A Warship in the Derbyshire snow

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, which runs from Duffield to Wirksworth in Derbyshire, held a diesel event this weekend.

The most interesting visitor was the Warship D832 'Onslaught'. These class 42 locomotives, known as Warships because that was what they were all named after, ran on British Rail's Western Region between 1958 and 1972.

Wirksworth on New Year's Eve

I said Wirksworth is full of characterful buildings and that I shall return one day.

For the time being, this is what I came up with on Saturday.

My favourite building was the Old Grammar School, a piece of early 19th-century gothic fantasy.

You can now rent it as holiday accommodation.

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway runs for nine miles from Duffield to Wirksworth in Derbyshire.

It closed to passengers as early as 1947, but British Rail ran occassional excursions along the line and I travelled on one of them back in 1987.

There was heavy stone traffic from the quarries around Wirksworth, but that did not save the line and it closed to freight in 1989.

The good news is that it has now been reopened as a heritage line.

I was there today and caught an ageing diesel multiple unit up to Wirksworth and back. I shall return in summer when there will be steam and longer days to enjoy the countryside.

Wirksworth is a small town that grew rich on lead mining and is now something of a backwater - certainly compared with the nearby resorts of Matlock and Matlock Bath.

The result is that it is full of characterful buildings. I shall go back there too.