Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 15:55 29 Mar 2024
- Delays at Dover as millions begin Easter getaway
- A view from inside ship that hit Baltimore bridge
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
29th Mar (1913)
Foundation of National Union or Railwaymen (*)

Train RunningCancelled
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
15:28 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
15:50 Bedwyn to Newbury
15:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
16:15 Newbury to Bedwyn
16:23 Westbury to Swindon
16:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
17:24 Newbury to Bedwyn
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
18:04 Bedwyn to Newbury
18:26 Newbury to Bedwyn
18:37 Westbury to Swindon
18:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
19:02 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
19:24 Newbury to Bedwyn
19:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:49 Newbury to Bedwyn
21:16 Westbury to Swindon
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:03 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:30 Swindon to Westbury
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
13:42 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
13:55 Paignton to London Paddington
14:36 London Paddington to Paignton
15:28 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
15:42 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
16:35 London Paddington to Plymouth
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
18:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
19:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
23:17 Bedwyn to Reading
Delayed
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
12:15 Penzance to London Paddington
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:15 Plymouth to London Paddington
13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern
14:03 London Paddington to Penzance
14:15 Penzance to London Paddington
15:03 London Paddington to Penzance
15:15 Plymouth to London Paddington
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
etc
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 29, 2024, 15:59:42 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[199] 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury...
[62] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[46] Who needs a travel agent these days?
[34] Travel for free on the m2 metrobus - Bristol - 4,5,6 April 202...
[26] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[25] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Weardale Railway - 23rd June 2019  (Read 5139 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40692



View Profile WWW Email
« on: June 24, 2019, 07:00:35 »

An excellent trip on the Weardale railway yesterday afternoon - having spent a few hours at the Shildon Musueum, I took a short hop on Northern's Bishop line up to Bishop Auckland for my adventure.

The Weardale railway creeps into Bishop Auckland (West) alsmost as an apology - an unlocked gate in a high security fence is the unsignposted entry - but at least the web site had given me a prior clue where to find it, and the gate was physucally open with a grassy slope down to the platform





A sight for sore eyes - Class 122 bubble car 55012 arrives to take me on the trip all the way up to Stanhope



The scenery is beautiful as the line follows up the rural river valley, crossing the river at severl places and calling at statins which feel remote - little wonder that passenger traffic ceased long before Dr Beeching was on the scene











Mid-trip, we passed the afternoon "tea train" - a service that runs on many weekends and comprises a top and tail set of mark 2 (?) coaches running an out and back excursion from Stanhope. Two manual frames at the loop and the crossing is a long-winded process, but on a lazy Sunday afternoon that really doesn't matter; the same applies to the 5, 10 and 15 m.p.h. limit sections along the line with a top speed of 25 m.p.h anyway



There's a big Christmas market too - to the extent that the carriages are carrying Santa branding all year.



Journey's end at Stanhope is a gem of a station and I could have done wiht longer there.  Having said which, the majority of the passengers start and end their journey there by car, so are not under the train turn around constraint



And so back to Bishop Auckland, with a fairly tight connecting trot back around the Royal Mail depot and across the B&Q Car park to the Northern Station.



Wonderful memories of trips on less urban lines 40 years ago ... heritage memories for me are not so much steam but riding beding the driver in first generation multiple units or (as with yestreday) the very occasional single car.

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2019, 07:30:13 »



Gosh, they must have knew you were coming Grahame. Was the red carper really for you ?
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40692



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2019, 07:37:17 »

Gosh, they must have knew you were coming Grahame. Was the red carper really for you ?

Absolutley not!

I suspect it was for guest parties arriving for the tea train, escorted to their seats and glad-handed on the train. I understand they had some 50 customers at £25 a pop - £20 for children - on that train which would have far more helped their business plan / finances than the Bubble Car.

I was the only one to join at Bishop Auckland for the round trip to Stanhope ... there's a significant marketing opportunity for the connection now that the Northern service is up to every hour; previously, the Weardale service hasn't made it all the way into Bishop Auckland even the three round trips of the day, and when it has it's left a very ling wait for passengers on and/or off the infrequent Sunday services to / from Darlington.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
chuffed
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1499


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2019, 07:49:11 »

and calling at statins which feel remote...........

Yep, my statins make me feel spaced out too !

A great typo to start off a Monday. Keep 'em coming grahame !
Logged
bradshaw
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1450



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2019, 10:14:45 »

This rail line is fascinating, its main customers were the limestone quarries which operated on the hillsides from Frosterley onwards. The line was operated by BR (British Rail(ways)) into the 90s to transport cement from Eastgate, which ceased in 1993.
Before then BR ran a Summer Sundays service to Stanhope, extending a Saltburn to B. Auckland train, rather like the GWR (Great Western Railway) operation to Okehampton.
Hertfordshire Railtours ran an HST (High Speed Train) up to Eastgate on at least one occasion.

In those days you could then catch a bus to Alston for lunch and return via Killhope lead mine or walk the numerous mineral line connections.
If they upload, this being the second attempt, two photos showing the extent of the mineral railways in the area and a rout description.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40692



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2019, 11:00:39 »

Was at this railway a couple of years ago, in the evening so no trains running. visited all the stations. It's got a lot of potential especially with its location near to Shildon. However there are so many heritage lines, can the country support them all?

This rail line is fascinating, its main customers were the limestone quarries which operated on the hillsides from Frosterley onwards. The line was operated by BR (British Rail(ways)) into the 90s to transport cement from Eastgate, which ceased in 1993.
Before then BR ran a Summer Sundays service to Stanhope, extending a Saltburn to B. Auckland train, rather like the GWR (Great Western Railway) operation to Okehampton.
Hertfordshire Railtours ran an HST (High Speed Train) up to Eastgate on at least one occasion.

In those days you could then catch a bus to Alston for lunch and return via Killhope lead mine or walk the numerous mineral line connections.
If they upload, this being the second attempt, two photos showing the extent of the mineral railways in the area and a rout description.

I am seeing your attachments ... and also noting that there's a £1 discount off your rail ticket if you produces a Kilinghope Lead Mine ticket from this year, so obviously some co-ordination.

There looks ... to my slightly-educated eye ... lots of real opportunities.  I suspect there are major long term issues with ownership and maintenance though.  Personal thought is that this line is probably one of the ones worth going that "extra mile" for.     I was ... relieved .. to hear the staff telling me the Bubble Car was unusually quiet and giving me "tea train" numbers.  On one hand, I suspect abstraction and on the other I sense a national rail connectivity that has only just become workable on Sundays with the Darlington train now frequent enough to always connect, and the marketing not yet reaching people.

Interesting to see the loco fleet standardised to class 31 and carriages to Mark 2d (?) - a lesson in pragmatic operation with the benefit of interchangeable parts and real skill building up, perhaps?  Mind you, who on earth would think of putting a couple of locos on the end of a rake of coaches ... oh - wait ...  Grin

It's never gong to be the steam haven of North Yorks Moors - but it could have a really significant future, especially if it leverages the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington ...
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
bradshaw
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1450



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2019, 11:29:28 »


This link explains the history of the line, especially the recent history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weardale_Railway

Bus timetables
https://www.weardale-travel.co.uk/wpc2.html
Logged
rogerw
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1336



View Profile
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2019, 13:49:58 »

I was up there 6 weeks ago on an excursion which gave a bit longer at Stanhope.  It is lovely well restored station, although, as you would expect, not up to dealing with an influx of 400 passengers so that it was somewhat crowded on our visit.  The line itself is attractive following the river for most of its length.
Logged

I like to travel.  It lets me feel I'm getting somewhere.
GBM
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1469


View Profile Email
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2019, 08:01:22 »

An excellent trip on the Weardale railway yesterday afternoon - having spent a few hours

Wonderful memories of trips on less urban lines 40 years ago ... heritage memories for me are not so much steam but riding beding the driver in first generation multiple units or (as with yestreday) the very occasional single car.


Each to their own... Huh Shocked
Logged

Personal opinion only.  Writings not representative of any union, collective, management or employer. (Think that absolves me...........)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40692



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2020, 06:06:59 »

Up for sale - see the Northern Echo [[ and also our thread on Okehampton ( http://www.passenger.chat/8218 ) ]] ...

Quote
VOLUNTEERS at a heritage railway say they are disappointed at the American owners’ decision to sell up.

Weardale Railway is a major tourist attraction in the dale and brings in trade throughout the year, especially in summer holidays.

In a statement Weardale Railway Trust said it is "disappointed to learn that British American Railway Services (BARS), who are the majority shareholders in Weardale Railway CIC (Community Interest Company ) (WRCIC), has announced the offer for sale of all its UK (United Kingdom) businesses.”

The trust has been a minor shareholder in WRCIC since 2006. British American Railway Services is owned by parent company Iowa Pacific.

Quote
The trust statement said: “The trust is fully engaged with the process of looking to find a suitable partner to take over from BARS and will make strenuous efforts to preserve the Weardale Railway.”
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page