Ecclesbourne Valley Railway: Countdown to Opening on 8th April"

Railfreight Construction grey. I shall upload a picture when I get a few minutes.

 

Details of how to book your opening tickets is now live! See http://www.e-v-r.com/opening2011/ to learn more!

 

When is 78019 staying until? I think I will go up on either 24th/25th April to sample the entire line and combine it with a trip to Middleton top (steaming) and the stone center.

 

The locomotive's last scheduled operating day is the weekend of the Bachmann Collector's Club event on 22nd May 2011.

 

Today more bookings for the opening were made and these are rolling in now. Further work on the gaurds compartment of the BSK was achieved with part of the final cream top coat being applied. The LMSCA were hard at it too with their own Third Open and steam locomotive Ferry Bridge No3 had a washout and the front buffer plus inserts refitted.

Apologies but I have edited to include the excelent work done by our VCT in clearing the lineside with more brash being burnt and also the Duffield platform reconstruction which is comming along nicely.

 

Dear all

A day without glamour but mundane and very essential tasks being undertaken with the PWT straightening some 50 sleepers south of Shottle. This job is related to the planned visit of a tamper that will line and level the track. Unless the sleepers are exactly 90 degrees to the rail and properly spaced the tamper will not work correctly and could damage the timbers.

The steelwork that will complete the troughing at the north end of the Duffield platform was installed and work will continue tomorrow on the installation of the remaining tactiles. Fred, Iris and Dorothy further deep cleaned the Buffet Car and sparkled up the Mess Hall. This unseen and often unappreciated work is vital to the overall presentation of our enterprise particularly after a Tuesday when nobody seems capable of washing their own pots and plates!

The Works Train was assembled for a quick getaway tomorrow and a permanent way trolley received repairs. Miscellaneous debris was removed from the three "flat" wagons so that they can remove brash from Duffield and then be loaded with redundant materials from Duffield.

Much work went on in the Buffet Car to restore the ravages of the winter on its plumbing and the Booking Hall dealt with the latest applications for tickets on the opening weekend.

Late a night, for us, some 500 Backmann wagons arrived on a pallet and are now in secure storage for sale to expectant purchasers. Good job they are "oo" guage.

The LMSCA, who seem to be working seven days a week now, moved ever onward with the Third Open.

Another good and productive day.

 

Progress report from Thursday:

Dear all

Another day of stupendous progress with activity centre around the PWT who managed affairs at Duffield and the north thereof together with further energy on the long process of sleeper squaring. The Works train left with 3 Dogfish loads of ballast and three "flat" vehicles comprising two Lowmacs and one Flatrol. Some 10 tonnes of ballast was deposited in Duffield Tunnel, a further 16 tonnes north of Holloway Road foot crossing and a further 16 tonnes along the straight north of "Edwards" Crossing. This is quite an expensive exercise and won't go away as we remedy years of neglect.

The Works Train used the "flat" wagons to move brash to the burning site and this was supplemented by 6 Landrover trailer loads as the product of the VCT's endeavours are moved to the burning site where two good fires consumed this unwanted material.

With the aid of a mini digger the "humps" created by the footings of the old footbridge at Duffield were broken up and the ground levelled around the entrance from Chapel Lane at Duffield and in preparation for the fencing that is going to be erected there. The mini digger was quite busy as it trenched a duct for the water pipe from the existing footbridge to the former "Vodaphone" building. Pipework was installed and the trench backfilled with the result we now have a water supply into the building. The platform team completed the work at the back of the structure and, aided by a roller lent to us, the base for the remaining tactiles was prepared. Spoil from around the site was moved and levelled for the intended garden area. This levelling included the area around the "Vodaphone" building after manholes were raise to the necessary height.

All involved deserve a loud round of applause for the amount of work achieved.

Back at base the new tank wagon had its axle boxes examined and measurements taken for new oil pads. It was declared to be in better condition than was thought after its years of inactivity.

The Directors Saloon had the first coat of gloss applied to the south end and the west side had its first fill after the panelling was securely fastened to the body.

Martin

 

Dear all

Something of a whirlwind of a day with a large contingent from Loughborough arriving to see our facilities at Wirksworth, view the line and deal with a number of issues surrounding the hire of 78019. The whole exercise was most useful and I was struck by how organised they were including a full complement of drivers and firemen for the period the loco will be us. It really promises to be an uplifting and exciting time.

A further 48 tonnes of ballast was delivered to the three Dogfish at Wash Green dock and the Saloon was lined out on the east side. The Met-Cam centre car also received lining to its interior. On the painting theme the Third Open had its final coat to its ceiling and further manufacturing of parts continued.

On the down side, L J Breeze developed a fault to its "engine run solenoid" causing the loco to fail. Very luckily Mike and Graham managed to source a replacement at our local auto electrical supplier which, all being well, should arrive Tuesday. Meanwhile the Class 20 will have to shoulder all our requirements tomorrow and on Tuesday.

The laborious process of preparing our mailout to shareholders concerning their preview day on 7th April has commenced and should be completed over the weekend. They will be able to book on line by close of play Monday thanks to Robin's efforts.

 

I'm impressed with the huge amount of effort that is being put in to get the line ready for reopening in April - just one quick question - are there any pictures of all this?, or is everyone working so hard they don't get time to take photo's!!

Simon

 

I have some pictures on my own fotopic, http://christopher.photoblog.co.uk/c1827494.html,
which is now sadly out of date. I will however be going in over the weekend and can take some more pictures of Wirksworth yard including my rolling stock refurbishment and some down the line on sunday as there will be driver and guard route learning. These trains are not available to the public due to the unfinished nature of the works, still requiring some significant areas of work, namely Duffiled platfom surfacing and sleeper squaring before we can hire in a tamper to bring the line up to 25mph standard required to keep time and connect to the main services.

 

There are many photos of what the railway looks like at the moment on the official website http://www.e-v-r.com . Some photographs are also at http://wyvernrail-plc.fotopic.net/ . Also, simply doing a search for Ecclesbourne Valley Railway on Flickr will show many pictures from visitors to the railway.

As an aside, bookings are going really well for the opening so if you would like to join in on the special event, book soon to avoid disappointment (http://www.e-v-r.com/opening2011)

 

Todays progress with Anton.
"Dear all,

Although the day was damp a great variety of tasks have been undertaken.
Starting at the south end of the line, the philosophy division of the
P-Way gang completed sleeper straightening on four panels of track near
Hazelwood, and a delivery of lamps posts was made for Duffield (to
Wirksworth in the end).

The yard at Wirksworth resounded to the sound of the angle grinder as
work proceeded on the LMS brake van and the brake van team recovered
some useful steelwork, which had formerly been engaged as the doors of
the late dust dock (waste not, want not). This appeared to involve the
use of the longest lever in the universe and thus the application of
science as well as philosophy by our volunteers today. Meanwhile, work
began on the J94 with a small team attending to its smokebox door. Also
on the steam front, a detachment of the Steam Team assisted by Higham
Enterprises replaced the motion (a working part) on number 2217, better
known in these annals as Henry Ellison.

Meanwhile, another magistrate of conscripts had arrived and were issued
with the new wheelbarrow, which bears the proud insignia of the
Passenger Department and when not in operation for conscript duties will
be used to transport inebriated members of the public to their homes,
and will receive the shed code YA for Yokecliffe Avenue. As a
consequence of today's conscript activities, the Wash Green crossover
has had the accumulated leaf fall removed from it; the station approach
has had some of its kerbstones reset, and work has continued to make up
the carriage sidings path.

In the BSK, another carriage project quietly progressing at the moment,
Chris Allenby and Captain Jack have had a lot of wood around for most of
the day, and this has resulted in a rather tasteful partition to
separate the trolley area of the BSK from the bike storage area.

The DMU team, not to be outdone in the field of carriage interiors and
assisted by Moore Enterprises, have rendered one of the two heaters for
the Met Cam centre car operational, and are within a small chuff (a
steam term) of having the other one going. At the other end of the
vehicle, the Ashbourne Mango Show, supervised by Gration Enterprises,
has fitted the backs onto five of the seat frames which will shortly
adorn this fine vehicle.

The Booking Hall happily entertained a number of slightly damp visitors
and some constructive wallet shaking took place, through a fog of nail
varnish remover.

All the best,
Anton"

 

The progress made on tuesady has been rather astounding

 

A nice article in the Derby Telegraph today to announce that HRH the Duke of Gloucester will be visiting to open the line, arriving at Duffield by train. A London express will specially stop.

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/n...lway-line/article-3256535-detail/article.html

Bookings for the opening are going well, so don't forget to book your ticket at http://www.e-v-r.com/opening2011 if you want to join in.

 

As the pressure builds towards the reopening, today saw a tamper arrive from the G&WR to fettle the track between Idridgehay and Duffield ready for the big day. It has the challenge of dealing with five miles of newly refurbished railway within the window provided by next week.

 

Right now this afternoon, the webcam on the Wirksworth Railway site shows a very smart 2mt 78019 being unloaded at Wirksworth. The archive shots of the DMU test run are also well worth seeing.

Tim

 

It does look a lot smarter than it did when I was at GCR in early October. Has it had a repaint or just a deep clean?

 

It has undergone a repaint whilst at GCR recently following its repair work, the photo below shows it being offloaded at Wirksworth, very smart!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QmAFwY9Y2...0_m-5Y/s1600/Stanier+%26+78019+012-766823.jpg


also the results of the LMSCA's work can be seen here:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-80hCx2Pb_...hc47wU/s1600/Stanier+%26+78019+005-765227.jpg

 

It has undergone a repaint at GCR in recent weeks and looks very smart!

follow http://wyvernrail.blogspot.com/ for a picture of it over the pit, now including its tender.

 

Excelent. Looking forward to seeing it this weekend and I cant wait till it is in steam in a couple of weeks time!