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Shred`s UK trips.

shredder1

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West Midland Day Rover. Saturday 29th May 2021.

Another early start and I was driving into Manchester for the 05.11 Cross Country voyager down to Birmingham. Pennine Cat class 68031 “Felix”, was on the buffers ready for the first trip of the day.

The ticket office was again closed at Manchester Piccadilly, so apart from buying a return to Crewe from the ticket machines on the station, no one could work out how to buy a West Midland Day Rover ticket, so I was told to see the train manager on the 05.11 again, I caught up with someone who said he was the train manager and he told me to jump on the train and buy one in Birmingham, so I jumped on the train. Just to be on the safe side I also jumped out at Crewe to try and buy one, but that ticket office was also closed, so I got back on the same train and decided to ride through to Birmingham, shortly after leaving Crewe however, the ticket inspector came along and I explained the situation and told her that the train manager said he couldn’t issue a West Midland day rover ticket and told me buy one in Birmingham. She however told me she was the train manager and that the guy who said he was the train manager was actually an assessor? She also said she could issue a ticket, but went on to say that they are not supposed to discount a railcard when you buy a ticket on the train and told me in such cases you are supposed to buy your ticket on line the day before, she was alright though agreed it wasn’t right and issues me a ticket with normal railcard discount, which was fine, but I don’t think the information she gave me was correct. Not everyone can buy tickets on line; some old people simply wouldn’t know how to do it anyway, and secondly how can you predict a ticket office will be closed when its listed as opening at 04.30?

On arrival into Birmingham New Street, I walked over the Moor Street station and caught a train though the tunnels into Snow Hill and moved over to the tram stop, as Id noticed the West Midlands trams have now adopted a new blue and white livery, which looks quite smart, so I wanted to take a few photographs of them. Returning to Snow Hill station I was in time to see Chiltern Cat class 68010 “Oxford Flyer”, on its way to London Marylebone.

I next boarded a class 172 DMU bound for Kidderminster and walked across to the Severn Valley Railway station, who are now running a limited service. On the blocks were class 40106 “Atlantic Conveyor Cunard Lines” and class 50 “Ark Royal”, while arriving to take the first train out was ex GWR Pannier tank, class 5700, 7714 in BR black livery. Returning to Kidderminster BR station I caught another class 172 to Worcester Foregate Street, returning to Birmingham New Street on a class 170 via the Lickey Incline, and just in time to see a Cross Country HST passing through 43285 and 43303 on a northbound working.

I next had a run up to Walsall on a class 350/2, a class 60 was sighted at Bescot and I was just in time for two freight workings through the station. Southbound was GBRf class 66749 and Northbound was DB Schenker class 66135. I return on a class 350/2 to Birmingham New Street, noticing the work being done around Curzon Street on HS2 as we passed.

From New Street I caught a class 350/1 through to Rugby, sat in the sidings was preserved class 86259 “Les Ross”, it seems to live here, and on Thunderbird duties was DRS class 57304 “Pride of Cheshire” parked in the bay platforms. I returned from Rugby to Coventry and then back to Birmingham International and later back to New Street, leaving the station for a tram ride up to Centenary Square and then back into the shopping district for a Subway tea. Returning to Birmingham New Street for another class 350 up to Wolverhampton with a change for a Cross Country Voyager back into Manchester Piccadilly and another good day out and with plenty of locos for a change.

 
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shredder1

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Heaton Park Tramway and Museum. Sunday 30th May 2021.

First day of operation for a while, driver training only though although they are due to open next weekend to the public. I guess Im lucky having the largest Municipal park in Europe at the end of my village, Heaton Park.

I did intend doing a bit more work on the house, but since it was one of the hottest days we`ve had this year I decided to have a walk in the park.

http://hptramway.co.uk/

 

shredder1

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Leek and Manifold Railway Bike Ride. Saturday 5th June 2021.

A bit of a change this Saturday with a bike ride along the former Leek and Manifold Railway track bed, which has been turned into a cycleway and is also pretty flat, which was ideal for someone, like me, who hasn’t been on a bike since probably the War.

My mate, Allan, (One Manc), did the driving and picked me up at 06.00 outside the house and we drove down to Cauldon Low to check out the end of the Churnet Valley Railway, City and Moorland line, which was lifted a few years ago. However, talk is that Lafarge may be supplying stone for HS2 so the line could potentially be reopened back to Stoke, how true, or viable, this is I wouldn’t know, but it would be a mammoth undertaking, as I’ve walked the entire route and seen the present state of it.

After a wonder around Cauldon Low and visiting the old weigh bridge, which is still in-situ, we made our way to Brown End Farm and Cycle Hire, Allan had brought his own bike, but I needed to hire one, it cost me a mere £15 for the day and was a decent bike too, complete with loads of gears and suspension, bikes have certainly come a long way since I last rode one. The people at Brown Ends farm were amazing and so helpful, opening up for us at 08.00 when normal hours were 09.30, the farm is right on the former Leek and Manifold Railway track bed, although we had to drive around to Waterhouses to complete the section which is severed by the main road, but less than a mile away from Brown End Farm.

The original station building at Waterhouses has long gone, what is there is the goods shed from Fenton, this was the exchange station for the standard gauge railway from Stoke and the narrow-gauge railway, the Leek and Manifold railway, in fact actually carried some standard gauge wagons on the narrow-gauge railway by adapted wagons, mainly for milk churns for the Diary and Creamery further up the valley at Ecton.

Leaving Brown End Farm, we headed up the alignment to the site of the first station Sparrow Lee and then continued to Beeston Tor, the Tor is quite visible from the track bed and overlooks a type of hippie camp, a lovely location on a bend in the river. Cycling on, we next reached the site of Grandon station and next along the track bed was Thor`s Cave, nothing left of any of the station sites en route, but Thor`s Cave was clearly visible hight above the tree line and we decided to have a look at it properly on the return journey.

The next station site was Redhurst Halt and later Wetton Mill which is now a popular café and local attraction, with the track bed alignment joining a road there for cars to access the track bed, such a shame in some respects, but since a number of campsites occupy the valley, I expect a necessary evil.

The next section of the track bed took us through Swainsley Tunnel. Swainsley Tunnel is a 164 yard/150 metre long, single track tunnel between Ecton and Wetton, it is shared with pedestrians, cyclists and surprisingly cars, although we didn’t meet any of the latter as we passed through the tunnel. At the north end of the tunnel is the site of Butterton station, again sadly nothing is left of the original station, and there the alignment continues to the site of Ecton railway station which once had the only spur leading away from the railway proper.

Quote, “ The Express Dairies creamery at Ecton created most of the freight traffic on the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway line, with most of its product destined via dedicated milk trains for London. In 1911 222,598 imperial gallons (1,011,950 L) were brought in from the L&MVLR growing to 717,332 imperial gallons (3,261,060 l) in 1922. Initially all the milk was carried in milk churns, which had to be manhandled across the railway platforms at Waterhouses.

After the First World War the churns were loaded into standard-gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the transporter wagons. Eventually milk tankers were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters. The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926, a special milk trains ran direct between Waterhouses and London, rather than the vans being shunted between various trains until the milk reached its ultimate destination” (Source Wikipedia).

From Ecton the track bed climbed slightly into the terminus at Hulme End. Today the original station building still stands and supports a small tourist centre and model railway layout of what the station site once looked like, a replica of the locomotive depot has been built on site, which is now a shop and tearoom, named appropriately Tea Junction.

We took a break at Hulme End, locked the bikes up and had a well-deserved Staffordshire oat cake with cheese and tomato added along with a much-welcomed coffee and cold drink.

After the much-deserved break, we set the bikes rolling back down the old track bed, at least as far as Thor`s Cave, we had to do it of course, and I must say it was a hard slog to get up there, but worth the views, it was also a very busy spot for tourists.

Returning to track level, we continued back along the track bed until we eventually reached Brown End Farm and I returned my hire cycle and took another cold drink and bite to eat at the farm shop.

From Brown End Farm we drove over to Cheddleton on the Churney Valley Railway, the Polish tank locos was departing for Froghall, but we just stayed for a quick visit and a look around the site. We next drove on the moors to Buxton, with some great views of the Roaches as we ascended the hills. After Buxton we drove over to Great Rocks and Peak Forest to see what was around, and we were rewarded with one class Freightliner class 66 tucked down the sidings at Great Rock, and 4 class 66`s, no sign of the class 56`s that worked down there, maybe they have finished now.

Our final drive was back to the M60 Motorway at Stockport with Allan dropping me off at home, we had some glorious weather, some good exercise and also saw a few trains, so a nice change for a day out, many thanks for reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leek_and_Manifold_Valley_Light_Railway


 
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palmersears

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A trail I've been meaning to walk for a wile, Shred. Sounds like an excellent day.

The 56s are long gone from shunting duties at Peak Forest, two DRS 66s (rotating every 6 weeks or so) do the job now.
 

shredder1

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A trail I've been meaning to walk for a wile, Shred. Sounds like an excellent day.

The 56s are long gone from shunting duties at Peak Forest, two DRS 66s (rotating every 6 weeks or so) do the job now.

Thanks very much, yes we certainly had the weather, its well worth a visit, must have been one hell of a railway. Many thanks for the 56 info, I was lucky in that I photted them a few times when they operated.
 

shredder1

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East Lancs Railway. Saturday 12th June 2021.

A local this weekend as I still have some work being done on the house and have a bricky in Sunday morning and my plaster is in on Monday. One Manc had given me a ring in the week and told me that the ELR`s class 50 was running, he`s a class 50 basher of old you see, personally I’ve never been a loco basher, just a shed basher, I can clearly remember the class 50`s being built, and being double-headed on the then non electrified route into Glasgow, Polmadie was always full of them on our visits in the 1970`s and so was Crewe Diesel Depot, these were the first diesel locos outshopped in BR corporate blue, although Ive gained a soft spot for them over the years, I never really forgave them for moving to the southwest and displacing my lovely Warships and Westerns, they even gave them some of the same names. However One Manc is about 12 years my junior, so falls into the loco bashing class 50 era.

One Manc picked me up at 08.00 and we made our way directly to Bury Bolton Street, a quick look around Rogers Railway Emporium and we were up to the ticket office for our day rovers, One Manc paid £20 while I used one of my freebies, being a life member and ex volunteer. We caught the first train down to Heywood, the 09.15 behind Class 50015 “Valiant” and we stayed on the train while it ran up to Rawtenstall and then back down to Bury.

From Bury we met the second and only other locomotive out running, this was Standard 4 80097, which was in pristine condition and obviously well loved, a loco I thought I’d never see run in my lifetime, what a marvelous job the Standard 4 Group did after so many years. We traveled on the Standard 4 back up to Rawtenstall and on returning to Ramsbottom, One Manc, left to catch the returning class 50015 back up to Rawtenstall while I continued on the Standard 4 down to Heywood and then back up to Bury where I met up with One Manc again.

A good run out on the East Lancs and we returned via the Engine Shed model shop in Prestwich as we both needed a few bits for our respective railways. The weather was again glorious and we had enjoyed another great day out.

 

shredder1

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York. Saturday 19th June 2021.

A trip over to York, I was looking for the class 803 which have been on trial recently, but non appeared to be out, the Flying Scotsman was due though, so I thought Id combined that with a visit to the railway museum. The Railway Museum was only taking phone bookings in advance though, so that was out. I did however see a good variety of locos and two Cross Country HST sets. I was out of the house for 05.30 and the short drive up to Crumpsall Metrolink station for the first tram into Manchester Victoria and then the 06.45 Transpennine Nova 1IET directly to York.

Still a number of HST`s and Class 91`s to be seen on Neville Hill depot when passing. I arrived into York to a very sunny morning and was welcomed by 3 locos parked in the holding sidings, DRS class 37266, and classes 47813 in plain blue livery and West Coast Trains class 47772 “Carnforth TMD”, while stabled in the north bay platform was Transpennine CAT class 68033. A number of Sprinter class 155`s were working the Hull/Bridlington services, Transpennine Cat Class 68022 “Resolution”, and two Cross Country HST sets went south, class 43285, 43303, and 43239, 43208. A rail tour bound for Berwick on Tweed pulled in behind class 57314 in West Coast Trains livery and tailing it was class 57313 in West Coast Pullman livery. Transpennine CAT 68019 “Brutus” arrived from Scarborough.

The Flying Scotsman was due into York on a rail tour from London at around 12.45, the platforms were quite busy and full of veg, so I headed for the footbridge south of Holgate Bridge, but the footbridge was a little too high for me, so I walked back along the main road to try to find a small fold up step stool. I actually had to walk right across York to find one, and then they charged me £9.99, twice as much as I usually pay for them.

Armed with my step stool, I returned to the footbridge, plenty of action which included DRS class 66422 parked at the bridge, a convoy of three green Freightliner class 66952/66544/66560, GBRf 66759 “Chippy” and 47772 “Carnforth TMD”, which I didn’t realise at the time, but it was going down for the failed Flying Scotsman. One of the lads on the bridge told me that the Scotsman had failed, I found out around 15.00 so made my way back to the station.

I intended catching the 16.15 service via Harrogate back into Leeds as I hadn’t travelled the line for a while and they were now operating ex Scottish class 170, but then the Scotsman limped in behind class 47772 and while waiting for it to uncouple, the Harrogate train left. After I took my passing shots of the Scotsman, I heard an announcement for a Transpennine back into Manchester on platform 3, I just made it on time. Passing through Leeds I noticed class 91110 “Battle of Britain” departing for London. I was travelling on a pair of class 185`s and alighted at Manchester Victoria, followed by a Metrolink Tram back to the car and I was back in the house for 18.00, it had been another good day.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 048&type=3
 
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shredder1

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ELR Diesel Gala. Saturday 3rd July 2021.

The diesel home fleet was operating with the exception of the Warship D832 “Onslaught”, Class 42 D832 "Onslaught". Those operating were, Class 14 D9531 "Ernest", Class 24 D5054 "Phil Southern" BR Green, Class 25 D7629 corporate blue, Class 33 33109 "Captain Bill Smith RNR", Class 45 45108, Corporate blue, Class 47 D1501 two-tone green, Class 47 47765 Scotrail, Class 56 56006, corporate blue.

I didn’t manage to get out last Saturday, as I’ve been feeling under the weather all week and didn’t even have the energy to get to the gym, not sure what I’ve had, I rarely get ill, but it seems to have largely passed now, hope it wasn’t the dreaded Covid.

My mate “OneManc” gave me a ring on Friday evening and asked if I fancied the East Lancs Diesel gala, so I was up for it and we were later joined by another old mate, “Saddleworth Stewart”. We opted for lineside on this occasion, but made sure we put something back at the end of the day and bought a few models for the stalls at Bolton Street.

Throughout the morning the weather was atrocious with hard driving rain at times, so all three of us took a good soaking and pretty much stayed like that all day. We started at Ramsbottom, later moving down to Summerseat for some shelter, as the rain eased, we moved back into Ramsbottom Sidings and later into Burrs Country Park,

We later returned to Bury Bolton Street, by which time the sun had come out and it was becoming extremely warm. We left Stewart at Bury and drove down to Heywood for the last workings. Despite the weather in the morning, it was a great day and a fantastic effort my all the volunteers and staff in these very difficult times. Not many on the trains really because of social distancing and prebooked seats, I do home the ELR managed to make some money on the day, although it can`t have been easy for them.

A great big well done to the East Lancs Railway for another amazing event.

 

Techniquest

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All this social distancing and pre-booking stuff has right royally put me off going to any heritage line. I suspect many are the same. I'm also not able to book time off work at the moment, some sort of farce with the system. I'm even minimising my train travel as it is, if I had my way I'd be on many more journeys by now. It is what it is though!

Sorry to hear you've not been well, it must have been bad for you to skip the gym. From what I've seen on this thread, you rather enjoy it. I'm tempted to join a gym near me too, purely for the days when going on my bike is not an option due to the weather. Still thinking about that yet of course.

Apart from the drenching, it sounds like you had a good time!
 

xotGD

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All this social distancing and pre-booking stuff has right royally put me off going to any heritage line.
I was at the ELR on Friday. Apart from a bit of mask wearing it was business as usual. Nothing that impacted on my enjoyment of the day, and better weather than @shredder1 had to endure too!
 

NorthWestRover

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Could you hop on and off as you wished?

What were numbers like?

Why has the ELR not got an operational 40 at the moment?
 

Techniquest

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I was at the ELR on Friday. Apart from a bit of mask wearing it was business as usual. Nothing that impacted on my enjoyment of the day, and better weather than @shredder1 had to endure too!

Fair enough, perhaps the ELR aren't quite as frustrating as other lines? I'm happy to wear my face coverings, they're basically a fashion statement to me (the majority of mine are railway related), indeed I spend hours in them at work and I'm on trains for significant periods in them.

Until I can turn up on the day and buy my tickets as I get there, I think the heritage lines will be off-limits to me. Especially at the prices being charged...
 

xotGD

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Could you hop on and off as you wished?

What were numbers like?

Why has the ELR not got an operational 40 at the moment?
1. Yes. I don't know if there were restrictions on boarding any of the services, but no problems on any that I travelled on.
2. Decent, but not crowded. I only once had someone sat opposite me at the same table all day. And if you wanted lots of space, head further back on the train.
3. Sorry, pass.
 

shredder1

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All this social distancing and pre-booking stuff has right royally put me off going to any heritage line. I suspect many are the same. I'm also not able to book time off work at the moment, some sort of farce with the system. I'm even minimising my train travel as it is, if I had my way I'd be on many more journeys by now. It is what it is though!

Sorry to hear you've not been well, it must have been bad for you to skip the gym. From what I've seen on this thread, you rather enjoy it. I'm tempted to join a gym near me too, purely for the days when going on my bike is not an option due to the weather. Still thinking about that yet of course.

Apart from the drenching, it sounds like you had a good time!
Thanks very much Tech, Im not bad now thank you and lost a stone, just need to keep it off now mate ;)
 

shredder1

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Manchester trams, old and new. Sunday 18th July 2021.

Well, a bit of a strange weekend, I did plan an early start on Saturday morning for a trip around Crewe, Derby and Nottingham, I packed everything up in the rucksack on Friday night, charged the camera and set the alarm for 03.30 so I could catch the 06.11 from Manchester to Crewe. The alarm went off, I jumped out of bed feeling tired I thought I’d have another five minutes, but that was it, I next work up at 09.30, so just had the Saturday chilling out instead. Sunday I was up and out to the gym, then for a Sunday lunch in a local pub, I then decided to check out Heaton Park tramway, so I drove to my parking spot and made the 1 mile walk to the main gates. It was a very hot day and the walking was hard going in that heat. I waited at the gates for around 15 minutes and then an open topped Stockport Corporation tram appeared in the distance, so I was looking forward to a nice afternoon, sat on the top decking riding around the park.

The tram pulled into the terminus but the guard wouldn’t let me board and said that I would have to walk up to the other end of the line, where the new depot is located, before I could buy a ticket, I expect it was a covid rule or something. So, I walked to the other end of the line and when I got there the same guard was waiting on the tram, so I asked him for an all-day rover ticket, I was now really looking forward to sitting down in the sunshine and riding through the park from the open top. Surprisingly he said its our lunchtime now so you`ll have to wait an hour before the next one leaves, I’m not sure why he couldn’t have give me some indication about this before I walked to the other end of the line, but I guess you can`t pick and choose which volunteers you get, sadly I only saw 6 people on the tram, but at least they were operating and they have been doing very well in recent years with the new tram depot and projected extension to store the T68 they have acquired, but needless to say I sacked my visit and walked back to the car.

So, a change of plan, I drove down to Manchester Metrolink station and Crumpsall and was surprised to see the new platform in use, some work was being done at Manchester Victoria, but the trams that were terminating at Crumpsall bay platform were not carrying passengers, so I didn’t understand the reason for this. I needed to call into Manchester to pick some guitar strings up, so the weekend wasn’t entirely wasted.

 

Techniquest

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Thanks very much Tech, Im not bad now thank you and lost a stone, just need to keep it off now mate ;)

Glad to hear things are back to normal, and well done on shifting a stone, that's quite a challenge! I've not looked lately, too scared to do that for a while :lol: Keeping mass off is pretty difficult, but once you finally break through the mental blocks and develop a new lifestyle it is easier. I've just finished doing similar, I was hell-bent on cutting my fats and sugars right down but it wasn't really working at the time. I've recently finished the last stage of going over to full vegan though, which I've been working on for months.

The problem is, most vegan-friendly snacks and meat replacements are loaded in fats, sugars and salt. So now I've gone into full vegan mode, finally, it's time to start work on adjusting the average weekly diet to have less fats and so on.

Being hardcore into cardio exercise at the same time is a little more challenging when rocking the vegan lifestyle, but it is just about making changes. It does mean less visits to McDonalds, Burger King etc, so that is a plus! I'll happily pop in for a coffee in such a place though.

Anyway, enough bragging about rocking the new lifestyle! I sympathise greatly with the walking in the heat, I've been out on all the really hot days this week on cycle rides. Practically peeling the cycling gear off on Friday, yesterday and today was better as there were lengthy breaks at the end of the ride.

Sorry to hear Heaton Park was a bust, I wonder how they'll do things when distancing rules finish tomorrow :|
 

shredder1

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Threlkeld Steam Gala. Saturday 24th July 2021.

The first early start for a while and I was up at 03.30 Saturday morning for a drive up to Manchester Piccadilly and a Windermere service Northern class 195 to Preston, with a change for a Trans Pennine Nova 2 class 397 to Penrith, arriving into Penrith with a ten-minute window for the hourly bus service the X4/5.

The bus dropped my off by the post office and it had been a few years since Id visited the railway, and from memory it rained solid all day. Today however was glorious sunshine, so I made my way across the valley and walked up to the quarry, just in time to see a couple of locomotives watering up on the shed. It was nice to catch up with Richard Wandering who was guard in the morning, in fact I nearly missed the event only for Richard giving me a should, also nice to briefly catch you with loco man Tony Kuivala who I’ve know since his days on the East Lancs Railway.

Had a fantastic day at the Threlkeld Steam Gala, a big thank you to all the volunteers that organised such a great even, anyone who`s into Mining, or narrow gauge steam should visit this amazing gem. The three visiting locos, were CSR No. 19 - built by Hudswell Clarke 'Wendy' - built by Bagnalls and making its debut visit to Threlkeld 'Roger' - built by Kerr Stuart And resident " SIRTOM ", 0-4-0, Bagnall of Stafford in 1926

https://www.threlkeldquarryandminingmuseum.co.uk/

 

shredder1

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Manchester to Peakrail. Sunday 8th August 2021.

A busy weekend, on Saturday Id been putting some songs together with the band for the next gig, Sunday however I was off down to Matlock to meet number one son and his partner, who were taking a week’s holiday in a log cabin in the Peak District. He now lives in the Home Counties and works in London as a solicitor, so it was nice to catch up, especially since I hadn’t seen him for 18 months due to Covid restrictions which prevented me from taking my usual week over Christmas down there.

I drove down into Manchester in order to catch the first train of the day to Buxton, the 08.50, which got me into Buxton for 09.52 and my son was waiting for me at the station and drove me down to the holiday park.

The weather was appalling with very heavy rain, I hope it gets better for them in the week as they love hill walking, but it’s a bit miserable in the rain. Our first port of call was Peak Village, Rowsley for a little shopping, followed by a trip to Peakrail.

We bought a family ticket for £24 so not bad value really and for this we were treated to CEGB 0-4-0 No.15 'Eustace Forth' and Class 44 D8 'Penyghent'. We had around an hour before our train, so bought a sandwich in the station shop and I was also given permission to visit the sheds.

On walking around the yard and entering the sheds, some screaming banshee, an old woman well past retirement age, came running out telling me not to take any photographs, such a shame really as most of the volunteers are very welcoming, but I suppose it just take one or two to ruin it for everyone.

I went round the rest of the yard, but the heavens opened up again and I took another good soaking by the time Id returned to the station, a quick hot coffee though brought me back. Two lovely volunteers had been rained off who had been working on the class 50`s in the yard and they very kindly invited me to see them, but my train was due out and I had the family with me of course, so I thanked them and boarded the train, and had an enjoyable ride down to Matlock and back.

We then drove down to Matlock this time, and had a gorgeous vegan Thai meal in the town, before returning to the log cabin, with my son “Lee” dropping me back off at Buxton railway station in time for the 18.56, but it was cancelled, so I had to wait an hour for the 19.56, reminder, I need to put a delay repay in with Northern.

Still a great day out and lovely to catch up with my son and his partner, although they will be visiting me, before returning to London next week.


 

Techniquest

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That sounds like a great catch-up with the family, and Peak Rail sounds like fun too. It's been on my list to do for a long time, looking unlikely to happen this year after all but maybe in 2022. Too much to do this year!

A vegan Thai meal sounds intriguing. I'm not really into Eastern food, although having sampled some vegan sushi (thanks to a close colleague) a while ago I'm interested in trying some proper freshly made stuff at some point. On the list to do eventually, once I get myself sorted and back on track with junk food. Slipped right off the wagon there recently, but I'll get back on it soon enough.

I do hope your son and his family got some decent weather in the end!
 

shredder1

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Thanks very much Tech, yes Im hoping the weather changes for them before the weeks out.Very impressed with the meal, it was low fat too as Ive managed to lose about 2 stone over the last 3 months, so trying to keep it off at the moment, by trying to stay with a high protein diet.
 

Techniquest

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Thanks very much Tech, yes Im hoping the weather changes for them before the weeks out.Very impressed with the meal, it was low fat too as Ive managed to lose about 2 stone over the last 3 months, so trying to keep it off at the moment, by trying to stay with a high protein diet.

Very impressive! I need to try a high protein, low carb diet but I love my carbs. I certainly couldn't do what I do without a boatload of carbs every day! It's the sugar and fat I have more issues with at the moment, but I'm getting there. I think so anyway!

Keep up the good work!
 

shredder1

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Very impressive! I need to try a high protein, low carb diet but I love my carbs. I certainly couldn't do what I do without a boatload of carbs every day! It's the sugar and fat I have more issues with at the moment, but I'm getting there. I think so anyway!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers mate, Im eating a lot of cottage cheese and Tuna at the moment, plus lots of chicken, no bread, no alcohol, lots of spring water and Ive just hit 16 stone this week on the scales, so Im two and a a half stone down since lockdown, I still hit the gym 5 times a week, so that helps too I guess.
 

shredder1

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East Lancs Railway, A4, Union of South Africa. Friday 13th August 2021.

Number one son had called up in the morning and I took the day off work, but he left at lunchtime to do a few more visits before returning to his home in London, so I had the afternoon free and as luck had it, A4 60009 Union of South Africa was operating just up the road from me on the East Lancs railway. So, I drove up to Heywood just in time to see her running around her train.

After watching 60009 depart from Heywood I drove to the other end of the line Rawtenstall to get some photographs of her arriving and running around her train. I next dropped back to Ramsbottom to see her again traveling south back towards Heywood. She had one more run to do from Heywood to Rawtenstall for the day, so I drove down to Burrs Country Park for my final shots of her pointing in the right direction.

What a magnificent engine, the A4`s have always been my favourite locomotive, I still have fond memories of seeing my first one at York in around 1959, it was a family holiday to Scarborough, a Black 5 from Manchester to York and usually a B1 to Scarborough, so we had a change at York and sat on the end of the platform London bound was 60030 “Golden Fleece”, I went on to see a few more A4`s in the 1960`s, although the new Deltic diesels` were taking over as the 1960`s took hold. The following Christmas after seeing my first A4, my father bought me the “Talisman” Hornby Dublo train set, with none other than 60030 “Golden Fleece” being the locomotive, great memories of some great days.


 

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