the maximum permitted for nearly all heritage lines with special exceptions for certain reasons such as testing trains,mail runs not carrying passengers etc as seen on lines like the GCR, it's a maximum speed not a normal speed, most lines tend to do bursts of 25 with speeds of between 10-20 bieng the norm depending on permanent way speed restrictions,curves,inclines etcetera, if you have a trip up from foxfield on the line in staffs you'd be lucky to achieve the maximum,whereas if you went on the GCR and others you'd mostly be running to the maximum.

Again maximum speed limits don't always mean you work flat out at them speeds, 10mph is he set speed through the Darley dale area for signalling and token exchange control reasons, there's one speed restriction towards the cutting at Darley for Pway work,that's normal, the rest of the bone straight section from Matlock towards Darley where trains can run at speed there's several foot crossings to be aware off so that's in the hands of the driver to regulate their speeds appropriately.

 

Thanks for the explanation of the prevailing speeds, and what would prevent sustained 25mph running.

 

Half of them are normally locked out of use & on days i've visited during the summer months etc, there only seems to be enough passengers to fill about 3. Wanted to ask too is there issues with the trackbed or trackwork etc as it always seems a real crawl up to matlock, never seem to get near 25mph.[/QUOTE]

Usually only two locked OOU; LMSCA carriage (which belongs to the NRM) and restaurant car which together form the Palatine dining set, only in use on cream tea and dining days.
This means that the available carriages are SK, BSO, RMB and TSO, (To be pedantic, the BSO is a Mk2, the others are as you say Mk1.

 

I suppose someone has to ask.....why haul 2 carriages up and down which are not available to passengers. Surely less wear and tear to leave them in the sidings?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have been told that this has been suggested many times,
but they remain attached to the other four carriages......

 

Battery charging?

 

Not at 25mph...

 

Precisely, why bother running load 6 when there's usually 2 locked OOU & only used on dining days etc? Surely it'd be less work for the locos just having to haul load 4 & therefore potentially using less coal/diesel.

As crantock says, less wear & tear probs to leave them stabled until needed. Unless only reason I can think of they'd remain permanently coupled to the set is to save faffing about shunting.

 

........or a lack of somewhere to leave them where they can be easily re-attached if needed?

 

The dining coaches tend to be unavailable when not required,for.many reasons, one simple one is cleaning,you wouldn't like to have guests for dinner if someone had just been in the coach and left it a mess ,first.impressions count, as for the nrm coach that's between the nrm and the lmsca and pr to agree when it can be used, I've always wondered why I cant go on the ones in york museum and I'm sure there's a valid reason for that too, as regards the speeds question I'm sure ive already mentioned the answer further up the page which should help.

Shunting is also a factor,leaving them connected saves time especially if you're having to reconnect them and detach them all the time and there are times of the year they are removed to lighten the load if not required, space for putting the is not an issue,there's quite a lot at rowsley south.

 

Andrew,john and myself did the concreting of the front three holes on the cabin base at rowsley today,save to say it was warm,humid and hard work,next comes measuring up the rear holes,refitting the templates and shuttering again and then concreting again which will be after the warring forties event,allowing the concreting to be completed early August,then comes the steelworks.

Elsewhere the penyghent gang were busy doing inside work on getting her back into running service again.

In the shed too the education coach is having window work and bodywork repairs prior to repainting

 

What's the latest with the cycleway from Matlock to Rowsley? Are any parts open yet or still a work in progress?
Many thanks

 

Go through the posts on this blog http://whitepeakrangers.blogspot.co.uk , it gives you updates on which bits are open.

 

Thanks for that, think a visit to the line today and see what the current state of play is needed.

 

Yesterday, with colleagues from the Churnet valley,Ecclesbourne,Yorkshire wolds,Lincolnshire Wolds,Chacewater railways we managed to save a lot of redundant signalling for reuse on all our respective railways, rare bits hard to get nowadays like lever locks,quite a bit of mechanical rods and fittings, lever frames, signals, point fittings,detectors and such, all in all a very long and busy day and hopefully the first of many recoveries where we all work together to mutual benefit, gone are the old days of going seeing the local manager and getting a scrap ticket, nowadays it's a bidding war on items that are rare to come up for resale,though hopefully that issue has been addressed with the HRA now and we will start to,see more and more come up for sale when resignalling takes place.

Even found completely by accident a couple of Ep point machine detector main through rods for church lane.



The bits of cycle way that are open, if you fancy it are topley pike to bakewell coombes road, then there's church lane to rowsley, a little bit into the woods but not yet fully complete to rowsley village and the bit from Darley to Matlock is walkable but the contractors are working on widening it so it's not really bikeable yet, they're also currently on the part through the field from Warney lane to the crossroads of Darley Dale, again personally not the best route I think as it could have been done differently but that's just my thoughts.


Have fun cycling while the weathers still summery

 

We've been told the charter on the 28th August which was to be steam hauled is now diesel hauled with a class 47 due to weight restrictions on bridges and other reasons.

On local railway matters the derwent valley association meetings which were previously held in Matlock are being held at Darley Dale station in future, these are roughly bi monthly,the next one being Tuesday 23rd August at 1930hrs with Ted Hall doing a talk on life as a station master during the Second World War.

We're pleased to announce mr Kieron Rigby as the engineering assistant who alongside My colleague Mr Mark Sealey is putting into place an initiative to see regular working parties arranged for the loco shed for restoration projects, if you're interested then they would love to hear from you ,they may be contacted on 07891115039.

 

Great to see this kind of co-operation.

Dave

 

For a requested £3 donation on the door, all welcome to:


"French High Speed Rail. The Story of the TGV"

- digital presentation - Mike Bunn (Tonbridge)


Mike lives nearer to France than he does to Sheffield. Whilst the UK is still prevaricating over HS2 the French have built 5 long distance high-speed lines, of which 4 are currently being extended, and are now scrapping the first generation TGV trainsets! A most professional, well-illustrated show with lots of interesting facts and details presented in a slick graphical manner.


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Mike is not a railwayman but he presents very good shows about them. He is a member of the RCTS and Secretary of The SNCF Society.


I first saw this talk when presented to the local branch of The Permanent Way Institution at Sheffield Hallam University, and have since seen a number of his other presentations, plus additionally his annual updates of French Railway developments presented at The SNCF Society's annual Winter Rendezvous.

I hope you will find this show of interest and come along to lend your support. Mike has kindly agreed to make the long journey to Sheffield for just his hotel and travel costs and I hope, with a good turnout, to recover the extra expense from normal £3 entry donations, but a wee bit extra would be most appreciated!


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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