Photos taken at the recent 7th Model Railway Exhibition organised by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railways Association. Trains were operating from Wirksworth to Idridgehay and Ravenstor, and there were model railways on display at 3 venues in the town, as well as a layout at the EVR station.

These photos are from the main event of the Wapentake, being a torch-lit precession and a boat burning ceremony with fire tipped arrows. This all took place at the National Stone Centre, Wirksworth, Derbyshire. An evening train service was provided by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway from Wirksworth Station to Ravenstor. The train had the head board "King Penda". The ceremony was performed by Regia Anglorum. For information go to http://www.regia.org. For train information go to www.e-v-r.com

These photos were taken at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Wirksworth, during the Wirksworth Wapentake Weekend. We enjoyed a cab ride on their new Class 20 diesel, and took the railcar up to Ravenstor station, and then walked up to the National Stone Centre.

These are photos taken on a special press and TV preview day, before the Grand Opening of the Wirksworth to Idridgehay line in Derbyshire

These are photos which I have taken at Ecclesbourne Valley Railway of their new railcar "Iris" and then "enhanced" with photoshop. The reason being that a similar photo exists from the 1950's or a railcar in the same location.

Visit www.e-v-r.com for more information.

Photos from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, including their new arrival Iris. There are also some more unusual road rail and maintenance vehicles.

For more information visit www.e-v-r.com

The photos are of the Idridgehay Station on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway ahead of the official opening on Saturday the 8th March 2008. This will be the first public timetabled service in over 60 years, and an event not to be missed. The official opening takes place at 11.00am on Saturday and public services will begin from 14:30, after "The Ecclesbourne Express" and "The Idridgehay Limited" services have run. Further details can be found on the EVR website: www.e-v-r.com. Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is set in the heart of Derbyshire, and runs between Wirksworth and Duffield, with an Ecclectic mix of Locos and Rolling Stock.

Please support this preserved railway, and help it achieve it's goal of opening the line all the way through to Duffield. Tickets on the first train start at £25, which is very reasonable for such a historic event, which is not to be missed.

See last photo for copy of the poster advertising the opening. Feel free to print this out and display in your car. All support is most gratefully received.

Many Thanks.

Robin Eatch (EVRA Volunteer)

Photos from last weekends visit to Santa for me and the family. We went to Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) at Wirksworth Station in the heart of Derbyshire. The diesel railcar ran us up to the Ravenstor Station to rescue Santa from the evil Sherriff of Nottingham. Once Santa was freed with the help of the children, they got to visit him in Nottingham Castle (a lavishly converted brake van). Santa then joined the children on the train back down to Wirksworth.

EVR are busy preparing for the grand opening of the line to Idridgehay in March of 2008, and further details can be found at:

http://www.idridgehay.org.uk

There are still some spaces left on next weekends Santa Specials, so check their website for more information. Don't miss out!

Just a few snaps taken on my mobile phone (sorry about the lower quality than normal).
The photos include L53 the London Underground tube train on test at Wirksworth. As I understand L53 is an electric engineering train which can run from rail supply or onboard batteries. Also shown is the newly completed platform 2.

Photos from the annual open day of the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. The railway operates 1/5th scale engines and raises money for LOROS. There were steam engines, a diesel and plenty of other attractions including Fairground Organ, traction engines, Land Rover display, models and much more. It was an excellent day out.

Photos from the annual transport extravaganza at Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire. There were plenty of trams, vintage cars, buses and emergency vehicles, including 3 Green Godesses. There were also some steam vehicles.

Photos from a recent trip to Whitby and the North York Moors Railway from Grosmont to Pickering. We were hauled by Sir Nigel Gresley for part of the journey to Goathland, location of ITV's Heartbeat series. There were at least 3 steam engines on duty and a couple of heritage diesel locomotives.

Photos from a special event weekend at Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. Regular train services left Lightbourne (a fictional location for the TV series Casualty, presumably near Holby). Storytelling and a teddy bear hunt. EVR runs regular train services up a 1:30 incline to the National Stone Centre and a short service down to Gorsey Bank.

A few photos of the Sutton Belle at Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway on its way between Kingsway and Lakeside stations. They operate a number of steam trains throughout the year.

Photos taken during my day volunteering at EVR Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, at Wirksworth, Derbyshire, in the heart of the peak district. The day was spent backfilling the new platform wall and working on the webcams. These can be viewed by visiting http://plc.wyvernrail.co.uk/ and looking for the webcam link at the bottom of the page. The Revenstor and Gorsey Bank services were both running with the aid of a Class 03 and a DMU bubblecar.

Some snapshots from a family outting to the NRM (National Railway Museum) at York. The museum still offers free admission to all.

There is a good variety of locos, wagons and coaches, with Steam, Diesel and Electric represented.

Key exhibits include: Mallard, Eurostar, Bullet Train, Iron Duke, Royal coaches, Stephensons Rocket and many more.

The centrepiece is a huge turntable in the main hall, which is turned as part of the daily program of talks and demonstrations.

There is an interactive area for the kids, a themed playground, and even a miniature railway which runs around the grounds, taking about 5 minutes.

Well worth a visit.

These photos were taken during a family visit to Crich Tramway Village. A Morris Minor event was taking place the same day. Many vehicles had turned up for the special event, and a precession of vehicles took place up and down the main street. Various trams were in operation during the day and more trams could be viewed in the sheds, workshop and exhibition hall.

KLR - Kirklees Light Railway. A Great Family Day Out!
Steam along on Hawk, Owl, Fox or Badger, our four hand-built steam engines. An enchanting 50 minute return trip on narrow gauge rail takes you through the superb scenery of the lovely South Pennine foothills.
With a choise of open or closed carriages and special events throughout the year for all ages, this is an all weather attraction which is hugely popular with all the family.

These photos were taken during a family outting to the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire.

After many years of hard work by dedicated volunteers, the magnificent Midland Railway roundhouse at Barrow Hill that faced certain demolition (it was saved 2 days before it was due to be demolished and is now a listed building!) is now a very interesting railway centre. Britain's last operational roundhouse. A regular events calendar has evolved giving great pleasure to visitors of all ages. Winner of the Heritage Railway Association award in 1998 for an outstanding contribution to railway preservation.
Now home to the new Deltic Preservation Society Museum/Depot!
Well worth a visit.

A few photos taken on one of my regular trips to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR). The railway currently operates 2 lines, one up an incline to Ravenstor, serving the National Stone Centre, and the other heading south to Gorsey Bank. The line will be opened in sections in this direction, eventually reaching Duffield mainline station

This sequence of photos was taken from Duffield Station platform as a Midland Mainline HST passes through at great speed.

An event covering all forms of heritage transport, especially trams.

Photos from my day at EVR's (Ecclesbourne Valley Railway) Diesel Gala, continuing tomorrow and Monday. The visitors were treated to trips down to Gorsey Bank on the DMU and also up the incline to the Ravenstor station propelled by a class 31. A demonstration goods train operated by a Class 03 was also running up and down during the day. The Class 37 was stationed in the car park for photo opportunities.

Tyseley Locomotive Works is the engineering subsidiary of the Birmingham Railway Museum Trust, which is a registered educational charity.

The Trust was established to preserve and demonstrate the steam locomotives in the Tyseley collection. And where better than on the main line - where they were designed to operate!

Vintage Trains operates trains on the main line using locomotives based at Tyseley Locomotive Works.

This vintage steam train operates every Sunday during July, August and September. 2 Trains operate a day between Snow Hill Station and Stratford Upon Avon via Tyseley. Among the photos are some taken in the 580 yard long Snow Hill tunnel. Photos of the Tyseley engine works are in a seperate collection.

Unfortunately no train photos, but plenty of steam and vintage transport. This was a great event with plenty to see.

I quote "The largest and most advanced layout in Britain!
Everything about this model railway is special. The sheer size of it with a main line orbit of 470ft. The superb quality of the trains, the buildings and the scenery. The computer control, unique in Britain, provides a rich variety of operation to a timetable so complex that you can watch an area for half an hour or more without seeing the sequence repeat itself. Forget the idea of trains running round in circles, Fort Victoria provides a main line which takes a non-stop express 6 minutes travel. You just can't guess which train is going to appear next or where it is going."

These photos were taken at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's annual 1940's weekend. Many of the people are dressed in period clothing and there were several air raids and bombings during the day.

These photos show the permanent way team at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (Wirksworth to Duffield) heading off down the line. They then use the steam crane to rearrange the track panels on the sturgeon ready for deployment further down the line. Visit their website at http://www.e-v-r.com

Situated at the Nottingham Heritage Transport Centre in Ruddington, the NSMEE have O and OO guage model railways as well as a large miniature railway layout for various guages.

Nottingham Heritage Transport Centre is the Ruddington branch of the Great Central Railway, whose main location is Loughborough. This is also home of the NSMEE whose photos can be seen in another gallery.

Although not exactly trains, these do run on rails. These photos were taken at a recent childrens party, and not many trams were running.

An assortment of photos from a family visit to the worlds largest railway museum.

These photos were taken on a recent business trip to Calvorde Germany. We took the subway train from Hannover airport to Hannover central station, and then an IC (Inter City) from there to Helmstedt. We did the same in reverse 2 days later.

This is my collection of model trains

These are photos of my layout at home, which is still under construction