CRUG AUTUMN 2017 Newsletter .Cdr
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opeland Newsletter C Autumn 2017 ail R sers U CRUG meengs roup CRUG meengs are usually on the second G Saturday of each month at Seascale Methodist Church hall at 1350. Next meengs are Saturdays 16 (not 9) September, 11 November and 9 December. However the 14 October meeng is at the new Ray museum at 1400. All welcome Kingmoor open day – a brief encounter The weather for Kingmoor Open Day on 22 July was uncertain. However, I decided to venture forth with my going-out bags, which contained a plasc mac. The 0928 train from Flimby came on me and arrived promptly at Carlisle. There were quite a few railway enthusiasts on plaorm 1 who appeared to be waing for a special train. I asked a gentleman from York about it, and he said that the Photos: Ann Walker-Bayliss train was a charter from Bristol. This train did not arrive at the me specified, so some people departed to catch the number 76 St Ann's Hill bus in English Street. The queue was long and when the bus came people were packed inside ghtly, akin to sardines! The bus stopped outside The Redfern and we walked down the Eerby Road for nearly Scots Guardsman at Ravenglass Page 1 Photo - Nigel Day ten minutes. The Kingmoor depot was to the right past the railway bridge. It had been much easier to get there than expected. The entrance fee was £5, which went to charies. On the site were several stalls. Some were selling model trains and accessories. Others sold fridge magnets etc. Also three stalls were promong groups. These were the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservaon Society, the Inter-City Associaon and the Naonal Wagon Preservaon Group. The police and fire service had an outpost for queries. Two vans were supplying snacks and drinks for wayfarers, with tables and chairs nearby. Several Portaloos were available, a most important factor at any public gathering! Further on was the maintenance area, where the 88008 Ariadne was lied up for inspecon. To the right, three more diesels were stored: 88002 Prometheus, 88004 Pandora and unnamed 66427. A short distance away was Concrete Bob, seen on our line. On the other side of the area were DRS 68029 London on a Mission, 88006 Juno and 88003 Genesis. These were near the washing plant and storage tanks. Other diesels in the area were 37529, 57010 and 57312. There was a queue waing to enter the driver's cab of 57302 Chad Varah, named aer the founder of The Samaritans. It was a privilege for me to be able to fulfil this dream. A DRS gentleman guided me through the body of the loco. It was dark and narrow, an experience never to be forgoen. Aerwards I returned through the shed and saw outside the following diesels: Daring, a Scotrail diesel; standing beside that were three more, numbers 68012, 68001 and 68026. Then, through a small gap in the fence appeared the Rapid charter train which had been thought to arrive earlier at Carlisle. A lile distance away on its own was 88001 Aurora. On the way back the clouds darkened considerably. I stopped at the Naonal Wagon Preservaon Group stall to buy a keyring showing a wagon and a fridge magnet which portrayed a Class 37 locomove. Nearing the entrance the new La'al Ray engine was seen on a low-loader. Later on it had a slow journey to Ravenglass. It has been named Whillan Beck aer a water course by the railway. The loco was hauled by road for part of the way by the magnificent tracon engine The Providence which was also on show at Kingmoor. Class 37, 558 Avro Vulcan HX558 was the last diesel near the way out. Page 2 I walked back up Eerby Road, but at the end of the road the rain came down heavily. Some of the many people awaing the number 76 bus, including myself, who did not have a desire to stand in the pouring rain and get drenched through decided to have a meal and/or a drink in The Redfern. When the bus came people dashed out to catch it. I had a delighul talk with a person from Essex who had stayed in Barrow and caught the train that day to visit the depot. It was sll raining at the Citadel and I walked quickly in order to catch the loco-hauled at 1435. Some people were travelling from Dalston to Barrow to enjoy the experience. These locomoves sll aract people. I arrived home at about 1530. I had enjoyed my Brief Encounter with diesels! Ann Walker-Bayliss Note The benefits to the area from this open day included people staying l o c a l l y, u s i n g b u s e s a n d refreshment facilies. Adding this to the amount of revenue to train operang companies from people coming just for the event means that a substanal amount will have been spent locally. The next open day at Kingmoor is expected to be in 2019. Sunday Trains We are now virtually certain that we will have Sunday trains all the way along the line for the first me in 40 years (apart from the one day trial in 2009). May 2018 is when new metables should come into force. At the me of wring Network Rail should be checking that they can be operated successfully. As we said in a Radio Cumbria interview in August, this will benefit residents, businesses, students and tourists (not forgeng that Ravenglass, Bootle and Silecro are in the naonal park, now designated a world heritage site). We have been campaigning for this since CRUG was formed almost 20 years ago and have commented on the dra metables. It will mean people will be able to travel to meengs or educaon in me to start on Monday mornings and towns such as Millom will no longer be cut off on Sunday. Exact mings may change slightly from what we have seen, but we expect a full Sunday service with roughly hourly trains running from Carlisle to Barrow though starng a lile later than on weekdays. This is also a massive improvement for passengers from Whitehaven northwards who have had just four Sunday trains starng in the aernoon for the last few years. Page 3 There are also improvements on weekdays. There should be the same service on Saturdays as during the week, obviang those awkward moments when we try to remember whether the next train is two minutes earlier or later on Saturdays. More importantly, the gaps in the hourly service will be filled in and there will be earlier and later trains than at present, although between Millom and Whitehaven they will sll finish by mid evening. We are concerned that Northern are proposing not stopping all trains at smaller staons (apart from Nethertown and Braystones). This would mean more me between trains than now for some smaller staons at different mes of day. We are likely to lose any through trains from Newcastle and to Preston but get beer connecons in Barrow. We would want to see improved connecons both at Carlisle and Lancaster. There will be less staons treated as request stops, reflecng the increase in use at many smaller staons. Likely first and last connecons based on current main line trains are somewhat beer during the week and there for the first me for most staons on Sundays: In general the proposals are an improvement on what was specified for the franchise last year. By December 2019 we should have all refurbished class 156 trains (the main ones used on the line now) with accessible toilets, two wheelchair spaces, wi-fi, recovered seats and new carpets and customer informaon screens. Some of these are already appearing (though without the wi-fi yet). They will all have four coaches. And no more loco-hauled trains or the old Pacer diesels. Added to this are staon improvements including new shelters, customer informaon screens and cket machines at all but Nethertown and Braystones which will start shortly. So what is next on our wish list? Geng rid of single track where possible or at least having more passing places and then improving the service with half-hourly trains from Carlisle to Whitehaven and Millom to Barrow? Page 4 Pos’ Points Rails According to an arcle in the May issue of In-Cumbria, a business magazine published by CN Group, Network Rail is to invest £400 million in the Cumbrian coastal line. Electrificaon The cancellaon of electrificaon schemes in the north is very disappoinng aer all the Northern Powerhouse promises. As for Mr Grayling saying that passengers don't care whether the train is diesel or electric, those of us with long memories will recall Brish Rail's “Sparks effect”, when once electrificaon schemes were completed, the numbers of passengers soared. There's all this fuss about diesel road vehicles pollung the air, yet the government is going against this by cancelling electrificaon, “removing the need to construct intrusive wires and masts in the Naonal Park”. As part of a movement to protest about the bias towards the south in railway investment, a peon by the think tank IPPR North had aracted 31,000 signatures by 31 July (and 86,000 by the end of August). Diesel electric trains I'm told that Class 769 trains, which are being converted from ex-Thameslink Class 319 electrics by having a diesel engine fied, are to run between Windermere and Manchester Airport from May 2018.