2009 DiaryThe end of 2009
2009 ended with a bang, the local authorities have decided to donate a large amount of land to the railway as a reward for the my Grade 8 merit on the piano. The railway is going to see some large changes over the next few years which involves a total rebuild. The railway is coming off the shelves! For 2010 I have decided to have two separate diaries, one of real life now time and one for the railway's time of around 1880. This should make it clearer what is real and what that equates to in terms of the railway's history.
2010 sees me with allot of exams so progress and updates will probably be slow and not too often I am afraid.
Wednesday 2nd December 2009
The railway is still waiting to hear about the possible extension to Woodbridge – all very nerve racking. Christmas cards are being produced to try to advertise and drum up passenger numbers in these harsh times. River Butley is favoured by the drivers at the moment as it has suddenly become very cold. I certainly appreciated the enclosed cab over the open cab of River Alde when it was my turn at the regulator yesterday. With few passengers the railway just ticks over delivering vinegar and grain to and from Snape St. and fish from Aldeburgh. Here you can see a short rake being propelled towards Aldeburgh, the guard heaved his camera out and captured the moment. The plate was developed and this is the result!
Tuesday 24th November 2009
The new open carriage (C6) has been completed and will soon be put into service. There are concerns that ash, soot and oil will fall onto the passengers from the locomotive as the carriage has no roof but for now it will run as is. The tender for River Alde is a great success and makes the loco more comfortable for footplate crews to operate. Having got fed up with the relatively small cab space being filled up with tools, coal and goodness knows what else it is a relief to be able to store it all in the tender. The tender needs painting to match the loco as it is currently in Primer and the footplate crews are now talking about needing a cab spectacle plate and roof…The cattle/sheep wagon has still to be re-gauged and is currently outside Snape St. works covered with a tarpaulin looking a trifle sorry for its self. Land negotiation came closer to a result this month as plans are made to build a station in Woodbridge, the DVLR wished to speed this process up so it can link up with Woodbridge before any other companies such as the GER. This would be a disaster for the railway so we are really trying to push this extension to commence as soon as possible. The railway has not gained planning permission but has been given “Pondering permission” and some possible land to look at. There is a river to cross and some track which would have to run set into the road. Many a rough sketch have been doodled for the possible layouts with plans of grain sheds, run round loops, turntables, tide mills, rivers, bridges etc. I have to wait until next month before planning or building is given permission. We live in hope - fingers crossed!
Wednesday 28th October 2009
Well, this month has been a bit of a financial disaster. The chaps at Snape Street Works are taking a lot longer to complete than expected. The only passenger vehicle in service currently is No. 4, the guard/1st 2 wheel composite. Realising that there was only one compartment of passenger service available the emergency funds were shaken out of their River Deben shaped Piggy Bank and taken down to Brandon railway exhibition. The prototype Penrhyn carriage was bought by the railway at a cheap rate so that the DVLR can test it and send back suggestions on its improvement before it is launched into production in Wales. This is being built as a kit of parts in super quick time in Snape Street Works to compensate for our lack of passenger stock. A tender is also being adapted for River Alde this month when drivers (sorry, the driver) complained that storing all the coal in the cab was messy and cluttered up the place! This will be put into service shortly. There has been a new interest in the area for taking live stock to market by train so an ex-Irish sheep van was also bought at the show but needs re-gauging. More work on the permanent way has been going on recently and there is some talk of the telegraph system being renovated in the near future (It has fallen into disrepair). More talk about land owner ship has been going on and there is expected to be plans laid down soon for a possible extension...
Friday 11th September 2009
It has been a little quite here at the DVLR. The first big news is that the DVLR is now part of 'Great little trains of the Coast' associated with the MHLR in Cornwall. The PW gang are gradually upgrading) or should it be downgrading?) the track work. This involves removing approximately a third of the sleepers form each piece of my gauge 1 scale track and re-spacing them to give a narrow gauge effect. Thus train services are nonexistent through the most profitable time of year. Further work at Aldeburgh station has commenced and I built a beech finally! There is a sea wall, sea, beach, and beach hut as well as a model of the iconic Aldeburgh statue. The telegraph poles that I installed earlier this year have been a disaster! My accucraft Excelsior (River Butley) has too wider loading gauge and hits them all one by one as it makes its way along the narrow shelf. I shall have to reconsider the positioning as these are working telegraph poles and carry the wires for my telegraph system. (One station can contact the next as each has corresponding buttons and bells!) A shift with land ownership means that an extension may be possible within the next year so I am excitedly making up plans for the new branch. This may also mean that I can finally build Woodbridge station and run round loop so I can finally operate a non-push pull service with less of the associated de-railments!!! With Brandon coming up the DVLR fund pot was emptied and counted and it looks as if enough has been raised this year to purchase another second hand loco. I know I shouldn't...but I love steam locos and will never have enough!! The coaching stock is also being updates with an executive carriage added to the fleet. With this I experimented with a more prototypical GER teak livery which I really like so I am gradually stripping down the IP 2 compartment carriages (which are beginning to look a little tired!) and also changing the panelling so they can be converted to teak balcony carriages- lovely!Like I said, it has been a little quiet!
Monday 24th August 2009
I have decided to do this online diary with monthly-ish updates. That way people can easily find out what's been going on at the railway and then in greater depth on the website's other pages. I really hope to regularly update the website however it is my GCSE year this upcoming year so I may be a tad busy!
Monday 13th July 2009
A new movie is added to the gallery page involving my aged accucraft excelsior and I learn how to edit my website!
Thursday 2nd July 2009
The new website for the Deben Valley Light Railway is launched!