Tuesday 5 July 2011

Track Sketch: Fleetwood

Fleetwood Station in B.R. days.

Fleetwood station buildings were of typically Lancashire and Yorkshire railway grandeur - I attempted a very simple sketch of the facade but the picture below may give a better idea.

Sketches done on site are often hard to follow. Normally, I'd make a fair copy when I returned home but, in this case, I don't believe there is a better copy. The first sketch shows the terminal station at Fleetwood, the second shows the first station out from the terminus at Wyre Dock.


(Click on either sketch to enlarge)

D - Doll (reduced-size goods line arm)
DW - Doll (reduced-size goods line arm) on wooden post
DT - Doll (reduced-size goods line arm) on tubular post
T - Tubular post
TP - 'Tubular Peculiar' Tubular post of a different pattern
W - Wooden post
L - Lattice post
WT - Water Tank (parachute tank)
FB - Footbridge

The cryptic note 'As BN - 7 at base' I think means that the large Lancashire and Yorkshire pattern signal box at Fleetwood was similar to that at Blackpool North, with a brick base of seven bays. When I made the sketches, a number of signal arms had already been removed (arm shown dotted on the sketches), indicating a process of "rationalisation" which ultimately resulted in the total loss of railway facilities at Fleetwood.

You can find more detailed track and signalling diagrams of the area in the excellent series of publications from the Signalling Record Society 'British Railways Layout Plans of the 1950's'. Fleetwood area is included in 'Volume 5: ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Lines in West Lancashire' (ISBN: 1 873228 04 X). This publication gives the date of closure of Fleetwood signal box as 17th April 1966, after which a service was retained to Wyre Dock station (renamed 'Fleetwood') until 1970.

Track Sketch: Bodmin General

Sketches done on site are often hard to follow. Normally, I'd make a fair copy when I returned home. So far, I've not found a better copy, so here is the original version, believed to date from the 1960s.

I noted that the station was served by 8 departures to Bodmin Road (on the Great Western main line) and 7 departures to Wadebridge on a summer weekday. A 'Bo-Bo' and brake van was standing in the platform as I made my sketch, presumably after working a freight in. At around 11.0 a.m., the engine and brake departed on the Wadebridge line.

(Click on either sketch to enlarge)


D - Doll (reduced-size goods line arm)
CS - Coaling Stage
CR - 'Catch Rail' (Trap points with a switch in the outer rail)
T - Tubular post
W - Wooden post
SB - Signal Box
GS - Goods Shed
WB - Weighbridge

Track Sketch: Barnstaple Junction

Sketches done on site are often hard to follow. Normally, I'd make a fair copy when I returned home. So far, I've not found a better copy, so here is the original version, believed to date from the 1960s.

Click on any sketch to enlarge.



CP - 'Catch Point' (Trap points with a switch in both rails)
CR - 'Catch Rail' (Trap points with a switch in the outer rail)
TP - 'Tubular Peculiar' Tubular post signal of Southern Region pattern
WC - Water Column
T - 'Triple Lead' (Tandem Turnout)
L, Latt - Lattice Post signal
LS - Loco Shed
SB - Signal Box

For details of what remained in 2005 (a single platform at what has become the end of the branch, with a siding and run-round loop), refer to 'Railway Track Diagrams' Book 3: Western', Fourth Edition, published by Trackmaps (ISBN: 0-9549866-1-X). The First Edition of this book was published by Quail in 1989.

Matlock Station Festival Reopening

When I first visited Peak Rail, operations were based on the old 'Midland' side of Buxton station. A 4-coupled tank was giving rides along the length of the platform. But, just beyond the platform, the bridge taking the railway over the road had been taken away, preventing further expansion. Reinstating bridges involves serious money so, eventually, the painful decision was taken to abandon the Buxton site, retaining land ownership for ultimate re-instatement of the tracks in the future.

Construction was re-started at Darley Dale and, by the time I became a working member, a passenger service had been re-established between Darley Dale and a new station, Matlock Riverside, about ten minutes walk from the town. At Matlock Riverside there was an end-on connection with sidings forming part of the National Railway Network extending from the original Matlock station.

This connection with the National Network was rarely used and was eventually severed to make way for an improved A6 aligned over this connection. Sainsbury's were also developing a new supermarket on part of the old Cawdor Quarry. These changes involved complicated land swops and agreements. As a result, the sidings extending from Matlock town were reinstated, but on a new alignment (because of the new A6 position). The new sidings now terminated alongside Peak Rail's tracks and no longer offered an end-on through route. The challenge then was to reach an agreement with the National Railway regarding linking-up again and constructing a new Peak Rail terminus near the town.

In the meantime, the Peak Rail intfrastructure has been extended from Darley Dale north to a large site encompassing the former Rowsley locomotive depot. The space available here has allowed a station with adequate parking to be developed, together with substantial sidings and a 4-road locomotive shed. The original turntable pit has been cleared and rebuilt and the 60-foot vacuum-operated turntable from Mold junction installed and commissioned (see article here).

The protracted negotiations were not assisted by the demise of British Rail, the rise and ultimate fall of Railtrack and the advent of Network Rail. Persistence has paid off and, at the beginning of July 2011, we saw Peak Rail trains passing the Sainsbury's Supermarket to stop at the original station. The original station at Matlock had been a through station with two platforms, Up and Down. The remaining diesel multiple unit service from Derby (and beyond) now runs on a single line from Ambergate and terminates in the Up platform at Matlock. The abandoned, overgrown Down platform has been cleared and new track laid for Peak Rail trains from Matlock Riverside to Matlock.

To celebrate these major achievements, a Matlock Station Festival Re-opening was held on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th July 2011. The first trains, reserved for invited guests and Peak Rail shareholders, ran on Friday 1st July. So the first revenue trains were on Saturday 2nd July, when I was booked to drive 68013.

The shared station layout at Matlock introduces some operational problems and trains are currently Top-and-Tailed. 68013 was at the Matlock end of the 7-coach train and new-arrival 'Lord Phil' was at the Rowsley end. There was quite an air of excitement at Rowsley, as you can imagine, as we waited for the guard's 'Rightaway' for the first train. We took the established route to Matlock Riverside, where the ground frame has been altered so that the facing points are now locked towards what was the run-round loop and is now the new running line. At the Matlock end of the loop, the new turnout with facing point lock is now secured towards the extended line to Matlock via a 5-chain radius curve This extended line is now part of the Darley Dale - Matlock single line section. I'd never driven the new line, so the Traction and Train Crew Manager was on the footplate for the first trip as a 'Conductor'. However, I'd taken the precaution of walking the new route earlier in the day so as to avoid any surprises. I'd also been warned that the crews on the previous day had found that a fair amount of steam was needed to drag the train from Matlock Riverside to Matlock so I made sure that I didn't let the speed drop too much (the speed limit on this section is 10 m.p.h.).

With 7-coaches and the extra load of 'Lord Phil' on the back, 68013 was working fairly hard (almost full first valve with the reverser 'pulled up' two notches). After a straight section past Sainsbury's car park, there's an 8-chain radius right-hand curve into our new platform, which is also on the curve. There were quite a few people in Sainsbury's car park (hardly surprising on a Saturday morning), all watching this novel event. As we carried on, I could see the public car park on the Up side. People were crammed against the railings, obviously watching our approach. Continuing round the curve, the Network Rail platform came into view. This, too, was crowded with people waiting for us to appear. Finally, I could see our platform, absolutely thronged with people waving and cheering, with Peak Rail platform staff trying to keep people back from the platform edge. We continued along the platform and stopped opposite the appointed 'mark'. The platform was so crowded that I didn't see much of the official station opening ceremony, though I caught a glimpse of a number of civic chains of office.

Eventually, we set off with the first revenue train from Matlock to Rowsley. This time, 'Lord Phil' did all the work. The second round trip was performed in a similar fashion, then we watered 68013 at Rowsley before swopping engines with the other crew so that crews would get experience both arriving at and departing from Matlock. After two round trips on 'Lord Phil', we watered and swopped back to 68013 for the last two round trips.

A very special day and a landmark in the history of Peak Rail! When I returned home, I looked up the old British Railways gradient diagrams for the line.

Gradient Diagram Ambergate - Bakewell

Although our extension is on a new alignment, two reference points remain - the Derwent Bridge just outside Matlock Riverside and Matlock Station platforms. As you can see from the diagram above, the grade is 1 in 170 from the Derwent bridge (by the short level section) to the station.

More pictures.

Day Out With Thomas - June 2011

'Thomas' at Shenton, ready to return to Shackerstone

The Battlefield Line (which now uses the subtitle "The country railway at the heart of rural England") is committed to bringing the best possible 'Thomas' days out. In June 2011 there were four days with Thomas and Friends - 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th. I shared the driving of Thomas with Eddie on the 25th June and I drove Daisy (the DMU) on the 26th.

In addition to the various entertainments around Shackerstone station (including story reading, playlets and the popular Engine Races), there were seven return trips to Shenton during the day operated by the main train. These were six coach trains, the first five operated 'Top-and-Tail', the sixth by 'Henry' alone, the last by 'Thomas' alone.

Departures from Shackerstone and the leading locomotive in each case were:-

10:00 'BoCo' (actually a Class 25)
11:10 'BoCo'
12:20 'BoCo' ('Lunch on Thomas')
13:30 'BoCo'
14:40 'BoCo'
15:50 'Henry' (actually 'Mayflower')
17:00 'Thomas' ('Tea on Thomas')

Departures from Shenton and the leading locomotive in each case were:-

10:25 'Thomas'
11:35 'Henry'
12:45 'Thomas' ('Lunch on Thomas')
13:55 'Henry'
15:05 'Henry'
16:20 'Henry'
17:40 'Thomas' ('Tea on Thomas')

As a final bonus, the 2-car 'Daisy' made trips all the way to Market Bosworth and back, whilst the main train unloaded and loaded at Shackerstone. This was made possible by the approval of the arrangements for access to the newly-refurbished station at Market Bosworth. Access is provided via the Station Drive on the Up side and a new, gated level crossing provided with a Crossing Keeper, to our platform on the Down side.

'Daisy's' departures from Shackerstone were scheduled for 10:43, 11:53, 13:03, 14:13, 15:23 and 16:38. On one of the afternoon departures, 'Thomas' accompanied 'Daisy' to Market Bosworth.

Although the main train was not stopping at Market Bosworth during the day, the 17:40 from Shenton with 'Thomas' on the front, called to pick up any 'stragglers' who had missed the last 'Daisy' service.

As you can imagine, this intensive service kept everybody on their toes! Although 'Fergus' was not operational, he was posed outside the locomotive shed for his young friends to see.

My pictures are here.

Detailed pictures of the locomotives:

'Thomas'
'Fergus'
'Mayflower'
'Daisy'