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Peak Rail General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by kestreleyes, Nov 22, 2009.

  1. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    depends on how you view progress?

    i use the iceberg example; the s&t have been busy getting rowsley cabin restored for the last year, now signalling is starting to go in the ground and should in the next three months start to come together,it may seem like little compared to the bigger laying of a mile of track but without it you cant run north any further, hence the tip of the iceberg being a good analogy, there is a long term plan to start laying track but that was dependant on getting the cycleway sorted out as that affected plans, now thats coming together too, itd be a good case of watch the space, things have started if albeit slowly.
     
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  2. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Monday 2 February 2015 at 7.30pm
    For a requested £3 donation on the door, all welcome to:

    "THE MATLOCK CABLE TRAMWAY" - digital presentation - Glynn Waite

    This tramway operated from Crown Square up Bank Road between 1893-1927 and Glynn has a remarkable number of photographs and memorabilia.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Quarterly 100 Club Draw during the interval tonight.

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

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

    bus routes 47, 48, 53 and 87 stop near the front door.

    hope to see you!
    Dave

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

    David Sharp
    Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch
     
  3. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Railtours

    Sunday 12th april Pathfinder Railtours plan a Crewe to Rowsley trip with a pair of class 20s and a 37 on the back

    again on 10th may the railway touring company "The Peak Forester", this time hauled by B1 Mayflower.

    Rowsley shed - Comings and Goings.

    Mr Latham has moved to pastures new after being appointed general manager at Crewe Heritage Centre,so in his place Mike Thompson MD of Arrowvale electronics put forward a desire to take over the engineering function at Rowsley shed and this has started with the machinery shop having a sort out and reorganisation of the equipment etc.

    Mr Thompson already has some stock at the line plus a kit parts for a large shed, so some good plans for the future.

    Rob our engineer has also taken up a new position based at Crewe in a new job too on trackworks, whilst we will miss both Steve and Rob we wish them well in their new career roles, Rob will still be seen down the line as he still is a volunteer, my personal thanks especially to Rob as hes dug more holes for the S&T dept over the years with the jcb than our poor backs and shovels could ever have taken.

    Cycleway

    works on the cycleway are due to start around the Matlock end with roadworks this month.
     
  4. philw2

    philw2 Member

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    Thanks for the info KE. Derbyshire CC give themselves planning permission very quickly don't they..LOL
     
  5. Mike Delamar

    Mike Delamar Member

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    Thanks,for the heads up on this, im Booked on it now and looking forward to it.

    Do you know if any of the heritage shunters will be running on this day?
     
  6. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Il ask the folks down the line this week and let you know boss, they may have their shed open at the very least so viewings could occur but il check with the office to be sure


    S&T
    Hello all, this weekend I was covering riverside so work was limited to between trains, the plan this weekend was to sort out the stiff pulls on 5,6&10 signals, on Saturday with johns help we narrowed the hard pull on 5 down to a small sliver of a welded up lock rod catching inside the lock and now that's sorted it pulls easier at least, though we ended up stripping it down to its basics to find it in the end, not before a lot of messing around in the course of trying to narrow it down though

    I also made the chain section longer through the cabin front as to avoid the thimble catching on the floor avoiding roller as the wires exit the front of the cabin.

    On Sunday I removed the necessity of having to pull the link every time the cabins not used by running the voltage converter on /off circuit direct from the main power switch on the cabin block-shelf. (David il email you the drawings now the works done as soon as I get into work).

    That job done I turned my attention to the hard pull on 6 signal next, after noting the return weight and cranks would be better suited on the right side of the post allowing the wire straight run to the arm I corrected these and tried again but the pull still seems hard. By now Pete and John were also there so we started to look at the wire run as even with the signal disconnected It still seems hard, John noted a pulley under the platform that would be better turned around and I noted the wheel bench opposite the cabin is slightly skewed so the chains drag onto the casting which feels like what I'm noting on the lever so il dig the back out and bar it level again and retry it when next down, it's only a small bench so it may have moved and needs chocking under the platform.

    Today I fitted the extended sleeper plates at rowsley on the mainline and runaround points to carry the fpl cranks from the point operating boxes using some old back drive plates we got with a load of redundant signalling from the gosberton recovery the other year, as we have no need for back drives at present the plates easily solve having to extend the sleeper ends, though the track had to be jacked up to fit them and the plates redrilled with the magdrill as the holes are designed to fit large point chairs a few sleepers back from where they needed to be mounted, I also spent some time fitting the rods to the cranks but have still to replace the gain crank arm on the mainline point as the adjustable slippers tried don't want to go onto the arm, it seems the crank arm itself is actually bigger than the standard arms (manufacturer not Following the drawing ), not a problem though as there's a redundant one at the rear of the LMSCA's caravan on an old sleeper doing nothing so il swap them on Sunday as I'm down for a
    Fire safety training at rowsley anyway,
    [​IMG]


    The wire run has also been fitted on both sides of the track at rowsley now with just a few where the wires cross the line to fit, again when I started it was snowing but by midday it was lovely and sunny and warm
    [​IMG]



    I bumped into mr Briddon senior during my time at rowsley who says the missing parts for the point operating box and self adjusting weights clutch should be back from his manufacturer tommorow so in the coming weeks we can get them assembled in the workshop and hopefully the point boxes can then start being fitted by march at least to the sleeper ends.

    I'm back on nights again so apart from a short spat on Sunday itl be next week now when next down, probably Monday day when il sort out riversides wheel bench previously noted.

    Rowsley

    The gang have been busy continuing with the shed refitting works and I noted the Mencap and LMSCA folks beavering away too in between snow showers and glorious blue skies :)
     
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  7. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    :Chillout:Mike asked if the heritage Shunters will be operating anything in rowsley sidings on the date of the railtour, I've spoke to the office and the HST chaps themselves and there's nothing planned to be running in the sidings at Rowsley but the display and stock sheds should be open for viewing.

    Elsewhere today was primarily a day set aside for fire training courses with the Peak Rail Fire Crew at Rowsley and a little S&T work was finished off at Rowsley before the days end, I also managed to bump into the telecoms chaps working away in the exchange repairing electrickery and Rob and the gang were busy up at Darley putting the connection panel tracks into Mr Briddons shed
     
  8. Mike Delamar

    Mike Delamar Member

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    Thanks for asking Kestreleyes
     
  9. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    image.jpg Rowsley

    Quite busy in the shed with various locomotives being worked on inc one of the dmu coaches, I spotted the LMSCA also working away between snow showers and the MENCAP gang were busy tidying around the site , the Sperry Rail chaps were busy doing some work on the ultrasonic test unit too

    Darley Dale

    The trackwork outside Mr Briddons shed is complete and the signalling alterations are now being worked on, there's still some track work inside the shed to finish and off course the shed still has to be fitted out and weather proofed plus a load of other jobs besides

    S&T

    Fitted the last two point operating baseplates today made from old sole plates and bars to mount the wire driven point operating boxes on.


    Next comes the mounting of the boxes themselves in the coming month.


    Mr Briddon has fabricated up the missing dog clutch for us from his laser cutting colleagues and this is now being fitted out with the threaded rods and springs at home. All that before going and having an afternoon working up at Darley dale on the south yard ground frame alterations

    Matlock

    The alteration to the main road footpaths area around Arc Leisure has started for the cycleway, the bus pull in has gone and a widened footpath is being created on the railway facing side of the kerb image.jpg image.jpg
     
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  10. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Monday 2 March 2015 at 7.30pm
    For a requested £3 donation on the door, all welcome to:

    "THE GREATER SHEFFIELD AREA TRANSPORT SCENE" - digital - Roy Wilson

    Roy always carries his camera and so gets the unusual as well as the everyday. Photos from the late 1970s to the present day, covering trains, trams, buses and even buildings, mainly in the greater Sheffield area.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

    bus routes 47, 48, 53 and 87 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
     
  11. philw2

    philw2 Member

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  12. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    Depends how you view things. We've been gone from the Buxton end for twenty years for the reasons that we never satisfactorily got BR to agree to letting us out onto the single line alongside them and we had a much better chance of building a working railway at the other end, rather than stagnating, whilst it would be nice to dream of one day reaching Buxton again or even having something up there as a presence personally I'd say we made the right move to Rowsley and in my opinion buxtons a dream to long for but probably will never happen.

    Now that's only my opinion of course but id be very surprised if all the factors weren't considered to at least keep an option open for some return on the future though that would require a great amount of cash to make a start out from that end again and a change from NRs point of operating down the single line as we'd have to share their track now with the alignment being centralised over the years from its previous 2 line setup under BR prior to closure . Then again we may retain options on the parcel of land at Buxton so that we could continue to have a revenue stream from it,so many potential options

    All of which is the decision of the board at present, there should be something in the magazine as there was a few months back which when it appears il copy up for you.

    Buxton is having a bit o an upsurge in tourism of late as with a new hotel in higher Buxton being planned, the crescent being brought back to use as a hotel also and the above mentioned hotel development on the plans the local developers are "Hinging their bets" that they can sell the peaks as a major tourist attraction ,again, tbh Buxton since the late eighties has always been a poor cousin to Matlock for tourism and viewed building a shopping centre more of plan for the future whereas Matlock went more for tourism than shopping and it shows twenty years later - what's left at Buxton, no crescent ,no micrarium , a nice park they wanted to build a big food court over the heritage structures off, and a concrete shopping centre occupying the town centre alongside numerous other planned developments that many locals don't want as it's slowly eroding the Victorian character of the town :(
     
  13. Lplus

    Lplus Well-Known Member

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    One of the objections is the "Matlock Station Objection" Is that relevant?
     
  14. Woodster21

    Woodster21 Member

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    I agree with Dominic
     
  15. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    There's a few objections from various parties , we have an issue with a proposed crossing of the track on the curve approaching riverside. Especially now there's potentially thousands of cyclists whol be using a crossing on a curve with very limited sight lines. All things to be considered of course and mitigated.
     
  16. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

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    An update from the Renown and Repulse locomotives group on recent work on the locos power controllers http://www.renownrepulse.com/news-r...-electricals-update.html#sthash.V5jBviU7.dpbs

    And on s and t

    Saturday was the last day of running around at riverside so I was manning the cabin for that, i managed to change the pulley wheels that were catching on the platform end by remounting them onto a bracket welded up for the purpose and this has stopped the wires catching on the platform now and made them a by more easier too. John and myself also had another look at the ingress of water on the bridge end floor of the box which seems to have been down to one hole in the corner post that was plugged with a bolt but wasn't as waterproof as hoped, that's sealed up with a wooden plug and filler I did two weeks back now and the floor has dried out sufficiently to put the carpet tiles back down but I've also took the opportunity to coat the boards in that area with anti rot solution as they have been damp and showing signs of a white mould on the underneath of the boards
    image.jpg

    The toilet is installed at Riverside ,which is also big news (bit of toilet humour there).

    At Rowsley the missing clutch on the point operating box that mr Briddon kindly had manufactured up for us and I finished off the spring legs for has been installed and looks the part.

    The plan is in about two weeks to mount the trap and headshunt boxes and then the mainline boxes which should be an easy job as it's simply bolting them down and putting their lids on but wel see :).

    The next priority is to carry on with the finishing off the south yard ground frame at Darley dale which is Fridays work.
     
  17. Woodster21

    Woodster21 Member

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    Did I see somewhere that there was a DMU at Peak Rail?
     
  18. Woodster21

    Woodster21 Member

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  19. daveannjon

    daveannjon Well-Known Member

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    There's a 117 being overhauled at the moment by Mike Thompson's team.

    Dave
     
  20. Jamie Glover

    Jamie Glover New Member

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    Have just Peter Briddon's account of his recent dealings with the upper etchelons of Peak Rail's king pins who are better known to cynics as Statham Family Railways. His blog clearly illustrates all that continues to be wrong with Peak Rail and its senior management.

    The West Somerset Railway Association is being called to task by a vocal group of reformers. Perhaps the SFR needs a reform group too? Step forward please Mr. Briddon!
     

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