Peak Rail at Matlock.

Good news, I hope the toilets will be improved - what does £10k buy these days?

Ralph

 

Last few days of the Matlock Webcams. Due to go off air on the 20/12/07

http://www.sainsburysmatlock.co.uk/

 

Thankyou for that prompt Adrian, I've rather got used to that view, and have even watched the Peak Rail 0-6-0 running round!

...Ok, sad I know!

I'll get my anorak....

46118

 

Anoraks rule here... -3 this morning up at 1200 feet where we live, -8 in town outside the office.

I'm firmly with you on the anorak, bring back the Parka!!

If you need live web cam links with action look at the WHR with work going on at the Cambrian crossing. It's always good to watch someone else working!!!

 

have you got a link to that

also the nnr ones are rather good but i cant seem to get them working

 

Obviously work has stopped now that I mentioned it....

http://www.webcam.whr.co.uk/CaePawb/

 

Matlock webcam duly went off the Sainsbury website, but still running at birse-matlock ( the contractors presumably) and this afternoon "Royal Pioneer" appeared to be working top and tail with something else, rather than running round.

Presumably a diesel on t'other end?

46118

 

slightly off the subject, ive been browsing flickr, the photowebsite, a search of rowsley and darley dale brings up some good ariel photos of the formation around rowsley village station and the grouse and claret areas,plus rowsley sidings .

one pic shows the sidings and stock too

 

here are links some interesting links

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59671142@N00/1815991136/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/view_from_ ... 178941410/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loose_grip_99/420981765/


plus on a different note:
barrow hills signal box
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59671142@N00/771194679/

 

Some more news about the controversial footbridge at Matlock -
http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/news/An ... 3655963.jp
- it seems the predicted anti-social behaviour is already happening.

The group campaigning against the bridge have given an update - sorry this is long!

Here is the latest news from the Matlock Footbridge Campaign.

PETITION
Numbers on the on-line and paper petitions are fairly static at the
moment - totalling around 880. We need to decide whether to make a
big push to collect more, or whether to submit the petition to the
relevant authorities now, or to submit what we have but to continue to
allow new people to sign to make their feelings known.

LEVEL CROSSING OPTION
Some of us met on site recently with Network Rail officials, kindly
facilitated by the Friends of the Derwent Valley Line, to discuss the
possiblity of a pedestrian level crossing to the store. The outcome
was not good news - Network Rail would be adamantly opposed to a
public footpath across the line, even a little-used line. However,
they would be willing to engage in further discussions about options,
if we were able to persuade the councils and Sainsbury's into such
discussions. They also suggested that Peak Rail should be part of the
process.

MODIFICATIONS TO THE FOOTBRIDGE
During the meeting with Network Rail, it transpired that their health
and safety advisers have expressed concern about the bridge structure
enabling access to the roof of the station buildings. As a result,
the site developer has been requested to submit proposals to raise the
height of the parapet adjacent to the roof area, to prevent this
happening. The District Council has confirmed this, but has not yet
received any proposals, so therefore cannot say whether planning
permission would be required. In our view, raising the sides of the
bridge would make it even uglier and more massive than it is now, so
we are very concerned about it. We also feel that it is ludicrous
that this safety hazard has been created in the first place, by
building the bridge right on top of the station buildings. This item
got coverage in the Matlock Mercury and on Radio Derby yesterday and
today.

'SOFTENING THE APPEARANCE'?
We still have not been informed by the District Council or Sainsbury's
of any other modifications to the footbridge they are considering.
This in spite of the fact that they were both quoted in the press in
November, as saying that they were working on proposals to 'soften the
appearance' of the bridge, and we asked them to keep us informed about
this. There are rumours that they are proposing to box in the lower
structure, but no-one has confirmed this.

DISABLED ACCESS
Representatives of a local disabled access group have kindly made an
independent assessment of the footbridge, and have confirmed that it
does comply with statutory requirements for wheelchair access. They
will not, therefore, support out campaign, unfortunately. They accept
that the route is difficult for people with mobility problems but not
in wheelchairs, but make the reasonable point that any route would be
difficult for such people. They also feel that the vast majority of
disabled people will be accessing the store by car, since good
provision is made in the store car park and entrance for such users.
This item was referred to in an article in yesterday's Derbyshire
Times, but was a completely inaccurate and mangled account, which we
have complained to the reporter about!

MEDIA COVERAGE
We continue to get good support from the Matlock Mercury, Derbyshire
Times and Radio Derby, even though the lack of accuracy in some of the
reporting can be a mixed blessing. We will try to get the latest
links onto the website soon, but meantime you can access the Mercury
article on http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk and also will be able listen to
today's Radio Derby breakfast show piece on the bbc website 'listen
again' facility. Any ideas that any of you have, or help you can
offer, with raising the profile regionally and nationally, would be
very welcome.

LOCAL PUBLIC MEETING
We have booked the Imperial Rooms, Matlock, for the next public
meeting on FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY 6.00 TO 8.00 PM. If you are local,
please do try to attend. We need to discuss:
- whether and how to continue with the petition
- how to persuade the district and county councils, and Sainsbury's,
to engage in discussion with us about the future of the footbridge
- how to raise the profile of the campaign
- how to manage the campaign so that more people are active in it
- how to utilise supporters' skills and experience to best effect
- and much more!

Thanks for your patience!

Dave

 

news update

http://www.peakrail.co.uk/news.htm

 

Well known journalist and broadcaster Matthew Parris has waded into the argument about the Matlock footbridge in an article in The Times today - this is the relevant piece:

"Here's a thought. On arriving at Matlock railway station this weekend I was knocked back yet again by the sheer, monstrous ugliness of the giant, black steel framework of a new superstructure (“bridge” is too soft a word) newly constructed to give passengers access to a Sainsbury's on the other side of the line. It's higher than the roof of the sweetly proportioned little Victorian stone station. It jars. It dwarfs the whole place, wrecking perspective. Ghastly iron ramps zigzag into the sky, with runs of fire-escape-style black iron steps doubled up beside them. The whole mess looks like a stage-set for West Side Story - no introduction to the lovely Peak District to which this station is the gateway.

The committee-wallahs who sanctioned the atrocity say it must be like that to comply with disabled access regulations. Yet anyone wheelchair-bound or pram-encumbered would be daunted by such a climbing frame, preferring the existing pavement that leads to an existing stone road-bridge nearby."

The rest of his article is about H&S nonsenses.

Cheers
Dave

 

The good burghers are really moaning about the bridge but none of them have gone down the route of complaining to the Local Government Ombudsman - may be they realise that DDDC followed the correct processes and procedures? The other point i would like to make, Matthew is a decent enough chap, but he did promote the decapitation of cyclists and he was a former conservative MP and the committees that approved the scheme are from a tory controlled district council

 

News - viewtopic.php?f=46&t=13359

 

Full steam ahead then for Peak Rail, I wonder what the 'difficulties' are. Also how would it be worked - top 'n' tail?

Ralph

 

Presumably the final link between the new trackwork laid as part of the Sainsburys development will come at a cost to Peak Rail, NR dont do these connections for nothing.
Track needs to be laid into the disused platform at Matlock NR station, at present there is just a short stub off the runround points at the north end of the station.
The disused platform surface looks in need of a complete revamp, and might well require raising in height.
There is also at present no means of pedestrian access to the platform.

I agree that top and tail looks like the option if the Peak Rail trains are to be kept clear of the NR lines. A long loop has been laid North of Matlock, so it would be possible for Peak Rail operations to be kept separate from the NR running line, but only if top and tail was used. Using the NR loop to run round would mean requiring access to the current NR running line, and that presumably means "lots of paperwork".....

46118

 

also probably means any stock doing that movement would need main line certification? (Common sense would allow exemption on the grounds that it is a low speed shunting movement, but we all know what the H&S is like!)

 

The remainder of my pictures from my visit to Rowsley last October are now on Fotopic. Here's the link if anyone is interested to have a look :

http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1099919.html

As usual, this is the 'Stop Press!' collection for new pictures. They will be there for the next couple of weeks or so, then I shall transfer them to join the others in the Derbyshire and Staffordshire collection. Then they will be here :

http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1399605.html

Hope that they are of interest.

 

This appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph last Wednesday:

Train buffs are steaming ahead with ambitious plans to expand a Derbyshire heritage railway. The voluntary-run Peak Rail service could soon be connected to the Derbyshire main line via Matlock station if negotiations are successful. Talks with Network Rail are close to a conclusion which would allow the independent railway to use a platform at the station. This would mean passengers coming into Matlock from Derby could transfer directly on to Peak Rail trains.

The organisation's voluntary joint managing director, Jackie Statham, said she hoped a legal agreement could be in place before Peak's traditionally busy summer holiday season. She said: "We must take it a step at a time. We have wanted this for many years and it will be quite an achievement." Based at Matlock Riverside station, just outside the town centre, Peak Rail is a not-for-profit company staffed by more than 150 unpaid volunteers. It has a 3.7-mile stretch of track through the Derwent Valley to its own station in Matlock via Darley Dale, to Rowsley South, an old loco depot just outside the village. If the track is connected to the mainline, it could boost the thousands of passengers - many of them tourists from outside the county - that Peak Rail carried last year. Formally part of the Midland Railway mainline from Manchester to London St Pancras, the line has ended at Rowsley since 1997.

But the organisation hopes eventually to continue it north-west through the heart of the Peak District National Park to Bakewell and then Buxton. Mrs Statham, aged 67, said: "We are studying our options. The Matlock connection is the goal we want to aim at." However, there is no longer a railway bridge over the A6 just after Rowsley and it would cost an estimated £1m-plus to complete the track. Peak Rail turns over about £250,000 a year.

Hubert Doxey, 85, of Wirksworth, is a retired train driver and wrote about his experiences in his autobiography "A Way Of Life". He said: "Extending the line is an excellent idea because it's good for the railway and a way to reduce traffic and help people get from A to B." All the track, which was ripped out after the line was closed in 1968, has been replaced by Peak Rail volunteers and the first trains ran again as far as Darley Dale in 1991. The organisation owns four steam locomotives and has a full kitchen carriage, licensed bar and a 48-cover dining car offering Sunday lunches, cream teas and pie-and-pea suppers. Through the winter, the Matlock-Darley Dale-Rowsley service runs only at weekends but the service is more frequent during spring and summer.

Ralph

 

What happened at the Buxton end? They were based there, had the bridge built to break out and then moved to the other end. Why did this happen? Is Buxton dead for all time or is it the ultimate goal?