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Eric Hannah wrote in a letter in issue 173: I was very
interested in the report on 'The Leicestershire Rail Tour‘
(Mancunian 171, p164), having several associations with
Hartington over the years. On 30th June 1932 I travelled
behind NSR O-6-2T 2255 from Ashbourne, terminating at
Hartington and returning by the same train to
Ashbourne. The LNWR Station nameboards were, as usual, very
informative, viz "Thorpe Cloud for Dove Dale",
"Alsop-en-le-Dale for Alstonfield" and "Hartington change
for Dove Dale, Beresford Dale and the Manifold valley".
"Change for" interests me, suggesting a road connection to
the places named. I doubt this, however.
The Wickham railcar
The vehicle being ignored at Hartington by most of the
passengers is the 'Elliot high speed track recording
vehicle' built by the Wickham company in 1959.
Based on the design of the railcars built by the company, it
was used to test methods of recording the condition of
track.
It's not clar what it was doing at Hartington; possibly
testing its abilities on this line, which had no passenger
service.
Railcar.co.uk
has a detailed article about this oddity. It exist at the
time of writing converted for passenger use. It is on the
Lavender Line at the time of writing,
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21: THE LEICESTERSHIRE RAIL TOUR OF 8 SEPTEMBER 1962
From The Mancunian issues 291 November 2012
and 171 November 1992

Our 5-coach train was hauled by 2-6-4T 42343 (then shedded
at Stockport) with a Longsight crew of Driver McCann,
Fireman Slattery and accompanied by Inspector Daniels, and
it left Manchester Piccadilly at 9:42am, two minutes behind
the diesel hauled 'Mancunian'. After picking up passengers
at Stockport, the train ran via Buxton (with a stop at
Whaley Bridge for water) to the first photo stop at
Hartington (above) where the station nameboard stated
"Hartington, Change for Dovedale and Manifold Valleys". The
stop lasted 17 minutes, then the tour continued via
Ashbourne, Uttoxeter and Tutbury to Burton on Trent.

At Shackerstone 'Crab‘ 2-6-0 42756 took over and
headed along the ex-MR Swadlincote loop on the last
day of scheduled passenger trains on the line, which had a
service only on Saturdays during the preceding 15 years.
After a 20-minute stop in the loop at Woodville to allow a
football excursion headed by 4F 0-6-0 44113 to pass, the
train continued along the single line to Moira West
Junction, then along the LNW / MR Joint line to Shackerstone
Junction.
Here 42756 took over and the tra1n travelled via the
Swadlincote loop (stopping at Woodville to cross a football
excursion hauled by 44113), and passed Overseal shed (where
four 4F 0-6-0s were stored) to reach Shackerstone Junction.
The train reversed here but the Mogul had to run forward to
Market Bosworth to run round.
At Charnwood Forest Junction 4F 44109 replaced the Crab and
took the train along what was left of the LNW line to
Loughborough Derby Road - to Shepshed and then back to
Charnwood. Then, with 42756 in charge once again, the train
ran via Nuneaton, Wigston and Knighton South Junction to
Desford.
Reversing here, the Crab then ran tender-first via
Hugglescote to Charnwood Junction, where 4F 0-6-0 44109 took
over for a run to Shepshed, then the terminus of the former
LNW line to Loughborough Derby Road, The 4F then returned
tender-first to Charnwood Junction where the Crab again took
over for a run back to Shackerstone and then via Market
Bosworth (photo stop) to Nuneaton Trent Valley.
All the lines traversed from Moira to Nuneaton lost their
passenger services in April 1931. From Nuneaton, the tour
train headed via Hinckley to Wigston North Junction for a
short run up the Midland Main Line to Knighton South
Junction before turning west to Desford.

At Desford the tour participants changed into a
train of 13 goods brake vans headed by ex-MR 2F 0-6-0 58148
for a half-hour trip to Leicester West Bridge Goods Depot
along the 1832 Leicester and Swannington line closed to
passengers in September 1928, passing through the narrow
single line Glenfield tunnel en route. Returning to
Desford, passengers rejoined the main train, which then
travelled via Ashby-de-la-Zouch back to Burton-on-Trent, a
route which lost its passenger service in September 1964.
42343 replaced the Crab at Burton and returned via the
outward route to Rocester before taking (now in the dark)
the Churnet Valley line through Leek to Macclesfield,
Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly, arriving some 45
minutes late at 10.48pm.
Last update by Charlie Hulme
4 October 2024.
Comments welcome: website@manlocosoc.co.uk
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