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2005 Bus Tour weekend: |
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Here’s a report on the 2005
weekend. More pictures are available through Paul Hollinghurst’s website - click
here.
Friday 29 April 2005
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Afternoon visit to the Mersey Ferry boat,
the tsmv Snowdrop (formerly the Woodchurch).
The vessel is the last of the three ex-Birkenhead Corporation boats to be
rebuilt and re-engined, and (sacrilegiously) given
traditional Wallasey Corporation names. We were given a
talk by Eugene Davies of Mersey Ferries and then taken down in smaller groups
to look round the engine room. We stayed for two hours - such was
the level of interest, we could have easily stayed for twice as long. |
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A LUPTS bus tour
weekend first - a Friday evening visit. This was to a garden
railway in Wirral. The railway runs between stations, each of which
is housed in a separate shed, and each controlled by its own
operator. Communication between the sheds is by bell codes using
genuine signalling equipment. Again, we could have stayed there
for hours, but most people stayed until about 21:30 in preparation for the
exciting day ahead. [It should be noted that there were certain
absentees - the attraction of Tranmere Rovers v Port Vale being too much for
them. 1-0 seeing as you ask.] |
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FRIDAY AFTERNOON’S CAPTION
COMPETITION
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FRIDAY EVENING’S CAPTION
COMPETITION
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Saturday 30 April 2005
THE KNOTTS AND DERBY RAMBLER
A report by Jonathan A Cadwallader:
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The weather on the morning
of Saturday 30th April was not unexpected but was nonetheless unwelcome. A
large proportion of our prospective travellers sought shelter from the steady
drizzle under the canopy of a Tithebarn Street
office block whilst awaiting the arrival of our bus, due at 08:00. A phone
call from Charles Roberts at 07:54 informed me that the Birkenhead pick-up
time of 07:45 had not been met. Anyone who has organised a tour will tell you
that it is always a considerable relief to hear that the tour vehicle has turned
up so I was pleased to learn on ringing Charles at 08:00 that he was aboard B962WRN on the M53 and was heading our way. I informed
those around me and contacted Mark Telfer, our man
in Oxford Street, to do the same. |
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Anticipating possible traffic
delays on the M6, I had built in some recovery time to the schedule, so that
as we left Liverpool I was still optimistic that we would arrive at the Churnet Valley Railway in time for the 10:34 train. Our
Olympian with its new gearbox was not quite as speedy as I would have wished
but the M6 was clear of congestion and we were still on course to catch the
train as we left the A500 for the A52 in Stoke-on Trent, pausing to pick-up
Dave Ventry and daughter Sarah. |
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Thus it was that our
party of 30 adults, 9 seniors and 6 children arrived at Kingsley and Froghall station with 10 minutes to spare before the
train departed. John and Hillary Jenkins joined us for the train trip,
complete with granddaughter Lucy. The diesel fans were pleased to see a class
33 on the rear of our train, probably a wise precaution as 6 Mark 1 coaches
were perhaps taxing for an Austerity 0-6-0ST on wet
rails! A number of the party took advantage of the buffet car as we trundled
down the line through the lush vegetation, never far from the River Churnet and the Caldon Canal.
Through the drizzle could be seen a pub where, many years ago, Charles and I
had endured a meal of burnt roast boot served by a landlady with an inch of
ash hanging from the tip of her Woodbine. We haven’t been back ... |
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A quick reversal at
Leek Brook Junction saw the class 33 take up the strain. After a brief stop
at Cheddleton we returned to Kingsley where 2162
was waiting. The climb out of the Valley was steep as we barely missed more
low trees, eventually proving to be too much for the Gardner engine in second
gear and we had to stop for John Cherry to engage the crawler first. We
eventually breasted the summit and then encountered better weather as the
rain stopped and the sun began to break through. Our route took us via the
edge of Ashbourne and through Derby. A brief
glimpse of Toton Traction Maintenance Depot was to
be had from the right hand side of the bus as we headed east. |
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I spent my time in
Nottingham in the company of Charles and Dave Parker. Various photos were
taken and a bit of Great Central Railway trackbed
noted before we walked along the tram route to Old Market Square. Some sort
of festival was in progress, complete with Caribbean music. Dave said that it
reminded him of the Town Square in Warsaw. I must have missed the Jamaican
Quarter when I was there ... |
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My doubts about the
ability of all our passengers to tear themselves away from city centre
hostelries in time to reach Hucknall for 15:00 were
unfounded, although there was a 10 minute delay due to a faulty |
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Joining the A6, we
paused briefly to observe the ex- Liverpool Corporation Leyland Panther that
has done duty as a roadside cafe for more years than it was in use as a bus
before turning up the B5023 to Wirksworth. At the
end of the day a number of participants told me how much they had enjoyed our
tour of the Wirksworth Station area at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. This pleased me considerably
as I had felt that this line had a great potential from the first time that I
saw the site about 10 years ago, a long time before WyvernRail
came into being. It is unusual amongst heritage railways in that it is a
complete branch line, linking a town with a main line junction. Although it
is still early days in the life of the new operator the staff
have made very rapid progress in the last 2 years and the local
support is very encouraging. I was very pleased to be able to incorporate it
in our tour and would suggest a return visit in a few years. We were welcomed
by officials from WyvernRail who outlined progress
and plans before a short trip to Gorsey Bank and
back on the single unit Gloucester RCW railcar. A
tour of the station yard followed with the tunnel linking to a nearby quarry
being a particularly unusual feature. |
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I had contacted the Wirksworth Fish Bar a week before the tour to let them know
that a ravenous horde would be in town. They told me that they always had
chips on the go which I thought was a wise move considering the business that
they were in. They were anxious that a large number would want to eat in but
I assured them that our group would stand around outside making the town
centre look untidy. So it proved. I stood on a kerb acting as lollipop man
for the young and old sans confectionery whilst most of the party went to get
battered (cod). I am assured that the chips were top grade and it was a well
fed bus load that returned via the A6 through Matlock, Buxton and Stockport.
An unexpected route via Manchester was taken by our assistant driver but the
return to Liverpool was only slightly later than planned and I left the bus outside
“The Head of Steam” on Lime Street at the end of a very
satisfying day. |
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SATURDAY’S CAPTION COMPETITION
For the non-cognoscenti, Dave Parker is the proprietor of Buxton Model
Works. |
The day was all a bit too much for some people (photos courtesy of Dave Parry):
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Sunday 1 May 2005
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Sunday lunch at The Chimneys
in Hooton Green. |
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Then a visit to the
nearby Hooton Park. Based around three First World War hangars, on
land at the edge of the massive Vauxhall car factory site. The
history of the site was explained to us, from its earliest days as a manor
house, racecourse and polo field, then becoming
an airfield and an RAF station before closing in the 1950s. A preservation
group want to restore the hangars and they already have a display of
memorabilia associated with the site (and some joke exhibits - see
left). [Again, it should be noted than some people decided on an
alternative venue - this time Cheshire Oaks.] |
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There was even time for
an impromptu visit to some preserved vehicles on a nearby farm. The
very packed weekend finished at about 17:00 or so. |
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SUNDAY’S CAPTION COMPETITION
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Return
to Bus Tour Weekends page
Last updated: 10
November 2014
©
Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2005/2014