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2012 Bus Tour
weekend: |
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2012’s Bus Tour weekend has been and
gone. If you have any pictures
you’d like to submit, email them to webmaster@lupts.org.uk
Paul Hollinghurst’s
pictures are available here.
Friday 4 May 2012
Albert Dock: Two Old Pubs and Two New Exhibitions
Report
and pictures awaited.
Saturday 5 May 2012
The 36th LUPTS Bus
Tour: Saturday 5 May 2012
The 2012 Bus Tour, The Off-Peak Day Return, was the
result of an idea that had come to me a couple of years ago, which is why I had
volunteered to organise this year’s event so far in advance. Sometime in
the mid-1990s I looked down from a bridge at Wirksworth
to see a disused and overgrown railway yard. At the time the quarry traffic
that had kept the branch alive had ceased, but there were no budding
preservationists yet in sight. I remember thinking that this could be an
excellent prospect for a preserved railway, a complete branch that traversed
pleasant if unspectacular scenery, linking two towns rather than running
between a pair of fields. I was pleased to have been able to take our 2005 tour
to Wirksworth, when we rode to Gorsey
Bank on the short length of line that had been restored to use. Progress from
that time was rapid, such that the whole branch was re-opened as the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in April 2011 and thus formed
the centrepiece of my planning for our tour.
I had heard of the Steeple Grange Light Railway,
knew that it was close to Wirksworth and was built to
the unusual gauge of 18” but that was the extent of my knowledge. Its
proximity to the Ecclesbourne Valley operation made
investigation a sensible thing to do, so a visit was incorporated into the
planning trip that Rob Marsh and I undertook in March. I had already
ascertained that a change in our bus provider was likely to be necessary. The
bridge next to the Steeple Grange site that had once carried the Cromford and High Peak Railway over the road to Wirksworth only had 14’ 6” clearance, not
enough for the Volvo Citybuses that we had hired from
Hiltons Travel for the previous three tours. There was no reasonable
alternative route. A search through the fleets of local operators led me to
Howards Travel of Runcorn. Once contact was made and a price agreed I chose to
use a Volvo Olympian with Alexander Royale bodywork, new to East Yorkshire
Motor Services. Being 13’ 9” high and with a good top speed it
proved to be just what was wanted.
Just before 08.00 on Saturday 5th May,
the bus, registered K4 HOW, rolled up in Tithebarn
Street, Liverpool, displaying LUPTS TOUR on its newly
installed electronic destination display, the first time that we have had use
of such technology. Setting off spot on
time we collected the rest of our party of 39 at Abercromby
Square and Broad Green before taking the M62 towards Manchester. Officials at the Museum of Transport at Boyle
Street had agreed to open rather earlier than usual at 09.00 to accommodate our
tour, which had last visited the premises in 2001.
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Stockport and Manchester Crossleys with a Bolton Leyland in the main hall. All
photographs: Jonathan Cadwallader |
The replica Manager’s
office in which I wrote out the cheque to cover our donation. |
We were made welcome by members of the Greater
Manchester Transport Society who run the museum. Some members of our party
opted to follow the guide provided whilst others wandered through the two display
halls on their own to look at the comprehensive collection of buses and
associated artefacts. It really is an excellent selection of vehicles,
the only regret is that lack of room prevents a more spacious presentation and
the acquisition of further buses. The shop and cafe were patronised by some
before we made our way back to the bus for a 10.15 departure.
My main concern on the day was the amount of time
that the bus would take to cover the next section of our journey, to Buxton for
a relief stop. The current limited service of just 3 return trips per day on
the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway meant calculating
timings backwards from their 14.20 departure. Giving enough time to visit the
Transport Museum plus Steeple Grange and for the bus to travel between the
venues meant that there was no slack in the schedule. Congestion on the A6
through to Stockport and beyond meant that we were 15 minutes late into Buxton,
but our driver, Gaz, managed to pull back 5 minutes
by the time we attained Steeple Grange. There we met up with Dave Cope and
family, who had been unable to take part in the whole tour but were joining us
for the two railways.
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Our vehicle at Steeple
Grange, complete with bus and train on the display, as participants walk down
to the line. |
The Steeple
Grange “Manrider” departs fully loaded, propelled by the former
Horwich Works Ruston & Hornsby shunter. |
I don’t think that any of our participants
had visited this railway before. Built on the track bed of a standard gauge
mineral line known as the Killers Branch, the main operation employed a former
coalminers’ “Manrider” vehicle with
capacity for just 15 plus Guard, tightly packed together in groups of 4. There was much
banter amongst the party with which I travelled, legs interlocked as we
trundled up the line, comments such as “I’ll never be the same
again” and “We’ll need a tin opener to get out of this”
passing back and forth.Unfortunately the railway’s second
“Manrider” was out of service which meant that not everyone had
time to sample the experience together with a run on a short secondary line
that was also in use.
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The secondary line stock
accommodated just 8 in rather more comfort |
Metro-Cammell
2-car at Wirksworth |
We left Steeple Grange minus an initially unknown
number of passengers who had decided to walk the mile or so into Wirksworth, taking in a pub en route. The problem for me was not knowing with any certainty how many had done this,
so I was unable to determine if everyone who wanted to travel on the bus was on
board at departure time. A dash back to the railway to double check matters
resulted in a slightly late departure for our short trip to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Station.
As noted above, the line is now fully open, but
there is still much to do. The original passenger service ceased as long ago as
1947 and the station building did not survive. In time a Midland Railway style
replica will be constructed but in the meantime portable buildings must
suffice. Most services on the railway are run with DMUs
and the line’s 2-car Metro-Cammell unit was
ready with the 14.20 departure on which we travelled to Duffield. It was in very good, clean condition
internally, something which cannot be said of DMUs on
some other preserved lines. The platform at Duffield has been totally rebuilt
and is adjacent to the Network Rail station, though the track connection has
been severed. The line can currently only accommodate one train at a time,
though a passing loop is under construction at Shottle
which will enable the railway to increase train frequency.
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Some of the party on board
the Metro-Cammell DMU |
M79900 at Ravenstor. |
Visitors to Wirksworth can
also take a trip on the short, former mineral only branch up a 1 in 27 gradient
to Ravenstor. On the day of our visit the train on
that line was due to have been steam powered, but a fault led to an interesting
substitute being employed. This was none other than car M79900, the Derby
Lightweight single unit that later became Test Car “Iris” at the
Railway Technical Centre in Derby. Now fully restored as a passenger carrying
vehicle, this was a rare treat. The shot above, at Ravenstor,
also shows how narrow gauge tipper wagons were used to transfer limestone to
the standard gauge line.
Our visit over, we set off at 16.30. Buxton has
been something of a magnet for LUPTS Tours over the years, so by way of a
change we headed south for a few miles, parallel to the EVR,
before turning west to arrive in Ashbourne for a chip
shop stop. Well fed, we said goodbye to
the Cope party and continued towards Leek, pausing in a lay-by at a place
called Dirty Gutter for a group photograph.
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Passing through Congleton we then joined the M6 and
after a brief stop at Knutsford Services arrived back
in Liverpool slightly earlier than planned at 20.05. Some members of the party
then adjourned to The Vernon Arms on Dale Street to attempt to continue
conversation in a very crowded and noisy bar. The organiser retired after one
drink as he had a Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust
event to attend in Morecambe early the following day, but others are known to
have proceeded to The Railway in Tithebarn Street to
continue socialising.
Thanks
are due to Rob Marsh for assistance in planning and on the day.
Jonathan Cadwallader
Sunday 6 May 2012
LUPTS Sunday event: Southport – 'England’s Classic Resort'
Report
and pictures awaited.
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Last updated: 10 November 2014
© Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2012