The Flickr Telfordcentralviacrewehopevalleytoyork Image Generatr

* Bamford Station
Finally, impressed by the full, clean, red wagons and the loco, ion contrast to the latter weeks of this years RHTT where the class 37s and 20s and blue tank wagons were hardly recognisable, the rake heads along the down line towards the road over-bridge in the distance and it is this section of track on the left, which is still awaiting is 'Dynamic Goods Loop', a facility which is destined to speed up H.V.L. passenger traffic. This, along with the re-instatement of double track lines through Dore Station, removed long ago in the various rationalisation processes, is set to improve passenger traffic, with an increase in services, between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham; we're just waiting for it to happen as its been in this state for a 'few years' now.. In the distance, just coming this way under the road-bridge is the next passenger service and this is how close it got to ruining the shots of 60017 if the 60 had been a few minutes late or the 195 a little quicker heading up to here. I guess the 195 slowing for the station stop here, helped in not having them both pass through at the same time. 60017 pass was at 12:31:45 and the 195 at 12:33... D.B.S. class 60, 60017, is on the receding, 2400 tonne timing load, 6E18, from the Peak Forest Cemex Sidings over to the Attercliffe Sidings EWS, accessed from the Brightside Sidings on the north-east of Sheffield, with a colourful load of red MWA Bogie Wagons..

A Very Happy Xmas to One and All. More next year, possibly!

* Bamford Station
Luckily as it happened, this forms the basis for this year's 'Flickr Xmas Card' as the greenery of the scene and the red livery of the loco seemed to scream out 'use this for your card'!, so I did, see very last picture. Having set off 15 minutes early I was on the ball making sure I didn't miss the approach as the time-table indicated, unusually, that this was D.B.S., class 60, 'Tug', 60017, and so would make a striking passage as it came though the station with Win Hill, now devoid of bright sunny illumination, in the background. With no chance now of any passenger traction getting in the way of the shot, though alarmingly a class 195 was on its way from Grindleford, away east along the up line behind the camera; the time-table now indicating that the 60 would pass through before the 195. Hauling a longish, 2400 tonne timing load of full, 'MWA red Bogie Wagons', is 60017 on the 6E18, from the Peak Forest Cemex Sidings along to the Cemex works at Attercliffe; the old Sheffield District Railway, latterly EWS sidings, now being used for out-bound scrap moves from the European Metal Recyclers and inbound cement trains bound for the Cemex works next door.

* Bamford Station
* Not quite a Winter Wonderland shown in last year's 'card', but thought this 'festive' enough for the end of the year, 2020.
* And what a year to remember, or maybe quickly forget, in some respects..

Plucked out of the set of shots taken in the Hope Valley at Bamford Station on the 19th December, 2020; this one forming this year's 'Xmas Card' as a thanks you to all the 'enthusiasts' who have looked the pictures and taken the time to comment, appreciate all the efforts they have made.

On this day, a double helping of goodness comes along the Hope Valley, the first is a steam event which I have only seen once before this year along here, last March, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/49634425642/
where 'Saphos Rail' were then operating Britannia 70000, ex-98700, a 'B.R. Standard Class 7, 4-6-2' on a charter from Shrewsbury to York, today the route is slightly different.

Traction seen on this day-
'Saphos Rail Tours' with Southern Railway West Country Class, '4-6-2 Pacific', 37046, ex-98746, 'Braunton' with class 47, 47805, ex-D1935, 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013' at the rear, and also ran, between Telford and Crewe was 47614, ex-47853, on the 'Saphos Christmas White Rose Charter', 1Z60, from Telford Central via Crewe & the Hope Valley to York. And the return from York at around 5pm, was 1Z62, York via the Calder Valley & Crewe, where 'Braunton' came off and was replaced once more by 47614 to Telford Central.
Also today, D.B.S., 'D. B. Shenker Cargo', class 60, 'Tug', 60017, on the 2400 tonne timing load, 6E18, Peak Forest Cemex Sidings to Attercliffe Sidings EWS with a rake of full 'MWA red Bogie Wagons' was the Cemex works at Attercliffe.
And finally, the passenger traction - 'East Midlands Railway' class 153s, 153355, on 1L08 and later, 153308 on 1L09 both operating the Liverpool Lime Street via Sheffield to Norwich service. 'Transpennine Trains' class 185 can also be seen with 'Arriva Livery' on the regular hourly service, 1B73, from Cleethorpes via Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly. And finally, a 'Northern Rail' class 195, 'Civity', 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.', this one 195110, heading for a station stop just after the DBS 60 had cleared away from the station on the 2S81, Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly passenger stopping service.

A Very Happy Xmas to One and All. More next year, possibly!

* 57Mby MP4 phone Video, it is 31s long, so video can be watched within the Flickr interface.
* Thornhill
'Saphos Rail Tours' with Southern Railway West Country Class, '4-6-2 Pacific', 37046, ex-98746, 'Braunton' with class 47, 47805, ex-D1935, 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013' at the rear, and also ran, between Telford and Crewe was 47614, ex-47853, on the 'Saphos Christmas White Rose Charter', 1Z60, from Telford Central via Crewe & the Hope Valley to York. And the return from York at around 5pm, was 1Z62, York via the Calder Valley & Crewe, where 'Braunton' came off and was replaced once more by 47614 to Telford Central.
Also today, D.B.S., 'D. B. Shenker Cargo', class 60, 'Tug', 60017, on the 2400 tonne timing load, 6E18, Peak Forest Cemex Sidings to Attercliffe Sidings EWS with a rake of full 'MWA red Bogie Wagons' was the Cemex works at Attercliffe.
And finally, the passenger traction - 'East Midlands Railway' class 153s, 153355, on 1L08 and later, 153308 on 1L09 both operating the Liverpool Lime Street via Sheffield to Norwich service. 'Transpennine Trains' class 185 can also be seen with 'Arriva Livery' on the regular hourly service, 1B73, from Cleethorpes via Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly. And finally, a 'Northern Rail' class 195, 'Civity', 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.', this one 195110, heading for a station stop just after the DBS 60 had cleared away from the station on the 2S81, Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly passenger stopping service.

* Bamford Station
'Shot of the day' I feel and, as luck would have it, the guy who I was speaking too here liked his 'low-angle' shots, so it made mine all the more interesting to get him in as well. He was on a 'round-robin' train jaunt from the Hebden Bridge area, catching services to get a view at various locations and in a few minutes, he was off on the approaching 195, bound for Manchester. With 24 full MWA box wagons, each one capable of carrying 78tonnes! amounting to 1872 total capacity, so can see why the timing load is 2400 by the time the 24 x 24tonnes of wagon weight is added in. D.B.S., 'D. B. Shenker Cargo' is running a class 60, 'Tug', novel name that!, 60017 on the 6E18, Peak Forest Cemex Sidings to Attercliffe Sidings EWS where Cooper's Scrapyard once resided but now its the E.M.R., European Metal Recyclers and the Cemex Cement Works next door. The access into the site being provided by a single track stub off the Brightside Sidings, and passing over the River Don on a very substantial blue-brick bridge, just before entering the old siding area. This used to be the Sheffield District Railway's Goods Station in the days when its metals were also being used by the old L.D.E.C.R. to get access to the Sheffield area from their line at Beighton Junction. The last bit of the L.D.E.C.R.'s line being the now defunct, Westthorpe Runaround; it can't be too long now before those materials are recovered as the Runaround, such that it is, is no longer connected to the main, 'Old Road' line; amazingly, the exit signal, S0281, from the loop is still there, lit and on the track-diagram!

* Thornhill
Six minutes later in fact, was all they needed to wait as the 'steamer' made an on-time presence from the Cowburn Tunnel exit just beyond Edale Station and rattled through here in short-shrift. Once again, Win Hill is providing the sunny aspect in the background but fortunately the light didn't extend to the line formation which would have resulted in irritating cross-shadows, which can be seen creeping in to the last set of traction shots. This is the 'Saphos Rail Tours', see-
saphostrains.com/
charter with an original Southern Railway, West Country Class, '4-6-2 Pacific', 37046, ex-98746, 'Braunton', on the 'Saphos Christmas White Rose Charter', 1Z60, from Telford Central via Crewe & the Hope Valley to York. The train left Telford at 06:32 that morning and had made 7 stops on the way to pick up passengers, at - Wellington, Shrewsbury, Whitchurch, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Newton-le-Willows & Manchester Victoria before heading over this way and on to York without any further stops. It arrived in York at 13:38, so the passengers could have a few hours in Tier-3 lock-down, York; not sure how that would have gone; the return service, 1Z62, departed at 16:55, giving the 'sight-seers' just over 3 hours in York. A splendid show of traction and coaches, and in fact the last time I was here, in March this year just before the initial lock-down started, another Saphos Charter passed this way, this time with 'Britannia', 70000, ex-98700, on the 'Easter White Rose Charter' again heading for York, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/49634425642/
The local, excitable female contingent were whooping with glee once the loco got beneath the bridge, some fun and jollity in these days of misery!

* Thornhill
As with the earlier 'Saphos Charter Tour' earlier this year in March, today's trip operated with a very similar loco/coach configuration. Seen in this picture, now heading around the curve towards the bridge over the River Derwent, in full flow from the full Derwent Valley Reservoirs, Ladybower, Derwent and at the northern end, Howden, once over there, it will greet its band of enthusiasts waiting on the platforms at Bamford Station. Bringing up the rear is class 47, 47805, ex-D1935. 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013", see-
www.tpo-seapost.org.uk/tpo2/rogerhosking.html
for details about this past railway worker. Another class 47, 47614, ex-47853, was used on the trip up from Telford to Crewe, the steam traction provided by Southern Railway, West Country Class, 4-6-2 Pacific, 37046, 'Braunton', being put on at the front at Crewe, to complete the 'Christmas White Rose Charter', 1Z60, Telford Central via Crewe & Hope Valley to York. Some information about the 'Southern Railway West Country Class' locomotives-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Brita...

Some information about the class4 7 at the back-
Current Allocation Details
Number: 47805
Class: 47/4
Depot: CG - Crewe Gresty Lane
Pool: Unknown
Livery: DZ - Direct Rail Services - Two Tone Compass Blue
Builder: Brush Traction
Built: 18/03/1966
Works Number: 697
47805 Named: 29/06/1991, 'Bristol Bath Road'
Unamed: 03/03/1995
47805 Named: 06/02/2002, 'Pride of Toton'
Unamed: 31/07/2003
47805 Named: 31/10/2006, 'Talisman'
Unamed: 30/09/2011
47805 Named: 30/06/2013, 'John Scott 12.5.45-22.5.12'

Further-
'...The British Rail Class 47 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush’s Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British mainline diesel locomotive. They have been used on both passenger and freight trains on Britain’s railways for over 50 years. Despite the introduction of more modern types of traction, a significant number are still in use, both on mainline and heritage railways. As of September 2018, 80 locomotives still exist as Class 47s, with further examples having been converted to other classes; 30 retain ‘operational status’ on the mainline. In 2018, after over 55 years of front line passenger and freight operations, 35 locomotives are fitted with the required systems in order to be mainline registered (excluding preserved examples) with 24 locomotives currently operational on the national network and the balance stored. ‘Roger Hosking’ is currently based at Crewe...'

* Thornhill
Well, the woes continue now with a new strain of Covid-19 in the south-east/London effectively putting 3 million into a T-4 lock-down; Europe has just responded by closing all its ports to inbound traffic from the UK, an utter, utter, mess, owned by this useless, incompetent government.

Saturday saw one of the few steam hauled services travel up-country from the south, Telford Central, via Crewe and through this area along the Hope Valley Line and then north, on to York. First up, in festive spirit, a few horse riders pass by, the ones in the top right picture, in full 'santa garb' the horses slowly plodding up the back lane at BAmford towards the southern end of Ladybower Reservoir, around 2.5km away. By good chance, a family came walking along and asked what was going on, as it was only a few minutes before the arrival of the steam charter, they decided to hang on and get the full flavour of the steam, right on top of it as they are stood right above the down line. At left, passenger traction is represented by, at top, an East Midlands Railway, class 153, 153355, looking distinctly colourful and a bit 'classic', on 1L08, the Liverpool Lime Street service via Sheffield for reversal and then south along the Midland Main Line out of Sheffield and on to Norwich in Norfolk. At lower left, a Transpennine Express class 185 hurtles along the up line towards Edale on the regular hourly service, this one 1B73, from Cleethorpes via Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly. In the back ground on the right, the sun has caught the top of 462m high Win Hill and looks splendid in the mid-day sunny conditions.

* Bamford Station
By the time I had taken stock of the situation regarding the next working to come this way, in around an hour, and moved off back to wards the east and the station at BAmford, almost all the folk at the station had left with only 1 soul waiting for the next passenger service into Sheffield at 12:38, a half hour away. In the meantime, a couple of passenger traction shots shown at the station, at left, a semi-fat, so no stopping here, an East Midland Railway class 153, the second today and 1 hour after the one seen earlier, this is on the same diagram, this one 1L09, from Liverpool Lime Street via reversal at Sheffield and then on south to Norwich. The journey time being 10:51 to 16:10, so a little over six hours, I think this used to be called the 'University Express' or some such name, in the mid-1990s when my mother and father used to catch this in Sheffield to come and visit us in Cambridge, I picking them up at Ely. In those days I also think it was operated by Central Trains, ans invariable, shortly after privatisation, it consisted of only 2 coaches, even having booked seats they often didn't get one and on one or two occasions, couldn't even get on the train it was so full; I ended up having to drive them back to their home, an almost 3 hour journey. East Midlands Railway's class 153, 153308 is rattling along the down platform, 2, and heading for Sheffield on past the old Midland Railway station building at right, with its distinctive red gable ends to both sections of the roof. At centre, the local station 'minders' have erected a bird feeder which is now operational and a banner for the school ion Bamford which has had good 'Ofsted' reviews and a sign that the village is 'a safe place to grow'.. hear, hear to that! And, at right, slowing to pick up the only passenger waiting, in fact the guy who was taking pictures of the red DBS 60, seen in the next shots which, he was very lucky to get as this class 195 came just minutes after the 60 had passed by; it can be seen in the distance passing under the road bridge, behind the 195. 'Northern Rail', 'Civity', 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.', this one 195110, is heading for a station stop just after the DBS 60 had cleared away from the station, on the 2S81, Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly passenger stopping service. ONce this had departed, I was on my own and though the next freight was in an hour, I decided not to wait as there were plenty of walkers, cyclists and traffic in the Hope VAlley, on this last pleasant weekend before all hell broke loose the following day, with a new strain of Covid-19 rampant in the south-east of the U.K. and a Tier-4 lock-down imposed, essentially 'cancelling Xmas' for millions of people.