Latest news from the Waverley Route Heritage Association

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FEBRUARY 2010 WORK WEEKEND
The observant will have noticed the title change from “Track Weekend”: this is due to the very welcome addition of a second gang on Saturday working on the Fowler loco. Led by Tom Stoddart, a variety of tasks were undertaken, all working towards the installation of the power unit, which should hopefully take place around May or June time when the weather has improved. Off- site, Tom continues to overhaul the power unit at Carlisle Airport. All the spares from the donor loco have been removed from the Rutland Railway Museum and are now in store, while the carcase of the loco itself will be scrapped shortly (it was always our intention to make one working loco out of the two).

The brake van carcase has now also left Whitrope on its final journey to the scrap yard. This was a decision not taken lightly by the present committee, and was reached after attempts to sell the vehicle on had come to nothing. A full explanation of why we disposed of the van is given in Journal no.14. All the concrete was removed on site (it is not always recognised that a big part of the weight in a brakevan is concrete) and one of the tasks over the weekend was to remove the large pile of debris from the track. On a positive note, it was all recycled as bottoming for the bay platform, along with a ton and a half of rubble which Claude generously donated to us. If anyone else out there has rubble, broken bricks etc. within reach of Whitrope, please let us know.
Other work undertaken over the weekend included:

• Levelling the mound of spoil at the south end of the platform
• Movement of twenty seven oversail blocks up from Newcastleton and laying out on the platform
• A further fifteen PAN11 baseplates installed where the track was slewed in December
• Yet more vegetation cut back in Summit cutting
• Temporary fencing erected on the platform
• A start made on raised flower beds on the platform (built from scrap timber)

South end of platform levelled off, and remaining oversail blocks laid out. Note the much improved track alignment down to the loco.

Temporary fencing to allow safe access to the coaches from Easter

Clearing concrete debris, ex brakevan, from the track

Working on the Fowler

JANUARY 2010 WORK REPORT

While the recent snow may have halted the work up at Whitrope (there is method in our madness in not planning a January track weekend), progress continues elsewhere.

Thursday 28th January saw the removal of the working Leyland Albion power unit from the donor Fowler loco down at Cottesmore in Rutland along with a number of other useful spares including gearbox, air compressor, radiator and a host of smaller items such as cab fittings. We are indebted to the guys at Cottesmore for carrying out this stripping work and for assistance in loading the bigger items onto our road transport with their rail mounted crane.

After securing the rather awkward power unit with copious timber packing and ratchet straps, Alastair headed north up the A1, A66 and M6 in sedate fashion to Carlisle Airport, where our collection of bits will see out the remainder of the winter tucked away in secure, dry storage in the corner of a hangar. Our grateful thanks must also go to the staff at the Airport for letting us have the space, as well as providing a fork lift and driver to assist with unloading. Driving over the main apron (under supervision) while a private jet was running up its engines just yards away was an interesting experience…..

After all that, there was just time for a quick spin up to Newcastleton with a further twenty seven oversail blocks for the main platform wall. With access to the trackbed still impossible at Whitrope due to snow and ice, the blocks were kindly accommodated on the driveway of a private house (according to Iain MacIntosh this was OK with the owner!?) Once again our thanks go to this unsuspecting “supporter”.

Lifting the power unit out the donor loco at Cottesmore

And onto the waiting lorry for the long trip north

LOCOMOTIVE ARRIVAL AT WHITROPE - 9TH DECEMBER 2009

Words Joe Taylor, Photos Geoff Ruderham

A Knight in shining armour or put it another way, Loco arriving 0935 hrs!

After departing  Rutland Railway Museum at 1600hrs Tuesday afternoon the former nuclear electric
locomotive arrived at Whitrope - coming through Ninestanerig Cutting like a knight on his sturdy
steed, greeted by a small crowd of admirers who had waited to meet him. They all cheered, and with
great  expectation they waited for him to dismount - but he could only do so with their help. So the
time to dismount the Knight began in earnest!

The lowloader drove up to the open ended track at the right distance in order that the light rail to aid the unloading could be laid to it. The tractor unit was driven to the back end of the trailer to provide power to the winch. The cabin crew began putting the light rail together with sleepers which were lying about and blocks of wood underneath to cushion the weight.

Progress was steady until a snag was hit: the light rail on one side was longer so a bolt hole on the standard rail had to be cut off. A WRHA volunteer used the rail Stihl saw to do it. That done, it was time to unload; the winch was started up and after a false start the locomotive was on its way off the trailer steadily until it came to a stop when on WRHA metals.

The tractor unit was deployed to drag the locomotive over bridge 199 with a steady pace until it came to rest outside the house. With the brake applied, wooden scotches were knocked into place under a wheel for extra reassurance. Several group shots with the loco were taken as a momento of yet another milestone in the history of the WRHA and of the Waverley Route. It’s almost 40 years since a locomotive has been on this section of the railway, a milestone indeed!

The WRHA would like to thank Andrew Goodman Hauliers for the safe delivery and the unloading of our locomotive (as a group the word “ours” sounds brilliant!) and his capable lads who are from Birmingham, and last but not least, the volunteers who this railway couldn’t do without - thank you for coming.

Track Weekend 5 & 6 December 2009

December 5th/ 6th saw the final track weekend of 2009, a year of solid progress and achievement. To everybody who has contributed either their time or funds to the project, please accept my personal thanks on behalf of the Association’s committee. Well done, you have a lot to be proud of. Tasks undertaken over the weekend were:

• 20 tons of MOT type 1 fill moved from the car park down to the platform by dumper and spread. Further geotextile membrane laid
• Track between the platform and underbridge 199 slewed to a better line now the coaches are out the way
• Various joints regulated to create correct adjustment gaps. This required trimming of rail ends with the disk cutter
• Further BR1 baseplates and spikes replaced with PAN11s and “Pandrol” clips
• Old caravan on the south side of the Golden Bridge moved out of the way of the forthcoming locomotive delivery

The weather, as if often the case in the winter months at Whitrope, was a strange mixed bag, including thick hill mist, hail squalls and sudden bouts of torrential rain. All in all though, the weather has been fairly kind to us in 2009 and has certainly contributed to the fantastic output.

If you haven’t been involved to date but fancy lending a hand, please do make the effort to get up to Whitrope in 2010. We can offer (very) fresh air, good company, exercise to suit all physical fitness levels, outdoor or indoor work, bonfires (it’s a man thing), diggers and dumpers and, above all, huge satisfaction in helping to rebuild this much missed railway. As an added bonus, discussions on X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Has-been, Get Me Out of Here are strictly prohibited.

New for 2010! Help required to open the heritage centre coaches at weekends and meet/ greet our visitors PLUS a locomotive to restore to working order.

LOCOMOTIVE ACQUIRED

A group of WRHA members has purchased the first motive power for the railway at Whitrope.

The locomotive is a 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic built by John Fowler & Co. of Leeds in 1962, and carries works number 4240015. It formerly worked at Hartlepool nuclear power station prior to finding its way into preservation at the Rutland Railway Museum at Cottesmore near Oakham.

While in good external and mechanical condition, the locomotive suffered a seized engine while still at Hartlepool, reputedly due to excessive idling, and the power unit was subsequently removed for attention which sadly never happened. Included in the sale, however, is the fully operational power unit from a sister loco, works number 4240012, also at Cottesmore, and the plan is to install this in our locomotive. This loco will also yield a number of useful spares for 4240015.

Once the donor power unit is installed, our locomotive will be employed on works trains at Whitrope. Being fitted with train air brakes, it will also be compatible with our air braked ex- Southern Region EMU buffet car and Mk 2 display coach.

Anyone wishing to work on the locomotive when it arrives at Whitrope should contact the usual address: info at wrha.org.uk (replace at with @). Electrical, hydraulic and air systems will all require some degree of overhaul to make the loco fully operational.

All going well, our haulier is planning to have the loco at Whitrope this side of Christmas.

4240015 at Cottesmore

Track Weekend 7 & 8th November 2009

NOVEMBER PROGRESS: THE TRAIN NOW ARRIVING AT PLATFORM 1

Once again we have to report a fantastic amount of progress on site:

More of the existing ballast has been excavated from the Golden Bridge, generating bottoming for the link path currently being built between the car park and station platform. Rubble, old ballast and broken blockwork have also been collected from various locations around the site for this task. The intention is to eventually remove all the existing ballast off the bridge to allow inspection of the waterproofing layer.

The oversail course on the platform wall has been substantially extended, using the seventy blocks delivered to site last month. A mini- digger negotiated its way onto the platform itself and levelled off the existing spent ballast infill. We started laying a geotextile separator to prevent future weed growth. The four copers were lifted manually onto the top of the wall.

Now the big news! At long last, the coaches have been moved alongside the platform, something we seem to have been working towards for rather a long time. Quite a few huge smiles were to be seen, as this is truly a major milestone for the project. We used a four wheel drive dumper and chain to drag the coaches which once again moved surprising easily.

Twenty tons of crushed stone fill (MOT type 1) have been delivered to site to bring the platform surface up to height. Our thanks go out to the member whose timely donation made the purchase of this material possible.

The six foot drain through the station has been laid over half its length and back filled with filter material (granite chippings). The second catchpit (approximately half way along the platform) has been built and connected up. The remainder of the drain has been dug out to the required depth and the pipes laid- in, but we were short of connectors to complete this section.

The Association has the skills, the volunteers, the contacts and the tools to make further, equally impressive progress on site and re-open a section of this much missed railway. The limiting factor as always is funds for materials. Please consider making a donation however small: only £7,500 will buy sufficient stone to ballast the (already laid) track from the station down to the Golden Bridge, making this length fit for trains…..

The Whitrope Formation Wheelbarrow Team was sadly turned down for an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing

LARGER SIZED PHOTOS OF ALL OF THE ABOVE CAN BE FOUND IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY GALLERY

Track Weekend 26 & 27th September 2009 by Joe Taylor

This particular weekend saw a departure from track work until we restart platform works towards the end of this year/ early next year. The cutting towards the tunnel is being cleared of willow scrub which has sprung up in the last 10 years or so. Like the track laying this can be just as demanding physically: climbing up a cutting side can be taxing on the legs, sawing can be just as hard on the arms and elbows and dragging heavy branches to piles for burning can tax the whole body if you are totally unfit (you know who you all are!) Removing the willow scrub will stop moisture remaining in the cutting therefore leaving the trackbed much drier.

On Saturday it was dry so it was also perfect weather for a spot of herbicide application to kill the weeds which have sprouted up through the ballast and also in the cess (the strip of land between the rail and the inner edge of the cutting/embankment side where trackmen can safely walk). While it was dry it was also ideal to get a bit of sanding and painting done on the exhibition and buffet coaches. With the summer season being so short up at Whitrope, it is essential to get this work done before the weather closes in again (it not very often the coach renovation team gets a mention in these track reports!) On Sunday it was a repeat performance as far as the work was concerned apart from the weedkilling.
 
As far as the fencing goes, the fence line has now reached the road bridge near the level crossing and looks very impressive, snaking its way along the summit/ cutting top. What’s left is concreting a few posts, putting struts to a couple of strainer posts, wiring along the fence nearest the B6399 Copshaw road (as Phase 1 of wiring works) and Phase 2 (wiring from end of phase1 to the left side of the level crossing ). There is much more to be done on the railway which will require more funds and more volunteers, so if you can contribute to any of these mentioned please contact the WRHA info@wrha.org.uk or by mail please include S.A.E to WRHA, Signalbox Cottage, Whitrope, Hawick, Roxburghshire, TD9 9TY. To see what we do, look under Waverley Route on www.youtube.com or go to http://www.youtube.com/user/boxer012131 and http://www.youtube.com/user/WRHA

OCTOBER UPDATE

Hard on the heels of the track weekend, WRHA volunteers have been busy moving platform materials up to Whitrope, including seventy oversail blocks, two copers and a load of pipes for the new six foot drain opposite the platform. We’ve got a busy work weekend on planned on the 7th/ 8th of November, when we will bring the platform surface up to level, move the two coaches alongside and install further drainage. Further work in the spring, including laying a gravel dressing and completing the link path to the car park, will allow the heritage centre coaches to re- open at Easter with direct platform access and a dedicated, level path up to the car park: a significant step forward for the project.

Thanks to Iain MacIntosh, Alastair Connell and Andy Lee for all their efforts over the weekend.

JULY 2009 TRACK WEEKEND - 11th & 12th July

The weather this weekend relatively behaved itself, Saturday was a dry affair with mainly sunny skies and no midges! First off a sign depicting a level crossing ahead was erected about seventy metres up the forestry road to warn drivers, especially to timber truck ones enough time to brake with their heavy loads.

With that done, a few volunteers set about refelting the brown box van roof whilst another two removed branches which would otherwise obstruct trains safe passage (subject to obtaining traction!) before we all went to Hermitage community hall for the Annual General Meeting. Later on, back at Whitrope, refelting of the brown box van was completed.

Sunday started a little bit wet - after a mildly stormy night it had turned showery by the time work had begun and only Alastair and Joe were on site (In  the words of Delia Smith, “Lets be having you!, Where are you?!”)
As you can all gather they were disappointed nobody bothered to give them a lift so dependant the railway is on volunteer labour no matter what the weather does its not very often that less than two people turn up on a track weekend.

They set about re-spiking the section north of the crossing using maintenance spikes to replace the old British Rail ones at regular intervals throughout until completed which was reached at 1500hrs.Now all is left to do on this section is to screw down the Pan11s, weedkilling, extending into the tunnel compound, fine lining the curve and ballasting as well as putting the passing loop in (subject to obtaining another set of points with a right side turnout) as you look northwards towards the tunnel.

Later on Joe started work on the fencing which can be seen as you travel southwards down the Copshaw road.

Further details on track weekends can be found on the events page.

JUNE 2009 TRACK WEEKEND - 20th & 21st June

Following on from Joe’s report last month, I made sure I had the factor 20 safely packed ready for my trip to Whitrope. Saturday, however, dawned damp, still, overcast and just the right temperature for that legendary bringer of misery and mayhem: the Scottish midge! As the first squadron drove home its attack, how I wished I could have traded that sun tan lotion for some extra- strength, Southern Uplands formula insect repellent (the suggested alternative of slapping on some two stroke oil was politely declined).

The onslaught was so vicious that we actually had to abandon our planned work and go over to “Plan B”, the essence of which was to have two big, smoky bonfires using the vegetation we cut- back and stacked in the summit cutting during the early spring. Things improved slightly in the afternoon, when a light breeze allowed one or two brief forays outside of the protective smoke screen to drill some sleepers and excavate some fence post holes.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, the most incredible (and downright daft) decision of the weekend was to take a stroll down to Riccarton Junction on Saturday evening,(p.s. thanks to Heather for a lovely meal), when the entire midge population of southern Scotland descended upon the four hapless individuals!

Sunday brought some welcome sunshine, which kept our little flying friends at bay. The gang set to work with gusto fixing down PAN11 baseplates and installing maintenance spikes in the cutting, replacing yet more of the original, corroded spikes we removed during the “cut and shut” exercise back in 2007.

On the platform front, we’ve had contractors on site laying a strip of concrete behind the top of the platform wall: this will support the oversail blocks which in turn support the copers. Thanks to Joe and Alastair for moving all the (extremely heavy) oversail blocks up onto the platform on Saturday ready for the brickies to lay.

All in all, this was another successful weekend and another small step towards our ultimate goal of a reinstated section of Waverley Route. Things can always be speeded up, however, if we can get more volunteers coming forward to lend a hand, as well as funds for materials and plant. Please, please help us rebuild this much missed railway!

MORE PHOTOS IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY GALLERY

MAY 2009 TRACK WEEKEND - 30th & 31st May

Both days were pretty uncomfortable - with the burning sun you could be mistaken for it to be somewhere in the Nevada desert not Whitrope! An oxe’s skull and a vulture circling overhead would complete the picture!

Anyway back to the report; prior to ballasting the track, height boards and the rail jack were used to lift and level the track between the north end of the platform  and the level crossing. Ballast was then spread using a mini digger, dumper and driver to transport the pink granite up to the track where it was spread by hand using shovels and ballast forks.

In between using the dumper stone was put on the trolley and pushed to the track where the dumper couldn’t get. On Sunday, after finishing the track at the crossing, the rest of the ballast was spread on the southern end to complete what’s been a productive weekend - with many more to come!

APRIL 2009 TRACK WEEKEND

A positively beautiful weekend up at Whitrope! I have a sneaky feeling we’re living on borrowed time and are due two days of deluge soon, something akin to June 2007 when Shankend Viaduct appeared to be spanning a small loch and we hid in the back of my van more than we actually worked.

Anyway, we toiled through the heat to lower (by hand) the high spot on the “six foot” rail at the north end of the station platform. This originally resulted by accident when we altered the cross- fall through the platform so that surface water would drain towards the six foot. Where this section met the existing formation (cross- fall towards the cess) was a tad too abrupt resulting in a “twist” fault. Oh well, we all learn through our mistakes and we’ll blend it in over a longer length next time.

Other tasks completed were drilling and screwing down the baseplates to the wooden sleepers we laid in conjunction with the concretes last month, and moving 36 concrete fence posts up from the stockpile south of the Golden Bridge to Summit Cutting where Joe is still fully engaged reinstating the line-side fencing.

As regular readers of these riveting articles will know, we were kindly donated 120 concrete sleepers by a well known national rail infrastructure company recently. Alastair Connell has been labouring off- site (Derbyshire to be precise) to have these loaded up and removed from their present location and moved to our good friends K&J Bownes of Worksop. The first batch of 60 were laid at Whitrope last month, and the second batch will head north when the Heriot platform copers are ready for lifting (so we can use the HIAB mounted lorry). Thanks to all who similarly toil for the Association “off site”, ensuring materials are sourced and moved to Whitrope for the monthly track weekends.

The next track weekend has been postponed by a week to 30th/ 31st May: regular volunteers please take note…

MARCH '09 TRACK WEEKEND

What a weekend it was! Typical of Whitrope; everywhere around was wall to wall sunshine except here - a blanket of mist enveloping everything - typical start to the new season of spring, nothing changes!

We started the day with a good scrape of the trackbed with the minidigger (which had an operator new to Whitrope) and Duncan the dumper being used to take the spoil away from the spot where the coaches and the old track once stood.  Concrete sleepers were lifted using the minidigger and a sling then  laid out onto the scraped trackbed beside the rails which had spaces 730mm chalked on them for the distances between the sleepers, 915mm from the centre line to the nearest pandrol housing where the laid rail foot will lie. A few wooden sleepers were laid at the end of the track at bridge 199 beforehand complete with pan11s clipped up to the track, but due to lack of  time were not bolted down.

Eventually all the concretes were laid and one pair of rails put in the centre of them. These were then rolled and barred over into the sleeper rail beds. With the track being on a curve one rail was longer than the other, so a bolt hole had to be cut off to make the rail ends level with each other,  They were then clipped on complete with pads and insulators; unfortunately due to time and budget the other two sets were left until Sunday using good old manpower!

After a good starry night (well, for the first part) a cloudy and cool day greeted us as we started the task of getting the other two pairs into position. We did this by lifting the next pair onto the concretes using the rail turner, pinch bars and  rail jack onto wooden sleepers which were paired up and stepped; these were laid inbetween the concretes. The rails were then jacked up on to the bottom wooden one, then up onto the top and rolled & barred into position over the rail housing.

One rail was then jacked up off one side of the wooden sleeper then the same with the other into position with a few pandrol clips holding it down so the rails could be jointed up with fishplates. With all three pairs of rails in position a further two rails were cut equally to make them meet up with the track laid last year up from bridge 200. Due to rotabroach failure only one fishplate bolt hole was done instead of four so the rails were fishplate bolted only on the south laid track.

There we have it, we now have the track joined up from the tunnel to the north side of bridge 200 we have done what was planned bar the rotabroaching and the screwing down of the pan11s. Thank you all the volunteers for all your hard work to make this first phase possible.

On another note, the fencing (which is a essential part of getting the approval for running trains from the Office of Rail Regulation) is gaining pace with more erecting of posts done since Boxing Day. Present progress is being made beyond the tunnel compound fence going towards the rail crossing, all of this is visible as you drive along Copshaw road.

You can contribute by contacting Joe Taylor at jtaylor.westhoughtonAThotmail.co.uk (replace AT with @), the next fencing works will be on April 4th and 5th.

FEBRUARY ’09 TRACK WEEKEND

Why is it we always get the best weather in February, and can we draw the inevitable conclusion that it’ll rain constantly in August?

The first track weekend of the new season has been and gone already, and was a complete success in terms of planned work. At long last, our rolling stock collection has started its journey north towards the new station platform. For the time being, it has re- crossed bridge 199 and onto the track we laboured so long to build last year, ending up approximately where it stood prior to 2005. The move was accomplished using a large agricultural tractor and a heavy chain, the coaches moving remarkably easily after having been stationary for over three years.

The sleepers in the three panels on which the stock was formerly stood (the first three south of bridge 199) were in very poor condition and almost all would have required changing. We decided, therefore, to split these panels down and rebuild them with concrete sleepers, effectively extending the concrete section laid last August. We have been donated 120 serviceable concrete sleepers which will be delivered to site over the next few weeks. The tractor was also used to move the static caravan (again) as the replacement panels will be laid on a better alignment and the “Andy Goram Suite” was in the way!

Finally, we carried out yet more drilling/ screwing down on the points (nearly there now!) and had a good bonfire with rotten woodwork off the brake van.

Photos by Claude Harper

A members-only image gallery has been set up - any member requiring access please send an email to info@wrha.org.uk quoting your current membership number. A small selection of images will still continue to be put on this site but WRHA members will have complete access to all the photographs - what better excuse to join WRHA today!