VCT News 2015            

16 Nov 2015 -  Christmas at Ingrow  – 6th December 2015      11am to 3pm


18 Oct 2015 -  Museums at Night  – Friday 30th October 2015      6pm to 9pm

The Museum of Rail Travel will open its doors after hours once again for this national event, with a very special evening on Friday. Enthusiasts from various organisations will be lighting up Ingrow Yard with a display of Oil, Pressure, and Vintage Electric Lamps.

On Saturday 31st October, during the afternoon, there will be Spooky Stories in The Museum with a Halloween flavour, told in various locations in the museum.

Note: The museum will be closed on Saturday evening, 31 October.


31 Aug 2015 -  DREWRY RAILCAR OLIVe update

After spending several weeks in the VCT workshops, Drewry Car OLIV has now returned to the Middleton Railway. Ian Dobson has provided two photos of OLIV, before and after Chris Smith's handiwork.

The photo on the left was taken on 6 May 2015 and the right hand one on 19 August 2015.


1 July 2015 -  Photos from BELLEROPHON at the Churnet Valley Railway on 27 and 28 June

The Foxfield Railway recently completed restoration of two ancient North Staffordshire Railway Coaches ( The Knotty). Both are 4 wheel Thirds , numbered 61 & 127. They date from late 1870s / early 1880s. Over the weekend of 27/28 June  they were on hire at the Churnet Valley Railway so ran on genuine North Staffordshire track, and Bellerophon was brought in to pull them. Photos by Donald Horsfield.


22 June 2015 -  Progress on Midland Railway 6 wheel Composite Carriage No. 358

Work continues on the Midland coach. The roof has been removed and all the roof supports replaced. New partitions have been installed.


13 June 2015 -  BELLEROPHON at the Churnet Valley Railway on 27 and 28 June

BELLEROPHON will be appearing on the Churnet Valley Railway on 27th & 28th June, hauling the Foxfield Railway’s “Knotty Train” over the weekend. The engine will do 4 round trips per day and no doubt will look splendid, as always.


13 June 2015 -  Sir Berkeley in Black

For those of you who are purists on the subject of locomotive liveries, look away now.

Following a swift repaint into black, in the VCT workshop, Sir Berkeley is now at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway for a film job. This livery will probably be retained until the expiry of the boiler ticket.


11 June 2015 -  Vintage Trains on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

This year, Vintage Trains will run on six Sundays.

14 and 28 June
19 and 26 July
16 and 23 August

Coaching stock will be VCT's Southern Railway Brake 3554, Metropolitan Railway 509, Metropolitan Railway 427, and the L & Y Club Car. Blue Timetable applies.


24 May 2015 -  DREWRY RAILCAR OLIVe visits VCT

Drewry Car OLIVe, from the Middleton Railway, is visiting the VCT workshop, for repairs.

B998901 was built by Baguely of Burton on Trent to an order from Drewry and worked as an Overhead Line Inspection Vehicle, earning it the nickname Olive.

Originally ordered by the Londern & North Eastern Railway in 1947 for use on the Woodhead route. The nationalisation of the railways just a month later saw the order put on hiatus and it wasn't delivered until 1950, by this time going to British Railways' Eastern Region at Shenfield. After a number of years out of use it was handed over to the BR Research Department at Derby in the early 1970s. It was then used to maintain the overhead lines on the BR test track at Old Dalby in Leicestershire. It was purchased by the EM2 Locomotive Society and transferred to Middleton Railway in November 1997 where it has been converted to passenger use. With fairly limited capacity it comes out on quieter days and events.


24 May 2015 -  Great Northern Line Display at Ingrow

The Vintage carriages Trust formally opened their new display on 16th May, to mark the 60th Anniversary of the closure of the Great Northern line from Keighley, via Queensbury, to Bradford and Halifax.

Besides their two Great Northern carriages, BCL 2856 of 1898, and BT 589 of 1888, and their wall mounted collection of cast iron signs, the Trust has prepared a cabinet display, in partnership with local enthusiasts, led by Mark Neale, reflecting, through smaller exhibits, the range of services provided by the Great Northern, and its contribution to our locality.

The exhibition will be available to visitors until September, including access to the carriage in the workshop when VCT staff are present. Further information may be found on www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk or www.kwvr.co.uk.


3 May 2015 -  Museums at Night  – 15 May and 16 May 2015      6pm to 9pm

The Museum of Rail Travel will open its doors after hours once again for this national event, with two very special music evenings. Enjoy live entertainment in this unique setting.

Friday night is Ukulele night

Saturday night is Blues night

Keighley singer-songwriter Ben Waters, organiser of the blues concert, said Saturday evening would feature some of the region’s top acoustic blues acts. These include young Bradford blues man Sleepy Jake Segrave playing music from America’s rural South, Chris Martin with excellent playing and humorous tall tales, local supergroup Bessie’s Blues, and Ben himself playing foot-stomping slide guitar blues. Ben said: “This will be a great opportunity for blues fans, train enthusiasts and the public to hear authentic, top-quality blues in a unique setting.”


29 April 2015 -  Museum of Rail Travel - Rearward Extension to the Workshop - Progress update

Planning permission for the extension was granted in December 2013 giving us 3 years to make a start on the work, which we have just done by clearing the site of small trees and brush. A large number of write-ups and drawings have been done to define the project. The Project Development Study and the main drawing at this stage have evolved into 7 sheets, drawn on 13 Dec 2014 and agreed by committee as the desirable solution.

These drawings were discussed at VCT committee meetings and agreed that, other than the obvious development of the design to enable work to commence on the foundations, the concept shown on these 2 drawings meets the requirements for the extension. The Architect and the structural engineer have been asked to proceed both with the balance of the detail design and to proceed with discussions to place contracts for the diversion of the Storm Drain overflow pipe and its flap valve and for the extension of the culvert for Gingerbread Clough which are conditions of the Planning consent. Both of these items have been agreed by West Yorkshire Developer Services ( Flap Valve) and Bradford Met ( Drainage Services )( Culvert) but, of course, both these items need to be integrated with the overall design.

We have also made progress with the modification to the lease agreement with the landowner (KWVR Ltd) for the area to be used for the Extension.

Our neighbours British Thornton have been kept up to speed with these developments. Their interest is that there is a fire escape route at the rear of the existing workshop which needs to be rerouted.

Discussions have taken place with The Heritage Railways Assn & KWVR fire advisor about the fire escape from the storage room under the workshop floor level.


26 April 2015 -  The Railway Children Weekend 2 May to 4 May 2015        11am to 3pm

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway will be running a special timetable using some of the coaches from the film on a vintage train.

At the The Museum of Rail Travel there will be a programme of events. Join in the magic of the well know film , explore the carriages, not on the service train, used in the making of this film and learn more about its production. There will also be the opportunity for children to take part in some special Railway Children activities.

Sir Berkeley will also be in use at Ingrow giving rides in the Great Northern coach and the diminutive Lord Mayor should be on static display. Sir Berkeley featured in the 1967 BBC TV series, that preceded the making of the film, the Great Northern coach featured in the film, and Lord Mayor was used for publicity shots for the film.


23 April 2015 -  Bellerophon at the East Lancashire Railway

Bellerophon appeared at the ELR Small Engines Weekend on 18th and 19th April. In the Saturday sunshine at Bury, Bellerophon looked magnificent and sounded superb, easily pulling three coaches. Thanks to David Halsey for sending photos of the event.


13 March 2015 -  Brilliant British – The genius of invention - 21st March 2015

On 21st March, Ingrow Station hosts a stunning display of engineering ingenuity.


24 February 2015 -  KWVR Winter Steam Gala, 27 February 2015 - 1 March 2015 Update

Due to operational problems, the L&Y vintage stock will not now be available for the Gala weekend. In its place, KWVR will now be running the VCT First Class Metropolitan Carriage and the Metropolitan Brake. So the weekend schedule has changed to this:

Friday - The Coal Tank will run a full line Vintage Train pulling a selection taken from the Bulleid, Chatham, First Class Met and Met Brake.

Saturday - Sir Berkeley will run on the first two Ingrow Shuttles of the day, pulling the First Class Met and the Met Brake.

Sunday - Sir Berkeley will run on the first two Ingrow Shuttles of the day, pulling the Bulleid and the Chatham.

On Saturday and Sunday, later Ingrow Shuttles will feature the Coal Tank and Nunlow with VCT stock.

When requested for weekend service, the Met Brake was in the middle of a compartment refurbish. For this reason, one compartment will remain locked out of use.


19 February 2015 -  KWVR Winter Steam Gala, 27 February 2015 - 1 March 2015

Sir Berkeley and VCT carriages will feature in the KWVR Steam Gala.        

The Bulleid and the Chatham will be working the full line with the Coal Tank in the relief path on the Friday.

Sir Berkeley will be working the first two trips on a shuttle between Ingrow and Keighley on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The train will consist of L & Y stock on Saturday, and the Bulleid and Chatham on Sunday.

Photo Robin Lush


18 February 2015 -  Paid employment position at Ingrow Loco Museum

The BLS’s Museum opened in 2003 and has been open to the public on a fairly limited basis since then. It is now intended to open the building on a much longer basis and seeks to recruit a DUTY OFFICER to manage the building on a day to day basis. The last date for receipt of applications is Friday 13 March 2015.


14 January 2015 -  More from the VCT 50th Anniversary Train on 10th January 2015

There is a video of the Anniversary Train on YouTube, by Kenneth F Baker.

VCT is not responsible for content on external websites.


12 January 2015 -  More photos from the VCT 50th Anniversary Train on 10th January 2015

These have been kindly sent to us by Robin Lush.

 

 

 


11 January 2015 -  Photos from the VCT 50th Anniversary Train on 10th January 2015

Saturday 10th January saw a special train running on the KWVR to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the preservation of our Manning, Wardle 0-6-0ST “SIR BERKELEY”, which arrived on the KWVR back in January 1965.  The locomotive was then owned by Roger Crombleholme, who subsequently presented the engine to the Vintage Carriages Trust.  The 1891 built engine normally lives on the Middleton Railway in Leeds but has been made available for use at VCT for the next few months to celebrate this and other significant anniversaries. 

The loco hauled a special train comprising Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire 4 wheel coach No 176, built in 1876 and South Eastern & Chatham Brake 3rd no 3554, actually built by the Southern Railway in 1924. Both these vehicles first appeared on the Worth Valley in 1965. 

And to cap everything the VCT has now been in existence for 50 years in 2015, so the special train celebrates this as well! 

The train ran three round trips from Ingrow to Keighley & return at 1200, 1330 and 1500 and many people both rode on the train and enjoyed this wonderful sight. 

It is intended to use SIR BERKELEY on the KWVR Gala in February and also at a Model Railway Exhibition at Ingrow on 15th February this year.

 

 

         

Keighley Mayor Graham Mitchell and VCT Chairman Trevor England are shown immediately above.

Photos by Andrew Dennison, Ian Smith and Paul Holroyd


3 January 2015 -  VCT 50th Anniversary Train - 10th January 2015

On the 19th January 1965 Manning Wardle 0-6-0 saddle tank, ‘Sir Berkeley’ was delivered by road to Haworth, to be followed by the first two coaches for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. These two vehicles, the MS&L and the Chatham, arrived at Keighley by rail and were stored at Keighley Station.

All three are now part of the Vintage Carriages Trust’s collection and will be in action on Saturday 10th January 2015 with 3 members’  shuttles between Ingrow and Keighley in celebration of these arrivals and the resultant founding of the Vintage Carriages Trust. The first train will depart from Ingrow Station at 12 noon and will be limited to VCT Members and invited guests. As the seating capacity is only 78, if as a VCT Member you would like to travel on this train please contact VCT Chairman, Trevor England at chairman@vintagecarriagestrust.org

The train will run two further trips at 1.30 and at 3.00pm. These will be open to members of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society and associated organisations as well as VCT members.
 


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