on signalling and telecommunications, david and jim have been working away in Rowsley exchange, repairing various telecomunications items . the railway and the adjacent roofing buisness who share the access road to rowsley have complained to the council (theyre road) about the state of the surface again,awaiting action. the old telephone on the up platform that used to be used before two train running for calling church lane box has been removed, its in the garage being repaired and then wil, be mounted next the new platform button box so there will be a phone on the down platform too.

the guttering on the HST shed is complete,work seems to be concentrating on starting the framework for its doors. someone mentioned the possibility of an lms freight train sometime,the idea is being looked into,but is in very early days, il leave it upto the official anouncements from those concerned, it would be lovely to see tims,andy`s,bens and the lmsca associations waggons running on that event day.. fishplate oiling and changing underway, finally the Santa season is upon us,so most of the volunteers work is on getting the place ready for this.....

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Hopefully soon some more news on the footbridge as Bens down over Christmas and he has a recovery on the way over january to do with this, he may also be working on the station lamps at Darley Dale over Christmas. fit the gate wheel in church lane,so its not sat in a store for umpteen years doing nowt .at least it will look the part.

more work has been undertaken upon the locomotive shed/workshops,looking towards a finishing off within a couple of months. some gates still to fit to the down platform fence at darley as well as cut the metal tubular gate posts down to size. ive undertaken to do more clearing out from under darley ex bamford signalbox,its now empty ready for lifting,which will be next year now.finally move the batteries out the old cupboard at darley so that the location can be removed for bens footbridge. i could see at least one regular volunteer on the class 50 locos working away against the rain at rowsley,but didnt get time to stop and chat unfortunately. Work continues on electrics for the inside ,the machine tools are all laid out ready for wiring in. there are always a few issues relating to getting new turntables passed by those who officially do this thing,they are being worked on by the volunteers and the board as we all want to see it up n running very soon, i believe the remaining issues are all minor ones, but as its not my project i cant be 100 percent definite on any of the fine details,more will follow from those doing it boss!! The morning was spent taking the kids on the Santa Special, they seemed to have enjoyed themselves with the clowns,magic artists,Santa,presents,sweets and all provided and the trains all day were full,i believe that the bookings are well full this year which is probably the same around the country with the reccession and all

work on getting the box moved to rowsley isnt standing still,early days yet but there may be more news on this in the new year,things are at present being planned out so to speak. You can choose your delivery options in your Giftware Wales shopping basket and apply the qualifying code.Chatting with Tony we are planning a painting session over the Christmas to New Year period so im thinking we will make a start on repainting the new box,the wood has been paid for so cant be far off delivery,so it looks like a new year start on replacing the rear boards. on a similar note were planning to put in another of Bens Midland signal posts by the crossing to illuminate the crossing,with a suitable midland style lamp top as the illumination on the crossing for both pedestrians and the signaller when working the gate is poor, i know i worked the box a fortnight ago!. on the narrow gauge the volunteers have gained some waggon chassis complete from a quarry in derbyshire (cannot say where at present,an article on this should appear in the PEAK EXPRESS sometime. the other train ready to start button was fitted to the platform fencing at darley dale,this makes one in the middle and one at the end of the platform depending on the consist/rake set up.

the gate wheel is now complete and it is planned to mount this upstairs in church lane box over the end of christmas week.fit a wooden location over the electric supply board under darley dale box so that it can then stand alone when the box comes down.