Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

My parents are dog owners and despite Wales being pretty dog friendly, they sometimes struggle to find places they can take her (although the Welsh heritage railways are excellent).
I accompanied them for a short break to Ayrshire and the different mindset towards dogs there was incredible. We had no issues finding dog friendly cafés, pubs and no issues on public transport either (including a ferry). One cafe actively advertised they were dog friendly on the door! In nearly all cases we had to sit in a designated area, no issue with that, but she was welcomed with open arms, offered water bowl, got lots of fuss and a free sausage in one place!
I must admit the CVR's attitude is way too harsh here for me, for many a dog is part of the family. My parents are not willing to leave her and will turn down a trip if she can't go, they are not alone. Dog ownership is higher than its ever been, I suspect this stance will cost them business.
Kids can be just as messy as dogs, (very often more!), what next charge a premium in case Johnny spills crisps on the seat? Most dogs I see on trains curl up under the table and go to sleep!

As an aside, the last trip we did on the SVR as a family, there were 4 other dogs in the same carriage. We must have seen about 20 others on the day. Many people view railways as a dog friendly attraction - the CVR will take a few by surprise with this I think.

 

Sorry for not responding earlier, that’s some good information and I’m very appreciative, thankyou.

 

Can anyone say how the Batt-Holden 8F (48173) rebuild is progressing? Their FB page doesn't seem to have been updated for a very long time and a lot could have happened since then.

 

Well this is encouraging, I presume this turnout replacement is because its life expired rather than a sign of anything happening on the Stoke line?. Being that the turnout wasn’t being replaced for the hopeful Borders Explorer run that was supposed to happen pre-pandemic.

 

Progress has paused whilst we complete the "10 yearly" overhaul of 6046.

We are also working on completing the overhaul of 3278.

Hopefully the 8F will be back in the works next year.

 

OK, thanks for the update.

 

Anyone able to advise what the current motive power is expected to be over the coming weeks? Hoping to pay a visit at the beginning of June so would like to know if I should be expecting steam? Thanks.

 

Hi, steam will most likely be S160 5197 and diesel is most likely to be 33021.

The calendar on the website shows which days the diesel does the first train of the day.

 

Some updates from today. Anyone got a completion date or any pictures from the barnfield road/station end? Seems like whatever’s in that hole has put a halt on progress as there’s no track beyond it?

 

I am not really surprised by the hole, it would seem like a sensible precaution to attempt some kind of reinforcement to try to protect the two pipes which turn right (south west) at this point and leave the formation.

 

I have many pictures I forgot to upload from around mid April, so a bit outdated at this point, though the track hasn’t advanced much since but the big hole you mentioned wasn’t there. I have snaps of the trackbed all the way to the end of the line at the industrial estate and all the way to rudyard depending on people’s level of interest. I followed the canal feeder back from rudyard then followed the canal and crossed over the leek-Stoke line onto st Edwards hospital land then followed the hospital electric tramway trackbed back to leekbrook junction, there was a site compound between st Edwards hospital and the canal I noticed, does anyone know if that connected to the leek extension works or a river churnet shoring up project? It seemed a bit far from the action, and on the wrong side of the river.

 

Hole filled in, around 400ft left

 

"Most dogs I see on trains curl up under the table and go to sleep!"
If only that was common practice. Most dogs I see are in the gangway and you have to step over them.

 

PWay tree team doing a job for Bridges!
To give access to the four sides of Bridge 5 we were asked to remove the trees. I should have asked for more details because most of the vegetation was wild rose and hawthorn scrub. Luckily Paul had brought his bushwhacker which was the right tool for most of the work. . There were a couple of trees for us to tackle, a small oak growing from the top of one wing wall and a large, tall ash at the base of the same wing wall. The latter was quite a challenge, but dropped sucessfully. We could have used a couple more bodies helping clear up after felling the ash but it was all cleared up just before the energy level meters hit empty. I should have taken more pictures of the 'after' state. Perhaps will get those next week
.

 

An appeal launched to buy 12x Motor Relays for the Cheddleton re-signalling scheme. 6x have been fully sponsored within the first 48-hours.
https://www.nsrailway.co.uk/news/cheddleton-relay-appeal.html

 

Appeal successful, with all 12x plus a 13th sponsored within 8x days! Order made and so 2024 Cheddleton SB will come to life once more.

Lineside clearance team been out this week strimming vegetation and clearing bridges.

Work progressing with 6046 overhaul, which shouldn’t be too far away now returning to service.

PWay have been doing their regular maintenance, and also relocated an IBJ at Consall to increase the loop capacity.

Telecoms have replaced the annunciators around Cheddleton for Train Approach, completed repairs to SPTs at LBJ in preparation for the commissioning of the triangle and are working on re-commissioning the token system between Consall and LBJ.

The triangle is now physically in, Signalling team go in next week to set up the point and the installation work has commenced on the Severn Trent LX.

All in all a busy time for CVR… oh and there’s also the small matter of running trains!

 

Exciting times in the Churnet valley! Is there any further information available on what the signalling scheme at Cheddleton is planned to include?

 

Signals ?

Bob.

 

The initial phase is to motorise the yard entrance/exit, and then motorise the protecting signals for the Level Crossing - basically to eradicate flag waving. Once done we will move on to the next phase at a level dependent upon finances available.