Ecclesbourne Valley Railway – Free Tickets for a Rainy Day!

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

Free Tickets for a Rainy Day!

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway guarantees the Summer for families!

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway launches the Rainy Day Guarantee to keep the skies clear!

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is excited to announce its unique rainy day guarantee. During the months of May, June, July and August. Should it rain continuously for three hours or more during a visit to the railway, passengers will qualify for a free ticket to return when the weather has improved.
Tom Tait the Railway’s Commercial Director said, “The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is Derbyshire’s longest heritage line and the beautiful views of this unspoiled valley are best experienced by train during sunny weather. We want our visitors to enjoy the wonderful vistas during their visit to the railway. Not only do we offer the best of Derbyshire scenery but we are so lucky to have an abundance of wildlife which can be normally be seen from our trains but unfortunately are more difficult to spot when it’s raining.”
If the weather prevents passengers from delighting in the Ecclesbourne Valley at its best, we will be offering our visitors free return tickets.

Full details of the offer are published on the Railway’s website at e-v-r.com

Canal News – Experts sought to help steer future of canals and rivers in the Midlands

Canal News

Experts sought to help steer future of canals and rivers in the Midlands
People living in the Midlands are being called on to help guide the future development of the waterways at the very heart of the nation’s historic canal and river network.

Lock 6, Atherstone, Coventry Canal

This is a tremendous opportunity for people with ideas and energy to play a leading role in bringing others together to embrace their local canal or river”
Charlotte Atkins, chair of the
We are calling for people in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and north Warwickshire to come forward and help shape the future of their local waterways.
The Trust is recruiting three new members for its Central Shires Waterway Partnership, which plays a key role in getting more people involved in these vital green spaces and ensuring they boost tourism and employment.
Nine people currently sit on the Partnership, drawn from different interests such as boating, canoeing and angling, as well as wider regeneration, media and community engagement backgrounds. The three new members being sought will ideally have experience and expertise in the areas of health and well-being, local authority, social enterprise, volunteering and the natural environment.
Charlotte Atkins, chair of the Central Shires Waterways Partnership, said: “Our waterways are at the very heart of the nation’s historic canal network and as a result they’ve been instrumental in shaping our towns and cities and they remain an enduring reminder of our thriving industrial past.
“As a partnership we believe that it’s now time to put the waterways back at the heart of our communities and use them as a means of tackling some of the great challenges that our region faces. Our waterways have huge potential to boost the Midlands’ economy and to help people lead healthier lifestyles, to gain new skills and simply just to feel a sense of pride in where they live.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for people with ideas and energy to play a leading role in bringing others together to embrace their local canal or river and help create better waterways and closer, healthier, communities.”
The roles are voluntary with agreed expenses reimbursed, and will involve approximately two days a month. Appointments are for three years. For more information please contact waterway manager Darren Green on 0303 040 4040 or darren.green@canalrivertrust.org.uk
Find out more about these partnership vacancies

We want your views on our towpaths
We’re currently consulting on how towpaths are shared to make visiting waterways more enjoyable for everyone.

Apsley, Grand Union Canal

Our aim is to improve people’s experience of using towpaths in England and Wales by gaining a more detailed understanding of the ways towpaths are used – whether by boaters, walkers, joggers, cyclists or anglers – and to attract more visitors to regularly use and enjoy the waterways.
We’re inviting people to share their views through an online survey, on anything from signage and behaviour to suggestions for access and surface improvements.
Sharing
The National Towpath Use Policy will set out our approach to managing safer sharing of towpaths including what we will do and what visitors can do. For example, it will balance the needs of people with the need to conserve and protect heritage and the environment; also how to encourage visitors to better understand the range of towpath activities, be considerate of others and make a difference to these shared spaces.
To find out more about our proposals and give your feedback please visit http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/consultations/current-consultations

 

Model Railway Shows

• Sun 23rd March 2014

• G Scale Society – G Rail 2014

• Stafford Showground, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffordshire ST18 0BD

OPENING TIMES: 10 A.M. – 5 P.M.

ADMISSION: Adults £6.00

This event is the G Scale Society’s annual show incorporating their annual general meeting. The layouts are mainly at G Scale but other scales are being exhibited. There will be representatives from other societies and preservation groups. We will have a shuttle bus service from Stafford railway station to the Showground, throughout the day as well as a smaller bus transporting visitors between the exhibition halls and the Stafford and District Model Engineering Society’s miniature railway.

CONTACT: 01902 752061

• Sat 29th March 2014

• Belper Model Railway Group – Belper Model Railway Exhibition

• Strutt Centre, Derby Road, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 1UU

OPENING TIMES: SAT 10.00am – 5pm.

ADMISSION: Adults £2.50 Concessions £2.00 Children £1.50

Layouts from Z to 0 gauge. Strutt Centre is on the right hand side of the A6 when approaching from Derby opposite Babington Hospital and just after “The Tavern” Pub. from Center of Belper it is about 250 meters after the Morrison’s roundabout on the left hand side. The Trent Barton Sixes bus services stop outside the Center. Belper Railway Station (Matlock Branch Service) is about a 10 minute walk.

CONTACT: 01773 880586

 

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway – Wirksworth to provide first railcar for the Bluebell Railway

WIRKSWORTH TO PROVIDE FIRST RAILCAR FOR THE BLUEBELL RAILWAY

HISTORIC FIRST VISIT WILL USE DERBYSHIRE-RESTORED CARRIAGES

Wirksworth, 30 December 2013: The Bluebell Railway has hired a two-car Diesel Railcar from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway at Wirksworth, Derbyshire. The set will operate some winter weekend services on the Bluebell Railway between East Grinstead and Horsted Keynes whilst maintenance works take place on the line between Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park.

The arrival of these railcars will represent a first for the Bluebell railway as they will be the first ever to visit the line: Passenger services were withdrawn in 1958 and diesel railcars seldom ventured into Sussex.

The two carriages have been refurbished maintained and repainted by volunteers from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway DMU Group.Over the past decade, this group of youthful volunteers has created a facility at Wirksworth dedicated to the restoration and operation of Diesel Railcars (also known as Multiple Units) ranging from the 1956-vintage railcar ‘Iris’ to a Cross-Country railcar restored in 2013 to concours standard from a bare body.

Mike Evans, head of motive power for the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway said “It is great that the hard work of our youthful DMU Group can be appreciated not only at home, but also on other important preserved railways such as the Bluebell.”

Passengers will be able to enjoy the Sussex scenery through the driver’s cab for the first time during January and February.

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Update!!

VICTORIAN LADY ARRIVES AT WIRKSWORTH JUST IN TIME TO ADD GLAMOUR TO THE CLASSIC VEHICLE WEEKEND

Wirksworth, 19th July 2013: The summer season has arrived at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway and this summer is extra special as a vintage steam engine will be pulling passenger trains between Wirksworth and Duffield. Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway no.1300 in its guise as British Railways no 52322 has arrived at Wirksworth and undertook its first trial run to Duffield today in temperatures that touched 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Built in 1896, 52322 is an attractive Victorian lady who hauled trains amongst the cotton mills of Lancashire. Based in Lees, near Oldham for much of her life, the locomotive was purchased for preservation in 1960 and is one of the most attractive examples of a Victorian locomotive in operation on Britain’s heritage railways. 52322 will be the centrepiece of this weekend’s Classic Transport Weekend and will be featuring in several family events over the summer holidays and full details can be found here: http://www.e-v-r.com/summer13/.

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Summer

http://www.e-v-r.com

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Normal Timetable

Tuesday 9th, Saturday 13th, Sunday 14th and Tuesday 16th July 2013

Our normal timetable will operate on the above dates.

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Annual Classic Transport Weekend

Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July 2013

See our special page for information about this popular event. This event features the first operations of our visiting steam locomotive and extra services on the Saturday to help visitors stay longer at this great event.

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Summer Specials

July and August 2013

Our information page about services in July and August 2013 with our visiting steam locomotive.

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Multiple Memories

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th August 2013

See our special page for information about this exciting new event featuring all of our operation railcars and the launch of our rare Class 119 vehicle.

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Some Early Lines – Early Tramroads and Plateways.

Some Early Lines

 Early Tramroads and Plateways.

 Peak Forest canal basin and tramway sidings at Bugsworth in 1927

In the same part of the country as the Cromford and High Peak Railway was another, even older, line built with much the same idea in mind: that of making a link over the High Peak hills from Manchester eastwards, in this cast to north Derbyshire and the Sheffield area.  It was originally planned as a canal, and the first section of it was actually built as such.  However, from Bugsworth, an important inland canal basin around the turn of the eighteenth century, the terrain was considered unsuitable for a canal and so the Peak Forest Tramway came into being, running in a south-easterly direction to the extensive lime quarries around Dove Holes.  It was opened in 1799, and was one of the earliest through tramroads, or plateways, using cast iron rails, in the country. (The cast iron edge rail is thought to have been first introduced in 1789 at Loughborough.) 

Peak Forest Tramway track, switch and wagon.

During its 128 years of existence it never employed any motive power other than horses.  The general contour of the line was a gradually ascending one, with an inclined plane 512 yards long in the centre section.  As the gradient was in favour of the descending loaded wagons this could be rope-worked, with a controlling brake drum at the top.  The line, which was 6½ miles long, rose some 625 feet in all, with a summit 1,158 feet above sea level.  It was last used in 1926 and the track lifted, but the course of the line can still be followed in places.  The line was at one time leased to the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, coming into that company’s full control in 1863 and passing in time to the Great Central and the LNER.

The Denby plateway at Coxbench.

Another very early plateway, near Derby itself, was a line from Little Eaton to Kilburn and Denby, built in 1795 (the later Midland Railway Ripley branch followed more or less the same course) and in use until 1908. It was known as the Little Eaton Gangway.

Ticknall Tramroad, Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal.  This picture is of the biannual trip to establish right of way.  The last journey was made in May 1913.

A little further south is Ashby-de-la-Zouch where the Ashby Canal had thirty miles of lock-free waterway with twenty miles of connecting tramways radiating into the Leicester coalfields.  The canal was sold in 1846 to the Midland Railway and some of the beds were subsequently used for railway construction.  One of the branches was the Ticknall Tramroad, with the unusual gauge of 4ft 2 in, and after the Ashby to Melbourne line was opened it ran to Ticknall with a branch to Dinsdale Quarry, a distance of 4½ miles.  The last trip was on 20 May, 1913.

Old Stratford & Moreton Tramway wagon, preserved at Stratford-on-Avon in Bancroft Gardens, near the theatre.  The cast iron edge rail is thought to have been first used at Loughborough in 1789.

http://www.stratfordsociety.co.uk/tramway%20wagon.htm

A couple of visits to other railways

 

 

News – February on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

Nine Miles of Smiles this February – Kids Go Free!

Come and enjoy the delightful Ecclesbourne Valley this February 2013.

Trains are running on Saturdays 2nd, 9th and 16th between Wirksworth and Duffield and for these dates only kids can go free!

Maximum of two free children with each £9.00 Adult or £8.00 Concession Day Rover ticket purchased. Normal fare paying child age range is 6 – 15 inclusive. Normal child fare is £5.00 each. Named February Saturday dates only.

For more details of this and more on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, go to the website:

http://www.e-v-r.com/

Forthcoming Attractions – Annual Wirksworth Model Railway Exhibition Weekend

Annual Wirksworth Model Railway Exhibition Weekend

Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th October 2012

A sunny day at Wirksworth Station

About this Event

This annual event features model railway layouts and traders at three venues in the town as well as at Wirksworth Station. The railway will be running trains to support the exhibition, allowing visitors to travel to Wirksworth by train from anywhere in the country!

Pullman Buffet

The new Pullman Buffet will be open for the service of teas, coffees, light refreshments, hot and cold meals, snacks and Bacon Butties!

Opening Times

Wirksworth Station: 09:30 – 18:00

Duffield Station: 10:00 – 17:15

Pullman Buffet: 10:00 – 18:20 (Sat) and 16:30 (Sun)

Exhibition Times: 10:00 – 17:00 (Sat) and 10:00 – 16:30 (Sun)

Timetable

The timetable for the Wirksworth and Duffield line for the event will be as below.

Depart Wirksworth 10:20 12:20 14:20 16:20 18:20 (Sat)

Depart Idridgehay 10:38 12:38 14:38 16:38 18:38 (Sat)

Depart Shottle 10:42 12:42 14:42 16:42 16:42 (Sat)

Arrive Duffield 10:50 12:50 14:50 16:50 18:50 (Sat)

Depart Duffield 11:10 13:10 15:10 17:10 19:10 (Sat)

Depart Shottle 11:19 13:19 15:19 17:19 pass (Sat)

Depart Idridgehay 11:25 13:25 15:25 17:25 pass (Sat)

Arrive Wirksworth 11:43 13:43 15:43 17:43 19:43 (Sat)

The first train from Duffield on Sunday departs 4 minutes later due to a main line connection.

The timetable on the Wirksworth and Ravenstor line will be half hourly as below. Some services will be steam-hauled.

Depart Wirksworth 10:55 11:25 except 15:55 16:25

Arrive Ravenstor 10:00 10:30 12:55 16:00 16:30

Depart Ravenstor 10:05 10:35 and 16:05 16:35

Arrive Wirksworth 10:10 10:40 13:25 16:10 16:40

A model railway layout (Photo: Oliver Hodgkinson)

The Exhbition

The exhbition will take place at three venues in the town – the Town Hall, the Parish Rooms and the Memorial Hall. It includes specialst model railway trade stands, secondhand railway books, DVDs, railway art, an EVRA stall, a tombola and refreshments.

Late Saturday Train with Fish and Chip Special

There will be an 18:20 departure from Wirksworth on Saturday to allow visitors to stay later at the exhibition. Ordinary day rover and single tickets are valid on this train.

This train will also form a Fish and Chip Special. Travel down the valley, receive a portion of the national favourite on arrival at Duffield and have them onboard for the return journey. £5.00 return including food. Advanced booking before the day is essential. Book online now from our Online Ticket Office.

An evening train at Duffield

Tickets

Tickets are valid all day on both the Duffield and Ravenstor lines on the day of purchase. Single and intermediate station fares are available.

Rail Day Rover

Adults Concessions Children Family (2+3)

£10.00 £9.00 £5.00 £25.00

Model Rail Entry

Adults Concessions Children Family (2+2)

£4.50 £3.50 £3.50 £11.00

Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased from any of the three venues or from Wirksworth Station.

Visitors wishing to purchase a combined rail and exhbition ticket will receive the concessionary rate for the rail travel.

N.B. Photographs of layouts are representative. A particular layout portrayed may not feature in this year’s event.

WyvernRail PLC, Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. Wirksworth Station, Coldwell Street, Wirksworth, Derbyshire. DE4 4FB. 01629 823076. © 2012