Contractor's Delight

The Moseley Railway Trust (MRT) is pleased to announce that the 2012 September Gala will be themed around Contractor’s Railways. Until the advent of the dumper truck, most major civil engineering projects would have a narrow gauge railway for materials movements on site – and indeed some still do, especially in the field of tunnel construction.


The Gala will be held on Saturday and Sunday 8 & 9 September 2012. It will be open from 1100 to 1700 on each day. Admission will be £6 adults, £3 for children aged 2 to 15.

As usual, there will be steam and diesel trains on the 2’0” gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway, along with trade stands, model railways and lots of other exhibits to interest young and old.

Phil Robinson, MRT Chairman, said "This year, we will celebrate the role which the narrow gauge railway played in building the UK’s infrastructure – roads, dams, housing estates, the list is endless. This is a little known facet of the history of railways in the UK, and part of the mission of the Moseley Railway Trust is to educate and inform our visitors about this aspect of industrial heritage”.

Further details will be announced in time. The MRT’s event team would be particularly pleased to hear from vintage plant owners who may wish to exhibit and hopefully demonstrate their machines. The Apedale site is under continuous development, and the Trust is hoping that it may be able to have some site roads built during the event!

Cold

It was, as they say, reet chilly down t'valley this weekend. But despite this, the intrepid arctic warfare division of the Moseley Railway Trust continued their endeavours. A slight re-plan of the day was needed after the Fordson tractor declined to participate despite best endeavours to produce enough amps to start the thing. So, most members retired to the Station Building for a spot of extreme decorating - and it's starting to look somewhere near finished. Just the floor to paint now, chaps.... Meanwhile, a pick-up goods-cum-rubbish clearance train was seen to set off, stating its destination as Bleath Gill. I never saw it return, and we expect to be able to make a fortune by publishing the memoirs of the traincrew (if they are ever found). The Outdoor Engineering Department seemed to be enjoying making bits for Project Pluto. If you're not sure what Project Pluto is, then you'll just have to keep visiting to find out. Get in touch here. 

Pit Progress

Another very productive weekend at Apedale has seen significant progress on two fronts. Firstly, an elite team has been working on finishing off the station building interior; it is most important to us that this looks as good as possible. This will be, both figuratively and literally, our shop window - the first point of contact the public has with the Trust. Secondly, a slightly less elite team has been working on the pit project. This has included using skip wagons and locos to move fill material from elsewhere on site. As you can see, the track layout includes another Point to Certain Oblivion - these have been something of a feature of the Apedale track layout over the years - but they are always there for good reasons. The photos show some of the Civil Engineering gang, who gave their names as Raymond Throat-Wobbler Mangrove and Jethro Q. Walrustitty. Or at least that's what I wrote down. Using these wagons as God intended has given us a bit of an idea for the September Gala. Keep watching this space. Get in touch here.

Busy weekend

It's been a very productive weekend at Apedale. Rather cynically, it was decided that the unseasonally warm weather is unlikely to last much longer, so everything with untreated water in it was drained.This has probably raised the local water table level by a about a foot, which may provoke complaints from our mining colleagues at the Heritage Centre. The first track was laid on the made-up land which leads to the site of the inspection pit, and a loco was duly parked thereon. The voices of doom expected the loco to sink into the mire, never to be seen again. However, the mire seemed rather unresponsive today, and precisely nothing happened. If there's one thing we're good at it's making sure that nothing happens. The more well-informed may wish to note which locomotive was used for this little piece of exploration. I'll tell you more about that when I get another moment. Get in touch here. 

Down t'pit

The major winter engineering project at the Moseley Railway Trust site at Apedale is the conversion of what was, at one time a weighbridge, into an inspection pit. This project has taken on a certain degree of urgency with the realisation that the newly-commissioned Joffre steam loco needed a pit in order to be able to carry out the annual boiler exam. Hence no pit would lead to the loco being newly de-commissioned. It's been a big job so far, with a new retaining wall built, and then the land built up by backfilling behind the wall. A slight hitch was encountered just before Xmas when it was noticed that the existing sheet-piled wall alongside the weighbridge was bulging in places where bulges should not be. Although not on the scale of the Chicken Curve and being completely unrelated to poultry, action was needed. The root cause was the land slipping into the pit, particularly ballast from an adjacent siding. As a first step to curing the problem, concrete sleepers have been placed and then pinned into place to reinforce the top of the bank. The next step is to reinforce the sheet piling, and hopefully that will solve the problem. As ever, get in touch here.

Happy New Year

1. Firstly, the second part of the Quiz. I've seen three correct sets of answers, and I have to say I'm most impressed. I didn't think anyone would get all of them. The 2012 Xmas quiz is going to have to be really fiendish - "Spot the Fishplate" or something. Anyway, the answers are:
2. 6:- WHHR Porthmadog
3. 7:- Welshpool and Llanfair, Llanfair Caerinion
4. 8:- Cappy, Froissy, Dompierre, France
5. 9:- Durango (Durango and Silverton), Colorado, USA
6. 10:- Kelmsley Down, Sittingbourne & Kelmsley
7. 11:- Jenbach, Austria - home to the Zillertalbahn and the Achenseebahn.
8. It's been a funny end to the year, with big "Ups" and big "Downs". The Santa trains at Apedale were extremely successful, with very full trains loaded with happy, and fare-paying, passengers. Even the Treasurer was heard to be muttering positive comments about cashflows and business models and the like. But then we heard of the death of a long standing and much respected member, John Lucas. John is seen in characteristic pose at Amberley in 2008 (thanks to Cliff Thomas for the photo). John will be greatly missed within the railway family. Hopefully 2012 will see plenty of Ups and not many Downs. We re-open to the public on Saturday 31/3/12, and look forward to seeing you then. Keep checking in here for all the latest news and Apedale happenings, and maybe the odd giggle. Get in touch here.

Christmas Quiz Part Two

A few of you got the answer to Part One. They were:-
1 – Ffestiniog Railway Boston Lodge
2 – Statfold Barn Farm
3 - Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Stonehenge works
4 – West Lancs Light Railway, Hesketh Bank
5 – Our twin museum, the Frankfurt Fedbahn Museum

Some of the more over-confident said they wanted something more challenging. So, we've sent the MRT SR-71 out again, and it's come back with another batch of photos. Set your sherry and mince-pie addled brains working on this lot. Get in touch here with your answers and/or pathetic cries for help.

Number 6



 

 

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9




Number 10

Number 11