Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) August 2011

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) ran a diesel gala on 13th & 14th August 2011, which featured 31414 and should also have featured new arrival 33035, but unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view on the matter, 33035 didn’t work at all over the weekend and 31414 did 4 round trips Wirksworth – Duffield (1020, 1220, 1420 & 1620 ex Wirksworth) on both days. These were 31414s first trips to Duffield too…..

Of course ‘414 isn’t in an authentic livery and it’s a shame the railway didn’t develop the concept of using it in T&T mode with the ex Gatwick Express GLV. Unfortunately ‘414 wasn’t in spectacular form, suffering from low power and it also had divert problems. The fact that it was wide open virtually all the way from Duffield, back up the hill to Wirksworth, on only load 3, emphasised the fact that it wasn’t as well as it should be. Still it was out working and that was a massive bonus as it had done very little during its time in preservation.