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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,





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