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27th Annual Railcar Convention

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, 27th-29th October 2023.

Report by Chris Moxon, additional photographs by Chris Bull.

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Introduction

The 2023 convention was held at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, by our hosts the KWVR Diesel Railcar Group who hosted for the second time, the last being twelve years previously. Happily the organisers were willing to accommodate our standard itinerary including driver experiences, formal meeting, fish & chip special and shed tours.

The working fleet at the railway had changed beyond recognition since 2011, with only the cute and longstanding railbus running at both events. The Class 108 had given way to a Class 101 and two new second generation sets, in the form of 143 & 144 pacer sets, had joined. This allowed an impressive four set line up to be fielded, with a further two (the second railbus and the 108) around for inspection by members.

Friday

On the Friday, tradition was followed with the railway closed to the general public and driver experiences laid on. These were helpfully held at the previous year's prices, beating the cost of living crisis(!), and were great value with all four sets available for delegates to have a play on:

-Waggon & Maschinenbau Railbus M79964
- Class 101 unit Sc51803 & M51189
- Class 144 unit 144011 running with 143625 as a 4 car set

The second generation experiences were more popular than was predicted by the organisers, with the 143/144 combo out all day to accommodate the bookings. The second path was taken by the earlier units, with the Class 101 in the morning and railbus in the afternoon. Whilst it was certainly true that everybody enjoyed all the experiences on all of the units, the effectiveness of the controls of the pacers and the sheer quirkiness of the railbus made them favourites.

During the day, signalbox visits were made at Damems Junction and Keighley. The latter was particularly interesting as after many years without serious action, the box was being readied for an operational future for the first time in its preserved life. The restoration work and the plans to commission the frame (made up out of parts from several others) were discussed in detail.

An interesting feature was the Pacer and Railbus experiences extending just into the hours of darkness, which provided a further novelty for those lucky enough to have the last slots. One father and son driving team were found to be in competition for stopping places, some claiming that the son stopped better in darkness than father in daylight!

The day was rounded off by some delegates enjoying a nice meal in one of the eateries in Keighley. One of the advantages of one end of the line being in an urban setting was that there was no shortage of food and drinking establishments!

Saturday

On the Saturday the gala started proper, with all railcars booked out in turn, alongside a steam hauled service throughout the day. Unfortunately the original plan of running a series of separate shuttles to Ingrow was not possible with the signalling arrangements, and instead the four units ran for several trips each taking it in turns on the second path. There were a few extra shuttles thrown in where the timetable allowed so things were moving around all of the time.

The event almost became a victim of its own success, after the Railbus (selected for the very first trains in the morning due to its small size) rolled into Keighley on the first trip with all seats occupied. A further 50 people were on the platform looking to board which obviously wasn't going to happen! A valiant 20 or so further people squeezed on for the trip back to Oxenhope but a lot of people were left behind on the platform, such was the popularity of the event and the little German beastie.

The packed railbus was swapped out by 11am by the larger and more comfortable 2-car Class 101. People were no longer being left behind but the unit still entirely filled up with several standing in the vestibules. The organiser's expectations had been well exceeded and trains ran full (or well filled) all day. Even the increase to 4-cars, after the 101 was swapped for the 143/144 sets, was taken up with all coaches carrying a good amount.

The slick running was enjoyed by all, with plenty of swapping around and movement creating a surprisingly action packed event which on paper had seemed in advance of the event to have a somewhat simple timetable. People needn't have feared as there was plenty to see and do.

Formal Meeting

The main meeting was held in the Treehouse Bar and Kitchen which was only a 4 minute walk from Haworth station. A total of 32 delegates attended, an increase of 3 from the previous year, official business starting around 14:15 as it look a little longer than expected for some delegates to find the entrance!

The meeting started with the Chairman Paul Moxon's welcome and summary, where apologies were also read.

Shaun Whitehead then quickly took the stage to give a presentation on the Worth Valley and its railcars in the 12 years since we had last been. The original fleet of the 108 and railbus had quickly altered with the 101 restoration being completed and launched in April 2013. In June 2014 the long out of traffic second railbus (79962) was transferred to the Vintage Carriages Trust who hoped that following almost 10 years the vehicle might come together following a string of challenges including asbestos stripping and Covid. Speaking of Covid, that was mentioned as shutting the railway and Keighley station being used for the storage of many Class 144 sets in April 2020. This was the time that 144011 also arrived which would later become a resident. The same set was repainted into the popular Metro Red livery in October 2021. A year on, in Nov 21 (one half) and Oct 22 (the other) 143625 arrived as a "source of spares" for the 144. It was quickly used however for a large filing job for ITV X which is still to be released (at the time of writing). Storage was tight at Haworth, and accross the whole railway, with the 143 living at Ingrow and a chalenge to move and ready for service if its needed. This year, in homage to the early days of the railway, "Worth Valley" home branding has been added to the bodysides. The other recent development was the refurbishment of the body and exterior repaint of the 101, which was showing signs of age. It has been reliveried into BR blue and relaunched at the convention weekend. The presentation ended with a look to the future, which in the short term consists of refitting the first class seating back into the Class 101 (removed in the early 1990's) and refreshing the railbus. Longer term, the focus will be on the Class 108's overhaul and investigating further undercover accommodation, which at present only extends to the railbus.

Chris Moxon's usual preservation roundup of the year followed, which in contrast to the last few years reported fairly stable figures, with the influx of second generation pacers now settled down. A few vehicles had been added, and a few disposed of, with total preserved vehicles stable at just under 400. The varous overhauls which have been started and finished were then disussed before finishing with the summary tables. The biggest news this year is that a significant two-thirds of restorations had stopped this year. Whilst some were for the happy reason of them entering traffic again, others were for the more sinister reason that the overhauls had simply stalled and the vehicles returned to storage. Data from Covid (which had been hidden and unreliable) is still only just coming through so several of these stalls were actually confirmation from several years ago, but nevertheless it was a stark figure. Hopefully the number of active restorations will increase in future years.

Evan Green-Hughes and Chris Nesbitt made the next presentation which discussed the HRA, ORR and TRA's position within these. It was agreed to keep close with the ORR, recent inspections being an improvement on some others that had been before as ORR themselves had been in a period of transition with some inspectors appearing less suited to heritage. Competency was discussed, along with the importance that assessors are competent in the areas that they assess. Platform control and the recent incident at loughborough was disussed along with the wider conversation on working at height. Memebers were reminded it is now illegal to mild steel weld without RPE or LEV extraction. The latter was particularly relevent with steel being a part of all railcars. The HRA's standards board was also discussed and it was clear that they had appeared again to not get particularly far this year. It was reiterated to continue to lobby for the TRA to get a seat at that particular table.

Widely agreed to be the most interesting presentation was also the final one, Nigel Tilly who presented an in depth look at Lincoln depot, the Class 114's and Harold Smith, the man who ran it all. The talk was several stories (impossible to attempt to recreate here) involving Harold and how he worked miracles at the depot keeping the 114's in superior condition to many others (Lincoln's 105's didn't get much mention and didn't appar to be favoured by Harold). The talk focussed much more on the man and the human side of the story rather than too much technical information on the 114's themselves. Everybody agreed it was an excellent talk with the correct angle, as the human story is so often overlooked in books and indeed is impossible to access by many, as those who understood the men involved would always be inside BR rather than outside enthusiasts.

The location for the 2024 convention was agreed as the Midland Railway Butterley with 2025 being less sure. Ecclesbourne Valley was mentioned but they are understandably not willing to host until the completion of the Derby Lightweight set is secured. Hopefully in 12 months time a better picture will emerge (it may be that Ecclesbourne moves to 2026). In the meantime, 2025's location is still technically vacant.

Fish & Chip Special

As per tradition the Saturday evening was dedicated to a Fish & Chip special, which was provided to TRA members along with volunteers from the railway itself. The 4-car 143/144 was used, which provided good heating and plenty of space for people to spread out and socialise. The Fish & Chips were served at Keighley and were excellent, one addition being a goody bag with condiments and a bread roll in it - a bonus we have not had before! A bar on the Class 143 finished off provisions meaning everyone had what they needed on board for the three round trips into the night.

The Metro Red liveried 144 in particular looked very at home at Keighley at the end of the night, just a few years ago this set would have been running from Network Rail's platforms 1 & 2 at Keighley, now retired on the Worth Valley's platforms 3 & 4. One of the features of the Worth Valley's DMU fleet is that the 101, 108 & 144 are all local thoroughbreds which ran everyday through Keighley during parts of their working lives. It was therefore very appropriate to see them preserved and performing for us in preservation in the correct area of the country.

Sunday

Sunday saw the same timetable as Saturday but it was slightly more relaxed as there was no meeting or evening specials, giving time for the final delegates to travel home. It was also more relaxing for anyone wishing to travel on the railbus which made its morning runs in far greater comfort, picking everyone up this time! As is normally the case for the Sunday of the events, the reduced loadings gave the best opportunity to explore the remainder of the railway itself, it being easy to forget that the line has museums and rolling stock displays at both Oxenhope and Ingrow to explore. The latter contained the second railbus, 79962, which is under restoration by the Vintage Carriages Trust.

Throughout the weekend there were tours of Haworth depot available which included access to the stored Class 108 which had featured in traffic at the 2011 event. This was interesting to see and there were high hopes that the 108 would not be far away from a start being made in earnest on its overhaul for eventual use alongside the Class 101. The 4-car 143/144 trips showed the useful feature of having two compatable sets to run together if required.

Future Events

For the second time, the Worth Valley put on an excellent show. The weekend was a great commercial success with the "DMU Weekend" angle attracting 1,000 visitors, more than three times the normal number of people who would visit for a normal weekend at that time of year. It's just a pity you can't fit 1,000 people on a 4-wheel railbus!! Hopefully this will lead to similar events at Keighley in the future.

As for the Railcar Association, we are very grateful to the railway and the organisers for accommodating us in such a friendly way, and we hope to see everybody again next year at the Midland Railway Butterley in September.