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

Well, it's now been done and 78019 will be in action every weekend and bank holidays until 22nd May. Together with Ferrybridge No3 slogging up the Incline to Ravenstor steam will be the feature of this period. Through tickets are available from stations throughout the National Network giving an opportunity to sample the Duffield interchange. Tremendous effort of time, cash and labour has made it all happen so please come an support the endeavour with the price of a ticket to ride.

Martin

 

Four of us visited from the East Lancs Railway yesterday, we had an absoulutely fantastic time and at 12 quite for a rover we thought it was extremely good value for money, the food at your facilities was excellent and well priced, and what a lovely line, though a beautiful rural part of the country, it was nice to see all the peasant and hares along the line, the ride down to Duffield was excellent, so much so that we did it three times, twice behind the Riddles and once behind the DMU, we also managed a few trips up the quarry branch both steam hauled and behind the DMU, so much to see a day really isnt long enought and we managed a 12 hour round trip from North Manchester. You guys down there have done an amazing job, little short of a miracle in the time you`ve been running, the trains were packed which I suspect probably caught you off guard, lovely to see your success though, the footbridge from the main line platofrm at Duffield was solid after the trains arrived, lots of lovely customers heading for your trains, it was great to see, you all deserve medals, we`ll certainly be back, hopefully with more of our members, a really big well done guys, amazing, truely.

 

Thanks for your very kind words. We’ve been anticipating the full line opening for a very long time and you never actually know what people will think of it until they visit. Especially gratifying has been the distance people have travelled to see us and, especially, how many have come by rail: the footbridge at Duffield hasn’t seen this much action for ages!
Just as an aside, our poster seems to be acquiring cult status. The screenshot below is from a new add-on to the Railworks train simulator!


Kind regards,
Neil

 

I have nothing but praise for the railway, this was only my second visit, my first visit was a few years ago, the day of the opening of your narrow gauge line, when I was fortunate in being treated to a magificent free buffet by one of your directors, I`ve been meaning to come back for some time, yesterday was my second visit and very much welcomed.

 

Martin, I tried today to book through tickets to Wirksworth from Cambridge for 2 May on both East Midlands Trains and Thetrainline.com web sites and neither listed Wirksworth as a valid station. How does one book through tickets using the internet?
Cheers,
Steve

 

Maybe Neil will know better, but as far as I am aware, you can only get a ticket to Wirksworth as an add-on from Booking Offices and not via the Internet or self-service machines, which is a shame.

 

Thanks Leigh. I suspected it might be something like that. Can tickets be booked in advance online, or is it possible to do this only in person by turning up at the EVR? I couldn't see anything on your website for online ticket sales, but may have missed the information. Not so easy to pop in from Belgrade for a couple of tickets!
Cheers,
Steve

 

At the moment, we do not do online ticket reservations for standard class travel (it something for the future). You can only book tickets for the Royal Saloon online. We can make a manual reservation by telephone for parties of 10 people or above.

 

One thing worth being aware of is that the national ticketing system is very complex indeed. The first stage, through the good offices of East Midlands Trains has been to get Wirksworth and Idridgehay onto the national system as 'add-on' destinations. The next stage, from 21st May or thereabouts, is that Wirksworth and Idridgehay become through destinations from every EMT station. This is a complex job because somebody has to set-up a link in the database between all these destinations and I for one am very grateful to EMT for their hard work in getting us set up in this way.

I think getting onto ticketing websites will require a whole load more work and as we've only just got ourselves set up, I think we need to look at this as something we need to work towards. There are other complications too: at present we only have adult and child fares: adding all the zillions of railcard options is another big job and we decided with EMT to take it slowly.

Nonetheless, we're a long way down the path already, so let's celebrate the progress we have made to date!

Neil

 

A couple of images taken today. The first is at Rowlands Crossing, taken about 13:30 and situated about 1 mile south of Wirksworth, while the second was taken around 17:30 just north of the site of Hazelwood station.

Thought you might find them of interest.



A couple of years ago, there was a solid wall of runaway hedges which hid the railway completely from view:



Enjoy.

Neil

 

I went on Friday for the first time and was very impressed with the EVR. Had a return trip on the DMU to look for possible photo locations, then spent the rest of the day photographing 78019. Some pics here - http://www.steampics.com/html/evr.html

 

Hello all,

please accept my apologies, if this idea had been mooted before, but I would like to get a nagging question off my chest: Are we all sure that the EVR, despite its achievements, really was a good idea?

The region is not exactly devoid of other preserved rail attractions. From Wirksworth it is five miles to Matlock for Peak Rail, six miles to Crich for the Tramway Museum, ten miles to Butterley for the Midland Railway Butterley and 23 miles to Froghall for the Churnet Valley Railway. Those figures are slightly different if the engineering centres of each railway are concerned and the distance from major cities like Derby or Nottingham is different again.

Still, I believe, or fear, that there may be some rather unhealthy competition for visitors, volunteers and even rolling stock leading to a situation where either the newcomer will take away the resources mentioned from the others with a negative effect on their progress or even existence or where the newcomer might fail itself being unable to secure the necessary resources. What is really happening there?

Or am I totally wrong, did the EVR secure so much local support from volunteers outside railway circles who would not have supported any other scheme? Would the locomotives and coaches still wait for restoration elsewhere? Is the money and volunteers labour spent at Wirksworth all new to railway preservation or even volunteering at a whole? Are there many people at the EVR who did not do any volunteer work at all before they started at the EVR?

Okay, those are many questions and a complete answer might be worth a BA (hons.) museum studies at some university (or maybe a BA (hons.) in Marketing) but I still welcome any comments and I am prepared to be shouted down.

Kind regards

Christoph

 

I think this point that you have already made is certainly valid to an extent. For example, I have read that the Great Central Railway's Mountsorrel project has attracted many volunteers living close to that line who were not previously involved with the Great Central (or railways at all), in fact I believe the odd one was not even aware of the preservation activities before the project was started, these are people living less than 5 miles from the GCR/Loughborough!

The recent activities of Moorland & City Railways are another example. There were people living in the Staffordshire Moorlands (well within a 10 mile radius of the Cheddleton & Froghall) who had never heard of the Churnet Valley Railway until the track machines and ballast trains started going past

 

Christoph raises an interesting observation about the sustainability of "new" heritage railways. In the case of EVR it has never really been a rail enthusiast driven scheme as the project engaged the community that surrounds the line and motivated them to dispose of many years of neglect. The market town of Wirksworth had been gradually lifting itself from a area dependent on the quarry industry to pleasant tourist destination unspoilt by unsympathetic redevelopment.

The people involved today do not see the project in competion with other rail based attractions in the area but the need to pitch for the family pound against Chatsworth, Meadowhall, the Westfield Centre in Derby, garden centres, Sunday opening etc. etc.

I spent some time with the Bluebell Railway which ran from a hamlet to a hamlet via a village but has created a market which includes train rides, extensive catering and retail opportunities turning over some £3-4 million a year.

The recent opening of the whole line from Duffield to Wirksworth and the close co-operation with East Midlands Trains together with through ticketing from the National Network has brought a whole new world of opportunity that will benefit the Railway and the community.

I suspect EVR will remain open for business for the foreseeable future with ever more creative ways to ensure survival.

Martin

 

For what its worth I don't see Wirksworth competing directly with Crich. Crich is the model of a mature facility and is almost a "national" facility.

I think the EVR staff have a friendly attitude that is worth a lot. It is also a good site with car parking and a nice village, a doable walk to the Stone centre/Middleton Top etc etc. What a new site like this lacks is the engineering base but if you only need a couple of locos and a few coaches that is manageable.

Where it does perhaps compete is if it chooses to hold "special events" - vintage car rallies, bus rallies etc spring to mind but to be honest Crich will always have the edge. For WWII re-enactments, I believe Rowsley has the market. For Thomas the ****** Tank engine (c) Gullane (Thomas) Ltd etc etc, I can see EVR doing well - but I wont be there.

Is the tunnel to the quarry accessible as an attraction? The pied piper of Wirksworth event springs to mind.

Is the Worksworth Model Railway exhibition running this year?

 

I remember seeing on an old railway roundabout video that Wirksworth was where they took official photographs of loco's.

the one on the 1959 video was Midland compound 1000.

Im just wondering where the spot was that they used to take the shots and a similar vantage point etc still possible?

 

Martin beat me to it with his reply, but I would add that my experience has been that organisations who complain of unhealthy competition are usually those which are unwilling or unable to adapt to changing circumstances. It’s worth remembering that our volunteers have been at this for over ten years so we have hardly appeared from nowhere.

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is associated very much with Wirksworth and Duffield: Matlock, Crich and Cheddleton have their own railways, so please don’t adopt a ‘central planning’ approach to private railways: the market will decide whether a line will develop, not a learned opinion as to what fits a notional model of what’s meant to be ‘right’.

Far from it being a threat to the local railways, I would argue that we have a fantastic opportunity. Think of the ‘Great Little Trains of Wales’ campaign of the 1970s: that campaign still resonates today and did wonders for the narrow gauge lines of mid-Wales that allowed them to develop into the commercial titans we see today. Apply this approach to a 25-mile radius of Wirksworth and we have half a dozen railways to attract families that may be mildly enthusiastic and would like to have a railway-themed weekend. Add to that beautiful countryside, smashing pubs and restaurants and attractive destinations and you have a real winner.

So, how about a Wirksworth to Rowsley Ranger ticket that takes in the EVR, Peak Rail and EMT as well? Why not a Peak District Adventure ticket with vouchers for the EVR, Crich, Peak Rail, the CVR, Moorland & City and even the delightful Steeple Grange Light Railway: Wirksworth’s original heritage railway?! Personally, I’d add-in the GCR and GCR(N) as well.

Let’s celebrate the opportunities and not hide in our respective bunkers! Don't let central planning stifle initiative and remember that cooperation will help our sector win against the many other draws on the leisure pound.

Kind regards,

Neil Ferguson-Lee

 

We don't 'do' Thomas and yes, the Model Railway exhibition that has several venues all over Wirksworth will be running for the 8th time this year. This time we shall be welcoming visitors by rail, rather than solely by car.

Neil

 

I think thats a great idea, Im not too concerned about joint ticketing, but I fancy the idea of parking at Rowsley on a Sunday(as its nearer from where I come from) have a look round,train to Matlock, catch the train from Matlock to Duffield then Duffield to Worksworth, have a look round and return.

however I think the Peak rail timetable would benefit from an earlier train from Rowsley than 11.15,it arrives at Matlock at 11.37 then catch the next East midlands train from Matlock, however the next EMT from Matlock is 12.38 so its an hour wait. an earlier train left at 10.42. I did raise this on a Peak rail group, one reason being they have valuable driver training courses of a morning and public trains cant run at the same time. I do think they should try and run an earlier train by 1 hour, even if its a railcar.

so we arrive at Duffield at 13.04.

the Ecclesbourne train departs Duffield at 13.10 so thats good, although may be a little tight. does the evr train wait for passengers from EMT?

arrive Workswirth 13.40 which isnt bad just have to remember that the last Peak rail train from Matlock is 16.48 so time is soon eaten into.

I havent studied the timetables fully, but it looks like the EVR have tried to time their trains to meet EMT? is that true?

I do think however that when Peak rail reach Matlock station proper they should try and run an earlier train and time the trains so they connect with EMT.

 

Our timetables are most definitely timed to connect with EMT's service and we will always try to hold connections. It would be rude not to.