Riding the Ecclesbourne and Steeple Grange Railways

I've been following the progress at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway for some time now via the internet and was interested to hear that they are now running the full length of the line between Ravenstor and Duffield, connecting with main line trains at Duffield.

As I'm based 160 miles or so away from the railway I took the opportunity to make a visit whilst in the area and combined it with a visit to the Steeple Grange Light Railway which is a short walk away from Ravenstor Station.

Parking at the Steeple Grange Railway and taking the short, but steep walk down to Ravenstor we waited on the single platform for the first train of the day which arrived on time at 10am in readiness for the 10.05 departure and we set off, down the steep track to Wirksworth Station where originally passenger services used to terminate. The extension line to Ravenstor has been re-laid on what was a standard gauge line to a quarry – hence the steep gradient.

The service on this particular day was operated by a single car (heritage) DMU but apparently it is normally steam operated and I was somewhat disappointed not to be able to appreciate the sights and sounds of the steeply graded line being operated by 0-6-0 tank engine no. 3.

On our arrival at Wirksworth we transferred to a waiting three car DMU forming the 10.20 to Duffield. We took seats behind the driver, giving us an excellent view of the line ahead and set off on time.

The first stop to be made is at an unmanned level crossing where the guard walks along the track, opens the gates and gives the driver a yellow flag allowing the train to proceed over the crossing and then wait for the gates to be closed again. Good progress is then made along the rural line which curves through open countryside before reaching Idridgehay Station, where a set of level crossing gates is again dealt with by the guard. No passengers alighted at Idridgehay and we proceeded again, eventually passing through the closed station at Shottle, which, according the timetable bookletwill re-open in 2012. There are sidings here and some goods rolling stock is stored, including the strangely named “Grampus” engineering department wagon – I always wondered why they were known by this odd sounding name, but apparently followed the practise of naming engineering wagons after various species of fish!

Anyway we trundled along the line towards Duffield and soon we began passing through a more built up area eventually reaching the outskirts of the town, followed by arrival at Duffield station.

Passengers alighted here and wandered around, inspecting the new station with its small but well stocked shop which sells refreshments. An opportunity was taken to examine the adjoining Network Rail station and see the connecting East Midlands trains service arrive and depart.

Then we returned to the train to begin our return journey to Wirksworth arriving on time at 11.40 and in good time for our 11.55 departure for Ravenstor.

The single car unit took us up the steep incline to the single platform where we then made our way up the steep climb back to where we had parked the car at the Steeple Grange Railway, which by then was in operation. After a welcome cup of tea we took a ride on the Steeple Grange “main line” which has now been extended and crosses an open level crossing. On our return we were invited to use our ticket to ride on the line to the quarry, where an interesting explanation was given about the area and the many fossils that can be inspected.

After finishing our time at Steeple Grange we travelled the short distance by car to Wirksworth Station to inspect the large items of rolling stock and to have lunch. That was supposed to be the end of our visit, but the weather was good and we had time in hand and had purchased all day tickets so we found ourselves boarding the train again for Duffield and did the journey all over again!

This is a well run railway operated by friendly staff and we thoroughly enjoyed our day – I can highly recommend it.

David Gambles
August 2011