Shortfinals – aviation and more!

By: shortfinals

Jan 21 2011

Tags: 'Day Out With Thomas', 'top reservoir', 0-4-0, 0-4-2, 0-4-2 Inverted Saddle Tank, 1 mile of track, 1914, 1925, 1952, 24 inch gauge, 6th August 2011, Ashover Light Railway, Ashover Light Railway Coach No. 4, Australia, Baguley Drewery 3703 "NG24", battery-powered, boarded up, bowling green, bowls players, Butterley, Butterley Station, Butterley Tunnel, Campbell's Brickworks No. 1, Canada, Clay Cross, Clay Cross Company, Clay Cross Company Sports Club, closed in 2007, conducting a joint enquiry into the fire, Cromford canal, Derbyshire, Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, diesel locomotive, electric locomotive, German, German engine, Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co., Golden Valley, Golden Valley Light Railway, goods wagons, GVLR, heritage railways, HiT Entertainment, ironworks, Joan, locomotive, locomotive stud, locomotives, main museum site, Midland Railway - Butterley, mineral traffic, minerals, mother, motive power, narrow gauge, narrow gauge enthusiasts, narrow gauge railway enthusiasts, Newlands Inn, old framed photographs, Orenstein & Koppel, Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0 Well Tank, passenger service, passenger stock, railway enthusiast, railway preservation, restoration project, roof damage, Simplex, Simplex 60S364 "Campbell's Brickworks No. 1", standard gauge railway, steam locomotive, Swanwick, Swanwick Junction, The 'Newlands', The Newlands Inn was burnt down, UK, Uncle Jack, UNcle Sam, uncles, under restoration, USA

Category: canals, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Museums, railways

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The Golden Valley Light Railway, which follows the line of a former ironworks narrow-gauge railway, is a part of the Midland Railway-Butterley (a standard gauge railway), which is located at Butterley in Derbyshire. The GVLR is a 24 inch narrow gauge line, which runs from the main museum site of the MR-B at Swanwick Junction (accessible by rail from Butterley Station) to the terminus of the narrow gauge line – a distance of approximately one mile – at the Newlands Inn stop. Narrow gauge enthusiasts are a breed apart; they are truly dedicated to their particular brand of railway preservation.

The GVLR has a wide range of motive power available; their locomotive ‘stud’ includes everything from steam (an 0-4-2 Inverted Saddle Tank, “Joan” – built 1997), to diesel (Simplex 60S364 “Campbell’s Brickworks No. 1” – built 1968) and even battery-powered locomotives (Baguley Drewery 3703 “NG24” – built 1974), with an unusual German steam engine under restoration (an Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0 Well Tank – built 1914). Both passenger stock and goods wagons are on site at Swanwick Junction, and a run through the woods past the ‘top reservoir’ which fed the Cromford Canal to the eastern entrance of the Butterley Tunnel and the Newlands Inn at Golden Valley is not to be missed.

Here we can see Simplex 60S364 “Campbell’s Brickworks No. 1”, hauling a train through the dense woodland from Butterley Park to the Newlands Inn halt.  You may notice that “Campbell’s” has been participating in one of the regular ‘Day Out With Thomas’ events  – licenced by HiT Entertainment – which take place on many heritage railways around the UK (and also in the USA, Canada and Australia).

‘The Newlands’ as it was known, used to be the center of activity in the little village of Golden Valley where my mother was born. When I last entered the Inn there were still old framed photographs on the walls, including those of two of my uncles, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Jack! Sadly, the Newlands Inn closed in 2007, and is now boarded up (the roof is showing signs of significant damage), and the ultimate fate of the building is unknown.

One current major restoration of note that the GVLR is undertaking is that of  Coach No. 4 (built in 1925, by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co.) of the Ashover Light Railway, which was a narrow gauge line near Clay Cross, Derbyshire, that closed in 1950. Passenger services on this little line, which was originally built to carry minerals produced by the Clay Cross Company of Derbyshire, only ran from 1925 to 1936. The coach was recovered from the side of the bowling green at the Clay Cross Company Sports Club (where it had served to shelter bowls players since 1952) and is now slowly being restored. Donations in aid of this complex and worthwhile restoration project are being sought.

Update:

The Newlands Inn is no more; it was burnt down, in mysterious circumstances, on 6th August, 2011. Derbyshire Constabulary and Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service are conducting a joint enquiry into the fire.