H.N.R.C class 20, 20168, shunting EWS HTA coal wagons in the Hope Valley - 1344+348+349+357

            * Earles Sidings, East

Finally, in this last set of 4 mosaic pictures, the view looks to the west with the rake of old EWS HTA coal hoppers now being readied to push back into the siding off to the far left which has a connecting line up to the Castleton Cement Works. In the distance, at the back of the rake of wagons, is the resident shunter, class 20, #2, 20168, 'Sir George Earle' ready to convey the wagons on the local working between Hope Earles Sidings to Castleton Cement Works; no headcode for this.. The 20 is now beginning the process of propelling the rake backwards and the upper right picture shows the 20 approaching the east end of the sidings with the last wagon which, like all the others, appears not to be fully loaded, the timing load for the inbound working, 6M77, this morning, hauled by DBS 66190 from the Cwmbargoed Opencast Colliery, was 1800 tonnes. Taking off the weight of the loco, 130 tonnes and wagons, 27 tonnes each, this must amount to about 1300 tonnes of coal maximum, or 112 tonnes per wagon, though there was no sign of any coal showing at the top of the wagons, so I guess they are carrying much less than this, due to the gradient up to the Cement Works. At lower left, 20168 has now pushed the wagons back down the siding alongside the main lines and has powered up ready to haul the whole lot back out, crossing over onto the single branch line up to the Cement Works. Whilst this was going on, in the final picture at lower right, a Northern Rail class 195, 195120, rattled passed heading towards the east, this the 5S81 E.C.S. move from Edale Station to here, to reverse just along the track and make its way back to Edale Station. Apparently Northern were short of drivers on this day and were running bus replacement services between Chinley and Sheffield whilst these units provided a local service between Edale and Manchester; there were also cancelled Northern services out of Sheffield as well, for the same reason. A few minutes after this shot was taken, the 20 powered up again have stopped for 5 minutes on the corner, and off it went up-grade to the Cement Works with its rake of old HTA coal hoppers to provide a supply of the fuel for the ovens up there which are used during the cement making process... I have never seen this operation before so all-in-all, the 2 hour session was an interesting one... with nothing else on, freight-wise, it was time to head back out of the Vally, shame really as it _was_ so pleasant, but it was also getting quite busy with weekend visitors and traffic of one sort or another.

Taken on: March 12, 2022

Tags:

Hope Valley

Bamford Station

D.R.S.

Direct Rail Services

Pathfinder Railtours

The Pennine Wayfarer Railtour

Class 37

37218

ex-

D6918

37425

ex-D6992

Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob

1Z12

Bristol Temple Meads via Worcester, Burton-on-Trent & H.V.L. to Bolton

1Z13

Bolton via H.V.L. to Bristol Temple Meads

D.B.S.

D.B. Schenker Cargo

Class 66

66190

6M77

Cwmbargoed Opencast Colliery to Earles Sidings

EWS HTA Coal Hoppers

66190(l)

0F52

Earles Sidings to Peak Forest

66190(2)

66085

0D12

Peak Forest Up Sidings to Toton T.M.D.

E.M.R.

East Midland Railway

Class 158

158864

158774

1L09

Liverpool Lime Street via Sheffield to Norwich

158777

Class 156

156411

1R64

Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street

T.P.E.

Transpennine Express

Class 185

185141

185125

1B75

Cleethorpes to Manchester Piccadilly

Northern Rail

Class 195

195120

E.C.S.

Empty Coaching Stock

5S81

Edale via reversal at Earles Sidings to Edale

Derwent Valley

Edale

London Midland Scottish Railways

Semaphore Signal

Earles Siding Signal Box

Ground Disk Signal

Class 20

20168

Sir George Earle

C+TE

VTG JPA Cement Tank Wagons

Hope Earles Sidings to Castleton Cement Works

Les Nixon « less

Sets appears in: • Earles Sidings • Hope Valley

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