Edition 179 RAIL LINK May 2019 News and information from the Railway Association (Trust) and plc

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY BRANCH MEETINGS - held at the Cricket Club, Farndale Avenue, Mondays at 19.30. Everyone is welcome. You do not need to be a WRA(T) member to attend. Monday 20 th May - AGM followed by a presentation by Helen Ashworth & Rebekah Jerram, Wensleydale Railway plc TRAIN SERVICES – During May there will be services every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus Bank Holiday Mondays. The 2019 railway advertising leaflet can be downloaded from - https://wr-rail-link.co.uk/download/2019-WR-Timetable.pdf TORNADO IS RETURNING! Tickets are on sale for our steam services, footplate experiences and afternoon tea service on Tornado in May and June! TEDDY BEAR AFTERNOON TEA ON TORNADO - To celebrate a certain bears favourite locomotive we are hosting on 19 th May a teddy bear themed afternoon tea on Tornado complete with marmalade sandwiches! Teddy Bears travel free, so don’t forget to bring yours and please note this event is suitable for children and adults alike! We will set of at 14.15 from Leeming Bar Station and travel west up to Redmire with glorious views of Penhill before returning to Leeming Bar at 17.00 approximately. Tickets are: Adult £32.50 and Child (14 years and under) £17.50. For more details and to book, see https://www.wensleydalerail.com/future-events/ or ring the office on 01677 425 805. WHIRLWIND EXPRESS ON TORNADO - All aboard the FIRST EVER non-stop run of a steam engine on the Wensleydale Railway since it reopened! The Whirlwind Express will begin at Leeming Bar and travel to Northallerton West, then Redmire and then back to Leeming Bar over 44 miles of track. Your journey will begin at 6.30pm at Leeming Bar on 31 st May and will return to Leeming Bar at approximately 9.00pm. There will be a bar on board serving a wide selection of drinks, savoury nibbles and sweet cakes. For more details and to book, see https://www.wensleydalerail.com/future-events/ or ring the office on 01677 425 805. PHOTO SHOOT OF TORNADO AT SCRUTON STATION - A rare photo opportunity is occurring on May 21 st at our award-winning heritage Scruton Station. The iconic steam locomotive Tornado will be pulling into the station at 7pm where it will remain for 2hrs allowing visitors to get some terrific shots of the engine at our picturesque station at sunset and into the early evening. The station will be open from 6.30pm and refreshments will be available. Photo pass tickets are £5 per person. For more details and to book, see https://www.wensleydalerail.com/future-events/ or ring the office on 01677 425 805. THE BOTTOMLESS PROSECCO COCKTAIL TRAIN is back by popular demand! - Join us on May 11 th for an evening of fun, laughter and bottomless bubbles on a Wensleydale Railway event train into The Dales! A selection of bottomless prosecco and cava cocktails will be served throughout the journey for £32.00, which includes return train travel from Leeming Bar station. If prosecco cocktails are not to your taste, instead you can receive three beer/cider tokens with train travel for £25.00. Extra real ale will be available to purchase from our bar. We also have a train ride only ticket available for £15. For more details and to book, see https://www.wensleydalerail.com/future-events/ or ring the office on 01677 425 805. WENSLEYALE 2019 - We are proud to announce that WensleyAle 2019 will take place at Redmire station from Friday 24 th to Sunday 26 th May. Including 40+ Ales, Gin, Prosecco, Live Music, Street food and of course Tornado. And if this is not enough 37250 will be returning to service over the weekend as well. See http://wensleyale.com/wp/ for more details. SATURDAY MAY 11 (SETTLE) - A general and widespread invitation is extended to friends, contacts and beneficiaries (even if they did not know him personally) of the remarkable public transport knowledge and campaigning work of the late Dr John Disney. Amongst his national achievements was being part of the team that provides local DalesBus services in the . For more details see below. FATHERS DAY AFTERNOON TEA TRAIN - Treat your top Dad to a scenic journey through the Yorkshire Dales all while enjoying a locally produced afternoon tea served at your table of one of our heritage carriages. It will be accompanied by unlimited tea and coffee and all the Dads on board will receive a bottle of Yorkshire Ale! There will also be a bar on board for additional drinks. We will set of at 14.15 on the 16 th June from Leeming Bar Station. Tickets are: Adult £32.50 and Child – 12 years and under £17.50. For more details and to book, see https://www.wensleydalerail.com/future-events/ or ring the office on 01677 425 805. LONDON BASED MEMBERS’ VISIT To The Nene Valley Railway on 13 th July 2019. See lower down in the newsletter for details of this visit. ------Page 1 of 7

NEWS FROM THE WR PLC BOARD At the April Board meeting, there was the usual debate over finances with good news that the oper-ating profit appears to be some £8,000 greater than the previous year (though the accounts are not yet final). Costs are higher however, but the draft report for the financial year was agreed to show an encouraging picture. Plans for the next Tornado visit are well in hand and advance ticket sales are healthy, although continuing efforts to maximise the benefits of the visit are to be made. The very welcome announcement of the HLF grant towards the refurbishment of the Leeming Bar Station House was received with great pleasure and the team (particularly David Walker and Virginia Arrowsmith) who had done a tremendous amount of work in the application were warmly congratulated by the Board. It had been agreed earlier that the building would be leased or sold to the Trust as part of the conditions applied by the HLF and it was agreed that a sale is the preferred option. Plans for the accommodation needs while the refurbishment is undertaken were discussed. Provisional ideas for increasing office space are being considered. A positive response to the “advertisement” to try to find a Chair for the Board had been followed up and it is hoped that there will be an announcement by the time of the next report from the Board. The Board discussed the monthly reports from Terry Larder, Rebekah Jerram, Helen Ashworth and Virginia Arrowsmith. A good start has been made in compiling risk assessments and it was agreed that a safety topic would be selected each month for publication in Rail Link. Events and Volunteering reports showed on or ahead of target progress and the plans for the coming season for heritage and education were approved. A grant of £2,000 has been awarded from the MOD for the costs of the Armed Forces Day on 29 June. Phil Smith

RAILWAY NEWS FROM THE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR Jon, Rebekah and myself passed our Crossing Keepers Exam earlier this month as part of the Railway’s plan to train more staff for crossings/guarding and driving so watch this space as we continue to be assessed. The 30 volunteers who visited Keighley & Worth Valley Railway earlier this month enjoyed a great day out riding on the line and visiting their numerous goods and maintenance sheds!! Thanks to Phil Smith for organising. We are planning a visit for volunteers to the British Steel railway in the autumn too. Next year KWVR celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Railway Children film that made the Railway famous. Rebekah and myself met the manager of Bolton Castle a couple of weeks ago and agreed the continuation of the joint ticketing arrangement between the Castle and the Railway. Bolton Castle are also having a stall/presence at WensleyAle Festival this year too. WensleyAle Festival - I have been busy approaching local businesses for sponsorship for various aspects of the Festival from the Gin Bar to the casks of beer and cider. Taplin and Mageean, the new gin distillery based at Station are sponsoring the Gin Bar providing their 4 different gins to sell and are giving informal gin talks during the Festival. Last weekend’s Gin Train featured their gins and was hugely successful with 97 people on board. Neil Guest’s Matrix Power has generously sponsored the beer glasses and we have a brand new WensleyAle logo this year for the first time ever – again a corporate sponsor. If you or any of your contacts businesses would be interested in sponsoring a cask for £75 or anything else please get in touch with me as a company can offset it against their tax. Rebekah has a pile of A4 posters and flyers for WensleyAle Festival if anyone can help with distributing them around the Dales but also wider afield please. The flyers have just arrived in the office and so have not been placed in any outlets yet so any help would be much appreciated to get them into camping sites, B&Bs, hotels, tourist information, libraries and generally shops . However we have paid for the WensleyAle Festival flyer to be inserted into Today distributed to Reeth, , Redmire etc which should land on doormats early May. Volunteers’ Summer Party – Friday 24 May As part of the WensleyAle Festival we would like to invite all volunteers to the opening night on Friday 24 th May at 6pm till 9pm at Redmire Station with a free train leaving Leeming Bar at 16.35 and returning from Redmire at 9pm arriving at Leeming Bar 21.58. The Summer Party is free to volunteers and is to say thank you and to celebrate various successes on the Railway and includes 2 beer tokens, a BBQ with a quiz at £1 per person. Partners are most welcome and we shall ask for a contribution donation on the evening. If you would like to attend please email: [email protected] Helen Ashworth

Page 2 of 7 LEEMING BAR LAMPPOSTS A HUGE thank you to Neil Guest and the team at Matrix Power for designing and installing our new lamps along Leeming Bar platform. They look absolutely wonderful and will increase our limited visibility on an evening at Leeming Bar Station. Rebekah Jerram

ALAN KITCHEN Alan was one of the first to join the newly formed Direct Works Team 12 years ago when our initial job was to work on the recently arrived North Wootton (Norfolk) Signal Box and erect it at Leeming Bar. He met up with Bill Simmon (the two lived in ) and they travelled together to our Railway every Wednesday. After the Signal Box was opened, Alan moved on to Signal Box which was another major task involving full reroofing the Grade II building, and involved complete redecoration in the cabin and on the ground floor. Alan, with Bill, sorted out the external steps as well. After a period of work at Redmire Dairy, Alan became very involved in the beginning of the restoration at Scruton Station. He worked on the roof drilling dozens of slates; mixing cement by the barrow load; digging out the base; helping to put in the new floor; and many other tasks. Once the station was opened he continued with more work at the station and other locations on our Railway. Alan and Bill turned up on Fridays and ran the on-train buffet for many a year. Being a local lad, and remembering the lines around Northallerton in his youth, he gave passengers a detailed presentation on the Railway including many anecdotes. He also helped Virginia Arrowsmith with the oral history project interviewing members of the Gill family who purchased Leeming Bar station after the closure of the line. For 12 years Alan was a stalwart in the team and was greatly liked by all. His words of encouragement and help were well respected. We will miss him a great deal. To his wife, Thelma and her family, everyone on the railway extends their deepest sympathy. Alan – Rest in Peace. John Tong

LONDON BASED MEMBERS - SAVE THE DATE – 13TH JULY 2019 Each year a trip to another has been arranged for members based in and around London and this year it is proposed to venture further afield and visit the Nene Valley Railway; Nene Valley Station is a short walk from the main line station with regular trains from King’s Cross. The green timetable applies on 13th July on the Nene Valley with the first train from Peterborough at 11.00 and the last train from Wansford arrives at Peterborough at 16.00. All trains are steam hauled and include refreshment facilities. If you would like to join the Group please let Judith Hunter know by email: [email protected] or by telephone 020 7350 0499 mobile 07773 532 384 so we can all meet up and confirm arrangements for the day. Peterborough Station is served by both LNER and Thameslink; time taken and fares vary on both services. For example the Thameslink train at 09.13 from King’s Cross arrives at 10.40, taking 1hr 27m. The LNER train departing at 09.27 arrives at 10.16. Judith Hunter

250 CLUB WINNERS FOR MARCH 2019 1st Prize £100 No 279 Mr P Fowler, Northallerton 2nd Prize £75 No 362 Mr J Forrester, Pontefract 3rd Prize £55 No 161 Mr J Savage, Tring 4th Prize £35 No 759 Mr R Beardmore, Leeds 5th Prize £30 No 386 A & C Richardson, Ilkley Margaret Smith

VISIT TO KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY On 15 th April, 31 volunteers and staff had a very enjoyable one day visit to the KWVR. Most travelled by coach from Leyburn, Bedale and Leeming Bar and we were met at Oxenhope by KWVR volunteers, who hosted us for the day. We visited their workshops, carriage sheds and museums and were shown much of their “behind the scenes” activities as well as, of course, travelling along their historic line hauled by steam! We very much appreciated their efforts in planning the day. The main purpose was to try to learn from another heritage railway; they are much longer established and have many more facilities. The visit gave us much to consider and to aim at for the future. However, I may be biased, but I thought that WR stands up well in comparison and there is much that we are doing right!

Page 3 of 7 I am trying to put together a report of things we did learn and ideas we could put forward for the future so I would be grateful to receive any feedback from participants in the visit. Phil Smith

NORTHALLERTON BRANCH REPORT Our speaker at the April Meeting was Tony Lord of the A1 Steam Railway Trust. Unfortunately the audience was only about 20 people as some Members were enjoying the visit to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and did not return in time for the Meeting. Tony brought us up to date with Tornado with pictures of various stages of construction, and details of operating the locomotive over its first ten years. Tony also described progress with the new P2 locomotive Prince of which is under construction at Darlington. Both locos vary in some aspects with the original designs, and where possible common components are used in an effort to standardise construction. For example, the Tornado boiler is also used in the P2 with minor differences, but as the P2 boiler was about 18 inches longer than the A1, an extended smokebox is used to bridge the gap. John Ellis

NORTHALLERTON BRANCH MEETING MONDAY, 20 th MAY. The final Branch meeting of the season takes place on Monday, 20th May, commencing 19.30 at the usual venue, Northallerton Cricket Club, Farndale Avenue. The meeting starts with the AGM, which is usually fairly brief, quickly followed by an 'in-house' presentation by Helen Ashworth and Rebekah Jerram, "New Tracks". Helen is the W.R.'s Volunteer Coordinator & Lead Fundraiser, while Rebekah is our Events Manager. This will be a very interesting and informative evening with the two members of the W.R. team who have had considerable success in their respective roles. Come along and hear their thoughts and ideas for our Railway's next phase. We recommence on Monday, 16 th September. David Hart.

NEWSLETTER PHOTOS OF THE MONTH This month we have : 1. 37250 in service. 2. Various photos from Leyburn. 3. Our promotional stand at Settle Model Railway Show 4. A newly arrived tank engine at Leeming Bar which needs some work! 5. Bedale Station Group repairing and painting Aiskew Crossing fencing. 6. Various photos at Bedale 7. Bridge and signal box bases being built at Leyburn. 8. The Direct Works Team rebuilding the former Wickhan Trolley shed at Scruton 9. Replacement of Finghall Lane Level Crossing. 10. Work by the Vegetation Clearance Group 11. The Infrastructure Group moving the shed access points in Leeming Bar yard 12. A visit to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway by some of our volunteers The monthly photos can be found at https://photos.wr-rail-link.co.uk/2019/2019-04.php . For more pictures of the Finghall level crossing replacement see - https://photos.wr-rail-link.co.uk/infrastructure/finghall-2.php . Please send photos for future newsletters to [email protected] . Timothy Edwards (Rail Link Editor)

BACK ISSUES OF RELAY + OTHER HERITAGE RAILWAY & RAILWAY SOCIETY MAGAZINES On sale in Leyburn Station Shop on Train operating days. Latest stock list and full sales details can be downloaded from: https://wr-rail-link.co.uk/download/Magazines-of-Heritage-Railways.pdf Further information and offers - contact Paul Kenyon Tel: 01748 824249, Email: [email protected] Paul Kenyon

WANTED / DO YOU WANT This section is for any railway group to list items they are looking for and also for anyone to offer items to the railway that they no longer need. If anyone has any wants/offers for this section please send them to [email protected] .

Page 4 of 7 TRAINING DEPARTMENT REPORT April has been quieter than March with only a single person for Induction and two for PRS recertification. There has been more activity on the Level Crossing Keeper training and assessment. There have been two courses run, six people who have been on the course for new Crossing Keepers, including three PLC employees from the Main Office and three recertifications. The program of assessments for 2019 has started and will continue throughout the year with 30 assessments to be carried out. George Hogg will be finalising the Track Walker course very shortly and courses should begin in May. George has also agreed to act as an Assessor for Track Walkers and PICOWs, a position that was proving difficult to fill so a big Thank You to George for the work put in and the work to come. Dates for the courses will be set soon. Melvyn Bailey has also been very busy and has now completed the First Aid courses. There are several Emergency First Aid courses (one day courses) and these are for Guards, PICOWs and others including station staff that have public-facing roles. There are also two First Aid at Work courses which are primarily intended for paid staff or anyone that works each day. The schedule for the courses is below. There are six places on each course so if you would like to book onto a course please contact Training and Assessment on [email protected] . Again, a big Thank You to Melvyn for all of his hard work. Other issues are the electricity supply to the Training Office which failed temporarily but has now been fixed and we have high quality electricity available again (thanks Timothy and Peter). Andy Glendinning has been working on the WiFi at Bedale and a signal can just about be detected in the Training Office and should be significantly improved shortly. This makes life easier for the training staff. A big Thank You to Andy for his help. It can be seen from the above that the training facilities are starting to get stretched.

Month Course Dates

June 2019 Emergency First Aid Sat 15 th Wed 19 th July 2019 Emergency First Aid Wed 3 rd Sat 20 th Sun 28 th September 2019 Emergency First Aid Wed 18 th Sun 29 th October 2019 Emergency First Aid Sun 20 th Wed 23 rd November 2019 Emergency First Aid Wed 20 th December 2019 First Aid at Work (3 day course, the Wed 4 th three dates cover the single course) Wed 11 th Wed 18 th January 2020 First Aid at Work (3 day course, the Wed 8 th three dates cover the single course) Wed 15 th Wed 22 nd Bob Coombs

A RAILWAY-THEMED WEEK-END: JULY 27/28 Sunday May 19 is the start date for any changes being made to the national rail timetable, including scheduled train services at each end of Wensleydale i.e on the (Northallerton station) and the Leeds-Settle- Carlisle line ( station). Availability of the revised Leeds-Settle-Carlisle train times and connecting bus services will be followed in mid-May by publication of the detailed programme for a railway-themed week-end, to be held in Upper Wensleydale on July 27/28. Ruth Annison

Page 5 of 7 SATURDAY MAY 11 (SETTLE) A general and widespread invitation is extended to friends, contacts and beneficiaries (even if they did not know him personally) of the remarkable public transport knowledge and campaigning work of the late Dr John Disney. Amongst his national achievements was being part of the team that provides local DalesBus services in the Yorkshire Dales - including the No 856 through bus service from Northallerton to Hawes every Sunday (and most Bank Holidays) throughout the year. A Memorial Day - open to everyone - has been arranged to celebrate John's life and commitment to rural transport. The event will be held in Settle on Saturday May 11, with a choice of guided walks (and a town historical walk for less energetic walkers), followed by a Reception at the Royal Oak, Settle, at 3.45pm. Although all the events are free, it would greatly help the organisers to have names and numbers in advance, either via www.foscl.org.uk, www.sandctrust.org.uk or to John Carey on 01943 875445. file can be downloaded from https://wr-rail-link.co.uk/download/John Disney May 19 Flyer.pdf Ruth Annison

IN SEARCH OF MR. WOODIWISS Arrangements for the event - titled In Search of Mr. Woodiwiss - include a special welcome for descendants of Benton and Woodiwiss, the contractors who built many nineteenth century railways and railway structures (including the Garsdale-Hawes branch line in Wensleydale). However the week-end is a public event with everyone welcome. On Saturday (July 27) there will be morning and afternoon talks in Hawes, timed to fit in with trains from Leeds to Garsdale and from Carlisle to Garsdale, as well as bus services from Leyburn to Hawes. On Sunday, there will be a guided walk from Hawes to Garsdale station which is timed to fit in with Leeds-Settle-Carlisle trains. Also on Sunday (only) the DalesBus No 856, a through bus from Northallerton-Bedale-Leyburn--Bainbridge-Hawes, will passengers joining the guided walk at Hawes (please check all your public transport times with the relevant operator before travelling). For those who would like to include the Hawes events in a mini-break, there is a good choice of local accommodation - but it's wise to book early for the last week-end in July. Information from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centre, Hawes tel 01969 666210 and www.yorkshiredales.org Ruth Annison

DIRECT WORKS TEAM (DWT) The team has been busy progressing the restoration of the Wickham Trolley Shed and various works at Leeming Bar Station. The WTS now has all of its ‘wriggly tin’ wall and roof panels fitted, we have yet to source and fit the ridge pieces. The shed will be fully insulated and provided with an electrical supply. The power tools kindly donated to the railway will be installed in due course to provide a machining workshop. We are hoping to have this completed in time to enter into this year’s heritage railway awards. The works at Leeming Bar have seen a general clean up, re-fitting of the anti-trespass gates to the platform end and support to the contractor working to clear the drains. Regrettably this work remains on-going with the Victorian sewers having completely blocked. Further work was also carried out to keep the portable toilets working. New drains will be installed as part of the National Lottery Heritage Awards grant funded project, with the aim of completing that part of the works by October. Sadly we lost one of our long serving team mates Alan Kitchen. Alan has provided the DWT reports for several years, I will now do my best to keep you informed of the team’s work. His death was unexpected and has saddened all of us greatly, our sympathy goes to his family and his many friends. See the obituary on Alan elsewhere in this newsletter. David Walker

INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT Late March into early April saw the very successful replacement of the sleepers and deck of Finghall Level Crossing. A great deal of planning, organising, sourcing and ordering of all the components went into this task superbly led by Andy Chapman. A works train provided by Ops delivered most of the items to the site including 3 loaded hoppers filled with ballast. Jim Wareing and Roger Lees provided the skills and technical know how to ensure the cill beams were installed with millimetre accuracy so that the Polysafe deck fitted precisely in position, There was an excellent turnout by members of both Infrastructure Teams from Leeming & Leyburn and other tasks in Finghall Station area were also undertaken including removing a small track twist and levelling the track throughout the length of the platform which has settled after a previous resleepering job. The job was completed in just over 5 days and the road was re-opened 6 hours before the closure order expired. Thank You and well done to all Volunteers and Staff who delivered this project. A lot of cutting back of vegetation and drainage work has been done on the railway this month. The combined efforts of the Vegetation Team & Leeming Infrastructure team have tackled the stretch of line area east of Leeming cutting back trees, brambles & ivy on part of the line which has been rather neglected as there is no regular passenger services here at the moment. Leyburn team have been tackling overgrown undergrowth and drainage issues in the deep cuttings west of Leyburn

Page 6 of 7 Work has also been done to extend the north siding in Leeming Bar yard to provide extra storage with Infrastructure members assisting Rob Williamson & Andy Tarran from Harry Needle Railway Company in this task . Andy Waite

EDITORIAL REMARKS Our railway could not run without our volunteers and staff who put in much work in so many different ways. If you would like to become a volunteer please email [email protected] Thanks to everyone who has sent me contributions and...... Deadline for the next newsletter is 19:00 on 31 st May to - [email protected] Timothy Edwards (Editor)

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