Services on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway came to a halt today due to the
presence of two tortoises loose on the line near Wirksworth.
Eye salutes a heritage railway with members able to catch these monsters of the wild...
Mr Lergy Fee continues...
"There is no truth in the rumour that star of this weekend’s diesel gala 31414 (soon to re-emerge this weekend in green livery as
D5528), was sent to apprehend them but failed to keep up".
Eye observes: Nothing wrong with Go-Anywhere Cl31s, as long as they are properly maintained of course... UPDATE: This from a Mr Through the Glass, somewhat darkly... Brilliant! You could name them Wirks
and Worth!
They will at least last much much longer than a 31.....and probably
be able to pull far more weight.
With The World’s Greatest Living Transport Correspondent expected to be anointed as the next Mayor of London, I wonder if the so called 'soi disant Veteran Observer' is starting to get ideas above his station
(geddit!!? Ed.).
During our Diesel Gala this weekend (lots of Crompton and A1A action) our train crew happened upon the following sight at the end of the Duffield Carnival!
As you can see from the picture, none amongst the assembled party were prepared to admit they had anything to do with the self appointed Spartacus!
Eye has expressed concern in the past about the activities of so called Second World War re-enactors on Heritage Railways.
Although nothing prepared your editor for the story in today's Daily Telegraph which alleged that the following took place on the East Lancashire Railway this weekend:
One man attending the event in Ramsbottom and Bury, Greater Manchester, was
spotted impersonating Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and one of the
main architects of Nazi Germany.
Others in the 10,000-strong crowd wore some of the insignia of Hitler’s most
ruthless SS troops, the Schutzstaffel, Allgemeine SS and
SS-Totenkopfverbände – the last of these responsible for Germany’s major
concentration camps.
A Jewish couple who turned up expecting to enjoy afternoon English tea dances
and a fly-past by a Second World War Spitfire claim they were asked to
consider dressing up as Holocaust victims.
Clearly whatever 'good-will' the East Lancs had hoped to gain from the event is close to having drained away.
Meanwhile the waves caused by the story contained in the Telegraph have already rippled out as far as the Jewish community in Berlin.
Rabbi Dr Walter Rothschild has written the following open letter to UK media:
7th. June 2012.
Dear Sir,
As a railway enthusiast, an (amateur) railway historian and a member of the World War 2 Railway Study Group, as well as a rabbi serving congregations in Germany and Austria, I have a fairly wide perspective on the issues that are always raised by 'Nostalgic Wartime Events'. There are several problems; one is Ignorance, one is Thick-Headedness, and one is perhaps real Evil.
Ignorance of the realities of the Second World War is widespread - and yet there is little excuse for this, for it took place in a time of film and photography and there are even now a few veterans left to tell their tales. For many English people the first thought will perhaps be of 'Dad's Army' (and maybe 'Allo Allo') - and while others may be able to think of terms like Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, Blitz, D-Day and so forth, the fact remains that Britain was on the side that won the war (just - it was a much closer result than many people realise) and so one can look back with nostalgia on having won, on having been on 'the good side'. This enables the RAF's 'Battle of Britain Flight' to display national pride, old soldiers to march to the Cenotaph, old men to wear their medals with pride, and so forth - and rightly so.
From the German perspective things are more complicated. No-one really wants to see commemorative flights of Focke-Wulfs and Dorniers and Heinkels - (though a Ju 52 flies regularly over Berlin for tourists); The Reichsbahn of the period was used to transport not just munitions and troops but many millions of Forced Labourers, Deportees, Prisoners of War - and later on fleeing civilians and hundreds of thousands of wounded, and later starving civilians hunting for food, and repatriated concentration camp survivors - this was by no means only an issue of Jews, or of Sinti and Roma, though of course several million were also transported by rail to the places where they were to be starved, shot or gassed. Men, women and children.
So whilst many Class 52 'Kriegsloks' have survived (many of them actually in the rebuilt version of the DDR Reichsbahn) and some still run, there is no desire to create an 'authentic train' of goods vans and cram them with starving, scared passengers with no toilet facilities. When a 'nostalgic' train runs to allow modern passengers to 'travel like in Grandad's time' (as the flyers and posters advertise) this normally means four-wheel 'Thunderbox' coaches or bogie 'Eilzugwagen'.
The Swastika symbol is officially banned here; Exceptions are made for certain cultural matters (such as old films) and museums - so in the transport museums in Berlin and Nürnberg E19 electric locos of the period are portrayed in their original liveries - complete with symbols.
Thick-Headedness exists when people say "I know all this, but still I think it would be fun to walk up and down the platform dressed as though the Wehrmacht really had invaded Britain in 1940'. (Think of the novel 'The Eagle has Landed.') Since this is historically incorrect - thank goodness - there can be no thought of 'authenticity' here. An 8F or a Black 5 hauling LMS coaches or Mark 1's filled with SS troops is something that thankfully never happened. So to insist on dressing up like this is just stupid. But not necessarily evil.
Then there are the Evil ones; those who wish it had been true, those who wear these uniforms and symbols because, for whatever reason (don't they have girl friends?) they think the Nazi ideology was correct for its time and would be appropriate for modern times too. Such people are unfortunately gaining political power in several European countries at the moment and they scare the hell out of anyone with enough sense and enough historical knowledge to know what this kind of racist, nationalistic, extremist ideology can lead to - and did lead to. For such people one can have nothing but contempt.
The East Lancs Railway - one can see from the efforts put into controlling uniforms - was aware of these dangers and did attempt to put measures in place to cope with the Evil and maybe the Thick-Headed - but unfortunately the Great British Public is famous for its Ignorance. My own proposal for any future events - if they are to be held, and this period is after all NOT a taboo for us - would be to concentrate much more in advance on preparing a few typical and authentic British cameos - for example, a 'Children's Evacuation Train' with kids wearing labels round their necks being waved off; or a Troop Train, (maybe also one with American or Canadian 'troop's?); or a train of military vehicles with an escort coach; or even an Ambulance Train with stretcher cases being loaded. In all cases there should be an accompanying educational effort - leaflets or flyers or brochures which explain perhaps a few historical facts (How many troop trains ran after Dunkirk and where to? Where were chidren evacuated to? Where did the ambulance trains run? How many bomb attacks took place on British stations? How many railwaymen were killed while on duty?) - in other words, make it not a 'Fun' event but an Educational one.
It will still be a matter of taste whether one should dwell on this period at all, but I personally see no reason why not - so long as it is done for these motives, and not just to allow some people who, for reasons known only to themselves and their mothers, have full SS uniforms and regalia hanging in their bedroom wardrobes, a chance to wear them in public.
Yours Sincerely, Shalom,
Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild.
Perhaps time for all heritage railways to undertake some serious reflection on the structure of any future Second World War based events?
RMT MEMBERS at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway are to impose an overtime ban and work-to-rule from a minute after midnight on Friday, June 10, in a dispute with the heritage line over allowances for carriage- and wagon-fitters.
Good to see that the NYMR is even able to recreate the 1960's industrial relations scene.
Whilst mulling over the innate difficulties of DDA compliance on heritage lines, I was pleased to see this effective and sturdy, yet Value for Money solution, deployed by Cumbria's Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.
Clearly the National Rail network has much to learn from our heritage friends.
An extraordinary thing happened on Thursday: hundreds and hundreds of people, possibly even thousands turned out for the opening of a new level crossing in North Norfolk.
Can it be long before NR issues a press release entitled: Sheringham 'would it kill you to wait?'
Good to see that freedom of speech is alive and well at Peak Rail.
As may be seen from this interesting email marking the demise of the Peak Rail discussion forum on Google Groups...
From: To: Peak Group Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 7:21 PM Subject: {Peak Rail topic:551} Closure of this Discussion Group
Dear All,
Today, I mistakenly let a posting through the moderation process which would have normally been moderated out.
This was caused by me not reading to the end of the post when using my Blackberry. It was a human error. I have been instructed by Jackie and Roger to reframe from moderating any further emails to this group and to "shut it down until further notice".
I would like to take this opportunity to aploligise for allowing such an inaccurate post to be published. This is therefore the last post to the 'Google Group'. I hope you, like me, found the open and transparent debate both enjoyable and informative.
With Best Wishes,
What wickedness could the offending post have contained? Merely this:
To return to the original topic, what is the state of completion of the various stages of the legal framework we will need to connect with NetworkRail and operate into Matlock? The December Bulletin Board firmly stated that preparation work would begin in January.
From an examination of the site it appears that a shoulder of rock on the old quarry site will need to be removed. Has the permission of the landowner been obtained?
I have obtained a copy of the letter sent by NetworkRail to our M.P. in December. He seems to have sent out a number of copies. This sets out the list of outstanding agreements which they require to have completed; it has the potential to be a complicated affair which will require a lot of hard detailed work to get through. It will not be solved by a meeting or a few letters.
NetworkRail make it plain that they will have costs which they expect to recover from us. Is there an estimate of these costs and is the money to hand?
How deeply shocking!
Surely the letter from Network Rail to Patrick McLoughlin MP is not that contentious?
National Preservation have taken over the running of the Thief Watch Program.
This is for the sole purpose of raising the awareness thefts from railways and hopefully reducing the value of the items stolen (and in turn reducing the amount of thefts).
The Thief Watch system can be found at National Preservation here.
Members are invited to add items that have been stolen and any details such as photos, etc...
We can also provide an RSS feed for your website, giving live up-to date information on items stolen via this link.
UPDATE: This from an ever so slightly furious Baldrick... National Preservation hasn't "taken over" (as Glynn so pompously claims) the running of Thief Watch.
They have merely offered help to it - along with the Railway Magazine, Steam Railway and Heritage Railway magazines.
Eye understands that there is some form of competition on the Devil's Lantern tonight.
Apparently it has the potential to help the Bluebell Railway convert a coach so that the mobility impaired can enjoy the railway.
This from Poser 500...
Any chance of a plug on your blog?
Later this evening, the ITV Meridian East region (essentially Kent & Sussex) local television news programme at 6pm will include a film detailing the Bluebell's prospective project.
Four other projects have already gone two-by-two on Monday and Tuesday. The runner up over the three days with the most votes will also receive a grant.
The People's Millions - Bluebell Railway project - Please vote for us today
Our project to restore London Chatham & Dover Railway carriage No.51 as our wheel-chair accessible Victorian carriage project needs your support today.
Please ring: 0871 626 88 51 between 9am and Midnight today, Wednesday 25th November
Calls cost 10p each from land-lines; calls via other operators may cost more. Only UK originated calls are counted.
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