Museum gets Go-ahead

The Moseley Railway Trust is delighted to announce that it has obtained full planning consent for the construction of a museum building on its site at Apedale, Staffordshire.
The museum will mark a further step towards realising the Trust’s mission statement of preserving, conserving and interpreting industrial narrow gauge railways. With a floor area of more than 430 square metres, the building will give ample space in which the Trust will be able to display its collection of narrow gauge locomotives, rolling stock and other artefacts.
This will, however, not be just another static museum. Included in the plan is a re-creation of a "real" industrial railway – with lightweight, weed-grown track and locos picking through the undergrowth with trains of skip wagons. By necessity, the passenger-carrying line at Apedale has been built to the very highest standards – consequently, it doesn’t show visitors what industrial railways looked like. The Apedale industrial railway aims to allow the museum exhibits to have outings into an environment typical of their working lives.
Phil Robinson, the Chairman of the Moseley Railway Trust, said "Since arriving on the Apedale site in 2006, we have made great strides. We are confident that the passenger-carrying railway will open in 2010 – this was phase one of our development plan. Phase Two is the museum, and achieving full planning consent achieves a key milestone. Now the real challenge begins – fundraising to realise the dream. We have started dialogue with the Heritage Lottery Fund, but we are also very keen to hear from anyone else who may wish to help. The museum will, when opened, play a major role in the continuing regeneration of Apedale, Chesterton village and the surrounding areas".
Watch the press for details of the opening of the passenger railway – known as the Apedale Valley Light Railway.

MRT Heritage Railway Museum Building V2 -

What's the point?

Well actually it's the large thing loaded onto the wagon seen in this week's photos. The more observant will have noted that, in last week's photos, one of the two points for the Apedale Road loop was more of a self-assembly kit than the finished product. Indeed, if IKEA ever start doing components for 2'0" gauge railways, then this is the sort of thing they would sell. Only with an included Allen key and instructions in Swedish. Unfortunately, we had neither Allen key nor instructions in Swedish, so we had to do our best. So, some of this weekend has been spent making the kit into one lump; we have also changed out all the bolts and generally fettled the component parts - the point will, in time, form part of the passenger running line, so we need to be 100% sure of the condition of all its parts. The subject of the photos has been heard to concede that he may be getting a "tad thin" on top. If you know of a miracle hair restorative, or just want to get in touch, we're here.

Apedale Site Update

As late Summer turns to Autumn, the devoted volunteers of the Moseley Railway Trust are making steady progress with completing Phase One of the Apedale Valley Light Railway. You will recall that this runs about 470 metres from a station at the Apedale Heritage Centre to Apedale Road. The Apedale Road terminus will have a run-round loop, and is located in an area colloquially known as Bermuda Triangle. A team are progressing steadily northwards with erecting fencing to protect the Innocent public from our vicious trains (or perhaps the other way around). The next step is the groundworks; as you can see in one of the photos, the need for land drains is obvious! Apedale Road, by the way, is marked by the electricity pole visible in the background.

Meanwhile, another team has been pre-fabricating the pointwork and track ready for installation once the groundworks are completed. The photo shows one of the rather splendid Alan Keef Ltd points (on the right) which will be installed at the "passenger" end of the loop, and another point which needs some rebuilding; this will go in at the north end of the loop. There's a lot to do, and all help, in any form, is greatly appreciated. Contact us here.