Churnet Valley Railway 2014 Winter Steam Gala

Malc and I fired up the little bikes today (Malc on his Townmate, me on my C90) and headed off to Cheddleton for the first of two days of the Churnet Valley Railway's Winter Steam Gala. We'd timed our arrival to watch the S160 heading for Froghall, the unique Great Western Railmotor (which Pete and I met at Llangollen last year; see here on the blog.) and the star of the show, West Country Bullied Pacific 'Wadebridge' setting off for the climb to Ipstones. The plan then was to ride to Apesford crossing to witness 'Wadebridge' tackling the 1 in 40 gradient up to Ipstones on the Cauldon Lowe branch.

However, when we arrived at Cheddleton we discovered all had not gone well. Problems at Consall signal box had delayed the start of the day, and then Wadebridge failed on the Cauldon Lowe branch with a problem with its fire bars (caused by a slip, we were told). So the timetable was over an hour behind schedule, and 'Sophie', a class 33 diesel locomotive was deputising for 'Wadebridge', which was in the shed yard being 'fettled'.

Please click on any picture for a larger image.

Normally a Foxfield Railway resident, this Beyer Peacock saddle tank locomotive no.1827 has been recently restored at Cheddleton and was giving driver experience rides up and down the yard for £5 a time 

This little engine was built at Beyer Peacock's in Gorton in 1879, close by Gorton Monastery which we visited yesterday 

West Country Pacific 'Wadebridge' takes water from a hose in the yard, having had its fire bars put right and the fire re-laid 

The frames and tender of 5197 in the yard, one of the CVR's  two S160 locomotives. I drove this engine on a 'Driver Experience' for my 60th birthday, which led my involvement as a volunteer on the railway and my becoming a signalman at Consall.

 Polish TKH Tank Engine 2944 nears completion of its restoration in the shed at Cheddleton

S160 5197's boiler in the shed 

The GWR Railmotor arrives from Froghall 

Not easy, this job! Firing the Railmotor

'Wadebridge', cylinder drain cocks open, moves out of the yard 

'Wadebridge' runs into the bay platform, ready to re-take her place on the train when it arrives from Ipstones hauled by class 33 diesel 'Sophie'  

The other CVR S160, 6046, headed for the climb up to Ipstones on the Cauldon Lowe Branch 

'Wadebridge' back in charge of her train, ready to leave for Froghall

We'd hoped to see 'Wadebridge' tackling the 1 in 40 climb to Ipstones at Apesford crossing, but we didn't have the time to stay now the timetable was so far behind schedule. We fired up the little bikes and headed up to Apesford anyway as that would enable us to pick up an interesting route home through the Peak District.

We joined the Leek road at Apesford, but soon turned off onto Porters lane and Douse lane steeply up to the ridge road to Morridge. This ancient way offers magnificent views west, east, and north over Staffordshire and Cheshire and in today's clear air they were superb. Dropping off the ridge we crossed the A53 and rode along the north east flank of The Roaches to the Dane at Gradbach. The climb up the side of the Dane Valley at Burntcliff Top, with views across to the forested hill of Lud's Church on the far side led us to the A54 at Allgreave, then on to Bosley crossroads to pick up this morning's route outbound. At a petrol stop at Chelford I phoned Ivan (who had 'enjoyed' a day of DIY) to join us for a pint at the Bird in hand at Knolls Green, where we relaxed and let a crackling wood fire warm our chilled bones as we recalled the many highlights of our day over a glass of Sam Smith's best bitter.

Right. Home now, and prepare for my stint as signalman tomorrow at Consall for the second day of the CVR Winter Steam Gala.

Sunday 23rd February

Today I was rostered signalman in Consall box - the first session in the box for me this year. I'm pleased to say all was well with the box, unlike yesterday when a fault meant Consall box couldn't be brought into use, so the train service was delayed until the fault was fixed.

No such problems this morning - on inserting the keys on the staffs into the instruments, the King Lever could be moved back and the box brought into use. The combined staff was brought from Cheddleton by the S160 no. 6146 coupled to the N7 Tank no. 69621 (these two are working together as the S160's air pump is away being repaired so the N7 was providing air for the loco brakes), and the GWR Railmotor.

S160 and N7 working together

Once the staff was split and the box opened, the S160 / N7 combination continued to Froghall to start services from there, and the Railmotor returned to Cheddleton to commence the service from that station. West Country Pacific 34007 'Wadebridge' had earlier set off from Cheddleton to Ipstones as the first service up the Cauldon Lowe line.

The Railmotor at Consall this morning, ready to depart to Cheddleton, taken from the signal box steps

Later, the Railmotor returned on its way to Froghall. Consall signal box on the right.

'Wadebridge' at Consall on a train for Froghall 

The Railmotor departs for Froghall 

'Wadebridge' with its odd 3-cylinder irregular beat, photographed from the signal box steps, storms up to Consall under London Bridge. After taking this picture I descended the steps to the platform to catch the Froghall Staff held out of the cab by the loco crew as they entered the station. 

I had a great day in the box today; interesting trains, no technical problems, and everything ran well, albeit about 20 minutes down on time by the end of the day, mostly caused by watering time for locos at Froghall, especially the S160 / N7 combination with both engines requiring water, only one water crane available, and the limited capacity of the supply tank.

The last movement of the day as far as Consall signalling was concerned was Wadebridge coming up from Froghall, while the Beyer Peacock no.1827 arrived at my home signal from Cheddleton bringing the staff back from there, and the driver rang in from the signal telephone. I advised him that when I pulled the signal off he was to advance with caution as Wadebridge and train were in the platform and he was to position onto the front of that loco. When I walked down to the platform end to collect the Cheddleton staff from the little tank engine, Wadebridge's crew were gathering wood and old pallets from the line side. They had run out of coal! They only had to get back to Cheddleton and had the mighty saddle tank engine to pull them, but nonetheless the entire wood supply for the Consall waiting room fire went into the West Country's firebox! Les, Margaret, and Howard (the Consall station staff) were not amused!

The Beyer Peacock pilots Wadebridge over the Caldon Canal at Consall this afternoon 

Wadebridge heading up the valley

 The Railmotor between Consall and Cheddleton

A couple of videos:

The S160 and N7 arrive at Cheddleton on Saturday

'Wadebridge' departs Consall for Froghall






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Gorton Monastery

Malc, Ivan, Pete, and me went to see this architectural gem in east Manchester today. The Monastery was  built between 1863 and 1872 by Franciscan monks who had come to Manchester in 1861 to serve the local Catholic community. It was designed by Edward Pugin, whose father helped design the houses of Parliament. Pugin also played a significant part in the design of Abney Hall, Cheadle, where I had an office for many years.

Gorton Monastery from the south east

When the Monastery was built Gorton was a mainly rural society, but as industry grew in the area (such as Beyer Peacock locomotive engineers, and 'Gorton Tank' locomotive works of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway) the monastery became the hub of religious, social and cultural activity. The Franciscans ran three schools, a theatre group, brass band, choir, youth club, successful football teams and numerous other activities for the community.

The Nave and altar

As the heavy industries of the area ran down in the latter half of the 20th century and the population declined, the Monastery was vacated by the Franciscans in 1989 and sold to a development company who had plans to convert it into flats. This company took deposits on some flats, stripped the Monastery of its statues and other works of art which were sold off, then failed, leaving the building prey to significant vandalism and theft. Thankfully the nave roof had been restored not long before the Monastery closed, so remained intact and helped protect the fabric of the building from the worst ravages of the weather during the years it was left derelict. 

The exterior and interior before restoration

A charitable trust was established in 1996, which still owns the building. Following a 12 year fundraising campaign it gathered a total of £6.5m towards restoration of the building. This included major grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, the Architectural Heritage Fund, North West Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund. This money enabled the building to be saved, and restoration was begun just in time; it was by then in poor condition, with rotted and collapsed upper floors and  friary roof, and was extensively vandalised. One more winter would almost certainly have finished it off, leaving demolition as the only viable option.

 Weathered decoration from when the building was derelict

It's an imposing building on the east Manchester skyline

The Monastery is open to the public most Sundays. Today it is de-consecrated and used extensively as an events venue. The Gorton Monastery website can be found here.

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"There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool....."

.....And I decided to go there today as I'd not been for a while, and I fancied a ride on the new tram up to Fleetwood (us old gits can use our bus passes for free tram travel, though there are rumors that this privilege may not last much longer). I traveled courtesy of Northern Rail from Alderley Edge, changing at Stockport and Preston, to Blackpool South.

As ever, please click on any picture for a larger image.

Railways of the Fylde today. 

The Fylde railways originally ran from Preston to Fleetwood (north of Cleveleys, directly across the Wyre estuary from Knott End, shown but not named on the map) with branches to Blackpool and Lytham. Later, a direct line between Kirkham and Blackpool was added, and the line from Lytham was extended round the coast to Blackpool incorporating the formerly isolated Blackpool & Lytham Railway. The southern route and the direct route from Kirkham served Blackpool South and Blackpool Central stations, terminating at the later. The northern route terminated at Blackpool North station.

Before the West Coast Main Line was completed to Scotland, steamers sailed from Fleetwood to the Clyde. These ceased when that line reached Glasgow, and as Fleetwood's fishing industry and ferry services to Ireland and the Isle of Man declined the rail link to the town was closed. Two other victims of the railway closures of the 1960s were Blackpool Central station and the direct rail link from Kirkham to Central. Ironically, the station site and associated extensive carriage sidings became a vast car park, and the track bed to Kirkham was used to build the last few miles of the M55 motorway, the A5230, and Yeadon Way directly into the town. Beeching had actually recommended closure of Blackpool North, and for Central to remain open with the main line into Blackpool being the southern route. However, Blackpool Corporation coveted the site of Central Station and persuaded BR to close that instead. If the site had been developed rather than becoming a massive bleak car park tearing the heart out of the town there might have been some sense in that, despite Central being far more convenient for visitors than is Blackpool North. The line via Lytham also served more towns than that via Poulton.

Today the rail system on the Fylde is as depicted on the map above. The southern route to Blackpool is now a single line branch from Kirkham cut back to terminate Blackpool South, while the northern route, the former Blackpool branch off the axed Fleetwood line, is the 'main line' and is still double track all the way to Blackpool North station.

The Pacer at Blackpool South this morning, having brought me from Preston

The end of the line. The rather shabby Blackpool South station as it is today. The massive and these days empty car parks extending all the way south from the former Central station site can be seen to the left of the picture.

In the last few years Blackpool's 'heritage' trams have been replaced by these new 'Flexity' units. On several days a year Blackpool Transport run 'Heritage Tram' days and a return visit to the resort on such a day is on my 'to do' list,

The famous sea front and Tower, quiet and 'out of season' today

Looking south towards Blackpool Pleasure Beach, also apparently closed out of season

On board the new tram, heading from South Shore up to Fleetwood

Heysham Nuclear Power Station just visible across the bay, seen from Fleetwood Ferry tram stop at the northern extremity of the Blackpool tramway line (the ferry crosses the Wyre estuary to Knott End). At times of the year when the sand is hard and dry, Knott End beach makes a great landing ground for light aircraft.

Some years ago a friend sitting next to me took this picture, overhead the Wyre estuary looking towards Knott End as I positioned Cessna 172 G-ATGO on a left base for a landing on Knott End beach

The Cessna on Knott End beach that day many years ago

Back to today. Having arrived in the resort at Blackpool South station, I decided to return home from Blackpool North station. This looks a lot smarter than the resort's southern rail gateway!

A sight becoming rare on our railways; a traditional signal box and semaphore signalling, off the platform ends at Blackpool North

The rough old Northern Rail DMU that took me from Blackpool as far as Salford Crescent. The train was bound for Manchester Victoria, so I changed to a Trans Pennine Express at The Crescent to take me to Piccadilly from where a 323 Crewe train returned me to Wilmslow.



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The last ICI 'Hoppers' to Oakleigh Sidings

Charlie Hulme's excellent North Wales Coast website news section brings sad news.

In 1873 Ludwig Mond and John Brunner established a works at Winnington near Northwich to produce Soda Ash, using the local Cheshire brine and limestone brought by train from the Peak District.

Later, when the company had become ICI, their open steel bogie limestone 'hoppers' were an everyday feature of this area of Cheshire as they made their way from Tunstead quarries near Buxton, through Hazel Grove, past the old Cheadle CLC station, Baguley, Skelton Junction, Navigation Road, Altrincham, and on through Mobberley and Knutsford to Winnington.

As I cycled to school I used to see them regularly, passing Baguley behind an 8F, a plume of white limestone dust from each hopper left in the slipstream... Or, if I was going to or from school by bus and then the old DC electric trains from Altrincham to Sale, I'd maybe see 'The Hoppers' from the North Western bus while we waited at at Hale level crossing. Sometimes I'd see the train come pounding through Altrincham station, the 8F working flat out round the climbing tight reverse curves at the south of the station towards Hale with its fully loaded train. There were several trains a day in each direction in those days.

Later the vacuum braked Hoppers were replaced with modern air braked wagons of much greater capacity, allowing trains of 2,400 tons to run, so only a train one day was usually required.

The Winnington Soda Ash plant is to close, and the last 'Hoppers' to Oakleigh sidings is expected to run on Sunday 2nd February 2014. The end of an era, though occasional trains are expected to continue to run to Lostock works, between Lostock Gralham and Northwich.

'The Hoppers' behind an 8F somewhere on the CLC

Here's the full story from Charlie's web site, copyright Charlie Hulme ( North Wales Coast News - Charlie Hulme ) :

Last Days of 'The Hoppers'

60 079 on the Oakleigh - Tunstead empty limestone hoppers passes Plumley on 14 January Picture by Andrew Vinten. 

In 1873 Ludwig Mond and John Tomlinson Brunner purchased the estate of Winnington Hall near Northwich and established a works to produce Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) using the Solvay process which uses as raw materials the salt (Sodium Chloride), which has been mined for centuries in that part of Cheshire, and limestone (Calcium Carbonate) available from quarries in the Peak District of Derbyshire from which it could be brought by train. A siding connection, latterly known as Oakleigh Sidings,  was established with the Cheshire Lines railway near Northwich The company bought its own wagons to carry the stone from the quarries operated by Buxton Lime Firms, a company of which Brunner Mond purchased a controlling interest in 1918 to safeguard their supply. 

Peak Forest on 27 May 1982: 25 195 on hoppers, 25 152 banking in rear. Picture by J.W. Sutherland.

In the 1920s, Brunner Mond merged with other chemical firms to form the famous company ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries). ICI developed the new workings at Tunstead, near Great Rocks Junction, which have grown to cover an large area over the years, and are still worked today. Increased traffic required more efficient rolling stock than the small wooden-bodied wagons, and in 1935 the first of the all-steel bogie hopper wagons known to staff and railfans alike as the 'ICI Hoppers' or just 'The Hoppers.' These same vehicles, later augmented by similar wagons obtained second-hand from Shotton steelworks, shuttled between Tunstead and Northwich for over 60 years before their low capacity (by modern standards) and obsolete vacuum brakes, not compatible with the new Class 60 locos.  In their time they had been hauled by '8F' 2-8-0s, followed by diesels of classes 25, 20 (in pairs), 37 and 60 among others. Until the class 60s became available in the 1990s, most loaded trains were 'banked' from the rear over the first mile from Tunstead to Peak Forest station. By this time, the ICI company has been broken up, and the Soda Ash operation reverted to the name Brunner Mond.

On Sunday 26 January,60 007 The Spirit of Tom Kendell brings a loaded train through Baguley between Hazel Grove and Altrincham.

Second-hand four-wheel air-braked hoppers, their rattling while in motion annoying the residents near the line in south Stockport, took over the traffic until newly-built modern bogie hoppers (coded JEA) took over in 2000. The standard train in recent years, worked by DB Schenker, has been 24 of these wagons, a nominal load for the locomotive of 2400 tonnes, 1800 tonnes of which is the limestone load. These new wagons require fewer trains than the old ones, with just one set of wagons in use shuttling between Tunstead and Oakleigh, with loaded trains running once or twice per day. 

In 2006 Brunner Mond was acquired by Indian conglomerate Tata, and the train service continued as before, but in late 2013 it was announced that the Soda Ash plant would close due to the rising cost of energy. The 04:03 Tunstead to Oakleigh and 10:00 return ran as normal on 27 January, but the the afternoon loaded train has been cancelled. We are being told that the last train of all will run on Sunday 2 February; if so this will truly mark the end of a railway era, as well as a loss of a living wage for many workers.

(Historical information is from to the excellent book An Illustrated History of the ICI hopper wagon by Paul Harrison and Peter Midwinter, published by Cheona Publications in 2002.)

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Update 2nd February 2014: Hopper train 611B 14:06 Tunstead to Oakleigh cancelled. It looks likely that the last train to run (Friday 31st January) was probably the last ever limestone hoppers to Winnington, though a few trains a week are expected to continue to run to Lostock works.

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Manchester Bike Show (with a brief history of Central Station)

Yesterday Malc. Ivan and me met up with a few other reprobates at the Manchester Bike Show, held at Manchester Central, formerly GMEX, formerly Manchester Central Railway Station. We three caught the train from Wilmslow to Oxford Road and met the others at the venue.

Please click on any picture for a larger image.

The venue was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee, opening in 1880 and used by Midland Railway (a CLC partner) as their Manchester terminus, with the magnificent arch of the train shed reminiscent of their London St Pancras terminus. Midland Railway trains previously ran into the Manchester, Sheffield, & Lincolnshire's London Road station (now Piccadilly) but relationships between the two railways was strained, driving the Midland to find its own Manchester terminus. 

The CLC never got round to finishing the station, the intention being to build a hotel in front of the train shed, so the station frontage comprised temporary wooden structures. The hotel (the 'Midland') was eventually built (opening in 1903) on the other side of Windmill St with a covered walkway connecting it to the station, and right until closure in 1969 the train shed still lacked permanent concourse buildings.

'Temporary' wooden buildings in the Manchester Central concourse

The platforms at the 'country' end of Central extended beyond the train shed. I can remember regularly travelling to Central on the diesel multiple unit from Sale (the train had originated at Chester) and arriving at platforms to the right of the picture above, outside the train shed.

Back in the '60s you could catch the stylish Midland Pullman luxury blue diesel train from Central to St Pancras, through the beautiful Peak District past the delights of Millers Dale and Monsal Dale.

After closure in 1969 the station was sold to NCP as a car park and fell into decay, symbolising the decline of the railways and of many formerly great northern cities at that time. In 1978 it was purchased by Manchester City Council and as Manchester began to resurrect itself from decline in the early 1980s the former station was reopened as the GMEX exhibition hall. It has since reverted to its original name, and its renaissance is symbolic of that of Manchester and UK railways generally. 

Central in NCP days

The low point, for the station and perhaps also for Manchester and, at that time, for UK rail

Manchester Central event venue in the vibrant city we enjoy today, with the Beetham Tower in the background

Malc had been briefed as a 'secret shopper' to check on internet access at the venue, so as Ivan tries it out, Malc records the results!

This ancient Honda 70, quite rare in being 6v with electric start, was for sale for a mere £1,300

 Ivan reads details of a home-brewed 'special'

Motorbike dragster; the rider lies prone, with the 2-cylinder 2-stroke engine behind him. Note the tuned 2-stroke exhausts. The frame is pressurised with compressed air which is used to activate the gear change lever (and kill the ignition during the gear change) when the rider operates a handlebar-mounted control enabling rapid upward-only clutch-free gear changes.

Malc admires some engine castings 

Social media? In the 'Ape & Apple' pub after we'd visited the show, Malc and Ivan chat to each other the modern way! 

We met up with Mike and Brian, and later five of us (me, Malc, Ivan, Ian and Tony) wandered across to Portland St for a Chinese 'Hoover' (as Malc calls it) - an 'all you can eat' buffet, before we caught the train home.

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Happy Christmas to all from Vince's World, and from 'Knotty Ted' in Consall box!

(click on him to see him more clearly; well, OK, just bigger. He's a bit of a shady character!)

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