Peak Rail at Matlock.

I think they had to vacate because the land was sold off for commercial use.

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All except a small portion of land was sold at Buxton to finance the operation at Darley Dale. There is just enough land left for a platform and run round loop.

There were some very good times at Buxton and my brother and I did a lot of work there. The old mess cabin and sleeping coach were legendary...

 

Ah the infamous Buxton mess hut. I remember Phil Brown building it and I used to sleep on the table before the sleeping coach arrived. Fortunately I wasn't there the night someone dropped a tin of mushy peas down the stove chimney. It blew the stove to pieces and splattered the inside of the hut with peas. There was a mad panic to replace the stove before Phil found out. We were all a lot younger then.

When the site closed one of the lads preserved the hut in his garden for many years before the rot finally got it.

Tim

 

I was talking with Dave yesterday about the peas incident and the good times we had there....

I only had one night in the mess hut but that was enough.. The door opened in the morning and out came the smokey fog and the smell.... The coach seemed like luxury after that. But still after a night in the Railway I am sure we did not care..

And now kids, mortgage and receeding hairline have put a stop to that.

 

It seems to be progressing very well - Sleepermonster (Tim) has put a couple of posts on the Peak Rail Yahoo group about it, particularly praising the chap who has led the project, Alan Wirth, who is a forensic scientist, and has achieved it with minimal expense - £10k as against £600k for the West Somerset contract job. However reading between the lines it seems his efforts have not been valued as much as they might which is sad.
Other news on their Yahoo group is that their newsletter editor Andrew Coward has taken up the post of General Manager of the East Lancs.

Ralph

 

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

good news that the other platform and building will be included in the lease.

Also there is talk in the yahoo group of putting a plaque on the turntable to show who was invloved

 

Some good news there, has the outcome of the meeting with Network Rail been disclosed? Also anyone know what 'agreement in principle' means as regards the 99 year lease?

Ralph

 

Has anyone any recent photos of progress with the engine shed? Nothing more recent than November on the website.

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ill have a look around, but apparently it is fully lockable etc and a few bits and bobs just to finish

 

re the midland box at darley dale;

unfortunately it doesnt work the passing loop there, i wont go into the full written reasons why it never came into full use but the four points should explain why

1. it was put at the crossing as the obvious place to work the crossing and eventually the loop, problems however are noted in that for every train over the crossing the signaller would have to go up and down stairs at least four times, eg down to close the gates,back up to pull the signal off, back down to get the staff,back up to put the signal back,back down to open gates,back up to have cup of tea and recover for the next time,,as you can imagine,takes along time and was not a very popular idea, there were plans for gate wheel and barriers, but they didnt happen in the long run.

2. to cut a long story with many reasons short, the railway extended, so it got put on the back burner of priorities.
3. it requires some structural work and new legs,typical of midland boxes,i believe the same happened to some of the midland railway centres boxes and required some work to rectify a few years ago, which is why i didnt include it as part of the two train running;which leads us to four,

4. with the need to undertake the structural work to rectify the problems that occured well into BR days, it really needs to come down, and have steel section legs put in place of the wooden ones (suitable sections turned on end can be clad to look like the originals,be stronger and solve future problems like your locking going out of adjustment), we did similar to church lane and to be honest it really is the way forward,why suffer in the future

this leads me onto the future, this work is planned to take place soon, as it neccesary for the safe operation of the railway, plus it gives us the chance to relocate the box to somewhere where it is needed,somewhere where we can if needed switch out the box when its not gala days, and somewhere the 29 levers can get well used, the plan i have in mind is to relocate it at rowsley south,where over a period of time it will be staged into use,this also means less climbing of the stairs by signaller and puts it to better use.

stages which make sense....

1. as a controlled block post,linked in with any extension works to rowsley village and to locate operational signalling with those works in mind.
2.bring in the sidings under the control of the box as a shunt frame (bit like cheddleton on cvr).
3. bring into use as signalbox or passing loop.basic signalling and king lever,opposing signal locking releases so box can be shut.

these plans are well in hand, though i do not have the exact date for moving but will look forward to putting it back up sometime soon, hope that gives some answer to the question posed relating to the cabin.

 

Although i was never involved with the Buxton site, stayed down south at Darley Dale, i do remember the curious incident of the Turdis transporting itself to someone's house! But that's another story

 

no problems,its nice to discuss ideas.

thats the proposal at the moment,it may change but thatl be dealt with as and when

the turdis!! that has to be the portaloo,strange blue thing that keeps materializing in other places,always bigger on the inside than on the outside,especially when its raining and you try to fit 3 persons in it...

 

The Peak Rail news section has been updated with pictures of the shed. Follow the link

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

 

Excellent progress with vital covered accommodation.

Lets hope this might attract other steam loco owners/groups now.

How far away is the 8F from completion?

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All the tubes are fitted and expanding is now taking place...
Not so long now hopefully...

 

Rowsley turntable looks very good but nowhere does it say how long it is. I know it's very trainspotterish of me to want to know but it makes a difference when you turn up with a Princess pacific (ask the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway).

Funnily enough the Barrow Roundhouse website seems to omit that small but significant fact.

P.S. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to Rowsley South Railway Station which says that the turntable came from Southsea (Portsmouth?) which is very wrong as it came from Mold Junction. Any Peak Rail member care to let Wikipedia know?

 

Sorry - I meant Barrow Hill Roundhouse!

 

ive done some changes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowsley_So ... resent_Day

next year im going to take the trip to visit peak rail and midland, there is alot of change since i last visited