Peak Rail General Discussion

hello, a nice sunny day for a change

S&T

spent the day all over the place, fitted the floating wheel at riverside for the double doll,nearly finished, then went upto Darley Dale to finish the point heaters on the mech points ready for next time it snows,had the assistance of a load of new vols,much appreciated,also got a lot of stuff ready for next weekends work toothe gang have been fitting the insulations for the track circuits at riverside too.

Many thanks,Andy,Elliot,Sam,James,Pete and John.

elsewhere

Narrow gauge was being worked upon,the NCB deisel Linby was being worked upon,the LMSCA were at work,the class 50 lads on 50029 inside,the lineside gang were preparing more bits for riverside this coming week,mr Briddon said he has made good progress with the class 14,details will appear upon his website when he gets a chance to update it!,Mr Powel and MR B odden have also been working on their waggons today.

the turntable fences have been repainted and spotted other tidying up and painting going on while the weather was nice.

the ballast bed is down on the connection between us and NR,the track is ready to be loaded to the works train for laying.

Bens been busy too.

 

Monday 7 March 2011 at 8.00 pm.

For a requested £2 donation on the door, all welcome to:

"35 years of Diesels in the Peak District"
slideshow - Phil Lockwood + Enid Vincent

A journey from Grindleford to Chapel-en-le-Frith (Mid) via Edale, New Mills, Hazel
Grove, Furness Vale, Buxton, Topley Pike and Peak Forest. Then back to Buxton for
the short journey to Hindlow. We see 16 different classes over the period 1975-2009,
and also take a look at the freight wagons, the quarries, and their industrial locos.
Â


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


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

bus routes 47, 48, 53 and 87 pass the door.

Hope to see you!
Dave

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

David Sharp
Peak Railway Association, Sheffield Branch

 

Details are now on this thread
http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php/30199-Lord-Phil-to-arrive-at-Peak-Rail

Hope this helps

Pete

 

Paid a quick visit to Matlock Riverside today and saw the Smith & Rodley rail crane lifting concrete sleepers into position next to the Network Rail fence. Shouldn't be long now until Peak Rail tracks are connected to the end of the NR loop.

 

Kestreleyes,

Could you pm me about point heaters

 

have done boss!

 

Update via Pete; Pete and David built up some small pulley wheel benches today for Riverside and stripped down the telephone locations for the derwent end signals as well, Johns also been busy up Rowsley.

Elsewhere mr Briddon senior and Younger have been working on the 14 systems,the class 50 lads and HST lads were out and about and Mr Powell was working on the ferry van doors.

the pway lads have moved all the sleepers up to formation at Riverside ready to start tracklaying,the trap point and rails are also on site to go in this week,we`l follow up next weekend fitting the s and t bits.

 

exciting times

will the platform have any furniture for the opening, such as benches, lamps totems etc?

and is the platform height to be raised and paved or cinder like Darley dale?

and if so is that work done by peak rail or the contractors?

look forward to seeing some pics

 

This sounds like where I come in!

>>will the platform have any furniture for the opening, such as benches, lamps totems etc?

Yup! Six Midland Railway No.2 platform lamps are in store for the platform, to go in where the original six came out. They all need some work, one has a broken base, most of the ladder bars are missing, and they all need stripping and painting. A set of LMS tops are available, but also need processing. I'll be starting work on these this weekend.

Four Midland Railway benches are to hand as well, all requiring blasting and painting, and new timber. Lots of work here, each bench is around 80 hours work.

Totems- four of the lamp posts on the down platform carried fully flanged totems. Further totems were suspended from the canopy and footbridge, and one was mounted on the Down waiting room. I have four original totem brackets to fit to the lamp posts, and a further set of four wall mounted/suspended brackets for this job. I don't know of any original totems, but we can have reproductions for anything between £50 and £200, ranging from a piece of plastic with stickers on (don't last long) to reproduction stove enamel.

IF ANYBODY WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR A TOTEM, please shout! We'll need a running in board as well at some point, but not just yet!

We have all the necessary BR M maroon signage for the whole station, and a set of suspended canopy lamps for platforms 1 and 2, but don't anticipate these for this season.

My plan is to have the platform lights and benches done, with a set of half barrel planters (which feature in pictures of the station taken in the 1950s), by 2nd July.

>>and is the platform height to be raised and paved or cinder like Darley dale?

Not sure about height, it is actually meant to be that level, it's an inside curve and the carriages lean in a bit, especially when expresses were tearing through. Might gain a couple of inches when repaired I guess, and then the copings will go back, probably with textured slabs behind them. Tarmac eventually, but not sure when. Not very clever to lay tarmac before you put in footings for buildings, services etc.

Darley will also get surfaced properly in the near future, but we are taking the chance to wait on work to the building and bridge being done before committing literally £1000s to backfilling and tarmac.


>>look forward to seeing some pics

I look forward to taking some!

Ben

 

good stuff,going to be really nice.

never realised about the platform been slightly lower for the curve leanage, but makes sense.

cheers

 

...And because the platform was built in 1846 or so; they were all lower then! The up side platform was raised later on, which is why it looks that much higher (it is!). The track was also canted in towards the down platform due to the curve- the lower portions of the cant were levelled and filled in a bit when the track was removed, so the down platform also looks shorter a bit shorter than it really is.

Before you ask, livery will be BR red and cream, partly to match the Up side, and partly because with the later style lamps and BR enamels, it's slightly less twee than Midland/LMS brown and cream, wooden signs etc., especially when trains of 2011 vintage will be using the station.

 

good stuff, will look really nice, glad it will be BR midland region

so I take it once the track is laid by the contractors, then peak rail volunteers will be able to run works trains into there to start the platform clearance.

 

the desire to have volunteers working on the rejuvenation of the station was always paramount,and discussed at the meetings with NR,putting a works train in there would depend on looking carefully at many things including has there been any gauge changes to the stock since it came from BR to us,have we put things on there that have made it wider etcetera,indeed what about preventing staff stepping off into the NR line,little things to think about etcetera,no different with any item of stock running on any line next to NR and technically it is on track plant,though not on the NR register anymore as its been sold to PR and not part of BR equipment anymore,though would you want the works train in the platform if youre building it?,id say keep it stabled away as the only item usefull in a consist would be a flat waggon.

thoughts and thoughts!!personally id let the contractors provide tools on site/safe storage but then thats how im trained!and thats just one way of doing things,not neccessarily better or easier than other ideas!

 

reason I thought of a works train was moreso to do with removal of the rubbish, trees and bushes that are on the platform at the moment.

 

yep indeed,in those respects very possible as would be a roadrailer and associated waggon sir,i note from our website that the traps are in and the track right upto the fence now,slewing very soon and connection,cant say any more than that at present for obvious buisness reasons but yes connection very soon.

 

Some good photos here http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/matlock/index.shtml from the Disused Stations website plus an excellent history of the line. In one photo there are adverts randomly mounted on the down platform stone wall, and in a later one these have been superseded by proper poster hoardings.

Cheers
Dave

 

this is a great shot the platform doesnt look so low here either.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/matlock/index1.shtml

 

Called in to see how PR were progressing today, as we were driving down the A6 at the time after a family meet-up in Bakewell.

First up was Rowsley South. nearly missed it as there were no signs on the A6 - what;s happened to these? - not going to get any passing trade without them. The external site road is now tarmac-ed, but PR's internal road/car park is still heavily cratered, so take care. The last train of the day was in the platform, with the Austerity on 6 coaches - seemed a bit profligate as staff outnumbered punters but it could have been busier earlier I suppose. Had tea and cakes (both good) and basked in the sun whilst enjoying the tranquility after the train left. Peace was certainly not disturbed by any activity in the yard/shed area at all and no locos were visible from the platform.

Then moved on the Darley Dale to check progress on the second platform. Lamposts have been planted (awaiting lanterns) and a few benches put in place, there was also a large pile of ballast in the car park, not sure if that was destined for Matlock, or for platform resurfacing? Unfortunately the ambiance is spoilt by the now derelict looking signal box, anyone know when this is to be removed?

Finally we stopped off at Matlock Riverside where there was activity around the new points for the NR connection. All the track is in place and only a boundary fence stands in the way of the physical connection. However as has been said previously, Platform 2 at Matlock still awaits track and complete refurbishment of the platform and a means of access.

I hope access to Matlock improves PR's fortunes, but they need to improve the visitor experience too in my opinion. Currently in my "league of memberships" they are in the relegation spot if money gets any tighter!

 

Down Riverside the lads have got the track right in upto the fence,next job to connect and slew the two lines NRs and PRs, today with around 16 volunteers on site the rockface was tackled,and the drainage and general levelling sorted, on the signalling side,we buried the two single pulley wheels we built up last weekend,dug a hole for the third (double wheel)-later we built this up at Rowsley too for next time, we also fitted the trap detector,rodded it up,completed some wiring up at the derwent end and around the station,as well as removed some rods for welding and altering which ive just finished at home ,so we can now refit the extended fpl rods and detectors on the trap and headshunt points next time.

next weekends job,drop in the double wheel,refit the rods and then some work up at rowsley on the telephone cupboards and in the workshop,the point rodding will be next months starting job ,around the connection end followed by signalbox base.

elsewhere,lads n lasses were working on the narrow gauge,picnic site,lmsca,workshops and I noticed good progress on Mr Boddens waggon,now the frames are in primer,the class 50 lads and HST were about and MR Briddon senior and younger were working on the class 14 while the weathers good.

thanks to all who helped the weekend especially,Rob,Pete,John,David,Elliot and Sam.

some pics from the s and t website of the day on the link below.

Pete is working on a new picture site since the fotopic site went down,itl take some time to get all the images back up though.


http://dominic-beglin.magix.net/website/#4

 

darley box is being looked at AS A SHIFT AT SAME TIME AS MATLOCK GOES IN JOB as wel have the gear the same time to do it,the roadsign at Rowsley had rotten stumps,this is the councils issue as its their land and their property,ive raised it with them two weeks hence,so will pester them some more, i think theyve put up a single sided board some ten metres further on from the Buxton direction! from the looks of it,is this the case?, the roadway to rowsley site has been surfaced and at least you can get right to the site gates now around 30 mph with ease,much improved.

on matlock,all I can say is wait and see,rome werent built in a day!!!,plans are in place and things will happen when you least expect them too,usually the case when you turn up to get some photos and its already happened!!

hope that answers some questions!,ther`l be more I gaurantee,news will pop up on here when its time!