Because I’m still woefully behind in writing up about our days out, today I’m going to talk about the Elsecar Heritage Centre, which we visited over 6 months ago. It’s in the village of Elsecar, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, and is a part of the village that has been preserved to look much as it would in the 19th century.
The centre includes many ex-industrial buildings. However, rather than being a static museum, most of the buildings are now leased out, and now host an array of craft shops. The main building, in the photo, is now a soft-play gym, which I think our two-year-old very much appreciated.
Around the back of the site is the Elsecar Heritage Railway, which runs for a short distance using heritage trains. You can have a look at some of the locomotives and carriages in the yard, and there’s a station with services running at weekends.
We actually picked quite a good day to visit, as there was also a small birds of prey exhibition, and an indoor craft market in one of the larger buildings. We’d also been lucky with the weather, although we had a string of nice weekends last autumn.
That being said, without the extra events, I don’t think it would have been much worth coming to Elsecar on its own – at least, not for the distance we travelled. Whilst there are plenty of information boards around, and it’s nice to look at, it’s not really a full day out. If we were to come again, I think we would need to combine it with something else in the area, such as Cannon Hall Farm.
On Sunday, the Brighouse and Halifax Model Engineers had one of their regular open days at Ravensprings Park in Brighouse. The park is home to two loops of track for model and miniature gauge railway locomotives, and both were in operation.
For a small fee payable at the gate, you get access to the whole of Ravensprings Park and unlimited rides on the trains. The locomotives are rotated during the day, and, thanks to a signalling system, multiple trains can run at the same time. So although we had to queue for each train, the queues moved quickly. Each ride includes two trips around the loops, and takes 2-3 minutes. The locomotives are a mixture of steam and diesel.
The inner track is raised, and has three track gauges, so that different trains can run. The outer track is at ground level and a wider track gauge; it features a second smaller loop (forming a figure of eight shape) taking you to the far end of the park.
There’s a café and toilets on site. The day we visited was also a charity day, raising money for the Forget Me Not Childrens Hospice, so there was a tombola and a ‘frog in a bog’ – catapulting a toy frog through a toilet seat. Only in Yorkshire.
The open days are generally monthly on the second Sunday through spring and summer, with the next one on the 9th July. After that, the park is open again on the 13th August, 10th September and 8th October. Of course, you could join the Brighouse and Halifax Model Engineers if you fancy visiting at other times. The open days are a fun day out, especially if the weather is nice. Our one-year-old seemed to enjoy the train rides, and there were children there from all ages, so it’s a good family day out.
Low Moor is technically a re-opening of a station that was closed in the 1960s, following the Beeching report. It used to be a junction station, with a branch line heading down the Spen Valley through Cleckheaton and Heckmondwyke. That branch line was closed, and is now the Spen Valley Greenway, a segregated footpath that I’ve walked a few times (but curiously never blogged about). Low Moor station has an exit onto the Greenway, improving access to it.
For a couple of years in the 1990s, the land once occupied by the old Low Moor station was used for Transperience, a public transport museum. I wrote about it a few years ago despite having never been; it closed due to a lack of visitors, and therefore money.
The new Low Moor station has been quite a long time coming; plans have existed for some time. Its construction has also taken far longer than planned. The local area was a major coalfield, and, during work to build a lift shaft, an uncapped mining shaft was found that didn’t exist on any plans. The station should have therefore opened in 2016, but, hey, better late than never.
The start of construction was also held up due to the need to get a standards derogation for the curved platforms. Modern stations have dead straight platforms, to minimise the gap between trains and the platform edge. Low Moor station is on a curve, and so there are a number of ‘Mind the Gap’ warnings around.
The new Low Moor station
So what did I find when I visited? Well, it’s very similar to most new stations that have opened of late. As you’d expect, it is (almost) fully wheelchair accessible; the only exception being the steps down to the Greenway. A ramp for cycles has been provided (but was fenced off) – this seems like a curious omission. Lifts provide access to the two platforms, which surprised me slightly. The station is unstaffed, so if the lifts break down, there’s no assistance for wheelchair users. I’m guessing large ramps would have added to the cost; the station already cost over £10million to build.
As mentioned, Low Moor station is unstaffed, so there’s no ticket office. There is a machine by the car park, however, which has around 100 spaces. When I visited today, there were around 20 cars parked up. Which isn’t a lot, but the station has been open less than a fortnight, and there are almost no road signs to it. I expect that, in time, it’ll be signposted from the nearby M62 as a park-and-ride facility for those travelling into Leeds and Bradford.
Services
Which brings me to the train services. There aren’t many of them.
After spending a lot of money on a new station, you might expect there to be a regular train service. But the majority of train services on the Calder Valley line whizz through Low Moor station without stopping. There’s a basic hourly service in each direction: one northbound to Bradford and thence onto Leeds, and one southbound to Halifax and Huddersfield. There’s no direct service to Manchester Victoria.
Grand Central, the open access operator which runs trains between Bradford and London King’s Cross, stop most of their trains at Low Moor, so there is a link to the capital. But these trains only run four times a day in each direction.
It’s a shame that Low Moor hasn’t got a great service, especially considering the money spent. Improvements should, however, come with time. The Calder Valley line is undergoing a multi-million pound upgrade this year, which should see more and faster trains. At present, only 4 trains per hour can use the line in each direction; the upgrade will add a fifth path and hopefully more. This should mean that more trains can stop at Low Moor without existing services having to slow down.
The poor service frequency was part of the reason why I made my visit to Low Moor by car, rather than by train. I’m hoping that getting there by train will be easier in the not too distant future.
My dad reached the grand old age of 70 a few months back, which begged the question: what do you get for the person who has everything? So we clubbed together as a family and bought my dad a train driving experience at the Foxfield Railway, near Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.
Like me, my Dad has a keen interest in the railways, although unlike me he actually worked for the railways for many years, as a civil engineer. Whilst he’s designed many structures for trains to use, he’d never actually driven one before, so this was to be a new experience for him. And, fortunately, we have family in Stoke so getting to the railway for 9:30am was not a problem.
The experience lasts all day, and the railway can accommodate up to 4 people at a time. The training is provided by the volunteers who run the railway, many of whom are retired from the mainline. The train for the day was W. G. Bagnall 0-6-0ST No. 2 “Florence”, and initially the ‘students’ took it in turn to practice driving the engine out of the station and back again. Later on, each of the participants got to take it in turn to drive the train all the way along the line, with passenger carriages. They also took the role of fireman, which included learning how to couple and uncouple the engine from the carriages, and got to use the levers in the signalbox.
Pleasingly, friends and family were also allowed to be part of the day – I was able to follow my dad around with my camera for almost the whole time, and consequently took over 100 photos. And we brought part of the extended family along with us to ride in the carriages whilst my dad drove us up and down the line.
The volunteers that run the driving training experiences were great – friendly and accommodating, and ensured that participants and their families all had a good day out. At the end of the day, those that took part are presented with a certificate and there were more photo opportunities to be had.
I had a great time, but, more importantly, so did my dad. It’s something that I’d definitely recommend for those with a similar interest in the railways. Foxfield are now booked up for the rest of 2015 so you may need to wait until later in the year for their 2016 dates, if you want to try it for yourself.
