Motor Rail 2197

This week, we'll have a look at the life and times of one of the locos which lurks within the shed at Apedale. The loco in question is Motor Rail 2197 .

This loco is the "bent frame" type Motor Rail, and its currently unprepossessing appearance belies a lot of history. It was built for the War Department Light Railways, WDLR, as a petrol loco. It was bought back from the French Disposals Board by Motor Rail on 1/4/22 for the princely sum of 360 pounds. The loco was reconstructed back at MR's works; depending on the degree of usage, this could have been anything from a total rebuild through to simply cleaning the dust from an unused locomotive still in its original packing crate. It was at this point that the loco was allocated its current number - MR2197. This has always raised the intriguing question of what was the original number? The records state this is not known, but the fact that this is not known suggest the loco may have had a fairly hard previous existence.

MR2197, still fitted with its original Dorman 2JO petrol engine, was purchased by Sir William McAlpine & Co, and dispatched to the Cambrian Railway station at Portmadoc. McAlpines then used it to assist in the construction of the Welsh Highland Railway.

McAlpine eventually sold the loco to Cleveland Bridge & Engineering; it may have returned to MR for reconditioning between the two. In 1930, Cleveland Bridge deployed the loco to their contract to widen the GWR Olton-Lapworth section. The loco was then sold on to Birmingham Tame & Rea District Drainage Board (BTRDDB) and employed on the very extensive railways which operated at the Minworth works, near Birmingham. BTRDDB re-engined the loco with its current Dorman 2DWD engine. In December 1965, the loco was sold into preservation at the Cadeby Light Railway in Leicestershire. It stayed at the CLR until that railway closed in 2006, and moved to the MRT site at Apedale that year.

When the loco arrived at Cadeby, it was believed to be no.3874 - and some books, such as the IRS West Midlands book, still show this. However, there was some doubt. A chance conversation between the owner and an "old hand" at Motor Rail's Bedford works revealed that locos "where we didn't know it's old number" had the new number stamped on the engine bearers; hot footing it back to Cadeby, 20 minutes with a scraper showed the loco to be stamped "Reb 2197".

All the years stood outside at Cadeby took its toll on MR2197, and it's quite sad looking at the moment. However, restoration has started, and the top left picture shows the loco (yesterday!) after the owner had removed the radiator for overhaul. The loco is stood on track which was laid the previous weekend, and now extends even further! The second picture shows the loco after its previous repaint, taken at Cadeby along with cousin MR4572.

All of which is a good example of how quickly locos and other exhibits can degrade if they live outside - which is why the MRT is currently working towards building a large storage shed at Apedale. We really need your help to get this project completed - either financial, sponsorship or physical assistance is very welcome. Get in touch via the homepage!

Tracklaying at Apedale

Despite the threatened, and occasionally delivered rainfall, tracklaying continues apace at the ever sunny Apedale in sub-tropical North Staffordshire. As you'll see in the photo, the main line (the track on the right) is now reaching ever onwards in its quest to reach the target of Phase One of the MRT's Apedale Project, which is a station at Apedale Road (so called because it's a road, and you can probably guess the rest). The current tracklaying record seems to be four 18' panels in a day. This has allegedly been beaten by our P-way engineer and his son, but they were using steel sleepers, so it doesn't really count.

We are currently using rail which was recovered from Woodhead tunnel in the high pennines between Sheffield and Manchester. In case you're now looking at the pictures and wondering how pairs of Class 76 locos and MGR wagons managed to wear down the rails THAT much, it's actually the next door Woodhead tunnel I'm referring to. This was the old "steam era" tunnels. In 1954, when BR moved into their all-electric shiny new bores, the CEGB took over the old tunnels and put the electricity grid transmission cables into them. To facilitate maintenance over the three mile length, they laid a 2'0" gauge railway. A few years ago, this railway was re-laid by Alan Keef Ltd, and the MRT managed to obtain the old rail. It's still in pretty good order.

The CEGB used to have a battery electric loco. This is shown in the second picture, courtesy of John Lucas, taken on a visit to Woodhead many years ago. The loco is Clayton 5843 of 1971. This loco is also now in the care of the MRT, and is currently in store. However, it is hoped that in a few months, it will be at Apedale and will be unleashed to run on its original metals once again.

Serious Heritage

Anyone from Stoke and the Potteries area will tell you of the local delicacy - the Oatcake. The Apedale Heritage Centre cafe, beloved of the Moseley Railway Trust's working members, serves a mean oatcake. There is a relationship between oatcake consumption and yards of track built in a day, but I've yet to put numbers to it. You will therefore appreciate the horror with which we greeted the news shown in the photo.

The news story (see The Sentinel's site, long link at the bottom) is all about the heritage value of Stoke's last surviving "hole in the wall" oatcake shop, in Hanley. Heritage is an overused word, but it is worth reflecting on the history of the Apedale site. The coal seams which are deep under this part of North Staffordshire rise close to the surface in the Apedale valley. Thus, it was a natural choice to build ironworks here - iron making uses huge amounts of coal. The first ironworks opened at Apedale in 1784, and the site expanded to use six blast furnaces, three 65' high, the others 55'. Each could produce 280 tons of pig iron a week. There was a huge coal works, with 82 ovens. Latterly, the works was owned by Midland Coal, Coke & Iron Ltd (MCCI), but the site failed to survive the slump at the end of 1920s, and closed in 1930. A bizarre use of the site after WW2 was the storage and re-sale of ex-military vehicles. AHC's more senior volunteers still tell of seeing the amphibious DUKW vehicles being tested in the remains of Apedale Canal.

A number of small coal mines survived the closure of the MCCI business; such small mines are known as Footrails in North Staffs. Most of the buildings now in use by the MRT date from the Footrail colliery era, although our main workshop building is much older, and certainly dates from the Ironworks. No-one seems to know the function of the building in Ironworks days; perhaps (just perhaps) it was related to the very extensive standard-gauge railway network - the building dimensions are certainly about right for a small loco shed or similar.

Incidentally, one Ironworks loco survives - a 1901 Manning Wardle named "Newcastle". This is believed to be in a secretive private collection on a farm in Hertfordshire, and there are few photos of this loco in recent years (contact us if you can add anything!!).

The Stoke area seems to be in uproar about the heritage value of an oatcake shop; the MRT is trying to bring back to life a site with a vast industrial heritage and pedigree.

Want to help? Contact us here, or come and see us on a Saturday (or occasional Sundays). If there's no-one around, we'll be in the cafe, eating oatcakes.

The Hole in the Wall shop story is here:-

http://www.thesentinel.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=158767&command=displayContent&sourceNode=158593&contentPK=19521931&folderPk=87654&pNodeId=158324

A Grand Day Out

There are occasions on which the Moseley Railway Trust team has a Day Out. Such was last Saturday when a good number of members descended on the Snibston Discovery Park at Coalville, Leicestershire. The simple pleasures of looking around this interesting site are, of course, not sufficient to amuse the hardened working members of the MRT. No, we were on a mission. Specifically, to dismantle a load of 2'6" gauge track which has been donated by the Snibston people to the Locomotion museum at Shildon. What was MRT doing? We were asked to help by Locomotion, as we know quite a lot about narrow gauge track. Hopefully, the Locomotion people will repay the favour in the not too distant future.

And so, on a not-too-cold and not-too-wet January day, we set to. Pandrols were hammered out, sleepers stacked, baseplates unscrewed and bolts ground off until everyone was fit to drop. And then we did some more. Who needs a New Year gym membership? Join the MRT, it's cheaper than the gym!

All in all, a very successful day, and hopefully our efforts have reduced the transport bill hugely, by ensuring that only the useful parts are transported.

As ever, we need all the assistance we can get, so why not get in touch here.

The photos show one of the Snibston battery locos in front of the headgear, and one of our members getting down'n'dirty with Mr Anglegrinder.

Snibston's website is at http://www.leics.gov.uk/museums/snibston and Locomotion is at http://locomotion.sedgefield.gov.uk/ccm/portal/.