Ecclesbourne Valley Railway News & Updates

[duffield]

The standard timetable has been changed for 2026 which the first day will be on the 1st Jan with DMU running which will mean the first train will connect with the 1049 from Derby (0815 ex Grimsby) and allow for more reset time between trips at Wirksworth. New times are:

1015, 1245 & 1520 from Wirksworth
1115, 1345 & 1620 from Duffield

Events so far in 2026:
Twin Peaks Gala (with Peak Rail) - 10/11 April
Vintage road and rail rally - 10 May
Back to the 40s - 12-14 June

That's just about perfect for a day out, Duffield arrival is 1056, giving a decent time to buy a ticket, use the loo and select a seat, also allows for the incoming service from Derby to be a little late. And on the way back on the 1520 from Wirksworth it's a 12 minute connection to the 1610 service to Derby and beyond. Excellent!

 

[Bill EWS]

Interesting reading here. An interesting railway to visit while at Wirksworth on open days is to take the branch ride to Ravenstor and walk up the old incline to where it joined the High Peak railway and then the short walk along the trackbed towards Blackrocks where the Steeple Grange narrow guage railway is based. This was originally the standard guage Killer's branch to the Middleton quarrie nearby. An enjoyable ride with Ex mine electric locos. The staff have always been very pleasant when I have been there.

Also at the summit at Ravenstor is the National Stone Museum just a short walk towards Middleton Bottom is the Wirksworth Stone Museum which is very interesting and worth a visit. Altoether this is a most intersting area to visit.

 

[43055]

This years timetable dates are now on the website with the line reopening on the 14th Feb and running through to 8th November. As with previous years low season is weekends only with the Summer being Thursday to Sunday with the Thursdays being Diesel along with a full week in August. DMU will run at the start of the season and the first Saturday of each month as the early Market train & then incline in the day.

2026 Timetable – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

 

[DDB]

I hope to make a few visits this year with the improved timetables from both EMR (now hourly Sundays) and the vastly improved connections with the new E-V-R timetable for this year.

 

[Russel]

This years timetable dates are now on the website with the line reopening on the 14th Feb and running through to 8th November. As with previous years low season is weekends only with the Summer being Thursday to Sunday with the Thursdays being Diesel along with a full week in August. DMU will run at the start of the season and the first Saturday of each month as the early Market train & then incline in the day.

2026 Timetable – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

What on earth is that Excel screenshot timetable and calendar all about?

Hopefully it's only a temporary format!

 

[The_Train]

What on earth is that Excel screenshot timetable and calendar all about?

Hopefully it's only a temporary format!

Nothing wrong with it. It is clear and has all the details you need in one place without the need to be clicking through different pages.

I very much doubt heritage railways have a backroom team of web developers waiting to produce websites on the scale of Amazon and spreadsheets are an easy to use (when simply doing the basics) system which a lot of people can use to some degree.

 

[43055]

What on earth is that Excel screenshot timetable and calendar all about?

Hopefully it's only a temporary format!

There is a calendar version on the website here but the details were added after the timetable was published. Some dates are still blank as an event hasn't been announced whereas the excel sheet version does detail the railway will be open.

Events for September 2026 – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

 

[cats_five]

What on earth is that Excel screenshot timetable and calendar all about?

Hopefully it's only a temporary format!

Nothing wrong with it. Not keen on the yellow but it's easy to see what service will be on which day. What else should it do? Sing?

 

[Gwr12345]

I'd agree the timetable format could do with improving. The lack of any detail on the shopper's special and Ravenstor Shuttle is very annoying.

 

[43055]

I'd agree the timetable format could do with improving. The lack of any detail on the shopper's special and Ravenstor Shuttle is very annoying.

The shopper special departs at 0820 from Duffield to be at Wirksworth around 0900. The departure time is mentioned on the calendar page instead of the timetable

Events for March 2026 – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

The Ravenstor shuttle is down for 1000, 1100, 1215, 1430 but can run more often if the demand is there (times are in the 2026 leaflet).

 

[Russel]

Nothing wrong with it. It is clear and has all the details you need in one place without the need to be clicking through different pages.

I very much doubt heritage railways have a backroom team of web developers waiting to produce websites on the scale of Amazon and spreadsheets are an easy to use (when simply doing the basics) system which a lot of people can use to some degree.

Nothing wrong with it. Not keen on the yellow but it's easy to see what service will be on which day. What else should it do? Sing?

If they had always displayed the timetable in this format, then I'd agree, but they haven't and it looks amateurish compared to how they used to display timetables/calendars.

Just hiding the gridlines which takes one mouse click would improve the look somewhat!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Feb 2026 ==

There is a calendar version on the website here but the details were added after the timetable was published. Some dates are still blank as an event hasn't been announced whereas the excel sheet version does detail the railway will be open.

Events for September 2026 – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

Ah, that's more like it!

 

[m79900]

Class 108 53599 appears to be having some work done on it, it's been shown in the DMU group's new cover photo. I popped down to have a look and its just outside the shed and people were on board working. Great to see!

 

[The_Train]

Is anybody able to advise the mileage between Idridgehay and Wirksworth please?

 

[duffield]

Is anybody able to advise the mileage between Idridgehay and Wirksworth please?

3 miles 29 chains. according to "Track Altlas of Mainland Britain".

FWIW I rebased the figures from Duffield to get the following:

EVR

Duffield    0m00c
Shottle     3m40c
Idridgehay  5m02c
Wirksworth  8m31c
Ravenstor   9m01c

 

[The_Train]

3 miles 29 chains. according to "Track Altlas of Mainland Britain".

FWIW I rebased the figures from Duffield to get the following:

EVR

Duffield    0m00c
Shottle     3m40c
Idridgehay  5m02c
Wirksworth  8m31c
Ravenstor   9m01c

Thanks a lot

 

[Forty29]

Didn't realise 73001 belonged to LSL saw the motifs on the cab end.

 

[smallg0at]

For information - the 08 Shunter Driver Experiences planned for 19 July was cancelled due to less than desired people making their booking (likely only 3 out of 12 slots was booked). I am unfortunately on the side of booking such experience and I do hope more people give such opportunity a look.

edit: completing sentence

 

[43055]

For information - the 08 Shunter Driver Experiences planned for 19 July was cancelled due to less than desired people making their booking (likely only 3 out of 12 slots was booked). I am unfortunately on the side of booking such experience and I do hope more people give such opportunity a look.

edit: completing sentence

Sort of surprising when the first time we did it it was quite busy for the day. Hopefully it is done again soon and you get your chance.

20166 is now with us and will be in use at the summer diesel gala (7-9th August)

Summer Diesel Gala | 7/8/9 August – Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

www.e-v-r.com

 

[50002Superb]

Locally it was competing against the Ale event at the MRC, which had two 08s working passenger trains so there would have been some split in that target market.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Locally it was competing against the Ale event at the MRC, which had two 08s working passenger trains so there would have been some split in that target market.

The Churnet Valley Railway not that far away had its summer ale festival in almost perfect weather last weekend too.