A lot of people who know me for my Z gauge exhibition layouts are aware the the next BIG project I have planned is the Classic railfan spot at Chesterfield station in Derbyshire, England. Some of the busiest and most varied rail movements over many decades made this a 'must go' place for U.K railfans. Two fast lines and two slow lines in a few golden miles where trains from Nottingham and Derby combined before the lines split to Sheffield and direct traffic routed to the north via the 'Midland Old Road' generated a never ending parade of passenger services Steam made regular appearances as well. Flying Scotsman heads back to its Carnforth base after returning from its Railtour of Australia The era I'm going to do is from the late 1980s through the 1990s as British railway was split up and privatised and the variety of colour schemes went Nuts! More in a minute, Need to put the Short ribs Beef in Ale gravy in the oven! Kev
So the favoured spot was the footbridge at Tapton Junction just to the North of the station itself where with careful composition you can get the famous Crooked Spire of St Mary's church in Chesterfield in the shot Two preserved class 50 'Hoovers' on a railtour head north The busy traffic included HST 125 passenger trains on London to Sheffield, Midland mainline workings seen on the right. Second generation DMUs like class 144s seen in the up platform and venerable Class 37s on the daily Ballast workings And on rare occasions the Royal Train Note the silver painted buffers on the Class 47 Not always great weather but I used to drag myself down in rain, fog, baking heat and snow This is a classic case, The Class 142 DMU known locally as 'Nodding Donkeys' because of their appaling ride (And finally withdrawn a few months ago, years after they were due to be gone) is in the old 'Regional railways' livery on a Chesterfield-York working. The used car lot would not have been doing much business this day! Interestingly I had a conversation with a fellow railfan about 18 months ago on Carnforth station when he asked why I was bothering filming the 'Pacers' as we were supposed to call them. I just told him that when they were gone, they were gone and he'd regret not capturing them when he had the chance. I still kick myself for ignoring the first generation DMUs until it was almost too late 'Celebrity Class 108 in retro BR Green livery with 'Speed whiskers' Horrid things! More soon Kev
A regular was the afternoon Royal Mail postal train wich collected and dropped off vans along the route to London Class 56 heavy haulers were plentiful on both Coil Steel and coal workings You'll notice the sub sector markings on the loco are the same as my Avatar. The 'Coal' sub-sector Another regular was the Limestone and cement traffic from the high peaks of Derbyshire. A class 60 hurries through Chesterfield with a rake of RMC Hoppers
Class 58s, very distinctive with their end cabs were nick-named 'Bones' by the local train spotters and were nearly always seen on the MGR Coal trains that worked a continous circuit between the collieries and the power stations This the actual loco I scratchbuilt in gauge 1 many years ago. Seen on my Mardy Colliery Gauge 1 exhibition layout back then. It was a beast! It used two playmobile chassis extended to make them three axles. Body and trucks were scratchbuilt in Nickel silver. Like the real thing it was of modular construction with the cabs and the three centre modules bolted onto the undeframes. Working fans and smoke units, Directional headlighting and cab interior lights. Working wipers (Until they disintegrated at a show and were rapidly discarded) and the ability to run Radio controlled from internal Gel batteries or off DC track power. It would have been a prime candidate to be converted to DCC Seen on John Tomlinsons garden layout in Cheshire running RC I'll have to knuckle down and learn about 3D designing as I'm going to need some of these in Z and the Rokuhan shorty mechanism seems to be a good way to go Now you may wonder what prompted me to start this thread? Well on some of the forums I'm a member of of ,a few people who watch my youtube channel have suggested (Because they know I have got a lot of it) that instead of doing targeted, one theme, uploads that I just put one complete mastertape on. taking out loads of family stuff and duff bits This was my first ever tape. Sony 8mm 001 'Late 1996 to early 1997' and features a lot of trains at Chesterfield as well other rail hotspots. Some of my camera work is a bit wobbly (Pre-tripod) and of course the quality is nowhere near what I get on the Panasonic HDs these days but the for the UK raifans it is a real nostalgia fest In the description on the video is a roll call but to give you an idea Role Call 10/09/1996 Whittington 58 023 'Peterborough depot' Whittington Class 37 on Ammonia tanks Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 on Norwich Liverpool Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 60 on M/T Steel coils Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST 11/09/1996 Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 142 York-Chesterfield Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 47 York-Poole Chesterfield (Tapton) The Crooked Spire Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 142 Chesterfield-York Chesterfield (Tapton) 60 008 Buachaille Etive Mor MGRs South Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 on Norwich Liverpool Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 47 York-Poole Tupton Class 60 Limestone South Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST 12/09/1996 Whittington' Tamper' south 05/10/1996 Chesterfield (Tapton) 60009 Union of South Africa 26/10/1996 Askam in Furness 153 359 Carlisle-Lancaster Askam in Furness 71000 Duke of Gloucester 16/11/1996 Whittington 60 022 M/T Steels North Whittington 60009 Union of South Africa 'The White Rose' Chesterfield station 37 706 Chesterfield station 60 091 An Teallach Chesterfield station 144 012 Chesterfield station 60009 Union of South Africa 'The White Rose' 03/12/1996 Chesterfield (Tapton) 60 004 Steels South Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 856 York-Chesterfield Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 856 Chesterfield-York Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 56 Coilhoods North Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 158 Liverpool-Norwich Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 856 Chesterfield-York Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 47 York-Poole Poole-York Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 60 M/T steel 10/12/1996 Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 60 M/T steel Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST Chesterfield (Tapton) 56 084 Bogie Bolsters South Chesterfield (Tapton) London-Sheffield HST Chesterfield (Tapton) London-Sheffield HST Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 796 Liverpool-Norwich Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 60 MGRs (N) Chesterfield station 47 224 Ballast South Chesterfield station 158 862 Norwich-Liverpool Chesterfield station 60 008 'Gypsum Queen' Steels North Chesterfield station 43056 and 085 Sheffield-St Pancras Chesterfield station 43077 London-Sheffield 18/12/1996 Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 47 York-Poole Chesterfield (Tapton) 56 095 Harworth Colliery MGRs South Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST 24/12/1996 Askam in Furness 142 052 Barrow-Carlisle Askam in Furness Class 142 Carlisle-Barrow 27/12/1996 Askam in Furness 153 351 Carlisle-Lancaster 28/01/1997 Chesterfield,Lockoford La Class 158 Norwich-Liverpool 29/01/1997 Chesterfield,Lockoford La Class 47 on Coilhoods Chesterfield (Tapton) 37 047 M/T Steels North Chesterfield (Tapton) Class 144 York-Chesterfield Chesterfield (Tapton) 47 853 Poole-York Chesterfield (Tapton) 56 083 M/T Steel North Chesterfield (Tapton) 47 810 'Porterbrook' Poole-York Chesterfield (Tapton) Sheffield-London St Pancrass HST Chesterfield (Tapton) 158 853 Liverpool-Norwich Chesterfield (Tapton) London-Sheffield HST Chesterfield station 47 785 'The Statesman' Chesterfield station 04/02/1997 Peak Forest 60 025, 097, 032 Peak Forest Peak Forest 60 025, 097, 032 Peak Forest Great Rocks Junction 59 205 Great Rocks Industrial diesels Buxton 150 223 Southport-Buxton Buxton 150 223 Buxton Southport Buxton MPD 60 025, 097 and 032 fuelling 07/02/1997 Askam in Furness 153 313 Barrow-Carlisle Askam in Furness 153 361 Carlisle-Barrow Askam in Furness 153 313 Barrow-Carlisle Askam in Furness 153 363 Carlisle-Lancaster Askam in Furness 142 060 Barrow-Carlisle 11/02/1997 Manchester Piccadilly Class 47 Manchester Piccadilly 47 853 Light engine south Manchester Piccadilly 101 656 Picadilly-Rose Hill Manchester Piccadilly 87 006 London Euston-Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly 90 134 ex Trafford Park Container traffic Manchester Piccadilly-London Euston DVT and Class 86 Manchester Piccadilly 142 012 Picadilly-Chester Manchester Piccadilly 158 782 Manchester Piccadilly Class 158 Manchester Piccadilly 323 235 Manchester Piccadilly Class 101 Metro Camm Rose Hill-Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly Class 323 Kev
