Steaming along the Derwent Valley
… I'm in a Matlock frame of mind. Not quite the resonance of Billy Joel's song featuring the Hudson Valley line. But HE didn't get to drive a steam engine along HIS valley and I DID a couple of weeks ago.
As luck would have it a combined Birthday and Christmas present was a spell on the footplate at the Peak Rail.
We got there early on a hot Saturday in July and went through the formalities. One of the better bits of the day was not having to be on site from 6am to raise the steam for my joyride.
The engine, a Great Western tank, handled “like a Ferrari” as our stoker warned. But only in the sense that acceleration was either on or off with very little middle ground.
Apart from the regulator, there is: A steam brake and a comforting manual brake which was wound down when we were parked. A large red direction lever -- forward for “forward” and back for “backwards”. If it's in the middle it's in neutral. And a whistle. That's it.
And off we go.
Gingerly at first -- we've got the family in the guard's van -- from Rowsley to Matlock Riverside and back. We negotiated three footpaths, a level crossing and some fancy reversing at Riverside.
There was a tour of the Riverside signal box. Levers, manual interlocking… proper mechanics.
And a return to Rowesly. It was like driving the “Titfield Thunderbolt” through Aldlestrop
It couldn't have been any better.
