Peak Rail 1940s Weekend 2009

Robin models a 'tin hat' as a down train pauses at Darley Dale.

I was driver on Sunday 2nd August 2009 on the second day of the Peak Rail 1940s Weekend.

On Saturday, the weather had been foul but the people still came. On Sunday, the weather was good all day, encouraging an unprecedented number of visitors. The car park at Rowsley was quickly filled and both the access road and Harrison Way (leading to the A6) filled up with parked cars. Subsequent arrivals were recommended to go to Darley Dale, park in the D.F.S. Car Park and walk to Darley Dale station to catch the next train (there is a long-term agreement with D.F.S. for the use of their car park).

'Royal Pioneer' was the motive power, hauling a 7-coach train. Five round trips were made during the day and luncheon was served in the two 'Palatine' coaches. In the morning, Robin acted as fireman. He was relieved by Chris for the afternoon. Some of the departures were a few minutes late whilst passengers were boarding but we managed to prevent delays from escalating, mainly by smart working on the run-rounds at either end.

There was a large (and no doubt noisy) battle re-enactment just after 3 p.m. but the train was safely out of the way heading for Matlock before this started. On the way back, we would (if necessary) have been held at Darley Dale until the "All Clear" was received.

A Rolls Royce 'Meteor' engine was an unusual exhibit. Mounted on a trailer, this was periodically started and run for a few minutes. Apparently, this engine was derived from the iconic 'Merlin' aero engine - without superchargers it was used in battle tanks.

Of course, if you're on the footplate all day, you don't see much of the special activities, but I managed to snatch a few pictures.

There's an earlier post for the 2008 event here with links to earlier photographs taken at the 2007 and 2006 events.

Lionsmeet 2009 - York

'Lionsmeet' is a peripatetic event, moving from year-to-year between the tracks of different model engineering societies. To even up the travelling for our widely-spread membership, the event organiser, Alan Bibby, intentionally rotates the venues between north, south and midlands. This year, we were the guests of the York Model Engineering Society at their track at Dringhouses.

Over the years, we've had a pretty good record of picking days which enjoyed good weather but I'm afraid the first of August at York was pretty foul. Heavy rail eventually died out before the contest finished but it remained overcast and pretty cool. A number of our regular competitors were unable to attend this year but the enthusiasm of members who were able to share the day with our hosts at York was undimmed.

The track is situated in a partially wooded area next to the East Coast Main Line and we were treated to a procession of mainly electric trains all day. I'm afraid I find modern traction fairly boring and the only sight which I found mildly notable was three Class 66 coupled together hurrying south. 'Lionsmeet' was held on the multi-gauge elevated continuous track which I think is a little under 1200 feet in length. There are covered steaming bays with a traverser to access the continuous track. The layout is a 'squashed oval' with clockwise running and a system of 3-aspect colour light signals to allow multiple trains (although, for 'Lionsmeet', only one competitor at a time is on the track). Outside the elevated track, there's a dual gauge ground level track with signal box and pointwork leading to outside steaming bays and a traverser.

A diesel-outline loco with a Great Western 'Toad' brakevan performed on the ground level track for a while but most of the action was on the elevated track. The 'Lionsmeet' challenge is simply a contest to see which locomotive can produce the most work done in ten minutes. It's not an 'Efficiency' trial like the more elaborate IMLEC competition. The locomotive hauls a Dynamometer Car to measure distance and drawbar pull so that work done can be calculated.

This year, we had borrowed the Bristol M.E.S. Dynamometer Car. This is a bogie vehicle with a seat for the driver at the front, an impressive-looking control panel in the middle for the operator and a seat for the operator at the rear. For recent 'Lionsmeets', I've normally been the operator so Alan and I have coined the term 'dynamometrix' for this exalted (?) post.

A bogie passenger car formed the final vehicle in the consist, allowing the driver to choose the appropriate 'ballast' (passengers) for his run. This last vehicle fortunately had a handbrake at the front, allowing the dyamometrix to reach behind and apply some braking effort.

Bill Stubbs was the first in steam and he sportingly volunteered to compete first. By tradition, the previous year's winner goes first but Jon Swindlehurst was still readying his model. Unfortunately, Bill got the worst of the weather and probably the worst of the track conditions. One adverse incline on a curve under the trees proved troublesome to Bill but this spot gave all the competitors problems. Bill started his run with the dynamometrix and two passengers but 'dropped' one of the passengers to ascend the troublesome incline (the rules allow the load to be reduced but not increased during the timed run).

Jon Swindlehurst was the next competitor and with the dynamometrix and two passengers he completed a solid run, during which his mechanical lubricator failed. Unfortunately, the dynamometrix also broke off the hand brake handle so the passenger car had to be replaced by one with a serviceable brake.

David Wainwright was next to run. He started with the dynamometrix and two passengers but suffered badly on the incline in the wet conditions and 'dropped' two passengers.

Alan Bibby took the dynamometrix and two passengers and completed a solid run. Then, the problems started. The Dynamometer car showed a lower distance run than Jon (confirmed by observation) but a much higher Work Done. Unable to find a satisfactory explanation for this anomaly and with Jon unable to run again because of his lubricator failure, the Committee agreed that Alan should repeat his run. He made a good first circuit but, on the second circuit, the leading bogie of the passenger truck derailed. It was agreed that Alan should start again. This time, the passenger truck derailed as soon as the train passed the site of the first derailment. Members of the host club examined the permanent way and made some urgent repairs. Finally, Alan made a successful 10-minute run with credible figures recorded but they did not quite come up to Jon's achievement and so Jon took the winner's cup home again.

The performances are summarised below:-

Name	Distance	Work done	Position
Bill Stubbs	3470	12200	3
Jon Swindlehurst	6250	18400	1
David Wainwright	3540	11200	4
Alan Bibby	5710	14800	2

It was generally agreed that there should have been a special award to Alfred for attending in the atrocious conditions on his Vincent 'Black Shadow' motor cycle.

Pictures of the event