Ecclesbourne Valley Railway: Countdown to Opening on 8th April

[nferguso]

Good evening.

I am starting this thread to post press releases and other updates in the run-up to the line's full opening on 8th April.

It has been a 10-year process to reopen the line although the first board meeting took place in 1993, so some of us are pretty excited about seeing the chequered flag.

I am starting the thread with a press release that will be published in about 20 minutes. I hope you will find it and subsequent entries to be of interest.

Kind regards,

Neil Ferguson-Lee
WyvernRail plc
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
FOR IMMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
Contact: Neil Ferguson-Lee
Tel. (01629) 822806
Email neilfl@wyvernrail.co.uk

TIMETABLE PUBLISHED FOR 2011 REOPENING SERVICE
PUBLIC SERVICES COMMENCE ON 8TH APRIL WITH TICKETS ON SALE FROM FEBRUARY

Wirksworth, 4th January 2011: The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway will reopen the Wirksworth Branch in full to Duffield on Friday, 8th April, 2011, followed by a gala on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th. Tickets for the reopening train will go on sale in early February and be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Prior to the first public train, two days will be devoted to special services for the line’s volunteers and shareholders.

The 2011 timetable has been published and contains an exciting schedule of services and events for the 2011 season. Featuring 76 operating days, the core service provides four services per day from Duffield to Wirksworth, departing from Duffield at 11:10, 13:10, 15:10 and 17:10 and connecting with the East Midlands Trains service from Nottingham to Matlock.

The reopening gala over the first weekend will provide an exciting and intensive service featuring visiting British Railways Class 2MT locomotive no. 78019 and the railway’s rake of vintage carriages which will include a freshly-restored former London Midland & Scottish Railway vehicle that has been under restoration at Wirksworth since 2008. Services will also include the railway’s collection of vintage diesel locomotives and railcars to give a truly spectacular reopening event over the three days.

Locomotive 78019 will be resident at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway for over two months and form the core of the events programme alongside Wirksworth-based 0-4-0 ‘Ferrybridge No.3’. The exciting programme includes an Easter Eggstravaganza and May Day Bank Holiday and a series of weekend steam events in April and May.

The full timetable and events programme can be can be downloaded from the following location:
http://www.e-v-r.com/documents/2011leafletweb.pdf

All dates are subject to final approval by the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Ends.

Note to Editors:
We shall be providing a series of updates in preparation for the line’s opening including a press briefing document and information for journalists and media crews who may wish to attend the opening event. Please contact Neil Ferguson-Lee (neilfl@wyvernrail.co.uk) if you require further information.

About the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway:
WyvernRail plc is working with the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Association to reopen the Duffield to Wirksworth railway in the heart of Derbyshire.

The line passes through the beautiful Ecclesbourne Valley to the award winning and beautifully restored town of Wirksworth, nestling at the foothills of the Peak District.

The line is a time capsule, with its intermediate stations largely intact and the layout at Wirksworth virtually unchanged since the days of steam.

There are 8½ miles of single-track railway, which meet the Midland Main Line at Duffield Junction near Derby. There are five station sites, two level crossings, a yard with extensive sidings and a mineral branch to the old Middlepeak quarry at Wirksworth. Since 2004, 4½ miles of the line have been reopened and the line will open fully on 8th April 2011.

 

[nferguso]

A small but significant update.

Today, I received from East Midlands trains (the Best TOC in the World) a scanned set of sample tickets to Wirksworth and Idridgehay from Derby. Essentially, these are the first ‘ordinary’ tickets to these destinations since 1947.

Through tickets will be available from soon after the line’s opening and should be obtainable from any National Rail station.

More progress toward the opening!

Kind regards,

Neil

 

[Wyvern]

I'm really looking forward to boarding the train at Belper and asking for a return to Wirksworth.

 

[paul1609]

A small but significant update.

Today, I received from East Midlands trains (the Best TOC in the World) a scanned set of sample tickets to Wirksworth and Idridgehay from Derby. Essentially, these are the first ‘ordinary’ tickets to these destinations since 1947.

Through tickets will be available from soon after the line’s opening and should be obtainable from any National Rail station.

More progress toward the opening!

Kind regards,

Neil

Out of interest Neil,

What through tickets are available?

Are Railcard Discounts allowed?

 

[Techniquest]

A very good question which I also want to know an answer to, now you come to mention it.

Congratulations to all involved in this, I look forward to finally making a visit to the EVR!

 

[nferguso]

Out of interest Neil,

What through tickets are available?

Are Railcard Discounts allowed?

A very good question which I also want to know an answer to, now you come to mention it.

Congratulations to all involved in this, I look forward to finally making a visit to the EVR!

Hi to both of you. Essentially, standard National Rail ticket rules should apply, although we just have a full fare and a discounted fare available.

The ticket is an add-on type of ticket which will be in the fares manual.

Don't forget that we will still sell EVR-only tickets for passengers just wanting to travel between Wirksworth and Duffield and those tickets are sold by us.

Neil

 

[Techniquest]

Fair enough, I'll have a look at fares when I get a chance to pop up there after opening. Thanks for letting us all know, I didn't know what was going on with the EVR until I spotted this thread yesterday, most pleasing to hear of another preserved railway having good news!

Good luck with the opening specials!

 

[nferguso]

Fair enough, I'll have a look at fares when I get a chance to pop up there after opening. Thanks for letting us all know, I didn't know what was going on with the EVR until I spotted this thread yesterday, most pleasing to hear of another preserved railway having good news!

Good luck with the opening specials!

Thanks for that.

Four indispensible links for you:
2011 timetable: http://www.e-v-r.com/timetable/
2011 fares: http://www.e-v-r.com/documents/2011fares.pdf
2011 events: http://www.e-v-r.com/events/

and most important of all, our brochure: http://www.e-v-r.com/documents/2011leafletweb.pdf

I think you are going to be rather pleasantly surprised: the line is just under nine miles long and the scenery really quite beautiful. Add to that the fact that Wirksworth is a town well worth visiting (two pubs in the Good Beer Guide) and you will see why our line might be the surprise hit of 2011!

But, of course, I'm biased

Neil

 

[Wyvern]

When I was looking round for a new house, I spent a couple of hours in Wirksworth one Sunday, and practically everyone I passed said "Good Morning."

 

[PinzaC55]

It'll be interesting to see what effect the "full line" has on the local economy. I read somewhere that the Wensleydale contributes something like a million a year.

 

[Wyvern]

Ticket imnspectors on long distance trains already do a double take when they see "Belper" Just thinking what it will be like if they see "Wirksworth"

Seriously though I, really rooting for you. Is there a note on the Duffield Facebook page?

 

[PinzaC55]

I just did a view on Google Earth and the line shows up as a swathe of grass!
Also I noted that Idridgehay station is shown as having "No Parking" - this will need to be kept under observation to avoid upsetting local residents as I have a feeling that people will park there anyway.
Do you have any plans to introduce proper signalling on the line in the future?

 

[Wyvern]

Google Earth is something like ten years out of date.

 

[nferguso]

Thanks for your kind words guys, here are a few comments:

First of all, Wirksworth is indeed a magical place, very friendly and really is the sort of town where everybody gets a welcome. Hopefully, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway’s reopening will have a positive effect on the town and the place certainly deserves to benefit.

It’s a good point about the Duffield Facebook page – thank you – and I shall get something put up there shortly.

Google Earth is both irritating for being ten years out of date but also fascinating because it does show pretty effectively just how terribly overgrown and neglected the line was before we started. The images are marked as being dated June 2000, so that would have meant that they were taken just five months before we started work. Wonderful, exciting days but I think we are all very glad that they are behind us!

Finally, regarding signalling, may I direct you to this press release which might be of interest?
http://wyvernrail-press-releases.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-seoul-to-bosporus-mytesttrackcom.html

We are looking at whether there may be options available to implement a low-cost signalling system for our line. Now, this is real ‘futures’-type stuff but we have good links with the teams of academics, so something novel may well emerge from this exercise, indeed there is follow-up site activity taking place this month. This aside, the next major objective for our line, once we have opened to Duffield, is to lay a passing loop at Shottle, a station that we are not opening just yet, but located approximately half-way down the line. As much as I am keen to see a low-cost system being developed, I do hanker after a signalbox and a comprehensive range of semaphores! After all, I shall need something to do in my retirement and signalman would be the perfect occupation!

Kind regards

Neil

 

[PinzaC55]

Finally, regarding signalling, may I direct you to this press release which might be of interest?
http://wyvernrail-press-releases.blo...ttrackcom.html

"We are looking at whether there may be options available to implement a low-cost signalling system for our line. Now, this is real ‘futures’-type stuff but we have good links with the teams of academics, so something novel may well emerge from this exercise, indeed there is follow-up site activity taking place this month. This aside, the next major objective for our line, once we have opened to Duffield, is to lay a passing loop at Shottle, a station that we are not opening just yet, but located approximately half-way down the line. As much as I am keen to see a low-cost system being developed, I do hanker after a signalbox and a comprehensive range of semaphores! After all, I shall need something to do in my retirement and signalman would be the perfect occupation!

Kind regards

Neil"

Being into signalling myself I would advise EXTREME caution with regard to the idea of a "technology based system". It sounds high tech which usually means expensive. One of the reasons I eventually packed the Wensleydale in was because they had a fanciful idea re signalling and despite words from myself and others that it would never happen, they spent a fair bit of money on it. A visit from HMRI's Inspector squashed it, but too late.
Although there's little chance of getting any Midland Railway semaphores, BR standard upper quadrants can still be had and they are comparitively easy to install and maintain and pretty!
Similarly with MR signalboxes but the scheme has to be thought through; you're probably aware of the saga of Bamford box which (when I was on Peak Rail) we moved to Darley Dale 21 years ago but has never been brought into use.
I didn't realise Google Earth images were so old - I thought they were 2007?
I had a look at the street view of Idridgehay and Shottle and they show the stations spick and span, obviously ready for use.
Should be an interesting line, and 11 miles is a nice length.

 

[nferguso]

Being into signalling myself I would advise EXTREME caution with regard to the idea of a "technology based system". It sounds high tech which usually means expensive. One of the reasons I eventually packed the Wensleydale in was because they had a fanciful idea re signalling and despite words from myself and others that it would never happen, they spent a fair bit of money on it. A visit from HMRI's Inspector squashed it, but too late.
Although there's little chance of getting any Midland Railway semaphores, BR standard upper quadrants can still be had and they are comparitively easy to install and maintain and pretty!
Similarly with MR signalboxes but the scheme has to be thought through; you're probably aware of the saga of Bamford box which (when I was on Peak Rail) we moved to Darley Dale 21 years ago but has never been brought into use.
I didn't realise Google Earth images were so old - I thought they were 2007?
I had a look at the street view of Idridgehay and Shottle and they show the stations spick and span, obviously ready for use.
Should be an interesting line, and 11 miles is a nice length.

You are absolutely correct and I should stress that whilst we are looking into these solutions, we are under absolutely no illusions that these systems cannot be regarded as a quick job. Any 'novel system' would, as you say, attract the interest of the certification authorities and as such we could only act as part of a wider consortium.

I agree with you that traditional signalling is probably the way forward in the short-to-medium term and I must confess to looking forward to the opportunity of seeing a manual signalbox on the line, most probably at Shottle. Yes, I do see it as a retirement job!

The Google Earth images are definitely pre-November 2000 as by the summer of 2001, Wirksworth Yard down to south of Idridgehay had been cleared as a first-pass. Take a look on Streetview for Gorsey Bank level crossing (first one south of Wirksworth station, about 1/2 mile down the line) and you will see a DMU waiting to proceed over the crossing!

I have a confession though - the line is only nine miles long! Nonetheless, it is a beautiful run and our Vegetation Clearance Team has worked very hard to open-up the vistas. There will be some excellent photographic locations to enjoy.

Kind regards,

Neil

 

[Tomnick]

I'd agree with the thoughts on mechanical signalling as opposed to something more 'modern' - a decent mechanical signalling installation, and the opportunity for carefully managed signalbox visits, can be an attraction in itself. Also, unlike the big railway, there's not the worry about a modern installation to allow numerous mechanical 'boxes to close and thus reduce staffing costs - I'd imagine that you'd require two 'boxes (Wirksworth and Shottle) at most, in the medium- to long- term, to make the most of your infrastructure, with one or both able to switch out, and I'd again imagine that most of the turns would be able to be covered by volunteers?

Of course, in the short-term, it should - as you say - be possible to comprehensively signal the line with an intermediate crossing loop from just one signalbox, with some form of fairly simple remote token working (still allowing you to shut inside at Wirksworth, which would, I'm guessing, be an essential requirement?)

Exciting times!

 

[Wyvern]

I guess you already know this but Google Earth is satellite photography while Streetview was photographed at ground level.

Professional new agencies and so on can subscribe to up to date satellite services at a price, while Streetview is already out of date. Probably there will in time be a subscription service for that also.