RAILWAY : NEWS UPDATE : No.28 8 NOVEMBER 2009

NETWORK RAIL COMPLETE RECONNECTION WORK NOW ON A BOARD GAME

• PROJECT CONNECT : Work has been completed with the re-ballasting and re-profiling at Broken Banks, the line is now fully restored to use for all traffic at this point. The RMS crew are taking a one week well deserved break before returning to carry on with the remaining re- sleepering between Witton le Wear and . The Level Crossing documentation for this section has been completed and we are now in the consultation process. There are no issues in any of the responses so far received. Work has also been carried out on the area of waterlogged track between and Bishop Auckland ( see photos below). ( A Gregory, T Horner)

Two views of the Unimog Vactor Road/Rail Unit which visited the Weardale Railway to assist with clearing blocked drainage near Bishop Auckland/Escomb. ( Photos ; T Horner)

• NEW JUNIOR CLUB VIDEO: Just posted on the net is an excellent 18 minute video covering all the Junior club activities in 2009, including the Royal naming of Tornado where club members met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall the return of steam to Weardale,helping with the push towards Bishop Auckland, NYMR Steam Gala and Award Scheme First Class trips to London2009 War on the Line event where members played the part of evacuees and Tyne Tees TV News item. A salute then to Dave Million and Mike Wilkinson and all the Juniors for their magnificent contribution throughout the year. Here are the links :- http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/WRJC_2009/?action=view¤t=WRDVD2009v4.flv • http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/WRJC_2009/?action=view¤t=WRjc2009WebPart2.flv

• MARKETING NEWS : The new 2010 timetable has been approved by management and will be going to the printers shortly. Based on an analysis of this years results there will be fewer midweek services outside of the main school holidays services. Provision will be made to issue a revised timetable to incorporate some services extended to and through Bishop Auckland once we have full Network Rail Certification and ORR permission to operate public services on the section east of . There will be no price changes on the Wolsingham – Stanhope section. A 16 page publicity brochure for tourist offices, groups and organised tours is being prepared for use in 2010. ( I Gardner)

• DURHAM BOOK FESTIVAL AT STANHOPE STATION : Author Andrew Martin took part in the event on Sunday 1st November, unfortunately in coincided with one of the wettest days of the year. River levels rose dangerously (see photo) but not enough to close the railway or to stop the hardy souls who did venture out on the day. Claire Malcolm the Director of the Durham book festival wrote to John Askwith: Many thanks for your help with the event yesterday. I’m sad that we didn’t get more people there but in the end with the weather I think were lucky to be able to fit everyone into the café room! Andrew was very taken with the railway.”

November 1st, bridge 28 near Stanhope with WRJC member Stephen Bowes has his copy the river at its height, It subsided in the after- of ‘Last train to Scarborough’ signed by noon. (Photo : J Askwith) author Andrew Martin. (Photo: J Askwith)

• WOLSINGHAM DEPOT : Reproduced below is a photo of the depot from the railway side showing the extent of the clear out of stock which has taken place over the last few weeks. With road access complete, work is now underway on building or rebuilding the walls and fences around the depot area. With the progressive demolition of the old steelworks the depot is now more exposed to view from the village side of the site . Work on preparing the depot to handle freight is also underway. More on this in later Updates.

Wolsingham Depot – with site clearance well underway and preparations in Mark Woodhams gives the starting signal at hand for the new freight facility. (Both photos : J Askwith) Stanhope on November 1st

• WEARDALE RAILWAY – NOW ON A BOARD GAME: Last week saw the launching of a version of the board game, Monopoly. The Weardale railway appears as one of the Railway places on the board – yours for 200M – the new Monopoly International money. More than 20 other familiar landmarks are included . The game was invented in 1935 in the USA , it has now spread round the world and is played in 37 languages. It will be in local shops for Christmas. Thanks to Arthur Temple and Brian Walker for their help in getting the Railway featured . See the full article here : - http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4713513.All_systems_Go_for_Durham_Monopoly/

Imogen Bristow from Barnard Castle, a prizewinner helped From the publicity pamphlet for the Darligton launch the new Durham version of Monopoly. The Weardale Bank Top Station Centenary. Note the 1987 Railway place is in the middle of the left hand side. prices, £4 return Darlington – Eastgate.

• RECEOVED VIA THE WEBSITE: “ I travelled by train on 29 June 1987 from Darlington to Eastgate and back and still have two return tickets! I am unable to recall whether this was a one off "Special" or part of a regular service. I wonder if there is any member who can throw any light on this matter for me.” Paul. Over to our Archivist and magazine editor, John Askwith, for the answer : “ Darlington Bank Top station celebrated its centenary in 1987. Three evening excursions to Eastgate and two to Redmire were organised by BR. See reproduction above.

• SANTA NEEDS HELP : Dave Million asks for your assistance in covering the many roles that are needed to operate our Santa service – he needs 14 people each day – in addition to the train crew and operating staff ( another 8 volunteers) . Reproduced below are the headings for the roster- please contact Dave as soon as possible . Operating days are every Saturday and Sunday from November 28th to December 20, plus December 1,2 9, 14,16, 21,22,23 and 24. Also don’t forget the mince pie specials which run from December 26 to January 1. Here is a section of the roster :-

Wolsi Helper Helper Train Gift Griddle Wolsi Junior Cl Café Check Entertainment Date Santa (Adult) (Junior) Stewards Shop Car Shop Tombola in Number 1 1 1/2 2 3 1 2 1 1 1 req'd Your Name Here Please Sat

• SANTA TRAIN BOOKINGS : According to our Marketing man, Ian Gardner, we are running ahead of last years bookings by about 2 weeks . Four trains are already sold out and ten extra midweek ‘specials’ are also now booked for school and other groups. • MESSAGE FROM TRUST CHAIRMAN, KEVIN HILLARY : With the forthcoming AGM (November 14th) I hope as many Trust members as possible are available to attend, I look forward to seeing you there After a very busy year, and all of the successful events we have organised and run, our thoughts turn to the busiest time of all, as we look forward to the visit of Santa himself every weekend from 28th of November, and the week leading up to Christmas. With the bookings coming in thick and fast it looks like it will be a very busy time indeed, making this year the most successful ever for the Railway. With the work going very well towards Bishop Auckland, it looks like a very exiting year ahead is in prospect, could we see passenger trains run all the way from Bishop Auckland to Eastgate? the likely hood looks very good indeed. We also have the possibility of freight traffic on the railway next year, if this comes to fruition it becomes even more exiting, and more daunting due to the fact we will have to integrate passenger and freight trains, these will be of course addressed in the coming weeks and months. So much as been achieved this year with the support from BARS and with the increase in passenger figures things only get better, lets all work together to make the Weardale Railway bigger and better.

• Some recent emails : • Just (received News Update No 27 ) It is very upbeat and makes pleasing news all around. So good to know that the railway is making real progress after the dark days. Have put the AGM in my diary. Yours sincerely : Robert

• Thanks for the WR Newsletter. I would like to receive it regularly and look forward to travelling on the line. : Dr Martin P Higginson, Transport Operations Research Group, Newcastle University

• D & C RAILWAY 31452 OUT AND ABOUT : As reported in the last Update, onetine Weardale resident Class 31 loco, 31452, has now become the first loco to be painted in the new D & C Railway colours. The Devon & Cornwall Railway is part of the BARS group to which the Weardale Railway belongs and it has now leased out the loco to Network Rail for infrastructure work. It has been seen at King’s cross station on October 20th.(see photo) and has also been observed working between Ferme Park and Bounds Green on the ECML. Two other Bars locos 31601 and 31454 are currently being rerstored for serevice and will also be painted in the D & C r colours as will the 08 shunter at Wolsingham. ( A Gregory)

31452 in the suburban platforms at Kings Cross. Thanks to Wayne 31452 at East Leake on the Great Central Railway. Thanks to Wayne Radford for this photo. See his other photographs at to Andrew Thomas for this photo. See this and his other http://wayne-radford.fotopic.net/p61682361.html photos at : http://andrewthomas.fotopic.net/

• GENERAL MANAGER POSITION : Applications are now closed and a shortlist is being developed for interview during the next few weeks.

• RAILWAY THANKS : In a July issue of these updates I included a piece about our volunteers helping out on the Wensleydale line with assistance in vegetation clearance. This help has now been recognised by an article in their magazine ‘Relay’ the article and a photo are reproduced below . Now we can hope to welcome some of their volunteers travelling up to Weardale on an exchange visit.

• NETWORK RAIL CONNECTION – LINE CLEARED : If you compare the pictures above and below with ones published here earlier you will see that Network Rail crews have cleared there section of the ‘through line’ which connects to the Weardale Railway. So the stretch of line from our junction at Bishop Auckland to Depot Limits at Wolsingham becomes part of a section which starts at Shildon box. The weekly notice now states : “When not in use, the train staff is kept in the Network Rail signal box at Shildon. When required for movements originating on the Weardale Railway, or for engineering possessions, it is to be obtained from the Network Rail Signaller at that location.” ( Photos : K Hillary, J Askwith)

• KINGS CROSS – STANHOPE CHARTER TRAIN : The UK Railtours charter train scheduled to visit Stanhope on the February 19th next year is now marked as being ‘Limited Availability’ It has both Standard and First Class accommodation – with dining in first class. Weardale Railway volunteers will be needed to board at Shildon to act as marshals . More on this later.

• WITTON LE WEAR CABIN : Volunteers continue the work to restore the cabin at the level crossing to use. All exterior work is complete and work is now proceeding on the interior cladding and fitting of a workbench. Electricity is now restored. Water and phoneline connections are still required. ( T Hewitt)

• No 40 : GETTING READY FOR SANTA : After obtaining the detailed drawings it was apparent that the troublesome axle bearing had been modified in a way that was probably causing, or at least contributing to the overheating. A new bearing is being machined to the precise specifications. Steve Race and his co workers have meanwhile been polishing and reprofiling the axle. The plans are to have the loco reassembled and ready to test run by November 21. The PIC believes these modifications should enable the loco to operate for the Santa trains.

• AGM : NOVEMBER 14 : 10.00am in St Thomas Church Hall . Followed by pie and peas lunch and a journey from Stanhope to Wolsingham and on to Harperley and perhaps beyond? Tickets for this special will be handed out to Trust Members only and who also attend the meeting – special tickets will be issued at the meeting.

• WEARDALE RAILWAY WEBSITE : Frank Holmes has been progressively moving all the sections over from the old website. One page you should visit is the SHOP area – where if you click through via http://buy.at/WeardaleRailway link on that page ( you need to enter the shop page first) and you can access a whole range of companies with special offers who also make a contribution to the Railway – Examples are : M & S, Littlewoods, Amazon. National Express, HMV, Mothercare , Thorntons and many more. Do your Christmas shopping on line and help the Railway.

• 141 UNITS IN THE NEWS : John Askwith reports : The latest “Today’s Railways” UK magazine is doing a feature on the BRE-Leyland Railbus concept. Part one in the December 2009 edition looks at the single car prototypes and classes 140 & 141. Obviously the Weardale Railway gets a mention in the comprehensive twelve page article. So to finish here is one of John’s photographs of our 141- it has been the mainstay of our services in 2009 and seldom, if ever lets us down Edited by G C Mudd : 8 November 2009