Peak Rail General Discussion

You beat me too it sir

I forgot to post from the other day these bits

S and t

This week bill has been down Rowsley doing some boxing in of the boards on Rowsley box front and John has been busy with electrical
Work, Andrew and myself spent today getting things sorted where the lever chains run on the floor holes now the chain properly goes around and under the lever wheels, in the end it was easier (though an all day job) to make up some line pulleys with spare wheels ,bar and tube to act as guide wheels and keep the chains off the boarding , which is probably karma as a few weeks back I was sent a drawing of similar items from the Midland study centre for a plan for under the floor guidewheels on an old turnover frame plan so it must have been a common known issue even then to occur

We’ve fitted also a heater permanently in the Rowsley box now off a thermostat and isolator and now the box is starting to get stuff removed to clean up it’ll get painted sometime soon,

Speaking of painting the missus and myself put in a few hours on Friday repainting the inside of riverside as with damp and such the paint had started to come off the roof inside

One outstanding small job at church lane will be tackled on a non operating date soon, changing the location fuse holders over from cartridge to busman types as less prone to verdigreeing up with the current over time and I think a couple of cables may need redoing as the fuses need to go above the batteries this time, they’ve traditionally been below all the years and the battery spill has not helped them so getting them up and above would be better

Jobs wise for March the down starter church lanes 14 will need a good derust and rust converter coat before repainting on the main post , harness and ladder time again on the flat plate sections, that will be sometime In March weather depending

Works continue on the Rowsley box. The mainline points are next on the list which was to be part of today’s work until the other jobs took all day to do. I did have a play with the lever though and whilst the wires drive no problem the operating box didn’t. It did last time so , either it’s a faux pas on my behalf and I’d reconnected the Fpl drive bar inside and that’s jammed or more likely as we’ve seen it work before that it could be as we learned from the siding points last time that we need to set the drive arm Half and half with the lever and it’s over stroked itself to a position it can’t go anymore hence wires move but drive box doesn’t

That’ll be for next time

Darley

The roof repairs on the down platform building continue. The ridge tiles look better now they’re mortared down, a never ending task much like the forth bridge repainting. I know as a mate of mine who does roofing notes they prefer to use a polystyrene bead based mortar now as that expands and contracts better in the changing climate rather than the old mortar does which is keeping him extremely busy redoing loads of roofs presently

Work up at Rowsley continues, one of the boilers is having firebox work done , derivetting etcetera and the work on the class 25 continues with the cab refitting

Further up the line at millersdale work continues on the woodwork of the station building by the contractors and fitting out inside the period lighting (more on that another time) and the bridge repainting and repair work continues as you’ve probably seen from my previous posts.

 

Another photo of the viaduct work which looks very good - taken in the evening gloom though.

Dave

 

Nice. I wonder why they are only doing the top bit and not the rest of it?

 

Hmm not sure, when I spoke to the gentlemen working on it a few weeks ago they said they were doing the whole thing, they were pointing/caulking the stone/ brick abutments as I was there, the part that needed the most attention was the steel plate bridge over the wormhill road. It still beggars belief that a viaduct 40 years younger than its neighbor is the one in worse repair, not all technological advancements are good ones, though I imagine they built it faster, the lads working on it were stunned that it was jacked into place in sections and riveted.

@kestreleyes how's the station building coming along?

 

My understanding is that the old viaduct is wrought iron and the newer one is steel which would explain the different state of the two. But I could be wrong.

Pete

 

Yes, the steel one is girder framed so lots of flat surfaces for water to sit on too.

 

S and t

An early start for me today with replacing the battery feed cable and fuses in church lane battery loc, for now the main battery wires have been swapped over to the new stuff and once the other cable is fitted il swap the block battery and wires over to the new fuses and remove the old dead cables and fuses which have become life expired with battery spillage and age.

John and myself spent today getting the two main line point ends at Rowsley north working from the turnover frame , thanks to some information via colleagues on the puffing billy steam railway out in Australia who also have similar wire driven equipment on their continent.

Following a strip down of the main operating wheels and altering the drive pins in the escapement mechanism buried underneath the boxes drive the point rods correctly, albeit for the test not connected to the actual point rails or the facing point locks , one of which will need its crank turning around next time so it drives the right way to unlock first

Apart from that we replaced some of the chains under the cabin with slings to avoid binding up in pets and also made up the cover for the locking tray too which will need two of the locking tappets rivets grinding down a bit as they rub under the cover enough to stop the top pins going in just above two of the pins, the cover will need spray painting black anyhow before the pins can go back in permanently. Again that’s a next time job.

Rod has been busy in the shed fettling up various broken pulley wheels and broken castings into some fully working ones, many thanks to Rod for that

So for next time it’s finish the locking tray cover off and the dog clutch before moving back to box work,floor etcetera

One thing we did learn in the process is that the operating box which still had its dog clutch inside shoes that the two wires are fixed inside the clutch out of sight and so we need to do the same for the clutch mr briddonmade
For the other box which was missing its clutch, this may be as easy as two drilled holes in the arms of the clutch and a small bolt through each to catch against the wires.

Rowsley

I managed a chat with some of the LMSCA gang who have been busy for the last few weeks taking both ends of one of the buffet cars apart to redo the steelwork and corridor connections , the wooden frame work removal above the toilet areas being todays main job

Apart from that I noted the Ashover light railway folks and the Heeitage shunters trust busy working away in their sheds but didn’t get time to find out what they were upto, I note RS8 has been started up at Tunstead works where it is being overhauled with the quarry and Mr Briddon.

The line was also host to a large gathering of camping routers and a fair amount of passengers too, I also noted the trail as very busy from my vantage point in the box

Till next time folks. Have fun.

 

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

Monday 4 March 2019 at 7:30pm
"Trains and Terrains" - slideshow - Geoff Proctor


Geoff heads for the hills both at home and abroad, so in addition to the UK with the S&C etc we shall also see the USA with The Silverton & Durango, Switzerland with the Jungfraubahn and the Furka Oberalp Cogwheel Steam Railway, plus Sardinia and some other snippets.



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


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

Bus routes 3, 3a, 7, 8, 8a, 83 and 83a stop near the front door.
(all of these routes have stops on Arundel Gate close to The Crucible)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David Sharp
Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch

(E): 0114 274 5478
(M): 07950 787 231 (text or call)

future branch programme and directions to The Harlequin, can be found at:

http://www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch

(N.B. the new web pages should be going 'live' shortly and the update should include the programme for the whole of 2019).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aizlewoods Mill car park. The menacing parking notices are to tackle daytime abuse. Aizlewoods confirm Harlequin patrons can continue to park in evenings. 'Policing' only done by Aizlewoods staff (who finish at 1700). The London security firm is used just to process any parking notices instigated by Aizlewoods.

 

The class 25 is now being painted in its first coats of paint, filling and more sanding before top coats come next on the menu

Pioneers boiler is being worked on , Rivetting etcetera and the front of the smokebox has a new front plate which is being riveted up also

I managed to bump into the class 37 owner who tells me work on his Loco is coming along nicely too

Elsewhere Mencap were busy on site and we managed in s and t to remove and refit the crank plate that needed altering and reconnect it with a lot of help from the shed crew and Rod and a great deal of flame and wrist power to make up some new connections

 

You know it’s wet when the small island in the river derwent at Rowsley disappears under water and you see tree trunks floating down stream at Rowsley ☹️

John and myself avoided the deluge today like most others on site having an indoor day instead. The steel foot for the weight bars which rod finished was picked up and fitted under the weights and the old plates removed and reused for clamps for u see the rails to hold it down, the foot was further braces with another section of large angle underneath just in case. John will finish off the feet that attach to this later on as the large vice in the shed is needed to get the nut recovered

The rest of the day was spent getting the safety caging cut, steelwork erected to the joists and floorbeams and metalwork to make its frame fitted ready for welding up and nearly all the cage panels fitted bar the door section near the stairs. , the plan is to weld on some studs to sit the front panel base into and there’s a bit of welding to complete where the sections have been split and made up into larger sections dressed up with a front plate. That will be next times work

We’ve also cut and drilled up two tread plates to go over the rails at the base of the stairs as they still need to be accessible but need to be secured as they’re part of the walkways, these will have rounded headed bolts and clamps fitted next time to finish off

John is also working on the drive rods from the Fpl cranks to the point operating box and we’ve still to alter one of the dog clutches on the nannygoat end point box so the wire is clamped to the drive wheel but it’s too wet to do that today

Elsewhere I quickly called In on the HST chaps who were also avoiding the wet stuff in their sheds, had a chat with a chap who was painting up the doors on the 06 and discussed an 02 that’s being overhauled , I noted the Ashover light railway gang were a bit braver in the weather outside doing trackworks et al

 

Dare I ask has there been any progress to get rid of the old management & get new in?

Plus I take it any extension plans are dead in the water??? Remember someone saying it'll be very complicated.

 

Wrong thread! Try asking here - https://www.national-preservation.c...-and-action-group.983259/page-34#post-2403470

Will

 

Small update.

Rowsley

The class 25 makes good progress bodywork wise as it’s now on its second green base coat of painting and rubbing down, the gloss coat is next I believe

The throatplate on the boiler with the new front plate is being reamed and tapped ready for its stays between the inner and outer firebox

I noted the heritage shunters trust were painting up locos in their shed and for a change I’ve included a few shots of mr Briddon’s Rs8 under restoration up at Tunstead quarry works where it used to work


The pway have been out and about sleeper changing , lineside
Inspecting and Hedgerow trimming and my own department have been busy up Rowsley putting the rest of the meshwork safety caging up under the box plus finishing off left over jobs from previous weeks and trying out some steelwork fabricated bits for the turnover frame, next time it should be back to painting the darley bracket signal again if the weather holds up.

 

: [pra-sheffield] Mon 1 Apr - "From Monochrome to Fujichrome" - slideshow - Peter Skelton (Gloucester)

0114 274 5478
(M): 07950 787 231 (text or call)

future branch programme and directions to The Harlequin, can be found at:

http://www.peakrail.co.uk/SheffieldBranch

(N.B. I am promised that the new web pages should be going 'live' shortly and will include the programme for the whole of 2019).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aizlewoods Mill car park. The menacing parking notices are to tackle daytime abuse. Aizlewoods confirm Harlequin patrons can continue to park in evenings. 'Policing' only done by Aizlewoods staff (who finish at 1700). The London security firm is used just to process any parking notices instigated by Aizlewoods.

 

Weekly update

Who moved Britain to summertime
Without telling me

The class 25 makes very good progress and the top coat of paint is going on nicely, two tone green , there’s several more layers and standings down to go yet before she’s finally ready but the end panels are done and she’s looking good

Other firebox ,foundation ring and boiler work continues outside, and I also noted the Ashover light railway folks are continuing tracklaying down the picnic ground fields (pictured)
, I also spotted the two coaches they’ve recently altered the chassis and bogies on to make more like the original Ashover carriages

My own department have been continuing with box work at Rowsley , some fabrication,testing and cutting some new Perspex lenses for church lanes signals.

And for some reason last week I forgot to update on the repainting of church lane’s 14 signal main bracket and post, probably beer related forgetfulness

I believe the midland brake will be having its roof fitted this week so hopefully towards next weekend I should
Have more photos,

Enjoy the sun happy Easter folks

 

We had a very enjoyable trip on 9th April, video from the afternoon here:

And a small gallery http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/peak-rail/ncb-72-9th-april-2019

 

Because I’m completely forgetful , here’s a few photos from millersdale the other day, the station cafe in the old station building continues to do well, probably partly the weather and also it’s the school Hols but they seem to be selling out of most stuff on a daily basis, the outside has finally been painted in a maroon, white and black scheme and it’s not that bad at all, the contractors have scraped clean the old viaduct ballast and have started to put a new base on and have also scraped the platform area outside the cafe but at the far end where they’d dumped the spoil from the viaduct

If I could make three suggestions to the national park/council/ business. I’d say

1: tarmac the full platform, put a lot more benches on there as you’re gonna be extremely busy come summer
2: move the cycle hire shed up from topley pike to millersdale and relocate it possibly in a restored goods shed (that space has gotta be dealt with rather than abandoned as such)
3: you’re gonna need more car parking soon

Just my thoughts


Anyhow enjoy the weather and the bank holiday folks more later in the week

 

The cafe looks better than I thought it would, though I didn't really have high expectations I must admit, I bet the bloke that bought the station masters house not too long ago with the intention of turning it into a garden cafe (which it is) is a bit annoyed that the council opened a cafe, as are the many hipster coffee vans that ply the trade by setting up in the car park, the station building did need some love and restoration though, it's just a shame that the options are so limited, and I expected a council job to be devoid of the love and passionate spirit that the building sorely needed to restore it the in the manner it deserved, which is why the inside is just a white box with few midland features, I guess there really wasn't much left and the council wouldn't bother to try and recreate things like fireplaces and picture rails, at least the outside has a proper paint scheme now, I believe the Blackwell mill cycle hire is private and I don't agree about moving it, it does a roaring trade and it makes sense to have cycle hire at the current end of the trail, being that the cafe has replaced the ranger mess room and workshops I think that the goods shed should have a proper workshops, maybe an out of season shelter for those who stomp the hills in all sorts of weather and out of season, maybe a place to store outdoor activities kit, climbing/abseiling gear etc, all those lot park at millers dale anyway, I think MD has ample car parking at present, they can extend it further into the quarry area behind the station building I suppose, I think the platform should be properly paved as it was and maybe the centre platform uncovered, the place is in sore need of a proper tree planting plan I think, don't have any complaints about the viaduct, the remedial work they've done is brilliant.

 

Indeed, to be fair I don’t think the couple planned to be running their house cafe permanently, they’d no plans to install any card payment system so were cash only and they knew the cafe was going to be done below but it is a shame. I went several times with the missus as it’s our local regular haunt and it was quick and quiet and didn’t take half an hour to get a brew and some food unlike the cafe , it would be nice to see them reopen again but who knows?


The station buildings have saved some
Of the midland charm and it’s not finished yet, I believe there’s some outside paraphernalia to go up yet to make it more authentic . Il keep an eye out for it and pics when done

 

News from the Derwent and Wye valley trust

the Trust had been awarded a Heritage Lottery Grant to finance a project called 'Tracking our Heritage'.

I am pleased to say that the project was completed on time and within budget.

The project involved interviewing retired Railway personnel and local residents to get their memories of the times on the Railway before it was closed as a main line in 1968.

These stories were transcribed and together with old photographs were formulated in to a booklet.

Copies of the booklet are now available at Darley Dale, Matlock, & Rowsley stations. They are free as they were funded by the Lottery, but charitable donations towards the restoration of the Darley Dale Station footbridge appeal would be gratefully received.

In due course the full audio record of the interviews will be available on the DWVRT website. I will inform you when this is available.

As well as the Lottery, I would also like to thank Peak Railway Association, Matlock Town Council, Darley Dale Town Council, and Derbyshire Dales District Council local councillors for their financial contributions to the project.

Yours sincerely

Roy Mackinlay
Treasurer/Trustee