I was the driver of 'Lord Phil' on the 21st December 2014. Top and tailed with 'Penyghent', we provided four round trips between Rowsley and Matlock Town, working a 7-coach train. Phil Mason was Fireman and Colin Dodsley Cleaner.
Volunteer of the Year
Phil had been awarded 'Volunteer of the Year' for 2014 and, before we left the shed at Rowsley, Roger Hallett (Joint Managing Director) came aboard to present the engraved glass award to Phil. This was well-deserved recognition for Phil's work on the railway.
Phil Mason (shown draining the fire hose used for watering the locomotive at Rowsley).
Working the trains
The operation was generally similar to the 2013 'Santa' trains (described here, except that we terminated at Matlock Town station (rather than Matlock Riverside) and timings were adjusted to the standard Winter Timetable.
I think each pre-booked train was filled to capacity and, in addition, the 'Palatine' dining set provided a Christmas lunch to pre-booked guests.
This year, 'Lord Phil' was sporting a 'Christmas Pudding' headboard.
'Lord Phil' ready to leave Rowsley, showing the 'Christmas Pudding' headboard.
We ran without incident during the day, except that 'Penyghent' made an unscheduled stop with 'dragging brakes' on one departure from Matlock Town. The Guard and other members of train staff climbed down to 'pull the strings' on all the vacuum brake cylinders of the coaches and we were quickly under way again.
On the last round trip, it was starting to get dark. Colin lit a paraffin loco lamp on the footplate and, when we stopped at Darley Dale, he exchanged it for the unlit lamp we'd displayed from Rowsley. The single lamp next to the chimney is the standard headcode for an 'ordinary passenger train' stopping at intermediate stations. There's a little more about traditional paraffin lamps used on trains here. When we arrived at Matlock Town, I moved the headlamp to a position above one buffer and inserted the red glass 'shade', so that we correctly displayed a red tail lamp on the way back to Rowsley.
At Darley Dale, Colin removes the unlit headlamp, prior to fitting the lighted lamp.
As last year, Christmas Illuminations were provided on both platforms at Darley Dale, in addition to the traditional platform lighting on the Up Platform. I'm afraid that the cast iron columns for similar lighting on the Down platform still await fitting of the lanterns.
View of the Down Platform at Darley Dale, showing Christmas Illuminations.
Hard work during the day by many volunteers (and especially Santa Claus and his Elves distributing presents to the children) meant that our visitors went away happy.
Disposal
On arrival back at Rowsley on the last train, we uncoupled and made our way across to the shed where Harvey coaled us, ready for the following day's service. We then stabled the locomotive on the outside pit and, with good teamwork, quickly completed disposal - remaining fire 'knocked out' (leaving a small fire pushed against the firebox tubeplate to allow the boiler to cool gently), ashpans raked out, smokebox char removed, all tools returned to stores, boiler filled, gauge frames isolated, all steam cocks closed, inspection all round looking for any possible problems, locomotive hosed down to remove loose ash. There's more information on disposal here. Once these duties were complete, Phil, Colin and I 'signed off' after a satisfying day.
My Pictures
Peak Rail 'Santa' Trains 2014
