Next to each other on Kingswear station recently were these three GWR cast iron bench support designs – earlier script, Art Deco roundels and the more functional and later BR version. Roundels gets my vote. The script is a little indistinct, I think, though I believe that there are two different versions of that, too.
The story of the reclusive 5th Duke of Portland’s life and times at Welbeck Abbey is just one of the key attractions at the Portland Collection Museum, adjacent to the Harley Gallery in north Nottinghamshire. The café’s pretty good, too.
Ambergate’s famous triangular station is a thing of the past. The only surviving section is the platform serving the Derwent valley line between Derby and Matlock. This is itself a truncated section of the Midland Railway’s former double track main line from Manchester Central to Derby and on to London St Pancras that had carved its way through the Peak District, and which joined the Sheffield to Derby main line just south of Ambergate. I’m glad I had opportunities to take this route twice in the late 1950s and again in c.1961 on a school trainspotting trip to Derby works, each time starting from Liverpool Central High Level, though I have to admit that I don’t remember a great deal about any of those journeys, except for the un-rebuilt Patriot class loco’ which brought us back from Derby. I have a clear vision of its approach to the platform at Derby Midland in fading winter, early evening light.
Ambergate station was built by the North Midland Railway and opened in 1840. All traces of the original buildings have gone, but the scenic Derwent valley line is still well used today and valued by walkers and other visitors to the Peaks. Class 156 two-car unit No. 156907 called in at lunchtime yesterday on the shuttle service to Matlock. Up the valley at Whatstandwell, a fine Midland Railway footbridge survives as well as an LMS Hawkseye station running in board.
Grindleford station is on the old Midland Railway route between Manchester and Sheffield - the Hope Valley line. Passenger services are operated by Northern Trains. The former station house, dating from 1894, is now a well-known café, particularly popular with walkers and day trippers from the Sheffield area. It overlooks the western portal of Totley tunnel.
Visiting friends who have recently moved to Collingham, we started the day with a pub breakfast in nearby Winthorpe. Micky Dolenz of the Monkees used to live at Winthorpe House. Built in 1848, the Italianate-style Collingham station house is a grand, if now rather dilapidated affair. Grade II listing has not saved it from some visibly crumbling masonry. House martins were back in residency on this pleasant spring day. Provision of a car park next to the station in 2014 has led to increased passenger use on the line that serves Lincoln, Newark and Nottingham.
Llangollen station’s location alongside the rocky bed of the River Dee makes it one of the most attractively situated examples on preserved lines in the UK. Carrog station is also a delight. Rebuilt by Llangollen Railway volunteers to a 1950s theme, it has a tranquil setting, nestling in the valley, surrounded by wooded slopes and with a 17C. stone bridge over the river and a convenient pub for lunch, which, as a result of our visit on 28th April 2022, I’m now pleased to be able to add to my list of recommended eating places. A coach load of American holiday makers from Pennsylvania was also enjoying the journey by diesel multiple unit up the valley from Llangollen. Their Liverpudlian tour guide spent much of the available time explaining how to pronounce some of the Welsh place names that had sprung into view along the way. Good luck with that one, I thought. I’d have stuck to rocks and history. The Llangollen Railway has visibly suffered serious setbacks over the last few years. It would not surprise me, however, if a few years further down the line normal service has been restored once again. The railway preservation movement can count many more victories than defeats over recent decades.
English Electric Type 3 No. 37714 Cardiff Canton doing a lot of to-ing and fro-ing this morning in the company of the diesel shunter.
