Just a thought…

I've got a couple of photographic projects on the go this year one of which is a Photo-A-Day and as a result I'm always looking for something different to photograph…

Yesterday saw me paying a brief visit to my local heritage railway, the Midland Railway-Butterley who were advertising 'Winter Warmer Trains' on their website.

Railbus 141113 trundled in from Swanwick Junction at 12.30 and stopped to allow a few passengers on board before setting off with the 12.40 departure, I took a couple of photos and headed for home… noticing that the cost for a rover ticket for today was a whopping £11.50!

I say 'whopping' because 141113 was the only train in service and belongs to a group of trains known as 'Nodding Donkeys' which are universally disliked by both enthusiasts and the poor souls who have to suffer them day in, day out on the national network!

The nearby Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, operating a fleet of heritage DMUs, charge £10.00 for a rover ticket while Peak Rail only charge £8 to travel behind a steam loco, so yes, I thought £11.50 was a bit pricey!

Should you fancy a ride on a 'Nodding Donkey' then you could do much worse than travel from Sheffield to Chinley through the beautiful Hope Valley, with an off-peak day return setting you back £10.80.

Just a thought…

Signalbox Safari - Leeming Bar

Time for another signalbox…

Just over a year ago I wrote about Dersingham signalbox on the former line between King's Lynn and Hunstanton in Norfolk and a recent visit to Leeming Bar on the Wensleydale Railway gave me the opportunity to photograph another signalbox from that line, albeit one transplanted to Yorkshire.

The former North Wootton signalbox now restored at Leeming Bar on the Wensleydale Railway, 11/7/14

North Wootton was the first station out of King's Lynn and like Dersingham a number of its buildings outlived the line itself with the station buildings now forming a private residence. The signalbox, another Great Eastern Railway 'type 7' structure, this time dating from 1901 survived as a scout hut until 2007 when the 14th Woottons Scout Group, unable to afford its restoration (or even insurance) decided to give it away.

The former North Wootton signalbox before restoration, 2/6/08

The Wensleydale Railway took the project on, carefully moving the box to its Leeming Bar headquarters in September 2007 and in 2009, after a painstaking restoration supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant it was reopened and apparently now forms the WR's control office.

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway

I make no apologies for featuring another of Hunslet Engine Co Ltd's products in these pages, this time in the shape of 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST REPULSE (works no.3698 of 1950).

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST (works no.3698 of 1950) at Haverthwaite station, 9/7/14

391 locomotives of this class were built between 1943 and 1953 for the Ministry of Supply and War Department with a further 93 being built for industrial users. Hunslet built the majority but Andrew Barclay, Hudswell Clarke, W.G.Bagnall, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns and Vulcan Foundry were also involved in the construction and examples from each manufacturer still survive in preservation.

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway's example "REPULSE" (named after the World War II battle cruiser) spent all it's pre-preservation life working for the North Western Area of the National Coal Board, finally being withdrawn from service in 1975 from the Ladysmith Coal Preparation Plant, Whitehaven.

On the day of my visit REPULSE was handling all of the passenger services on the L&HR's three mile line, transporting a seemingly endless stream of passengers to and from the 'Steamers' that operate over the whole 10.5 mile length of Lake Windermere.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST (works no.3698 of 1950) runs round its train at Lakeside station, 9/7/14

More photos from my visit to the L&HR can be found on Flickr.

Industrial Action - Hunslet 0-6-0ST 2705/1945

Industrial locomotives have become something of a passion of mine in recent years and although some are still used by industrial concerns most have now passed into the hands of the preservation movement.

One such locomotive is BEATRICE at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway, a Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST built in 1945 as works no.2705.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST BEATRICE (works no.2705 of 1945) at Bolton Abbey station, 1/6/14

BEATRICE came to Embsay from Ackton Hall Colliery near Pontefract in West Yorkshire and is shown as still being located (and in use) there in 1976 in the Industrial Locomotives book published by the Industrial Railway Society in that year.

Recently overhauled and returned to steam, BEATRICE was in action during my visit on 1st June, easily handling her load of five BR Mk.1 carriages on the 1 in 100 climb out of Bolton Abbey station.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST BEATRICE (works no.2705 of 1945) at Embsay station, 1/6/14

In addition to views of the wonderful North Yorkshire countryside the E&BAR has an interesting collection of industrial locomotives and a number of beautifully restored vintage carriages that form Stephen Middleton's Stately Trains fleet that have appeared in a number of film and television productions and is well worth a visit.

WD 820, D-Day veteran…

I’m a bit late with this piece given that the 70th anniversary of The Normandy Landings was on Friday but better late than never eh?

Drewry Car Co. 153hp 0-4-0DM WD 820 stands at Caverswall Road station on the Foxfield Railway on 25/7/12

WD 820 was built by Vulcan Foundry in 1941 (from mechanical components supplied by the Drewry Car Co. and frames, wheels and bodywork supplied by English Electric) as part of an order for the Ministry of Supply. Overhauled at the Longmoor Military Railway in April 1944, WD 820 (then numbered WD 30) and three sister locomotives, WD 29, WD 32 and WD 33 crossed the English Channel during Operation Neptune, better known as D-Day, and was one of two locomotives actually landed on Utah Beach!

When relieved by larger locomotives in August 1944 WD 30 was posted further inland, taking up shunting duties around Bayeaux and was renumbered as 70030.

Returning to the UK in 1946 the locomotive was overhauled at Baguley’s works in Burton-on-Trent before being posted to the MoD depot at Bicester where it was renumbered again as WD 820 in 1952. A further tour of duty abroad to Germany followed from 1958-1969 at a British Army of the Rhine (BAoR) depot.

Upon returning to the UK (again) it was posted to two Royal Ordnance Factories, the first being at RoF Birley in Co.Durham and then RoF Radway Green in Cheshire before finally being preserved in 1992.

The photograph was taken during a visit to the Foxfield Railway that Dad and I made in 2012 and at the time I don't think that either of us recognised the significance of this tiny diesel that was tucked away in a corner…

A railway related pint - The M&GN Bar

'Muddle and Go Nowhere Bar' beer mat, 12/04/14

I've mentioned my fondness for combining railways and real ale before and that combination was my other reason for my second visit in two days to the North Norfolk Railway a couple of weekends ago.

The 'Muddle and Go Nowhere* Bar' is housed in a beautifully restored London & North Eastern Railway Gresley Buffet Car (b.1937, York) currently turned out in British Railways crimson and cream livery and carrying the number E9128E.

The 'Muddle and Go Nowhere Bar' Gresley Buffet Car E9128E, 12/04/14

The car is expected to be running during special events at the NNR and a number of other weekends besides, provisional details of which can be found on the M&GN Joint Railway Society website here.

It being an out of season visit only one real ale was available on draught, 'Wolf Ale' from Norfolk's own Wolf Brewery at Besthorpe near Attleborough and after what I can only describe as 'extensive tests' I can report that it's a delicious, copper coloured brew with just the right amount of hops (Goldings and Challenger, should you be curious) resulting in what I'd call 'a proper pint' and I'm certainly looking forward to sampling more Wolf Brewery beers in the future.

* The phrase 'Muddle & Go Nowhere' was an affectionate nickname bestowed on the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway as a result of its route serving mostly rural areas of Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

A Norfolk Ramble, part 2 - North Norfolk Railway

As usual, a trip to Norfolk means a visit to the North Norfolk Railway, easily one of my favourite heritage lines.

The warm weather had certainly brought plenty of visitors and even the first train of the day (the 09.45 from Sheringham-Holt) was pretty full. NNR stalwart 8572 (a London & North Eastern Railway B12 class 4-6-0) had no problems with its train of four coaches and one parcels van though.

LNER B12 class 4-6-0 8572 runs round its train at Holt, 11/04/14

The NNR is home to all sorts of beautifully restored items, from locomotives, carriages and buildings right down to this set of fire buckets, complete with Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway cast sign.

Fire buckets at Sheringham station, 11/04/14

A return visit was made the following day (more on this later) as I was hoping to photograph BR Standard class 4MT 2-6-0 76084 in action (I'd missed getting a shot of it the day before) but it wasn't to be… Great Northern Railway N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 (visiting from the Great Central Railway) was out and about instead.

GNR N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 departs Weybourne with the 13.44 service to Holt, 12/04/14

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the North Norfolk Railway if you're in the area, I'd even go as far as to say make a special trip if not! The combination of steam, sea views and (if you're lucky) sunshine really is unbeatable!

Double-heading at the MR-B

This weekend was the Winter Steam Event at the Midland Railway-Butterley, a fairly low-key affair in comparison with other railways perhaps but still worth a visit (especially as it’s just down the road from me) so today I spent a couple of hours by Butterley Reservoir photographing the trains crossing the causeway to and from the Hammersmith end of the line.

I'd photographed the 'usual suspects' in the shape of 'Jinty' No.23, the 'Caprotti Five' 73129 and Peckett 0-4-0ST WHITEHEAD but kept hoping that visiting Ivatt class 2MT 2-6-0 46521 (from the Great Central Railway) would put in an appearance…

Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46521 & Standard 5MT 4-6-0 73129 cross Butterley Reservoir, 9/3/14

After a lengthy pause in operations my patience was eventually rewarded with an earlier than timetabled train double-headed by 46521 and 73129 that were making very light work of four BR Mk.1 coaches.

I did hear a number of people grumble about the inaccuracies in the published timetable, indeed the above working was almost an hour early which not only caught out lineside photographers but also (and more importantly) paying passengers. Whilst I understand that there will always be problems when it comes to running a timetabled event I do wish that some railways would try harder to get these things right on the day.

First trip of 2014! - Peak Rail

A reasonably good day (weather-wise) a couple of weekends ago provided an opportunity for what is becoming my annual winter trip to Peak Rail.

Hunslet 0-6-0ST "LORD PHIL' departs Rowsley South, 11/1/14

Whilst a lot of heritage lines close up for the post-Santa Special winter months Peak Rail continue to operate a regular, weekend steam service and it makes a very pleasant start to the year indeed.

For most of the year trains are operated with a locomotive at each end as Matlock station has no facilities for a loco to run round its train but in the winter months services are cut back slightly to the wooden platform at Matlock Riverside, a short walk from the town centre and Matlock station proper. Riverside station does have a run round loop and this makes the use of a single locomotive on a train possible which I assume brings about a significant reduction in operating costs during the quieter winter months.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. Class WD 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST 'LORD PHIL' (works no.2868 of 1943)* was in action and it's rake of five coaches were surprisingly full (as was the buffet at Rowsley South which seemed to be doing a roaring trade in bacon sandwiches!)

After enjoying a couple of round trips through the Derbyshire Dales I popped into Bill Hudson Transport Books at Matlock station and came away with a couple of secondhand bargains to add to my library, I recommend calling in if you're in the area, the shop is a veritable (if small) Aladdin's Cave!

* 'LORD PHIL' carries the works no.3883 which dates from its rebuild (by Hunslet) in 1963 along with a smaller plaque that reads 'AUSTERITY LOCOMOTIVE BUILT FOR THE 2nd WORLD WAR ORIGINALLY DATED 1943 HUNSLET ENGINE Co. No.2868'.

'Twas the night before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

Then suddenly I heard a tiny voice speak,
'You lazy old s*d, you've not blogged anything in weeks!'

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

So instead of three Kings from the east let me wish you all the compliments of the season with a suitably wintry image of one King from the west.

GWR 6000 class 4-6-0, 6023 KING EDWARD II, 25/01/13

The Great Western Railway's KING EDWARD II to be precise… Photographed in the snow at Loughborough Central station during the Great Central Railway's winter steam gala in January this year.

So I'll just finish this brief entry with the last line from Clement Clarke Moore's poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'

'Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.'

Cab ride in 33035!

This weekend I got to do something that I've never managed to do before, have a cab ride in a mainline diesel loco. The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group's 33035 (the former D6553) was the locomotive in question and although the ride was a short one what it lacked in length in made up for in steepness!

33035 at the top of the Ravenstor Incline, 5/10/13

After spending five months under repair 33035 was undergoing testing of its electrical system on the 1 in 27 Ravenstor Incline at Wirksworth on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire.

View of the Ravenstor Incline from the Secondman's seat of 33035, 5/10/13

After a spirited ride up the incline there was time for a brief chat with Mike Jacobs and James from the PDLG about the loco itself, the railway and the local quarries that were one of the reasons that the line was built in the first place (and why it remained open until the late 1980s) before a more sedate trip back down to Wirksworth station.

Thanks must go to the The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group and John Evans, the Duty Manager at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway for making it possible.

Aah! Bliss!

25057 at Weybourne station, 28/4/12

A recent visit to the North Norfolk Railway reminded me just how unpleasant the British seaside can be when subjected to constant rain and biting winds but just when I'd giving up all hope of ever being warm again 25057 (the former D5207) pulled into Weybourne station with a rake of Mk.1 coaching stock all made cosy and warm by its working steam-heating boiler!

I'm a big fan of the North Norfolk Railway, everything is clean and tidy (as far as is possible on a heritage railway), the staff are friendly, the catering top notch and an interesting mixture of locos and rolling stock can be found handling services up and down the line.

45015 revisited

45015 at Shackerstone station, 30/4/11

The Battlefield Line in Leicestershire is one of my favourite Heritage Railways. The view from the train window is very pleasant, the catering is good and the trains themselves are usually in pretty good order. We (my wife Joy and I) decided to pay a visit on Saturday 30th April for a number of reasons… The first was that GWR 2884 class 2-8-0 3803 (visiting from the South Devon Railway) was rostered for the day's services and I have a fondness for all things Great and Western. The second was to visit the recently reopened Market Bosworth station and the third was to see if 45015 (the former D14) was still around… Which it was, albeit looking very tatty indeed, missing many parts and dumped at the south end of Shackerstone station right at the side of the running line. I did manage to take a photo (of sorts) but only by leaning out of the carriage window.