Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

Work continues to remove the green tunnel. Today it was again on the line SE of Consall with a good sized team that managed to burn much of the small branches that came down. Looking quite different afterwards.

 

Given that the trees were tall enough to have to be felled over the tracks that would give NR real headaches.

While the tree gang were busy there was a small family team engaged on some drainage work - difficult to say which is more glamorous.

 

If any body wants to join in the tree-clearing programme please get in touch (especially qualified Chainsaw men).

Also Knotty 107 is now available online
http://shop.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/knotty-magazine-no107-167-p.asp
Free to NSRC Members, this latest edition has a variety of article including;
- New Update from our New Head of S&T
- Information on the Lottery funded Fencing Projects at LBJ Station / Consall Station / Cheddleton / Jacksons Wood
- Information on the Knotty Coach Appeal
- Review of Knotty Coach Trust's NSR61 visit to CVR
- Robert Cartwright memories of the CVR in the 1950s
- Launch of the Parrot Wagon Appeal
- Plus the usual updates from the various departments of the CVR

Also since Knotty 107 went to print, there has been further developments on Cheddleton Landslip with hints being made of a start date next February. Shall keep people uptodate as/when we can.

 

Morning All,

If anyone would like to have a look, I have put some pictures of a recent visit to the Churnet Valley on Flickr. This is the first one in the Photostream :

RD10216. A DMU at Cheddleton on the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Alternatively, they can be found in this Album together with pictures from a visit in 2007 :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/sets/72157632679256028

Hope that they are of interest.

 

Very nice, that TKh looks great, a credit to the people who turned it's overhaul around so quickly

 

Further tree clearance done at Podmore Cottages, nearly got a third of the planned trees felled. Plenty still to do though, so if there is anyone interested please get in touch. Next works party November 30th, pm me for details. To show you the difference, picture attached from September and Saturday just gone...

 

That's some serious Ash Die Back!!

 

I'm surprised I can find no mention of this on here, but the planning application for the Cornhill development in Leek was rejected in late September:

Leek Cornhill Development Refused

Chris

 

After a couple of weeks with no camera, back in action today. Sunny autumn day moving some sleepers around but mainly burning some of the debris from recent tree felling days. The trackside between railway and canal south of Consall is looking much better already.

 

From what I can see the plan that was rejected was from the developer not the CVR and it failed because the plan did not contain enough provision for jobs. For what it's worth Leek and the Moorlands has seen job losses of around 1,100 at Britannia Building Society (alone). A lot of these jobs would have been Head Office and Manager grade jobs and, certainly when I worked at Britannia in the mid 90s, most people who worked there were from Leek and the Moorlands. So the council wanted to see more provision for jobs.

From what I read the rejection was not about the CVR or the Canal marina it was about jobs and in fact the council seemed to be supportive of the train station and canal marina.

 

Correct. Barnfields application is from a private developer who was offering to build the new marina and station at his own cost.

Discussions ongoing behind the scenes, all we can do is wait and see what the next step is. Not much else we can say really.

 

Looking good. Will be one of the best sections on our line once we've finished the tidy-up job!

 

http://www.brcw.co.uk/#/n2014h/4587205973

Interesting news.

 

Jon Jon hasn't got a comment is he stuck for words?

 

Comment on what, no questions have been asked of us Ste?

 

Just thought you might of explained the move and the reasons for it as it is news! Anyway it got the cvr thread back to the top lol

 

Press Release quite self-explanatory. Following the CVR reduction in 2-train operations the DMU group have had a review themselves, and decided they need to find more operating dates. With the CVR not being in a position at present to offer such, alternatives have been looked at and ELR now beckons. Sad to see Kev and the guys go as they are a great bunch of guys, but needs must in order to survive. Hopes and dreams don't pay the bills sadly!

 

You have to wonder whether they'll fare any better at the ELR, and if so, why. The ELR may be more diesel oriented, but it seems to also have a lot more of them to share the available turns.

 

Wont take too much to beat. In 2014 we did not require a second set much, with just under 20 days requiring such;

Feb - Steam Gala Weekend as LHS
Mar - Railcar Day & a couple of Guard's Training Days
Apr - 1940s Weekend
May - Fireman Sam Weekend
Jun - Anything Goes Weekend
Jul - Beer Fest + SciFi Weekends
Aug - 3x Peppa Pig days
Oct - Ghost Train evening

So being offered >20 turns a year, with no requirement now until the end of February next year when again it would only be used as LHS Stock for the Steam Gala. 2015 will be a similar scenario to 2014 TT wise, so you can see why they've decided to act now.

Our stock situation isn't too bad following all the efforts of C&W this year mind.
http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/news/cvr-latest-carriage-and-wagon-news

1x Coach restoration tidied up after Steam Gala.
2x more from the running rake done during the year too, with a fourth currently being prepared for Santas.
This should give us 7x for Santas, and with the Moorlander we'll have 2x 4-coach rakes for Steam Gala next Feb.

RMB will be done for first half of next year, meaning we'll have 2x Maroon 4-coach rakes for the first time in CVR history.
Still got a SO waiting it's turn in the queue as well, plus a BSK awaiting resumption of its conversion into a Bar Car.
Then there's also the Heating Van that the NSRC have purchased to save us MPD lads doing 24-hour steam heat shifts in the winter.
It's a busy time for our C&W guys, who do an awful lot considering they can only fit 1 vehicle at a time inside their shed.