C.V.R. Diesel Gallery

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The Churnet Valley Railway runs its own diesels as well as occasional visitors from elsewhere.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge the images.

33102

33102 is a C.V.R. resident. Here, it is being used as a static display at Cheddleton Station on a busy summer afternoon.
Here it stands idle in Cheddleton Yard during a winter steam gala.
Looking a bit dishevelled and now, apparently, called "Sophie", she filled in for the out-of-traffic 37075 for the "Anything Goes" weekend, in November 2009. Here, she is waiting to depart from Kingsley and Froghall.

37075

37075 was built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in Darlington in 1962. It was withdrawn from service in 1999 and is now owned by the 5C Loco Group.
During the 2010 winter steam gala, it sat idle in the yard at Cheddleton.

37407 and 37242

Looking somewhat less shiny than 37075 above, 37407 and 37424 were stored at Cheddleton in early 2010, awaiting the "eventual overhaul of one of them", according to the C.V.R. website.

Diesel Multiple Unit 50455/50517
DMU 50455/50517 is another C.V.R resident. Here, it is crossing the Caldon Canal at Black Lion Bridge having just left Consall Station.
Being a DMU makes turnarounds nice and easy: just switch ends and off you go.
This, along with its light weight, made it the only option for carrying passengers, for the first time, between Froghall and Oakamoor, during the 2009 winter steam gala. At that time, the track was too poor for heavy steam locos and had no useable passing loop. This was also the first time that the up platform at Kingsley and Froghall Station was used.
It can run under its own power or double as a set of coaches, and filled both of these roles during the diesel gala in 2008. Here it is waiting its turn, between deployments, in the yard at Cheddleton.
It fulfilled the same role during the 2010 Winter Steam Gala, here, being dragged along by 4MT 80072 in Consall Station.

25322 'Tamworth Castle'

25322 'Tamworth Castle', a.k.a. D7672, is BR/Sulzer Type 2 built in Derby in 1967. It was the last of its class to be withdrawn from service in 1991. Despite its smart, shiny appearance, it's unserviceable, awaiting power unit repairs.

56003

56003 normally lives on the Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough but here it is leaving Consall station, pulling some rather rusty carriages which are actually electrical multiple units from the south east of England.
This loco was built in communist Romania and so should probably explode in a shower of bits at any moment, unlike UK-built members of this class, which have probably crumbled into piles of rust by now.

D1842 (47192)

D1842, a.k.a. 47192, is a former C.V.R. resident. It left the C.V.R. in 2008 to return "home" to Crewe, where it was built in 1965.
Sometimes it was used for passenger trains: on this occasion, in conjunction with 33102, pulling out of Consall Station.

D8154

D8154 pulling 33102 through Cheddleton yard. These '20' class engines used to haul coal trains on the line near to my parents house. Unglamorous but full of nostalgia.
Since this picture was taken, this one has been transferred to the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre at Ruddington.

Deltic D9016 'Gordon Highlander'
The Deltic is what happens when you stuff two great big delta-shaped marine diesels into a locomotive. It was designed for high-speed running on the East Coast main line between London and Edinburgh.
This one visited for the 2008 diesel gala. Only one of its engines was needed for running at 25mph but it still managed to drown out almost every other engine running. Only the distinctive clatter of '20' class D8001 stood a chance of being heard over the noise made by this brute.

D8001

D8001 is another '20' class, which visited the C.V.R. for the diesel gala in 2008. As well as pulling trains, it was used to give driving experience to visitors, making short runs up and down Cheddleton Yard.
The experience rides started from the bay platform in Cheddleton Station. The '20' class is known for its restricted visibility running nose-first, so running cab-first into the platform was a good idea with beginners at the controls.

Electro-Diesel 73138

The electro-diesel is designed to run either on electricity from a third rail or from an auxilliary diesel generator. The C.V.R. does not have a third rail.


The official railway website is at www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk