Ecclesbourne Valley / East Midlands Trains Special to London

[nferguso]

For the group's information, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway ran the 'Thames-Ecclesbourne Express' service from Wirksworth to London yesterday.

The EVR ran an early-morning service from Wirksworth to Duffield (07:15 departure) which connected with a specially extended Derby-London service that started at Chesterfield and made a special stop at Duffield at 08:07.

The return service was the 18:25 from St. Pancras that stopped at Duffield at 20:18 with the connecting service departing to Wirksworth a few minutes later and arriving back at Wirksworth at 21:00.

The trip took a not inconsiderable degree of organisation both on the day and in the preceding few months. The timespan of the operation necessitated two sets of crews and some eleven people from the EVR alone on the day.

Nonetheless, this was an extremely pleasant day out and, hopefully, sets a template for similar events in the future.

Working with East Midlands Trains was an especial pleasure as there is no denying that they are both commercially-minded and have an eye of an opportunity.

A gallery containing images from the day can be found here: http://photobucket.com/thames-ecclesbourne2011.

Neil Ferguson-Lee
Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

 

[caliwag]

Brilliant... well done to the Ecclesbourne peeps. I wasn't on the special, but it's a damn good example of co-operation. Hope the 30+ people enjoyed their day out. Shame there isn't a direct connection of course!

 

[nferguso]

Brilliant... well done to the Ecclesbourne peeps. I wasn't on the special, but it's a damn good example of co-operation. Hope the 30+ people enjoyed their day out. Shame there isn't a direct connection of course!

Thanks for that: it was a good day out too! No immediate plans for a direct connection but we have sought to keep the junction protected.

Never say Never.

 

[Wyvern]

When I win the Euromillions, perhaps.

 

[nferguso]

When I win the Euromillions, perhaps.

Well, that's very kind and I'll put my Euromillions in too!

In all seriousness, I think if somebody did come along with a huge wedge and an offer to fund the connection right now, then I would be in a bit of a quandry.

Operationally, we would have a facing connection right onto a 110mph main line and without that huge palisade fence our whole operation at Duffield would have to be very different, right down to having far more onerous PTS requirements for working right by a main line under Network Rail conditions.

To date, being disconnected from the national network has made life a lot less complex and I think if we were to reconnect, then it would have to be treated as a major project in its own right.

To conclude, yes, we would definitely like to be connected and I hope sincerely that one day we will be, but if it took a few more years to happen, I for one would be quite happy to wait a little longer.

Neil