The Parry People Mover (PPM) at Chasewater.

From the Wensleydale Connection

A special issue of Parry News published by JPM Parry & Associates Ltd

September 2005

The first Parry People Mover at Chasewater Railway – Pic – oakparkrunner

 IN JULY 2003, the PPM 50 railcar needed to be moved at very short notice (just one day) from the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, when vandals from the local estates who had been regularly trashing the exteriors of carriages had also, to our misfortune, discovered the Parry vehicle.

There can be few organisations as responsive as the Chasewater Railway in the West Midlands and on hearing of PPM’s predicament the General Manager, Steve Organ, made immediate arrangements to receive the vehicle and put it inside the headquarters compound at Brownhills West station. What was intended to be a brief stop-over then turned into two years of activities, all of which have been entirely beneficial to the company’s programme.

The Chasewater Railway’s two mile long line has been ideal for driver training, vehicle shakedown and demonstrations for visitors. Many distinguished people from far and wide – including Australia, Argentina, South Africa and Malaysia – have ridden on the PPM 50 railcar during its stay, as well as a galaxy of senior figures from Britain’s transport industry.

And what next?

The convenience of the location and the facilities offered by the railway, within 20 miles of Parry Associates’ base, and the flexible and co-operative attitude of the Chasewater Railway managers has made this an ideal resource for an R&D partnership.

The next big project for PPM is the development of the bogie-mounted passenger vehicle, particularly with reference to potential future needs of community railways. This work will need facilities for the development running of test beds and complete vehicles. One way to accommodate a need of the Chasewater Railway itself is for a special ‘Permanent Way Vehicle’, in effect a crew cab pick up truck on rails, which PPM may be able to  create using the existing technology. The amicable, informal partnership between the Parry companies and the Chasewater Railway has opened many possibilities to develop the important new sector of lightweight rolling stock for community railways and the export market. For the future there is even the prospect for the Chasewater Railway and PPM to join forces with local interest in promoting and executing the vision of a railway-reopening project – the former line from Brownhills to Walsall.

The newer, enlarged version.

A Parry People Movers railcar is in daily service on the StourbridgeTown branch in the West Midlands. The fleet of two PPM 60s, or Class 139s as they have been designated, run as part of the London Midland franchise. Timetable and ticketing information can be found at www.londonmidland.com, simply type in ‘Stourbridge Junction’ and ‘StourbridgeTown’ as start point and destination. Stourbridge Junction station is served by frequent local trains operated by London Midland, and trains from London Marylebone operated by Chiltern Railways.

Return tickets, for a modest fare, can be purchased at either station for a return trip on the line. If you intend to travel to Stourbridge Junction by rail, make sure that your ticket has ‘StourbridgeTown’ as its destination rather than ‘Stourbridge Junction’. This will allow you to travel on the shuttle service when you arrive.

Services are frequent – running every ten minutes in each direction from early morning until late at night Monday to Saturday (and slightly less frequently between 10am and 8pm on Sundays) – so you will not have to wait long for the next Class 139 departure.

New Arrival at Chasewater Railway for the Spring Gala March 17-18

Bagnall 2842/1946 0-4-0ST at Chasewater – Pic by oakparkrunner

 No. 2  2842 1946 0-4-0ST 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) built for the Kent Electric Power Company at Littlebrook Power Station, near Dartford.

One of the firm’s 14″ saddle tanks, weighing 27 tons in working order, it was delivered new to the Kent Electric Power Company at Littlebrook Power Station, near Dartford on 31 July 1946. Number 2 was later moved to Croydon “A” Power Station during the mid 1950s. There it shunted coal wagons until purchased privately for preservation in November 1972. During July 1973 it was moved by road to Alresford, becoming the first locomotive to arrive at the new Mid Hants Railway preservation scheme. It received minor repairs, but with boiler repairs also needed it remained a static exhibit. In May 1980 number 2 was named “Hampshire” immediately prior to a period of loan to Tucktonia, a model village in Christchurch, Dorset. The locomotive returned to the Mid Hants Railway in autumn 1982 and later moved on to spend several years at the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton, latterly on display at Warmley. It is basically complete but suffered some vandalism, and was eventually purchased privately by three members of the same family for restoration to working order at the Foxfield Railway. Number 2 arrived at Foxfield, complete with a graffiti livery, on 23 September 2003.

At Chasewater Railway for the Spring Gala March 17-18 2012.

Info – Foxfield Railway  http://www.foxfieldrailway.co.ukPic by oakparkrunner – with many thanks.

Hunslet 0-6-0ST 3783/1953 – Darfield No.1

Darfield No.1

Built by Hunslet Engine Co., Leeds in 1953, their works number 3783, the loco is a late example of the manufacturers 16 inch inside cylindered, six-coupled saddle tank with the tank not extending over the smokebox.  The design pre-dates the rather better known Austerity type from Hunslet.

Darfield No.1, together with a sister, No.2 was supplied new to Darfield Colliery, Wombwell, South Yorkshire.  The colliery situated half a mile north west of Wombwell Station on the BR (ex LNER) line.

For the period July 1955 to 1959 No.1 was transferred away to Houghton Main Colliery, Little Houghton.  On return to Darfield No.1 worked until sold into preservation in late 1974, initially to a private site in Delph, Lancashire before seeing use on the Yorkshire Dales Railway at Embsay.  A move to the Llangollen Railway followed and No.1 sees occasional use there as well as being hired out to other preserved railways, most recently a return to a former home at Embsay.  Arrival on hire to Chasewater took place 29-7-2011.

Locally there were three similar locos based at Holly Bank Colliery, Essington before transfer to Littleton, with one of the three later moving on to Granville Colliery near Oakengates, Shropshire.

Darfield No.1 weighs 38 tons in working order.In the engine shed at Chasewater Railway

BR Class 08 at Chasewater Railway

BR English Electric Class 08 Nº D3429 / 08359

The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive. From 1953 to 1962, 996 locomotives were produced, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes.

As the standard general-purpose diesel shunter on BR, almost any duty requiring shunting would involve a Class 08. The class became a familiar sight at many major stations and freight yards; however, since their introduction, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units; neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported, or sold to industrial or heritage railways.

As of 2008 around 100 locomotives remain working on industrial sidings and on the main British network. On heritage railways they have become common, appearing on many of the preserved standard-gauge lines in Britain, with over 60 preserved.

It will be at Chasewater Railway for the next few months.

Wemyss No.15

2183/1943

Hunslet Austerity, a powerful 0-6-0 saddle tank built to a wartime austerity design that latterly saw service as No. 15 on the industrial Wemyss Private Railway in Fife, Scotland

No. 15 is a Hunslet-designed Austerity 0-6-0ST, one of 13 subcontracted to Andrew Barclay. One of only three of the Andrew Barclay-built examples to survive.

This loco came to Chasewater for the February Gala 2008.

Titley Peckett

Peckett 0-4-0ST 1738/1928

Supplied new to Birmingham Electricity Authority, Hams Hall Power Station, near Coleshill.

By 1968 the loco was disposed of by sale to a Severn Valley Railway member and the loco went to Bridgnorth on the embryonic Severn Valley Railway.

The locomotive saw very little use and was eventually sold privately, this time going to the South Devon Railway.

Later again resold, this time going to Titley Junction, Herefordshire.  The loco masquerades as the Thomas the Tank Engine character ‘Percy’ and has visited several preserved railways at Thomas events.

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De Winton Replica

The first steam loco to visit the Chasewater Railway Narrow Gauge.

Taffy is an 0-4-0VBT VC engine, a reproduction De Winton,  30/1990, built by the Alan Keef Ltd.  company in Ross-on-Wye.

The Limited Company was formed in 1975 at Cote, Bampton, Oxon, continuing what Alan Keef had already been doing for some years as an individual.  In 1986 the company moved to larger premises at Lea Line, Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire.

Peckett No.2000

Peckett 0-6-0ST 2000/1942.

One of the maker’s B3 class with two outside cylinders 14” diameter x 20” stroke.

Delivered new to British Sugar Corporation Ltd., Nottingham Factory, Colwick, working here until 1955 when sent back to its Bristol manufacturers for repair. On completion of the repair work the loco was dispatched to the Ipswich factory of the BSC, remaining there until entering preservation, initially at the Nene Valley Railway, Peterborough in 1977.Nowadays Peckett 2000 is more usually found at its new home at Barrow Hill, near Chesterfield but sometimes hired out to other railways.

Wimblebury

A Hunslet 0-6-0ST Austerity class, 3839/1956

Built by Hunslet of Leeds, Wimblebury was delivered new to the National Coal Board at Cannock Wood Colliery near Hednesford in Staffordshire, and worked there until withdrawn in the early 1970s.  Originally earmarked for spares for another engine, Wimblebury was purchased privately for preservation and moved to the Foxfield Railway in Staffordshire on 26th September 1973.

This is the second visit to Chasewater by this popular engine in recent years.

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil is a replica of Timothy Hackworth’s 1829 locomotive which competed against Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ at the famous Rainhill Trials.

This locomotive came to Chasewater in 2001 and 2002 and proved to be very popular with railway enthusiasts and the general public alike.

Passenger train services ran between Brownhills West and Chasewater Heaths, alternating between Sans Pareil and Sentinel.