If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Peak Rail General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by kestreleyes, Nov 22, 2009.

  1. Petwall

    Petwall Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    29
    Location:
    Here & There
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    22nd January was its first day back in service

    Pete
     
  2. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    Monday 6 February 2012 at 8.00pm



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

    "BR STANDARDS AT WORK AROUND THE COUNTRY - PART 2"
    slideshow - Ashley Shimwell


    "A Colour-Rail appreciation. The show starts on the Somerset
    & Dorset and then works northwards, region-by-region.

    No static shed shots, all locos are seen either at work or in stations"


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

    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 of future meetings, and directions
    to The Harlequin, can be found at:

    Sheffield Branch
     
  3. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    snowy work time again :)

    S&T

    Midweek Rob started to dig out the holes for the compensators at Riverside with the jcb, on friday i finished off the first of seven off them,so depending on weather etcetera wel see if we can get another few done next weekend.


    Pete and Rob have started to fabricate up the stairs for the Riverside cabin at Rowsley too.

    refurbishment of the lever locks is on going as a side project.

    Elsewhere the Class 50 lads and Mr Briddon senior and Younger were busy braving the cold on their respective locomotives, Scott was working repainting the tank waggons wheels too.

    a link to Andys web page; Latest News

    keep warm all!
     
  4. Respite

    Respite Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Messages:
    421
    Likes Received:
    117
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Thanks, please could you explain what the repairs were to 68013 and does this mean it has a new 10 year ticket?
     
  5. Petwall

    Petwall Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    29
    Location:
    Here & There
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Sorry I don't know what repairs were done to 68013 or if it has a new ticket
    I work in the Signaling Department and don't have much contact with the shed. At present we are working mainly at Matlock Riverside on the new signaling instalation.

    Pete .
     
  6. Respite

    Respite Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Messages:
    421
    Likes Received:
    117
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Pete. It would be good if some of the other departments joined in on this thread, there is some great work going on at Peak Rail with the Class 50 group, LMS coaches and the Heritage Shunters Association, etc. I know 68013's boiler has been out of the frames four times in the last four years but it would be interesting to know what work has been done this time, it has been a good engine for the railway.
     
  7. dggar

    dggar New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2010
    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    3
    The Projects section of the Peak Rail site seems to have gone completely

    http://www.peakrail.co.uk/Projects.html

    just gives an error 404 return.

    Not sure which is better 3 yr old information or nothing!!!
     
  8. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    some of the other departments do from time to time blog on here, it all depends on whether they wish to put updates on for obvious concerns of security,letting people out there know what theyve just installed etcetera to their stock, some dont wish to blog or have little or no time to do so, and a few have stopped blogging due to certain comments back ,which considering were spending our free time working hard away they dont wish to be berated by certain armchair pundits, so for the main i continue with a small update of what we can say,what other departments wish to let me say theyve been upto and rather than put six million lines of what isnt important upon here i try and put little bits of good news items upon as and when i can, its not easy packing the pages weekly with news :)

    hope it helps, i will chat with some of the other depts such as class 50 and let them know to see if they want to blog on here,i know the lmsca sometimes do as does mr briddon,i usually link to his news pages as its easier and direct from the source.
     
  9. steamdream

    steamdream Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2011
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    15
    Occupation:
    Teacher
    Location:
    Avranches(france)
    I understand you very well BUT the most of preserved railways are VERY informative about progress , news and so on!
    It's of courde my very own opinion but since the death of Mr Clegg PR seem on the way down in spite of the long awaited extension to Matlock........too elusive too "secretive" not the good manner to stay on track!
    regards
    Noel
     
  10. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    hmm as you say its youre opinion, personally i dont see the railway as being secretive,more keeping ones own buisness to oneself is a better description (look at allthe polava that was had via the gossip groups over any trivial titbit that the railway put out in good faith to keep all informed and how that was twisted to the demeaning of many a hard working volunteer! ,nor do i believe the railway is on the way down, the passenger figures since matlock are happily well up and thats visible to all of us on the line,anyhow weve all been through this talk before of the line going downhill-even before jeremy back in the days of old,its credit crunch time and all railways are being wary of anything they do for the sake of their own hard won labours--that said there are other railways who are (in also my own opinion) even worse for information,some even moreso apparently secretive as you put it, though a good redo of say the Derwent Valley site pages should be tackled as many have said,theyve been saying therel be pictures of the box project for over a year plus now and still not uploaded etcetera.

    the question is its all in the eye of the beholder how you view news or lack of news!!?? il ask around when next down see if the class 50 or hst lads or mr briddon wish to add to this forum,though all are on this forum anyway including the lmsca and as can be seen they dont regularly wish to blog so maybe its the choice of the individuals to not do so,through time/lack off,no desire to etcetera,most have their own websites such as Mr Briddon,LMSCA-CLASS 50s anyway to let the world know what theyve been upto and are updated occasionally only

    i think andy updates his site far more than most-so the question is if they did update on here and it wasnt regular would that be misread again as nothing going on??? i could put down a good read weekly off those working around the shed,but they neither wish their buisness spread to all and sunder (i have asked) probably a weekly picture update would be much better of all the ongoing restorations on site if i could crack this website and uploading issues etc, something my colleague pete does very well by his own fotopic site though you have to be around to catch all the work on site anyway to be able to update it, i dont as usual mention all the volunteers or groups who are regularly down doing lineside clearance or those restoring the platforms as in general its not big news,though i could in future add those on as well, -either way il re ask around the various depts and see what answer forthcomes!!! and let you know either way and il have a chat with all about maybe putting some pictures or ,links up via petes site= howzat!
     
  11. philw2

    philw2 Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2011
    Messages:
    494
    Likes Received:
    86
    Thanks KE for all the info. that you and Petwall provide. It's very much appreciated.

    Perhaps it's wrong to assume that private websites are supposed to provide up-to-date news irrespective of the sensitivity or political consequences that broadcasting it might have..

    I think we should look upon some websites like Pravda is to the Russian Federation; a tool of the state used for propaganda and where bad news can be buried or excluded altogether..

    All real news is usually obtained independently from unofficial sources. KE, be careful of the KGB or whatever the PR equivalent is.

    In future, as well as your blogs and the S&T site I'll check ot Wikileaks, Twitter and Huff.post etc for PR news..
     
  12. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    hello all,have had a quick chat with a few folks so far, looking like best way forward will be to attach a few links to the updates to link to depts webpages and possibly a few pics via a seperate link too from one dept at least, still early days so will see what we can do
     
  13. Petwall

    Petwall Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    29
    Location:
    Here & There
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    It is indeed very wrong to assume that private web sites should provide up to date news irrespective of the sensitivity or consequences
    Peak Rail is a Public Limited Company and like any other it has shareholders, a board of directors, heads of department and a workforce. The major difference is that the workers do not get paid a wage. The railway has to work with other companies and local authorities quite closely for example Network Rail whose track and platform it uses at Matlock.
    How would any other company react if a member of staff were to create a web site that contained information of a sensitive nature? How would its close partners react? Would any of you consider doing that to the company that pays you your weekly wage, or any heritage railway you may volunteer at?
    It is inevitable that when working for any organisation one hears and sees things that are best not repeated as that is how rumour and speculation is started. There are a few folk (and I am not referring to any of the recent posters to this thread) who believe that a heritage railway is just a club, where its members get to play with very big toys, and they have the right to access and criticise every detail of its operation in public. Peak Rail has over the last couple of years had more than its fair share of this. Even a couple of pictures were copied from my then Photopic site, edited and used against us on another forum. It is this kind of practice that sometimes makes one think why bother to keep folk informed. As an ordinary volunteer I don’t have the right to know every detail of the railways operation nor do I expect to.
    As for news items of the type that the enthusiast community thrive on, all I can say is much of what goes on is not particularly news worthy just the usual work required to keep the railway running such as maintaining the track, cutting grass, maintaining fences and hedges and the 1001 other tasks that people turn up to do every week. The signalling installation at Matlock is probably the largest project being undertaken at the moment and is near completion. The planning, and preparation took around two years and the installation itself has taken fifteen months so far. One must remember things take time with a part time volunteer workforce.
    Dominic AKA Kestreleyes and myself do try to keep you up to date on events but one has to be aware that metal thieves and the like also have access to the Internet and this may be why some of the groups on the railway do not get involved on here. As for me I am just an ordinary volunteer helping to restore a railway that ought to never have been removed
    My own thoughts and opinions

    Regards
    Pete

     
  14. Petwall

    Petwall Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    29
    Location:
    Here & There
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Now I Have had my rant I must thank philw2 for his kind words regarding posts and info supplied by Dom and myself.
    Here is a link to Andrew Briddons site, some of his locos are based at Peak Rail
    Welcome to Andrew Briddon Locos
    His dad writes a weekly blog on what they have been up to, not all of it concernes Peak Rail but it is always an entertaining read
    Weekend rails
    The LMS Carriage Association site can be found here
    Home — LMS Carriage Association
    That's three links for a start.


    Pete
     
  15. philw2

    philw2 Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2011
    Messages:
    494
    Likes Received:
    86
    Just watching 'Britain's Heritage heroes' with John Craven and Jules Hudson. They're at the Crescent in Buxton which is to be refurbished as an hotel and spa. The Council are prime movers in this project and must be trying hard to promote Buxton as a tourist destination. The best way to do this is a direct rail connection from London.
    Guess what, opening of the peak line is the best way forward. I hope PR are following this opportunity up...
     
  16. dggar

    dggar New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2010
    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    3
    National Rail give a running time of just under 3Hrs for Euston to Buxton(changing at Stockport).
    Do you believe a shorter running time can be achieved using the old Midland railway route?
     
  17. Martin Perry

    Martin Perry Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2006
    Messages:
    16,510
    Likes Received:
    7,753
    Location:
    1012 / 60158
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    And even if a marginally shorter time could be achieved via the Midland route, would it really be value for money? Its not as if Buxton is another Manchester or Birmingham or Glasgow is it?
     
  18. Petwall

    Petwall Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    29
    Location:
    Here & There
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I doubt if a faster service could be achieved, as the line would not be well suited to high speed running. Every time any suggestion of reopening the line has been made a max speed of 50 or maybe 70 mph is all that is thought to be possible. One also imagines that if the line reopened Millers Dale to Buxton would be operated as a branch line as in the past. Passengers would change at Millers Dale for Buxton with the mainline service then departing for Manchester or beyond. Would it be value for money? If the results of a public enquiry held in Buxton 18 months back are anything to go by then yes it would in terms of passenger numbers and freight carried. All the limestone from nearby quarries currently has to travel north and along the congested Hope Valley line before it can head south. Remember the line would cross the most scenic part of the Peak Park. The worlds second most visited national park. Destination along the way would include Matlock Bath and Matlock, both already served by rail, on from there is Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, Bakewell, and Monsel Dale all tourist hot spots. Many of the local folk would think it value for money as it would possibly remove some of the traffic from local roads and give increased travel opportunities and choice. Incidentally it has recently been reported that since it opened fully last May the Monsal Trail has attracted over 50,000 cyclists, most of them leisure cyclists arriving by motor car to ride the trail. May I finally say that if we continue this discussion we do so in a new and more appropriate thread.

    Pete
     
  19. Respite

    Respite Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Messages:
    421
    Likes Received:
    117
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Another blog about Peak Rail is by one of the loco drivers see...

    Jan Ford's World: Peak Rail

    Err, is that really true? What about the fact that newly overhauled 'Lord Phil' is up in the air off its wheels after very little running? What's going on there? It would be interesting to know what the fault is and how its being remedied, that is all part of 'Peak Rail what's occuring' surely.

    Why isn't the turntable used?
    Why do the steam locos face to Matlock and don't usually get used on the more interesting uphill journey?
     
  20. kestreleyes

    kestreleyes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    935
    Occupation:
    signal engineer
    going back to the topic of the crescent and spa`s rejuvenation and slightly off topic from the thread, as a resident of the area for the past thirty plus years,we locals have seen and heard all the talk before of doing this and that up,wel wait and see when the work actually starts,bit like all the talk of Railtrack etc reopening the line,so far the only concrete thing done thus far in the last thirty years apart from PR is the reopening of the tunnels on the trail for heritage use.

    back to the thread! ;)

    S and T

    Compensators in and fitted at Riverside,one still to nudge into line when the ground unfreezes up, Pete and Rob have been making the stairs up for Riverside,a trila fitoff one side of the stairs was tested the other day,Pete continues with lamp restoration for the main signals,some gate works are en-progress on the Darley gate to remove a fault.

    Class 50 and LMSCA lads were around braving the cold,didnt get a chance to speak to them but the links to the respective sites are below;

    Welcome to Andrew Briddon Locos
    His dad writes a weekly blog on what they have been up to, not all of it concernes Peak Rail but it is always an entertaining read

    Welcome to Andrew Briddon Locos
    The LMS Carriage Association site can be found here

    Home — LMS Carriage Association

    Jan Fords world;

    janfordsworld.blogspot.com
     

Share This Page