Peak Rail General Discussion

Wasn't it part of the Coventry Electric Railway Museum which wound up with people dispersing the collection to safe harbours as soon as possible?

 

The impression I got from the weekend rails blog was to offer them as a low season push pull set with a 14- and as stated by others there was no mention of PR.

Would certainly be an interesting option.

Chris

 

Interesting unit for the dales, adds a different image. Is it in decent condition?

 

Andrew John Rodney and myself started to clad the box ends today, which the gang had cleaned down midweek, we also managed to get the front posts straight finally with a large point clamp and the turfor winch, next comes finishing the door end off and rod is going to alter the Bakewell end plates to suit plus we need to trim a little wood from the rear door post to get the plate there to sit flush. Next job is get some more wood cut followed and fit the wood frames of the downstairs windows, Apart from that Peter has been looking at the exchange at DArley and John at the rail lubricators as well

I managed to call in on the HST chaps and Gary was busy riveting the old fashioned way by hammer the side panels on some new doors for the 06, I also managed to get a look at the 2 Hap at DArley while gauging points,Pete is busy getting on with rebuilding another shunter,didn’t get Upto the shed to chat with the folks but we exchanged many wood related jokes in passing

 

Stored Preserved Diesels at Peak Rail.

 

DMMU and DEMU are ideal off peak/mid week units for railways which make money when to steam a loco would be uneconomic. Our DEMU costs us under £35 per day to fuel for over 50miles, only needs a driver and guard, is a quick prepare and dispose and the customers like it because its nice, bright and warm with its original lighting bulbs, new Trojan seating and ETH.
So I can fully see the reasoning. I would suggest they need to think how to get heat into the unit however, EMU seating does not like getting damp and you have a lot of door seals in these units.

 

And if you're the EVR they make good service stock!

Super comfy too.

 

The class 37in the picture was recently started up, something I missed out on videoing unfortunately, it had had some attention anoyingly for its owner from the scrap fairies and had taken a good while to repair the damage, I’m told it will be getting repainted sometime soon, which would be nice to see running, the class 31has had some miles in preservAtion at various lines and whilst a runner I believe she needs some work on her power plant to keep her running , I didn’t spot any pics of the class 50s and work on them progresses nicely but is a few years off still, ironically the two are the only class fifties I’ve ever rode behind,both on the same exact day from Waterloo to Exeter when I decided many years back id see them in action before they were withdrawn by BR, Renown empty train down to Exeter,absolutely full school train home behind Repulse

There’s also the class 25 which is in rowsley shed being restored,her radiators were being done when last I looked, the bodywork was underway and an electric fan motor was being overhauled, there’s a fair bit goes into any engineering,something I’m slowly learning talking to all the owners and restorers about, not my speciality unfortunately as mine says signalling

 

I found myself doing a bit of surfing on YouTube and came across a couple of videos of Peak Rail. The first one is from the Buxton days and it's interesting listening to the commentary about the expectations back then. The second one is from 1993, about a year before I joined Peak Rail, and shows the Class 108 DMU (shame they left) and also has D8, the Class 20 (20048?) and D100, the steam heat class 45. Its good looking back at these. Kinda inspires you for the future...well, it does me.

 

Long overdue for an update of the various diesel related restoration groups down the railway

We start with the heritage shunters trust,I note they have an operating event in early May,see the main page.

http://heritageshuntertrust.wixsite.com/hst1/restoration-progress

Next mr Briddon and his new purchase of the 2HAP unit exCoventry Electric Museum as well as restoration on Adolf,

https://www.weekendrails.co.uk/blog/of-happiness-and-the-ornamental-pond.html

Finally the good works of the class 50 gang,Renown and Repulse.

https://www.renownrepulse.com/news-reports/latest-news-entry.html

If I can find out how the 37 is going il do that one next when I bump into the boss.

 

Propelling ECS happens often enough on railtours on the national network, so there should be no problem at all doing it on a preserved 25 mph railway.

 

My understanding is that it's felt that running into Matlock, detraining all the passengers, propelling out to riverside, running round and propelling back to Matlock takes too long for the current timetable.

I'm also not sure how amused I'd be on arrival at Matlock as a passenger on a wet day if I was made to detrain and stand in the cold for 20 minutes while the train goes off to run round.

 

perhaps Briddon's 2-HAP will operate the Matlock service ;-)

 

Have two locos in service and swap on each trip.

 

T

That's the idea so one train requires two locos, two trains three etc with what's called a divisible staff. Perhaps NR aren't keen, I don't know.

Dave

 

But if you are only running one train, then you might as well just leave one loco on each end, and save yourselves the hassle of running round!

 

I'd also imagine if you were going to leave a steam loco at a location for a prolonged period of time, you would prefer to do it at a location with a water tower, just in case. Matlock doesn't have that.
The section of track between Matlock Riverside and Matlock NR is basically one loop, so theoretically they could propel the stock there and then run round. Although that has the issues of they would probably need to add another crossover at the NR end so that the loco wasn't, in the process of running round, encroaching on the platform used by NR. And there is always the question of what do you do with the passengers? But I remember many years ago when I visited the NYMR and took a train to Whitby (before they got their own platform in use), the stock was propelled out and the loco ran round there. So it has been done in circumstances with similarities to PR's situation

 

It has always bemused me that Peak Rail adopted the top and tail method when they extended into Matlock. Usually it is with a diesel at one end so you only get steam haulage for half the journey. Joe Public comes to a Heritage Railway to be hauled by a steam loco and reacts negatively when it is a diesel upfront. Hence from a marketing viewpoint, having diesel haulage for half the journey is a negative point. In addition, there are the extra resources required, both cash and person power. There is also the heritage issue. Top and tailing is a modern diesel thing, e.g. HSTs etc. The traditional way was to have the steam loco(s) up front with the possible rare exception of rear end banking.

Sure, extra time would be required to run round at Matlock, but this would provide extra entertainment for the punters. Most passengers get out of the train at other preserved railways whilst the loco runs round, so I see little problem if this was made mandatory. Indeed, from my observations, quite a high proportion of the passengers commence and end their journey at Matlock in any case.

Unfortunately, this inefficient operating nonsense, is yet another example of the incompetent management that has devilled Peak Rail for quite a long time now.

 

There have been some interesting comments regarding the current operation of PR, and it would be great if there was a response from anyone from PR who works on the Operating Dept. or from management. Certainly the present "top and tail" makes for virtually hassle free working; maybe this is what the crews want or more likely it is the only viable option. What of the longer term, I ask?

The idea of two locomotives alternating the service, as previously mentioned, would give PR the marketing advantage of one of the locomotives in the platform at Matlock , giving the opportunity of the loco crew talking to passengers and visitors; I would have thought that children aged 5 -95 would love to see inside the cab of a "Peak"! My understanding is that NR will not allow PR into Matlock station whilst the East Midland train is there, but that still leaves some 45 mins in every hour. Certainly a J94 sitting in the platform without access to water is not ideal, unless it is blowing its head off, I wouldn't have thought it to be a critical issue. I stand to be corrected.

 

Spa Valley have a similar top and tail operation into Eridge, does anyone know if they also have to avoid being in the station while a service train is in?

Dave