NEWS
This update: 29th June 2009 Vol 9. Issue 25.
Early Warning - Volunteers
Starting next Monday, the main road between Wirksworth and Idridgehay will be closed from 0900 until 1700 each day due to road works.
'Tommy' now painted & Log train passes through Shottle
Special Events in 2009
Regular timetable of train services
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Annual Model Railway Exhibition - 17th/18th October 2009 - Wirksworth
Progress reports for week ending 28th June
Monday [MM]
A delightful warm day making many activities more enjoyable
than is normally the case. The Motive Power and Rolling Stock team was in
evidence with Tommy's undercoat largely complete and our wagon fleet receiving
much deserved attention. The Sturgeon now has a complete set of oil pads, its
brakes adjusted and a full test on the air brake system. The vehicle can now be
used in conjunction with L J Breeze's air brake system to provide additional
braking for heavy loads of concrete sleepers that are intended for Duffield in
the near future. The Lowmac has also a complete set of new pads and the brakes
adjusted.
A 20ft container has been delivered to provide a base for the engineering
materials used in the maintenance of our entire fleet and replace the one that
recently departed for pastures new. It will benefit from the racking kindly
donated by the National Tramway Museum as a result of alterations to their
library. Ownership of the container by the Company will prevent further
upheavals in the future.
On the commercial front Harsco put a further six vehicles through their paces
on the Gorsey Bank line and there was a whole line test for one of our regular
road/rail customers.
Mike Craft managed a strim of the embankment outside the garage despite
suffering from a number of wasp stings incurred at home. The IMT conducted
further inspection of the Shottle to Duffield section highlighting a further
need for some emergency work to keep the line together until such time as the
resleepering programme moves further south. Tomorrow will see this work
undertaken before a return to the steady drive south from the Travis Folly
area.
The Booking Hall received a number of visitors and dealt with the usual phone
calls.
Tuesday [PT]
A hot and humid day, saw the Per way team heading south. The
Infrastructure Maintenance team noted two particular areas south of
Hazelwood, which required urgent attention. These have now been sorted
and several sleepers have been added to the track. Some clamps were
also added to joints where bolts have sheared. This is in the area yet
to be restored, further south, a foot crossing was strengthened. The
chaps did well in the heat,
The DST, have progressed well the steam chest covers have been fitted
to N0.3 , the valve rods and spindles are now in position. The
handbrake and fittings have been added and more work was done on the
cylinder drain cocks. The cylinder covers have been cleaned and
painted.
The S&T dept delivered bits to Shottle North, and made a start on
building the frame for Duffield North.
Some weed killing also took place in the car park and top end of the
yard. Some strimming again took place in the area of the children’s play
area.
Undercoating continued on Tommy in the shed, and the Mess Room had a
big clean out. The Booking Hall had several visitors, but ran out of
Ice Cream.
The VCT were somewhat displaced by the Per Way team working in their
are, but managed to attack patches further south.
Wednesday [PT]
Now that the days are getting shorter, and Christmas is just
around
the corner, attention has started on the Santa Brakevan in the yard.
Indeed we have already had bookings for the Santa Specials........
Meanwhile in the blazing heat of the noonday sun a gallant band of Per
way types unloaded 100 sleepers south from Travis Folly. For those not
familiar with this location, trains leave Shottle every Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday - bring strong boots, a Hi Vis vest and a packed
lunch! The team managed to change a further 12 sleepers, many of which
were hardwood which slows the job down considerably. 4 pairs of
fishplates were also tackled. The rail temperature being so high that
when the plates were removed the rails quickly expanded and difficulty
was experiences in fitting it back together.
In the arid wasteland of Shottle - where no hippos fly - the S&T team
started fitting and adjusting the locking mechanisms for the track and
pointwork. They have a digger to aid their work tomorrow.
A start was made on finding a suitable method of fixing the electric
starter motors on Hydra and Tommy. A shunt was carried out in the shed
area allowing more space therein.
Some artists have been busy painting the platform fencing at
Wirksworth, and further weed control took place. The expected RRV
failed to materialise, it was hoped to profile some ballast on the CWR,
but as they say near Castleton - we live in Hope. The Booking Office was
open, but they are experiencing trouble with the telephone bell - a new
junction box is required (or a chap with a small thingy to attach some
wires therein.
Thursday [MM]
A pleasantly busy day on many fronts. The VCT with a small
but perfectly formed team of two tackled an area south of Shottle where
overhanging branches were reported. This turned out to be a larger job than
first thought and occupied the whole day with the production of a
"generous" fire. A third member of the VCT, after haymaking, made a
fist of tackling the vegetation growth around the narrow gauge, car park and
station approach at Wirksworth with the flail. The flail also attacked some of
the vegetation en route from Shottle to Wirksworth.
Today was a three customer day with Thermit Welding trial ling a new method of
treating rails that have suffered from wheel burns. Two examples adjacent to
Platform 2 were dealt with and will be monitored to assess whether this is a
solution that can be applied to the national network. Harsco brought a
Landrover for speedometer calibration and used the Incline for this purpose and
the first Trans Plant tamper arrived from the LH Group for testing next week
(unfortunately not in tamping mode!).
The Permanent Way team of two joined forces with DRE and a mini digger to grade
the area around Shottle North Ground Frame, dig holes for the benches to be
installed and pull back the stone from around the exit catch point from Shottle
siding. Crossing timbers that accommodated the hand point lever were recovered
and replaced with "normal" sleepers in preparation for the pointwork
to be operated from the Ground Frame. The digger was used to lift the many
pieces of scrap rail around the Shottle site into the skip so their value may
be realised in the near future.
Wirksworth saw the first of the blue paint applied to "Tommy" with
half the locomotive completed in the first coat. Much activity surrounded the
maintenance of our wagon fleet to ensure they are fit for purpose on the longer
journeys they now undertake.
The Passenger Manager looked after the Booking Hall and managed a deal of
painting in between customers and telephone calls - most of it went on the
walls.
For those who wish to know the Trans Plant tamper is TMM733 and has a nameplate
"Alan Jenkins". Alan died some ten years ago and was noted for his
tender care of these machines,
Lastly, there is a general appeal for large spanners and sockets for the
Maintenance Facility. The departure of the privately owned "workshop"
container included all the tools within so we find ourselves needing to rebuild
the workshop capability. Please look in your "shed" and see if there
is anything you rarely use or cannot remember if you ever used it - your
Railway needs you. The replacement "workshop" container is owned by
us!
Friday [MM]
A very pleasant warm day that saw the IMT commandeered by
Phil to explore and identify all the tasks to be achieved next week as part of
"operation Hoover". This will provide a pause in our track renewal
endeavours to recover all the materials between Wirksworth and Duffield that
have been created by these renewals or discovered during the process. These
include rotten sleepers, sections of old rail discarded as a result of
derailments, sundry track fittings and logs. We never cease to be amazed at all
the kit abandoned over the years that can be converted into cash to help our
project move forward.
There was a great leap forward in the Maintenance Facility as "Tommy"
receives his top coat. Roy (73) and Les (78) have done a wonderful job on this
locomotive which should the nameplates applied next week. The first response to
the appeal for tools arrived today in the form of a useful workshop vice.
A start was made on the improving the cosmetics of Faraday which will be
eventually placed on the Museum line for permanent display recognising its
great contribution to our project.
The Manager Fence Painting ably assisted by the Senior Manager made great
progress in the sunshine. Their work makes such a difference to the overall
appearance of the station but it is a job for life as the fencing gang keeps
producing more of it with a few hundred yards yet to be erected at Duffield.
DRE conducted some re-engineering of a facing point stretcher bar to be
installed at Shottle North - on this occasion Twiggs did not seem to be
involved.
During the "operation Hoover" survey the Lowmac was loaded with logs
for a customer who will collect from Wirksworth over the weekend.
The Mess Hall had a good clean and the Buffet Car was readied for the weekend.
The Booking Hall received a number of visitors and fielded the usual phone
calls.
Saturday [ME]
Today saw a misty start turning very humid later on. It has
been an interesting day with some excellent progress in many areas.
The Idridgehay service was running today and was joined by a family for a day
with a driver. They put their ticket to good use by riding up and down all day
and even Sheba (the dog) enjoyed herself. In the afternoon time was even
found between trains to give our guests a quick blast up the incline.
While all this was going on down in the yard the DMU team painted the exhaust
on the 117. They also started scraping some of the muck off the 117 engine
block. Else where in the yard (about 8 foot away) the LMS carriage had its
brake cylinders removed and these were taken away to be refurbished.
We also had a Young Offender on site and he continued painting the weighbridge.
Also on the painting front your esteemed Passenger Services Manager could be
see down the line painting mile posts. This work also included painting other
objects in the near vicinity.
An excellent day was also had on the sales front in the Booking Hall. Many
passing "gricers" had their wallets severely shaken by the shop
manager. The Buffet Car and the EVRA shop also did very well.
Another splendid day on the railway.
Sunday [JB + AS]
An interesting and very warm day of many parts. The
Ravenstor service
bobbled up and down in its usual leisurely way with a modest passenger
compliment and visitors wallets were shaken in the booking hall, EVRA
shop and buffet car, though possibly not with quite the vigour that was
achieved yesterday. The booked Day with a Driver was not present due to
being stuck on the M6 and will be rescheduling.
The conscript and his close personal friend continued their appointed
work with the Wash Green gate and fence line and this is now looking
very well and is due for its topcoat next week. Work proceeded in the
Model Railway container and the model railway is running but with
further work to do before it is open to the public. Assorted weeding
took place on the booking hall embankment.
In and around the engineerium, the vacuum brake pipe has been removed
from the former EVRA incline and entertainment coach. The steam team
have been engaged upon Ferrybridge No 3. The class 119 appreciation
society (or those parts of it not currently in a jacuzzi in
Fuertaventura) have been clearing out one of our multitude of containers
while the rest have needle gunned its wheel parts and said wheel parts
have now been mainly painted black. The class 20 group have been working
on their locomotive and a little exterior yellow cosmetic work has taken
place on the class 31.
The newly re-formed weekend p-way and S&T team despatched themselves to
Shottle with LJ Breeze and carried out work on the recently installed
lever frame and its associated connections there.
Following yesterday's "Paint a Milepost" extravaganza, the Passenger
and
Global Fence Painting Managers joined forces to address the state of the
south weighbridge as part of a programme arising from a recent line side
inspection. This programme, known as Scheduled Complete Removal Of Tatty
Eyesores, involves dealing with a number of line side items which require
either painting or cosmetic improvement so that passengers find our
line side tidy. Related to this we are looking for a suitable door, 30
inch x 76 inch, if anyone has one cluttering up their lumber room.
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