Waverley Route Heritage Association

Despite it being pretty chilly, wet & windy over the last week our volunteers have once again been working on the heritage centre & the railway.

The original fence posts up to and over the southern portal of Whitrope Tunnel have been straightened and where necessary re-sited. Some had to be replaced completely due to 40 years of degradation. After all are straight comes the task of re-wiring the fence.

The toe-wall at the southern portal has also had a lot of attention recently and is looking far better than its previous state.

In the Mark 2 coach the panelling job continues with our resident coach builders whiling away the hours.

Who would have thought it? Four years after formation, the WRHA along with its projects comes along in leaps and bounds. We wondered last year if we would reach 400 members in 4 years and indeed we have!

Well done to all the WRHA volunteers who continue to work wonders for the organisation - if anyone thinks the work is slow just take a look at some of the work achieved in just 4 years.

By September 2002, looking north, we had a section of track down for two carriages

Afterwards ... cleared trackbed, drains & retaining walls, although by this time it was also blocked off

A lot of work has gone on recently, with the closure of the gaps on the section of line courtesy of our volunteers & track experts. All that is now required is the alignment of the curve prior to ballasting. A temporary crossing has also been built to provide access up to the site of the new car park.

The building work continues at the site of the heritage centre with Ian Cairns spending much of his time concentrating efforts with the major groundworks. Part of the site for the platform has been excavated although recent weather hasn't been helping with the removed soil being turned to mud. We have also had the old drainage channels opened up at Whitrope to provide better relief for surface water drainage into Black Sike. In railway days these would have been regularly inspected to ensure they were clear and the opening up was long overdue. We seem to be getting quite adept at rectifying railway drains!

Further work is taking place inside the MK2 coach with installation of the new wooden panelling, the lower floor section having been completely installed back in August prior to the open day. On top of this a hardwearing linoleum floor will be installed which will be suitable for the visitor centre.

Visitors to the site at the present time are able to see some of the previous work of the WRHA and also some of our archive material. A number of original signs & items from the Waverley Route are also on display.

Recreating the scene with the pair of Claytons previously on our homepage, the view south

The Waverley Route Heritage Association's Open Day at Whitrope is being hailed a success with over 150 visitors to the site throughout the day.

Visitors were able to walk down to the southern portal of Whitrope Tunnel and view the clearance work undertaken since the last Open Day in August 2003. Also on show was the quarter mile stretch of railway line from the Tunnel to Whitrope Siding, laid as recently as the last week in July.

WRHA Volunteers were on hand to guide visitors around the site and explain how the Whitrope site is to be developed with the Heritage Centre construction due to commence imminently.

Both the coaches were fitted out temporarily for the occasion with the MkI Buffet car being used for what it was designed for, the MkII BSO holding an exhibition of WRHA archive photographs and railway memorabilia from the Waverley Route.

Thanks must go to all the WRHA volunteers for their hard work & efforts to ensure the Open Day ran smoothly and also to the visitors who made the day so worthwhile.

During the last two days the site at Whitrope has been closed to visitors whilst a section of railway line a quarter of a mile in length has been laid from Whitrope Tunnel, over Whitrope Summit towards the Siding & Heritage Centre. It has taken a year of trackbed preparation in order to achieve this.

Former Waverley Route P-way man and WRHA member Bill Blake was given the honour of placing a "golden bolt" on the first joint nearest Whitrope Tunnel.

The box vans by the roadside have been moved to a location south of bridge 199 near the new stores and 3 panels were laid opposite this site in order to move the two coaches and the brakevan. This allowed the 4 panels laid in 2002 to be removed for the trackbed to be fully prepared and for the heritage centre platform to be constructed. Further track panels have been placed in Ninestane Rigg Cutting for storage.

Fencing has been erected both north & south of bridge 200 together with the top embankment all the way alongside the siding, stretching north towards the summit.

Thanks go to the lads of Lawsons of Cockermouth and to all the volunteers who have helped over the course of the last few days - your help is greatly appreciated - you know who you all are!

Apologies to all web surfers who have tried to get on our website over the past 10 days or so. We experienced a major glitch with our server for which the whole site has had to be re-loaded. We have also taken the time offline to update several pages, such as the Membership Form to reflect the new membership available for Under 16s. Please bear with us if you have problems with the site over the next week or so, a few pages may be unavailable but we hope to have it fully up & running again very shortly.

The recent weather has allowed a good deal of work to take place at Whitrope, including the re-erection of the shed at the south end of the site. With impressive patience our secretary Ian has battled through all sorts of weather to get it put together, encountering several problems on the way including a full scale demolition by some stormy weather. Further clearance of the ballast has taken place on the trackbed between Whitrope Siding & Summit, allowing a continuous 400 yard section of trackbed to be re-laid very shortly. Due to the trackbed work we have moved the car parking entrance south, to the private drive at Whitrope Siding. If wishing to park at Whitrope please pull in by the new Whitrope Siding sign and park with consideration for other visitors to the site.

Mark II coach E9400 has been re-primed, ready for undercoating shortly, prior to receiving its topcoat of crimson lake livery. It has also had all bogies painted black, smartening the external appearance considerably. Mark I 69316 is also receiving attention to its roof which will be recoated like the MkII was in 2003. Internally, the MkII is also getting cleaned down and floor sections coated with bitumen before the heavy-duty plywood floor is replaced. Both coaches are due to form the static heritage exhibition centre and are being prepared as such.

We did say keep watching to find out which vehicle was arriving - well last week the brakevan we had stored at Morpeth arrived on site, although with incorrect ramps on the low loader. This meant help was required in the form of a crane, rather than backloading the brakevan and paying for further transportation. The outer skin has been removed as the wood was rotten, but once completed it should make a great messroom for the volunteers.

On Thursday 28th April the surveyors arrived to measure heights all around the site at Whitrope for the heritage centre construction. One of their requirements was the precise height of the rail at the proposed crossing for the road up to the car park. We hastily set about constructing a section of track using two short lengths of rail and four sleepers, giving the survey team something to work with. The section was constructed in only half an hour, much to the bemusement of the survey team, and is to be dismantled once the survey is complete.

The above video stills show the track construction, the majority of the work being carried out by WRHA volunteers Iain & Lee, with assistance from Wally in the digger.

In order to facilitate future stock moves at Whitrope it was necessary on Sunday 3rd April to move both coaches down the short length of line laid in 2002. Aided by the tractor (a real one, not a class 37!) the MkI buffet car moved around 40' south, with the MkII moving around 15', after 2 hours worth of work had taken place on the brake rigging which had seized. This will allow another vehicle to be placed at the north end of the site - keep watching to find out which vehicle it is!

We recently had damage occur to the new stores shed which is being erected at the south end of the site. With the shed around 80% complete it was left overnight, just minus its roof. That night a massive storm hit Whitrope; the following morning was a scene of total devastation with twisted & mangled metal everywhere.

The Model Rail Scotland show at Glasgow SECC saw the WRHA represented by a number of its members & volunteers manning the Association's stand. Visitors to the stand were able to see the work of the WRHA on DVD and talk to some of the members, volunteers & ex-Waverley Route workers keen to share their memories.

A selection of Christmas scenes from Whitrope as snow covers the ground in a white blanket. Just a few photos to show the beautiful setting of the railway in this cold weather.