Our Grumpies have been in the Peak District again, this time at Wirksworth. The visit was in three parts, at the headquarters of the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, where they first visited the LMS 10000 workshop. This ambitious project is reconstructing one of the prototype diesel locomotives which were built by the LMS railway in 1947, just before nationalization of the railways.
Next, we visited the workshops of the railway, where a number of overhaul and restoration projects were underway, including several carriages. Everything looks very large when viewed from below!
We then walked into Wirksworth, to the Heritage Centre, where we heard a very interesting talk about the history of the town. The town was effectively covered in a layer of dust until the last of the limestone quarries closed in 1989. This meant that no-one had any interest in redeveloping (or ruining) the buildings until that time, and what survives today makes a very interesting and quirky, if quite hilly, Peak District town.
The morning was then rounded off by our customary lunch, in the Centre’s Webster’s café. More Grumpy members are always welcome to join us on future visits.
