Peak Rail, Derbyshire Dale!

On fathers Day 2016, 441 appeared at the 40th annual "Peak Park" running day, based at Rowsley South station near Matlock.

The day was absolutely heaving, with a huge cycling event in progress in nearby Bakewell, at the showground and free bus services operated by heritage buses linking several sites in the area, including Matlock, Darley Dale, Bakewell and Chatsworth.

441 carried a good load of invited guests to and from the show, and during the event, operated on routes 3, 4 and 5, with guests on board taking great interest in the history of the vehicle and it's status as an Optare demonstrator for the "Prisma" body design.

The first two photographs below show 441 sharing the line up of vehicles with some very interesting machines, the Renault, Northern Counties to the left being of the same experimental London bus batch as our own stalwart fleet member Scania S113, F113OMJ, which along with an Optare Delta, were trialled in London service in the late 1980's.

441 is seen awaiting departure with a service 4 to Matlock Interchange, with the top man, DNC at the controls.

Arriving back at the rally site, 441 is seen after working a Darley Dale service, to connect with the steam train service.

Peak shopping village was the terminus of the route number 5, a short hop from the rally site. 441 was duplicated by the Chesterfield Leyland Leopard, PRA109R.