Heavy snow

Essential maintenance

Was foreseen for Saturday, but on the eve the weather forecast was so dire (heavy snow, and windy) that we wisely decided to reschedule by one week.

Hence we should be looking at a new method for fishplate greasing on Saturday - stay tuned! It's got to be better than the current slow and laborious one, we can't wait to see.

We do have a couple of pictures of the next completed section of concrete on the unloading road at Toddington:

 

 

 

 

From the south, it looks almost finished from here, but there's another section to go.

 

 

From the station end. Note the missing sliding door under the awning, which we hope to replace after repair or even replacement, if we can find the money. 

 

 

The third and final section of the unloading road still needs some adjustment to the levels, something that should be tackled next week.

Derbyshire in colour, in 1963.

We continue with Derek Palmer's wonderful slides of 58 years ago, still in Derbyshire. Here is his report for the next set of slides:

For the final episode from my week in Derbyshire in 1963, we are starting with a picture of an LMS 4F 0-6-0 44262 hauling a northbound freight passing through Darley Dale station on the former Midland mainline from Derby to Manchester.

Fowler 4F 44262 was a bit of a veteran, being built in 1926 and lasting until September 1963, a bit after Derek took the picture. It was built, and at the end of its life, cut up at Derby. It seems to have spent its whole life at Rowsley and it the picture it carries that shedplate, 17C.

This looks like a long mixed freight train, and at the next stop at Rowsley shed a banker would very likely be attached - see the picture of Monsal head viaduct below. Strangely the headlamp code - one lamp at the top - seems to say 'Ordinary passenger train', clearly not the case here.

Today both of the buildings at Darley Dale survive, although the main building on the right is owned by a third party, is currently empty and could be at risk. The stonework is grimy and black. A suggestion a few years back to the Peak Railway to clean the up side building was roundly rebuffed - stonework in the industrial north is black! Go away.

The footbridge was removed for re-erection at Butterley. However, that idea failed and it was advertised for sale in 2009, was recovered and returned to Darley Dale. There are firm plans in hand to re-erect it where it was, by the level crossing.

 Note that a train is signalled both ways - this was a busy line!

Next are four views of the disused Bunsall incline on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. This was first operated as two separate inclines, the lower one with a gradient of 1 in 7.5 and the upper one with a gradient of 1 in 7. They were amalgamated into one incline in 1857 but this part of the line was abandoned in 1892 following the opening of the new line from Hurdlow to Buxton by the LNWR. 

The first view (below L) is taken from the top of the incline with the Goyt Reservoir in the distance. The C&HPR line ran alongside this reservoir on its way to Whaley Bridge.

 

The second view (above R), also at the top of the incline looking the other way and the some of the remains of the former railway and buildings can be seen.

Then two views taken half way down the incline that give a good indication of the gradient. What I was also looking for here was any clue to the remains of the experimental railway to tackle inclines built by the Victorian engineer John Barraclough Fell. He reportedly built a test track in 1862 adjacent to this incline and at one point passing under it. His principle employed a centre rail between the two running rails. The centre rail was gripped on either side by wheels on the locomotive.

The best I could find was this little bridge under the Bunsall incline that you can see in the second of the views, but was probably wishful thinking that it was anything to do with Fell's railway.

The next view is of a freight train somewhere between Hurdlow and Buxton. Perhaps the background might give a clue. Any ideas gratefully received.

Whilst in Derbyshire on my bike and with a 1 inch to 1 mile Ordnance Survey map I followed as closely as I could the Derby to Manchester Midland mainline. At Ashford in the Water I looked at my map and took off along a road which looked as if it would cross the railway line somewhere ahead. Suddenly I arrived on a scene which left me spellbound.

 

I was at Monsal Head overlooking the Wye Valley where the railway line emerged from Headstone Tunnel onto Headstone Viaduct. These three shots were my reward. I have long mused on this moment and the thrill that if gave me. How different it would have been if I had been studying a tourist brochure of the area before my visit. That magically moment would have been lost to me because I would have known it was there and seen it in my mind's eye beforehand. Of course this line is now on the Monsal Trial for cyclists and walkers and Headstone Viaduct is a popular subject of publicity material.

 

This looks like a 'Peak' with a maroon passenger train from Manchester to London. One forgets that this was once a main line.

For comparison, here are two shots of Monsal Head viaduct, taken in more recent times:

The bare trackbed is now a cycle trail. It's a lovely walk from this vantage point by the hotel down into the valley, across the little bridge centre right, and up on to the trackbed.

You then cross the viaduct, walk through the tunnel and the rocky cutting at the other end, and back to your starting place at the top.

Slightly disturbing were the loose bricks lying on the floor of the tunnel, which had fallen out of the lining (this was in 2015 and may have been resolved since then).

Lockdown quiz

Here is another tricky quiz for you, and our thanks go to Jim H who prepared it, and allowed us to use it:

 

Lockdown Quiz 3

1. There were 30 Kings class locomotives built at Swindon between 1927 and 1930. How many were re-named during their GWR/BR working lives and what were the names involved?

2. Why was Merchant Navy 35019 French Line CGT unique?

3. What was the original name carried by A4 4469 destroyed in an air raid at York in 1942 when named Sir Ralph Wedgwood?

4. What is the difference between a “catch point” and a “trap point”?

5. In a mechanically signalled area what does a white diamond on a signal post indicate to the driver?

6. What is the tallest class of British steam locomotive when measured from top of rail to top of chimney?

7. Which is the “odd man out” amongst the following and why? (a) A4 (b) Coronation and (c) Merchant Navy

8. How many LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0s were built?

9. When was 3^rd class accommodation renamed second class on BR?

10. The BR emblem fixed to locomotives and rolling stock consists chiefly of a lion mounted on a crown and holding a railway wheel. Should the lion face the front of the locomotive or train, or to the right or the left?

11. Where were the highest water troughs in Great Britain situated?

12. Where and how long is the longest tunnel on the main BR network?

13. Where and how long is the longest section of straight track in Britain?

14. Which was the first BR locomotive to appear in the rail blue livery in May 1964?

15. How many Brush type 4 (BR class 47) diesel-electric locomotives were built for British Rail?

16. What indignity was suffered by Stanier class 5 no 5212 on a filming assignment at the K & WVR railway in February 1969?

17. Which former GWR King class 4-6-0 was the first to be fitted with a double chimney in September 1955?

18. What do the following locomotives have in common? (a) 5086 (b) 61241 (c) 7000 and (d) 111

19. Who presented the bell carried by A4 60010?

20. Which motive power depot was allocated a shed code normally associated with one region whilst being physically located in a different region?

 

 

Answers next week, see you then!