Peak Rail Santa Specials 2009

It seems amazing that a year has passed since my report on the 2008 'Santa Specials' at Peak Rail. Once again, I had a couple of turns on the footplate. The format of four round trips during the day with a 7-coach train 'top-and-tailed' was retained. 'Royal Pioneer' was at the south end but, this year, the north end was graced by '8624', the only known maroon '8F' in captivity.

Sunday, 6th December

On Sunday, 6th December I was on 'Royal Pioneer'. 'Royal Pioneer' is still stabled at Darley Dale but, for the 'Santa Specials' this year, both 'Royal Pioneer' and the '8F' were prepared on the long outside pit at Rowsley. Fortunately, the weather wasn't bad for December but, of course, it does gets dark early.

Seven coaches plus the weight of the '8F' gave 'Royal Pioneer' a decent load but she's perfectly equal to the task - she'll move 1,000 tons on the flat, just not very quickly. Speed isn't a requirement for 'Santa Specials'. There are a lot of people moving around on the train - Santa, all his helpers, the entertainers - so smoothness is what's required. On this Sunday, 71 diners were being given Christmas Luncheon so that's another reason to avoid jerking. Steam heating of the train was being left to the '8F' so the fireman on 'Royal Pioneer' could concentrate on providing the steam to get from Rowsley to Matlock and then look forward to a rest whilst the '8F' took us back to Rowsley.

Temporary watering facilities had been provided for 'Royal Pioneer' at the south end of Rowsley. The arrangements comprised a tank wagon, provided with a small-capacity connection to the mains water supply to replenish the tank wagon, connected to a portable water pump powered by a petrol engine. A fire hose was normally stowed on the ballast parallel to the tracks which was dragged across to the tank filler of the adjacent locomotive as required.

Saturday, 12th December

On Saturday, 12th December I saw the 'other end' of the operation because I was on the '8F'. With outside Walschaerts motion, the '8F' is easy to oil round, apart from the necessity to attend to the axlebox underkeeps which requires the use of the pit (an earlier post describes preparation in a little more detail). Around 10.00 a.m., we came 'Off Shed', coupled onto the stock and started steam heating.

During the day, we made four round trips, with 'Royal Pioneer' hauling the train to Matlock and the '8F' returning the train to Rowsley. The '8F' performed flawlessly and it was, as usual, a pleasure to be on the footplate of a Stanier engine. Stanier, of course, was at Swindon for a number of years before being 'head-hunted' by the L.M.S. His designs added his own flair to the 'Wiltshire Wisdom' he brought with him from the G.W.R.

Apparently, the 2009 Santa trains produced a Santa revenue record for Peak Rail. This result is due to the hard work and dedication of lots of volunteers to whom thanks are due.

There are a few pictures here.

Redevelopment at King's Cross Station

October 2009: Two diesel and two electric services operated by National Express, a few days before the franchise was turned over to East Coast.

It's nearly two years since I first wrote about King's Cross Station (click to read original story) so perhaps a brief update is in order. The 1852 station was designed by Lewis Cubitt for the Great Northern Railway and, according to Network Rail, was based on the design of "the riding school of the Czars of Moscow".

It seems I was not alone in being aggrieved by what I called "thoughtless modern adaptations and extensions" presently giving passenger access to the main platforms. Apparently, this structure was intended to be 'temporary' when erected by British Rail in 1972. The good news is that, forty years on, it is due to be removed so that the original appearance of the facade of the trainsheds can be revealed. To achieve this, a new station building is being built on the west side of the station. This should improve passenger flows, particularly to and from the adjacent St. Pancras International.

Footbridge view in 2008

In 2008, I was pleased to note the retention of the footbridge shown in the picture above. Alas, this has now succumbed as part of the rebuilding and the picture below shows some of the forlorn remains of the bridge.

Remains of footbridge view in 2009

King's Cross doesn't seem to be having any better luck with its main line train operating franchisees. GNER were awarded the franchise in 1996, successfully renewed the franchise but were then invited to surrender their franchise in December 2006. GNER continued to run the service under a 'management contract' for a year. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over, only for their parent National Express to withdraw support in July 2009. With maximum acrimony, National Express have recently been replaced by East Coast. 'East Coast' is a private company wholly owned by the Government (not to be confused with a 'nationalised railway' - New Labour dumped Clause 4 some years ago).

Now with 'East Coast' markings, a re-badged Class 43 passes King's Cross Power Box.

Part of the rebuilding at Kings Cross involves the creation of a new terminal platform. The picture below shows the major civil engineering work in progress to drive the new track on the extreme East Side, next to the present Platform 1.

Preparations for the new platform at King's Cross

It was only when I saw this view that I was reminded that, until 1976, King's Cross had two through platforms. Up suburban trains stopped at a platform called King's Cross York Road before diving underground on what was called the York Road Curve, joining the 'Widened Lines' and terminating at Moorgate. In the opposite direction, trains from Moorgate left the 'Widened Lines' on the Hotel Curve, surfaced on the west side of King's Cross at Platform 16 and continued northwards. In 1976, these suburban services were diverted to reach Moorgate via the Northern City Line (previously operated by London Underground) and King's Cross lost its through platforms.

It looks from the picture above as if the East Side Offices at King's Cross were built to accommodate access at ground level. Was this for a carriage road? Can anybody confirm? The new construction appears to be taking advantage of this facility. I'm told the new platform is to be called 'Y' (to which I replied 'Why?' but I suppose it could be 'Y' for 'York Road').

There's a rather prosaic Network Rail Site and a useful Wikipedia article.

My (extended) collection of pictures is here.

Ty Gwyn ships out Timber

Since my earlier report, the Ponsee 'Ergo' Harvester has been joined by a Ponsee Forwarder and timber is currently being shipped from the site.

The Harvester at work (Photo: R MacCurrach)

The Harvester or 'Processor' is crucial to the efficiency of any logging operations and the Ponsee 'Ergo' working at Ty Gwyn is an example of one of the leading machines. Finland has had well-managed forests for a long time, so I was not surprised to discover that Ponsee is a Finnish company. Einari Vidren was a farmer's son who became a forestry worker. Dissatisfied with the forestry machines available in the 1960s, he built his own and the success of his own designs led him to found Ponsee in 1970. 'Ponsee' is apparently a crossbreed dog found in Finland. This firm now has over 800 workers and is active in 40 countries. It describes itself as "A logger's best friend". For more information on the firm and its products, go to their website.

The two methods of logging are 'tree length' where the main trunk is brought out in one piece and 'cut to length' where each trunk is accurately cut to sections of the required length as part of the felling. The second method makes heavy demands on the harvester technology, leading to increased capital cost, but offers benefits each time the timber is handled after felling.

The forwarder loading cut timber (Photo: R MacCurrach)

The Ponsee Forwarder has the same rough-terrain design and telescopic crane as the Harvester. Its task is to grapple the cut logs into its load space and transfer them to the loading area adjacent to a forest road for loading onto a timber truck for long-distance transfer on public roads.

Timber truck at a loading point (Photo: R MacCurrach)

According to the requirements of the end user, the timber may be graded into two or more types. This depends principally upon the diameter of the trunk and this is measured automatically by the harvester head as part of the cut-to-length operation. Timber trucks have their own vehicle-mounted crane so that they can self-load and self-unload.

With modern computer and communication technology, it is now possible for all the machines and trucks involved to be linked to the receiving mill and planning office for best overall efficiency. The Ponsee software systems are briefly described here.

My pictures of this stage of harvesting are here.

[Ponsee links updated 25-Jul-2014]

Platform Numbering Revisited

In an earlier post I talked about the Japanese mastery of 'Platform 0'. I'm indebted to a correspondent in Japan for introducing me to 'Kaleidescope World' which has a comprehensive list of 'Platform 0' with photographic evidence.

I should have credited the U.K. with three 'Platform 0' - one in England (Stockport), one in Wales (Cardiff) and one in Scotland (Haymarket). Europe musters five 'Platform 0' and Japan remains the undisputed leader with 40 remaining 'Platform 0'. Years ago, Japan had 100 stations with a 'Platform 0'!

In my earlier post, I illustrated the entrance to 'Platform 9-3/4' at Kings Cross as being England's attempt at unusual platform numbering.

On a recent visit, I was surprised to find the portal had magically moved itself to a new location.

I can only assume that whatever magical spirits dwell around the portal have been disturbed by all the building work going on at Kings Cross and have thus relocated to a slightly more congenial area.

Part of the rebuilding at Kings Cross involves the creation of a new platform. The picture below shows the major civil engineering work in progress to drive the new track on the extreme East Side, next to the present Platform 1.

You might imagine that a new platform next to Platform 1 would logically be given the title 'Platform 0'. But, of course, Network Rail laughs in the face of such conformist logic. I am reliably informed that the new platform will be designated 'Platform Y'. Why? The suggestion is that some of the existing signalling or information systems are unable to handle a 'Null'.