"The Dash to Duffield" - Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
 

I am starting this thread as a Diary of the progress in reopening the remaining five miles of the Wirksworth to Duffield Branch line just north of Derby.The target date for completion of the work is September 2010 ready for a reopening on 8th November 2010, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway's 10th Birthday.

The one and half miles of continuous welded track from Idridgehay to Duffield is well in hand (See photo posted today) and this week we have strated to work are way through Shottle Station.

There were so few good sleepers in the first two panels that they were lifted, the track bed scraped, new sleepers laid and rails replaced. This was accomplished in two days with our volunteer force, many of whom are over 60!

The first photo show the cleared track bed, the second two lengths of rail in place, the third the complete reconection, the fourth a general view of Shottle looking south towards Duffield; the platform is on the left just before the road bridge, the left hand turnout goes into the yard and the right hand turnout is the start of the passing loop and the fifith shows the sleepers laid out.

CWR eh? What is the proposed line speed ? 140mph :eek:

Should be a good blog, John, I will keep an eye out for updates.

If a volunteer force, many of whom are over 60 can do that in 2 days, why does it take network Rail 2 weeks? Well done to you all.

Usually drop in on the EVR website and read the daily blog - interesting ;)

Sadly only 25mph. However part of the cost of the new welds is being met by one of our customers as we are inserting lengths of rail with know faults, so they can recalibrate their flaw detection equipment.

I hasten to add that the rails remain perfectly safe at our line speed!

Thanks everyone for your interest.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Hi John ,Just read about this in Heritage Railway,Great way to increase your monies,good luck with it all keep us informed PJ

If you would like a step by step guide to welding continuous rail, follow this to the EVRA website, go to Today and then Thursday 2nd October.

http://www.evra.org.uk/index2.htm

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Great set of photos John H-T, just a pity that no one did a write up as to what each photo was about. A short description of each part of the weld would have made a big difference to someone who had never even heard of continuous rail until coming to the UK.

Good Luck John H-T. Hopefully, a group of us from the Bramley Line will pay you a visit one Sunday soon. Trying to arrange this with certain members.

Bramleyman,

This week end is the model railway exhibition and we are running a full timetable.

After that limited Sunday Service apart from Santas and closed Jan-Feb.

Gala Weekend 28th Feb-1st March 2009, will be there both days, follow this link:

www.e-v-r.com

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Point Installation, Duffield pt 1.
 

This week, over a period of four days, the point at the northern end of run round at Duffield has been installed with the help of a small detachment from the Army.

The first set of photos show: 1, Site briefing with most of the parts including the switch blades laid out. 2. Unloading one of the check rail sections. 3. Plain track lifted, switch rail section in place. 4. Kit of parts for 2nd section laid out. 5. Rail cutting.

Point Installation, Duffield pt 2.
 

Part 2 shows the work done on days 3 & 4:

1. 2nd section of the point in place.
2. Timbers laid out for 3rd section.
3. All three sections in place.
4. The last joint was a bit wide so we had to use the hydraulic puller.
5. Mainline complete.

Great stuff John. You can't beat a few photos when it comes to describing something like this.
I bet it gave you and the other lads a real feeling of satisfaction to see the point installed.

Thanks John,

It was certainly quite an interest feeling being guard on the work's train brakevan as it was slowly propelled over the new formation!

Permanent way work is very satisfying inspite of the hard work. Also a great group spirit. There is a regular gang of us who work together every Wednesday ... Derbyshire's answer to "Last of the Summer Wine!"

Best wishes,

John H-T.

:) First the Very Good News: The Ecclesbourne Valley has just received a very substantial grant which will cover the cost of all the trackwork (rail, sleepers and ballast) and drainage material to complete the reopening of the line to Duffield. All we need to do now is do the work, including replacing 3,000 + sleepers! The target is still very firmly Autumn 2010.

This means that we can concentrate our finances on the other aspects of reopening the line which are not covered by the grant.

I believe that The Midland Railway Centre has also won a large grant for work there.

I attach a couple of photos of the work we were doing yesterday (4.2.2009) when we got the news: Installing the trap point at the northern end of the passing loop at Shottle, the crossing place when we get round to a two train service.

Very Good News indeed John. Things go much better when you don't have to worry about where the money for the next bit of is coming from. As for the work, well just go's to show that just because we are not in the youth of life, it doesn't mean we are past it. Well done to you all.

This, in a way, could be linked to the thread on plastic sleepers!

This week's project is to replace two panels of track just north of Shottle Platform. Nearly all the sleepers needed replacing so concrete sleepers have been used to replace them all. As concretes are thicker the track bed needs to be dug out to maintain levels with the advantage that the mini digger can also be used to place the sleepers.

At close of play to-day all the sleepers had been laid out and all four rails were back in place: one panel fully clipped up the other to be finished tomorrow plus jcking and packing. Line to reopen tomorrow evening after a three day "possession."

The drawback of completly renewing panels like this is that the line has to be closed, whereas when we do spot resleepering the line can remain open with a 5mph speed restriction. Photos show placing the sleepers; getting them all lined up and then clipping with pandrol clips.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Can't believe it is so long since I updated information on progress. There has certainly been plenty of it!

Brief summary:

Track completely relaid through Shottle Station in a four day possession including laying the turnout for the southern end of the passing loop.

Spot resleepering is now nearing Hazelwood. We have passed milepost 135 3/4 ( Duffield is 133).

Ground frame for Shottle North is installed and most of the rodding is in place and working.

Next week will see the start of relaying the run round at Duffield which will take till Christmas. As with all passing loops on the line it has to be about 1/4 mile long to accomodate stone trains, should stone traffic return. This was a condition of sale of the line to us!

This is the last major project before reopening to Duffield. Target date 10th October 2010.

Will add some photos later.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Well done. You are making progress.
Richard

Just found and read the whole thread. A real achievement. Well done to all concerned. Regards, 62440.

Tomorrow we will be moving the biggest train ever to run on the line during our tenure. The train will leave Wirksworth at 0830
for Duffield, it will consist of nearly all of our stock, including stone train, works train and drain train.

D8001 will be in charge with 3 break vans to keep the train under control, hopefully. You'll soon hear about it if it runs away as it will probably end up on the Midland Main Line!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Sadly I will not be there to see it as I am working.

thanks for keeping us all up to date John you guys have done really well I hope to visit asap .Meanwhile can i send you a donation

Many thanks garret. If you would like to make a donation the Charity's Web site is www..evra.org.uk

This link will take you to the photos of today's works train:

http://www.evra.org.uk/index2.htm

and click on "today"

Sorry to post a link but they are not my photos. Incidently our ex Bombardier shunter provided the motive power not D8001 as I thought.

Two events coming up:

Oct 3rd &4th: The Railcar Association Annual Convention hosted at Wirksworth Intensive service both days.

Oct 17th-18th Wirksworth Model Railway Exhibition plus full service on the Full sized trains!

I will not be around for on Oct 3rd-4th but will be around all weekend for the Model Railway Exhibition.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Cheque in the post John all the best with it all

Many thanks Garrat.

Photos of today's progress at Duffield are at the usual place:

http://www.evra.org.uk/index2.htm

then click on "Today"

I am sorry to keep giving the link to the website but they are not my photos!

I am working full time at present but will be back trackside in 2 weeks time and will then be able to take my own and publish them here.

The rail from the mainline has now been transfered to the loop to just under the A6 bridge, a distance of 220 yards so good progress.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Great website John really good pics everything is looking good well done folks

Network Rail eat your heart out.

a lovely railway and so friendly too, I`m looking forward to the opening, but will probably pay a few visits beforehand

Some photos of work at Duffield over the last couple of weeks:

Removal of decayed wooden sleepers, leveling the track bed for the new mainline and starting to layout the concrete sleepers. Hopefully we might get some rail down next week.

There is also a photo showing access to out platform form Network Rail, Matlock Train in NR platform.

We have decided to postpone the opening until 8th April 2011. We still have to finish by the end of September 2010 but it will give us time to get everything looking good for the opening. Also we will be able to make much more use of the visiting steam engine and probably keep it untill early June 2011.

We will run some trains for members and shareholders next October.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

How are things down at the EVR then.
Will you install a water tower at Duffield for that steam loco of yours?

I have more photos to post Most of the track work at Duffield is now complete. Both crossovers for the loop are installed and there are now just 7 pannels of track to lay. Quite a few of the sleepers are down and the rail is due to be delivered at the beginning of the year.

The weather is slowing us down a bit. We have not been able to get a loco down to Duffield this week because of the air brakes freezing. It hasn't really gone above freezing at Wirksworth for about 5 days! We have managed to run all our Santa Trains as planned.

Frozen Ballast is also slowing work.

Photos as ever are on the Web site in the "today" section:

http://www.evra.org.uk/index2.htm

There are some from yesterday.

Will post some of mine soon.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Well done to the team John, looks like you had some really bad weather to contend with. look forward to seeing the work for myself in 2010. Like the pic of the pirate ship guards van.
Regards

well done to all I have joined and maybe far away but wont take long on the Triumph so will be up in 2010.

all the best Paul

Look forward to seeing you both Bryan and Paul. Let me know when you plan to visit so I can be around to show you round.

Best wishes for 2010,

John H-T.

Most definitely will John


Regards Paul

Duffield track renewal nearly completed
 

Inspite of the snow 14 lengths of rail were delivered from Wirksworth to Duffield today and 11 were placed. Tomorrow should see the job completed. Then we can get back to the joys of sleeper replacement!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Hi John,
thanks for the update and pics. The 360 road railers are a unsung hero of any permanent way setup and in the right hands can perform miracles and save hours of manual labour. A dedicated team to continue in the conditions whilst hundreds avoid walking a mile or so to school or work. I think we have gone too soft these days.

Well done guys and good luck with the sleeper.

( a horrible thought just struck me seeing the frozen rails. I wonder if anyone ever tried putting their tongue on a cold rail like the metal lampost pranks I've seen? not recommended eh! :eek::D)

Regards

Thanks for all the positive comments Folks.

I am pleased to say that all the rail is now down. We will complete cliping and tiding up next week.

I don't have any photos but there are some on the web site. The link as ususal is:

http://www.evra.org.uk/today/todays.htm

Best wishes,

John H-T.

All I can say is well done.
You know I am going to Peak rail later in the year so I might come and see the line for myself.
It sounds great.
When is the steam loco going to be finished as I can't resist it if there is a bit of steam there!:)

Thanks SFE.

We have a steam gala 31st July-1st August. Will post details near the time.

Ferrybridge No.3 should be in trafffic early summer on the incline.

Best wishes,

John H-T.