Workington Transport Heritage Trust            

ARCHIVE NEWS

 

up until December 2009

December  2009

 

Rising from the Floods, Workington Model Railway Exhibition
Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 February 2010.

 

 

We couldn't run this year's Boxing Day bus service along its usual route from Seaton to Harrington. So we took the plunge to operate 2 linked services - Maryport & Seaton to Barkers Crossing, and from the Crossing to bus station & Harrington.
An hourly service on the north side of the river was provided by National Mark 1 WHH 556S, with Mark 2 KHH 378W and John Burrow & Brian Pritchard's Bristol VR sharing the south service. All buses ran faultlessly. 556 had had work done recently to replace a faulty radiator hydraulic pump, and 378 was collected only on 24th December after having a reconditioned gearbox fitted by Barry Pickthall at Rowrah.
Total passenger journeys amounted to 464 adults & 113 children, but because many people used both buses on the same journey the true total journeys is probably around 440. This compares with 300 last year.
Eight volunteers helped to drive and courier buses on the day, contributing 54 hours of service. Our thanks, in alphabetical order, to John Burrow, Richard Edge, Colin Fitzgerald, Siobhan Harkness, Kai Lindsay, Joe Moore, & Tony Stalker.
A separate bucket collection for Cancer research UK in memory of volunteer Jim Harkness raised £207.40.
 
The pictures show buses near the river, and also the damage to the arch and foundations of Workington Bridge which led to its closure.
 
On a sadder note, we report the death of member Ian Bass of Cockermouth who died on 23rd December after several months of illness. Ian was a keen railway modeller. He had exhibited his OO9 layout of narrow gauge line Bassendale a number of times at our annual show. Our sympathies go to his wife and family.
Ian's funeral is at Eaglesfield Church, near Paddle school, on Tuesday 29th December at 1.45pm, followed by a service at Distington Crematorium at 2.45pm.
 
A Happy, Peaceful & Prosperous New Year to all,
Alistair

The damaged Workington bridge

556 at Barepot Rd

431 and 378 at Barkers crossing

378 waits at Workington bridge

September 2009

Heritage open day

July 2009

Cockermouth Show
Some of our buses are off to this show on Saturday 1st August. Let John Burrow know if you want to come along at jburrow550@aol.com.

Biggar Rally
All being well, 556 is going to Biggar on Sunday 16th August for this rally that we've never visited before. Richard Edge is arranging pick-ups from Cleator Moor & Whitehaven area, passing Workington around 8am. All free, but donations welcome. Please let us know if you are interested in coming along.

Threlkeld Quarry
Richard is also arranging a day trip to this developing site on Saturday 5th September, with a drop-off in Keswick for those wishing to spend time there. Pick ups from Cleator Moor (8.40), Whitehaven (9.00), Workington (9.30). Again let us know, or contact Richard at richardsvans@googlemail.com.

Open Day
Don't forget our heritage open day at Lakes Road depot on Saturday 12 September from 12 to 4pm, plus free buses every half hour around town linking with other venues.
This is also the day that "Paint the town Red" plans a fun day in the town centre with fairgound, music, entertainment, a vehicle show, etc.

 
Coach trip to Liverpool
Seats still available for this on Sunday 20 September. Our new conscript volunteer driver Andrew Stewart of Stagecoach has kindly offered to drive this for free. Andrew has recently gained the title of  "North West Bus Driver of the Year"  so you'll be in safe hands. Cost is only £12 for adults, or £11 for concessions.

Rail Station Room
Work progresses slowly - too slowly. We are on with repairing the walls, decorating, & electrics, with much work still to do before we can open.20Please don't be shy if you are able to give us some help in getting this done. Please give us a call!

 
 

June 2009

It has been a busy couple of weeks recently!

New Vehicle 1 - Leyland National WHH 556S
We have invested  in this Mark 1 National, new in 1978, which was used for many years by Leyland as test bus "REV01". It was originally a 21 seat 2 door bus but now is a dsingle door 52 seater. The blue & yellow colour scheme comes from its days with Bob Daglish. He sold it on to Barry Pickthall who used it on Whitehaven school runs until recently. It is MoT'd until January. It came complete with a quantity of spares.
The bus has already been used on a short run for Age Concern, taking a group of ladies to a tea dance at Moorclose Sports Centre on 29th May, thanks to driver Richard Edge.

New Vehicle 2 - Bedford HCB Angus fire engine VYB 72W
Innovia of Wigton recently had for disposal a redundant Bedford fire appliance which had been used as a site machine. Member John Wall notified us of its availability so we went to examine it at Wigton. Though it wouldn't start due to flat batteries, it was still judged to be a machine in good condition and worthy of a future. Arrangements were made to take the machine, and John drove it back to Workington on 1st June to take up residence at Pottery Field.
It was originally a Somerset County machine, being passed on to Innovia's Bridgewater plant. It then was moved to Wigton by low loader when the Bridgewater site closed.

New Vehicle 3 - Land Rover fire engine
Not one of ours this time, but an ex Cumbria machine now owned by John Wall who is in the process of setting up a preservation group to care for the appliance. C877 PRM  is a 1986 machine, one of 4 that are being replaced by more modern vehicles.

Other Vehicles
After its gearbox problems, 378  failed to keep its MoT appointment on 18th June. It was instead driven to Rowrah for Barry Pickthall to cast his expert eye over. He checked the gearbox fluid and filters, finding some bits of metal in the filters. But 378 drove well when taken for a test run, and also drove back to a successful MOT on 4th June with no bother. Barry said that if the bus was used in service every day he would fit a replacement gearbox but, at our level of use, we should get another couple of years out of it before any failure. And even when it does fail, it will not seize up completely but fail one gear at a time, allowing us to get home.
550 passed its MoT on 5th June.

Railway Station Room Working Parties
Booked for this Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th from 7 to 9pm are working parties at our new room on platform 1 of Workington station. We have had a small amount of asbestos panelling removed, and are now free to make the room ship-shape ready for fitting out. 

Volunteers Evening
As part of National Volunteers Week, on Wednesday 3rd June a number of  current and potential volunteers gathered at our Lakes Road building to catch up on recent progress and to see how they could help with work in hand.
The evening gave ex bus driver Neville Dawson Smith the chance to reacquaint himself with the workings of 550s gearbox. John McGinn volunteered to ananlyse our timesheets. These have been maintained on and off since 2003. Despite gaps in their coverage, we still hope to be able to build up a picture of volunteer hours put in over the years. These figures will help us in the future when chasing grants from the big funding groups.
John McGinn & Derek Woodruff also offered their services in connection with cataloguing and storing our growing archives.

 

 

Bus Outings
Give us a call if you want to come with us on our next outings:
1. Seaton Carnival on Sat 13th June, where we plan to sell our 2009 joke books
2. Sunday 28th June to the fire engine rally near Stockton. THIS WILL ONLY RUN IF THERE IS ENOUGH SUPPORT, so please let us know early if you or your friends are interested.

AGM
This is booked for Tuesday 14th July at Cumberland Hotel. Pluss free buffet. Plus slide show.

Wheels and Tracks
More details of events & progress, plus accounts and directors reports for AGM, in the July issue due out at the end of June.

Thanks for your support, and if you want to come and polish up or clean any of our vehicles, or do any heavier work, please give me a call and we'll help you to join in!
 

 

May  2009

 

York trip
We still have seats available for our "proper" coach trip to York on Sunday 10th May. We have had to raise the price to £12 for adults, £11 for concessions. Bookings can be taken up to late on Saturday evening.

Volunteers Evening
As part of Volunteers Week, we are holding an open evening for current and potential volunteers at Lakes Road shed on Wednesday 3rd June from 7 to 9pm. We are conscious that we may not have encouraged new volunteers as much as we should have done, and wish to try to put this right. As we develop our activities, we need extra help to keep things moving along towards our aim to open one big building which can house all our vehicles and be open to the public.
All existing, lapsed and potential members are invited to come along and get a flavour of what we are about.
 

AGM Tuesday 14th July
We know its a long way ahead, but make a note in your diary for this meeting. Held at 7.15pm at the Cumberland Hotel in Workington, we plan to have a FREE buffet after the meeting, followed by a slide show.
Please come along and let us know what you think about what we are up to and what we should be doing to promote ourselves!
 

Barrow outing
Alistair was stupid enough to agree to doing a trip with 378 on the evening of Saturday 2nd May to bring a group of revellers back from Barrow to West Cumbria after a wedding. They were work colleagues, so he thought they could be trusted. They were no problem - it's just that it's a long way to Barrow & back!
 378 was running warm on the way back through Whitehaven, and wouldn't select a gear after we came to a halt at the lights by the TA Centre on Harrington Rd. But she would crawl along at walking pace in neutral. One of the passengers, a National enthusiast, said that this was a "get you home" device built-in to the gearbox design to allow you to get to a safe place at low speed, but only works in a forward direction. So we drove around the corner and stopped. The 6 passengers to Maryport were sent on their way in a taxi, an other locals walked to town. We were then able to drive the bus slowly back to Lakes Rd - fortunately the roads were clear at 3 in the morning - and the bus made it back to base. At Lakes Rd, after the bus had rested for a few minutes whilst the doors were opened, it was pleasing to note that we were able to select forward & reverse gears as normal.
The fault was put down to overheating, possibly in the gearbox which will need investigating. The bus has had new rear brake liners fitted, which may or may not have a bearing on the problem.

Hethersgill Rally

Richard Edge had volunteered to take 378 to Hethersgill rally at Carlisle Airport on the following Sunday morning with 5 passengers and the sales stand. Due to the previous night's trouble, this was unfortunately cancelled.

 
Stagecoach open day at Morecambe depot Saturday 23rd May
On bank holiday Saturday, several of our buses will be off down the motorway to the annual Stagecoach open day, hopefully including  378, 431, and 550. Please let John Burrow (431 and 550)  or me (378) know if you would like to come along with us for the day.

 

 

March  2009

Following 378 and 431s participation in the Macmillan Nurses sponsored walk along the unopened bypass on 16th November and 431s tour along the new road for local councillors on 15th December, we were invited by the Highways Agency to carry up to 100 guests from the Hunday Manor Hotel to the new bypass for the official opening on Thursday 12th March. With a little help from some conscripted volunteers, John washed and polished 378 and 431 ready to do the honours on the day.

On the day the two buses were squeezed into the car park at Hunday Manor for 10am on a sunny but breezy Thursday morning to await the assembled collection of councillors, council officers, Highways Agency staff and other VIPs. The plan was to drive guests to a layby on the bypass where the plinth and commemorative plaque were to be unveiled, but this had to be changed as the plaque had only been delivered the previous day. So we made our way to the contractors site offices at Hayes Castle on the old main road where the plinth had been temporarily erected. It was another tight squeeze into the yard for both buses, but they ended up forming a backdrop to the small stage where the speeches were made by Highways Agency and contractors staff. The top deck of 431 also provided an ideal vantage point for the photographers.

This was followed by a leisurely drive north along the bypass and back to Hunday Manor for a buffet lunch.

Thanks to Morrisons Construction, both buses were fuelled . Our thanks must also go Mal Sinfield who was our contact at the Highways Agency in Manchester. It was she who suggested the use of our buses on the day.

All seemed to go well, and we received some more positive publicity for the Trust, including a mention in a brochure produced by the Highways Agency.
 

 

February 2009

 

Toy, Model & Hobby Fair


Keith Murfin has kindly agreed to start these up again, but with a wider range of stalls to attract a wider interest. After looking at a number of potential venues, Keith settled on The Carnegie for his first 2009 fair on Sunday 22nd February.
With extra stalls representing Workington Camera Club, amateur radio enthusiasts and a hand-made jewellery stand, the fair attracted 230 visitors.  The next fair is booked for 11th October, from 11am to 3pm, with entry held at £1 for adults or 50p for concessions, and some traders have already confirmed that they will be there.

Bypass Official Opening


We have been invited by the Highways Agency to carry up to 80 guests from the Hunday Manor Hotel to the new Distington bypass for the official opening on Thursday 12th March. We have accepted this offer, and are polishing up 378 and 431 to do the honours on the day.

 
 
Preserved Bus Outings


Provisional dates have been set to take some of our buses out as shown below. Please contact Alistair (01900 67389) or John (0190062889) if you are interested. There's no charge for these, but donations are always welcome:


Sat 23 May - 378 & 431 to Stagecoach open day at Morecambe
Sun 3 May - 431 to Metro Centre Rally, 378 to Hethersgill
Sat 13 Jun(?) - 431 to Seaton Carnival
Sun 28 June - 378 to fire engine rally at Stockton
Sun 5 July - 378 & 431 to Distington rally
Sun 19 July - 431 to Fleetwood
Sat 1 Aug - 431 possibly to Cockermouth show
Sun 9 Aug - 378 to Biggar rally
Mon 31 Aug - 431 to Seaburn


Please let us know if you are interested in travelling on any of our trips.

 

 

December 2008

 

Boxing Day Bus

 

Our principal local operator Stagecoach runs no services on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New years Day.
We have run our free bus service in Workington as a service to the community on New Years Day or Boxing Day for the last 6 years. Our first service was on New Years Day 2004 when around 100 journeys were made. We had expected lots of people to be out and about visiting the sales, but very few shops were open. We ran again on New Years Day 2005 to see if loadings improved but had similar figures, and then realised that people were more likely to be sleeping off their hangovers. So for the next holiday, we changed to Boxing Day, when loadings improved significantly.
Our timetable and route has substantially stayed the same as established in previous years, with only a minor route adjustment required. This covers the bulk of the town which is a long and narrow shape along the coast.
With a one bus requirement, trips leave Seaton hourly from 0930 to 1730, running through the town centre, out-of-town shopping area at Derwent Howe and estates south of the town to Harrington railway station. Buses leave there hourly from 1000 to 1700. 
We have one bus out in the morning, usually our ex Cumberland Motor Services Leyland National Mark 2 KHH 378W, with another out in the afternoon, usually e x CMS Bristol VR PHH 149W (formerly KRM 431W).
This year's sunshine saw us record over 300 passenger journeys - a record for us - though a good number of people stayed on for more than one trip.

Thanks go to Stagecoach for allowing  us to use the bus station.
 
By the way, we have no plans to operate a Christmas Day service as more than one marriage may be put in peril if we did that!
 

 

November 2008

 

Best ever model railway exhibition

For Pictures see here

Our 7th show turned out to be the best yet. We had budgeted for 1100 visitors (which we had last year) but managed to get 1674 through the door. The weather was good, the publicity was brilliant - from a spread in the Times & Star, regular press articles, an interview on Radio Cumbria, an item on Saturday's Look North, to a 3 page spread in Saturday's News & Star.
We had increased adult & family prices but this didn't deter the crowds.
The tombola made £136, our sales stand made £180, and the raffle made £162. Overall, early indications are that we've contributed over £3000 to the Trust's funds.

 

Thanks to all those who helped the weekend go so well, those who exhibited & traded over the weekend, and to those who paid to visit - especially Phil Tuer, Ray O'Neill, young Lewis Harkness on the tombola, and all those members who helped in advance and on the day. Thanks also to our sponsors (Northern Rail, Hornby Hobbies, Sellafield Contractors Fund, Stobart Rail) and those who advertised in the programme.

Next year's show is booked for 21/22 November. 

Ray O'Neill's Challenge 2009 is looking good. This invites modellers to create a working or static layout or diorama in an area of no more than 5 sq feet. Judging will be held to pick a winner. A good number of modellers have expressed an interest in entering a layout, even yours truly who hasn't modelled for many years! More from Ray at copper57@btinternet.com.

Winner of the shield for the best scenic layout was Victoria Road from Bradford, with 13 out of 34 votes.
Winner of the lucky programme draw for a freeview set-top box was Tony McGowan of Carlisle.
Raffle first prize of the Hornby Midland Flyer train set went to Mr Benstead of Egremont.
Raffle 2nd, the Stobart Rail N gauge class 66, went to A Lister of Whitehaven.
Raffle 3rd, a DVD, went to Jasper Harrison,
Raffle 4th, a DVD, went to Les Paul of Washington.
 

 

Distington bypass Macmillan Nurses sponsored walk


We took the opportunity to use National 378 and Bristol VR 431 to ferry Macmillan Nurses supporters from Lakes College to and from the bypass walk at the weekend. The sun shone, and all seemed to go well, with several hundred walkers of all ages enjoying the chance to walk along the new car-free road.
We certainly enjoyed ourselves, and had the added honour of being drivers of the first two buses along the new road to bring some walkers back from the Parton end of the walk.
We also found a common cause with the burger van man who has bought an old double decker bus - apparently an ex Blackpool Leyland Atlantean -  for conversion into a catering outlet.
Morrisons Construction kindly provided fuel for both buses for the event. This amounted to over £100 for each bus. We did around 30 miles in each bus, so this was appreciated.
 

Toy Fairs
After a break, these are back in 2009 under the guidance of new member and trader Keith Murfin. The first fair is at The Carnegie on Sunday   22nd February.
Contact Keith on 07824 471150 or at 140 Skinburness Rd, Silloth to book a stand.

More details will appear in due course

 

October 2008

There is still activity on the Corus internal railway with rails being brought in from the docks for welding

 

Pictures of the recent open day can be found here

 

September 2008

Summer Draw

Our 2008 raffle was drawn early this year. The draw was made at our Heritage Open Day at Lakes Road on Saturday 13th September.
First prize of £100 was won by member John Duckworth, an ex Workingtonian now living in Florida, with ticket number 442. Congratulations John.
Other winners were:
PRIZE - TICKET - NAME
DVD Player 124 Mike H
Bottle of wine 341 F Delaney
Bottle of wine 618 Dennis Harper
Bottle of wine 1851 S May
Home telephone 301 P Turnill
E-on “Powerdown” 472 J Teasdale
0D
Framed print 1441 Hazelwood
Fire engine book 1362 M Woodruff
Tram book 540 A Graham
Workington Wheels book 45 M Hunter
Workington Wheels book 292 N Beck
Workington Wheels book 1040 Wilson
Workington Wheels book 1296 R Mosley
Workington Wheels book 614 Dennis Harper
Summer Laughs joke book 219 Sharon
Summer Laughs joke book 379 I Bass
Summer Laughs joke book 1854 Joan Graham
Summer Laughs joke book 538 A Graham
Summer Laughs joke book 1351 C Bell
 

The draw was made by K Lindsay, recorded by A Grey, and witnessed by C Fitzgerald.
 
 
Paint The Town Red.
We ran a free park and ride service for this big first-time event organised by the town’s Rotary on Saturday 30th August with activities happening all over the town. For the first time we had two buses running all day, 378 and 431, using 3 drivers. The route was from Stainburn school car park via Helena Thompson Museum/Curwen Park, Washington St, St Joseph’s school, Vulcans Park, and town hall to the railway station, running from 9.30am to 4pm, though we were still picking up stragglers well after this. Fair weather ensured a good turnout and a good atmosphere from the crowds. The car park at Stainburn was almost full to capacity and the buses proved popular, especially double decker 431.
Much event publicity was given in the Times & Star and the Gazette, including pictures of 431. Rotary supplied temporary bus stop posts to which we fixed our timetable posters. We carried Rotary donation buck ets, and have been promised a donation towards our costs once all the monies have been collected in.
As a first event, the organisers have learnt lessons which will be applied to future events. In fact we have also learnt lessons. We had no fixed timetable for the day, as we weren’t sure what effect congestion would have on our running. But in hindsight we could have run a bus every 15 minutes with plenty of recovery time at each end, and would have made the last runs at 4.30 instead of 4pm.. Also no-one used the town hall stops, and very few used St Joseph’s or the railway station, so was it really worth going down to the station?
Each bus did around 60 miles in the day u sing about 10 gallons of fuel each. We estimate to have carried well over 1000 journeys on the 2 buses.
Thanks to all those volunteers who helped organise and run this event, especially our youth team of Jonathan and Kai who sold 75 copies of our Summer Laughs joke book.
We await the outcome of the event’s post mortem to see what future plans for this event are. Will it be Paint The Town Blue - and will we have to repaint our fleet to keep up the theme? No decisions have been taken as yet about future events although we understand that it is unlikely that Workington Rotary Club would go it alone again. Perhaps they would work with other organisations forming a committee to organise another one, but it is early days yet.
 
Open Day at Lakes Rd
On Saturday 13th September, we took part in the Civic Trust’s national Heritage Open Days scheme. Workington Civic Trust were participating for the first time, with 8 venues open at varying times over 4 days. Some of these, like ours, were not normally open to the public.
This gave us the incentive to tidy up or building. With the plan being to move buses out of the northern half of the building and allow the public in, much clutter was tidied or disposed of, and the floor repainted. Buses on display on the hard standing outside were 231, 295, 431and 550. 378 was on the turning circle, and provided a number of free rides around town during the afternoon, as did 431. Visitors were able to view the ice cream van, Commer fire engine & open topper 401, but not go any further. We had no toilet facilities, but that did not seem to cause too much problem.
 
We contacted local lapsed members and armchair supporters to encourage them to come to see what we were up to, but few made the effort. However most of our regulars and youth supporters were there. We also gained a new member, Keith Murfin from Silloth, who brought his diecast models trade stand.
Civic Trust members were in attendance keeping a tally of visitor numbers, which we estimate to have been around 100. Thanks to all who helped to make the day run smoothly.


 
Heaton rail depot open day, Newcastle
With a ridiculously early 6.30am departure, 378 took 11 travellers and a driver to Newcastle for this community open day organised by Northern Rail. Northern started these open days last year with an event a t Manchester’s Newton Heath to say thank you to the local community for putting up with the railway activities on their doorstep.
An enjoyable day gave us the opportunity to look around this busy depot at Northern, National Express, Network Rail and Grand Central trains, as well as preserved mainline diesel and steam locos.
We took our sales stand, complete with the recently purchased Derwent Railway Society sales stock, generating a record £203.81 of income, even though we were competing with many other stands.
Whilst we were there, 378 ran an hourly shuttle to the nearby Metro station at Chillingham Road, for which we received a £50 donation towards our costs. Unfortunately, this was not well patronised as it hadn’t been well publicised.
 

Coach Trip to York Sunday 28 September
Our  coach is now full!