Our Visit to Barrow Hill Roundhouse

We met up at Barrow Hill Roundhouse, on a damp and cloudy morning, however, it did not dampen my excitement. I had been wanting to visit the Roundhouse for some time.

If you know Radio Amateurs then the next bit will not come as a surprise, we headed straight for the Cafe, we had learned from one of our members how good this was, and we were not disappointed. While we were waiting for other members to join us. We tucked into several excellent breakfast items.

When we had finished we went into the museum and paid our entrance fee, the first part we looked at explained the background and history of the Roundhouse.

Some History

Barrow Hill is a unique 19th Century Building and is Grade II listed. We found out that it is the only surviving operational railway roundhouse in the UK. It was completed in 1870 and was used for over 100 years to maintain and repair both steam and diesel locomotives, for the Midland Railway, Staveley Iron Company and the North Derbyshire coalfields. (We will be taking part in Former Colliery Sites on the Air in June see FCSOTA)

In the 1970s & 1980s as the Iron and Coal Industries declined, the Roundhouse became surplus to requirements, The announcement of its closure was made in 1989 and the building was supposed to be demolished in 1991. Fortunately, a last-minute campaign saved the building. However, it had suffered significant vandalism after its closure.

A small army of volunteers set to work and the roundhouse was reopened to the public in 1998 as a heritage railway centre.

While the Roundhouse turntable is the main feature, there are lots and lots of other things to see.

The Signal Box Tour.

I think that most members will agree that the Signal Box tour and demonstration was a highlight and not to be missed. I was the first time I had ever been in a Signal Box, and it was a really fascinating part of the visit. The Signal Box had been completely restored by the Volunteer team on site.

There are of course a number of locomotives in various levels of restoration to have a look at. While we were there you could see work being undertaken by volunteers.

Finally, we were able to watch a demonstration of the turntable in the centre of the Roundhouse in operation. When first installed it was operated by about four men with levers, then changed to hand crank and or vacuum from the locos and finally to an electric motor. To see a video of the Turntable in operation why not visit our YouTube site and see the video

We had one final visit to the gift shop and cafe before departing home. I am sure we will be back again soon.

The Signal Box

Signal Box Lever frame

Part of the Rail Yard

Some other photos taken on the day.