First passenger service day

After last Saturday's one-off passenger train, this Saturday 21st August) saw the first full day of passenger service operated on the Apedale Valley Light Railway. As is traditional, the service was launched (sliding majestically down a greased slipway?) using a bottle of finest vintage champagne. I'd like to say that the bottle had been in careful storage since being carried on the last train at Cheadle. But I can't - it was bought on Tuesday in Tescos. The Moseley Railway Trust's crane was used to provide the necessary skyhook, and at the third attempt, the bottle was no more. And that was that - a steady stream of passengers saw us through to the conclusion of a successful day. Let us hope that there are many more to follow. Trains will be running every Saturday until the end of October, with the Grand Opening Gala on September 18 & 19th. As ever, get in touch here.

Open for Business

The Moseley Railway Trust, or (as it then was) the Moseley Industrial Tramway and Museum last ran a fare-paying passenger train on the site at the Margaret Danyers College, Cheadle (near Manchester) on 8/3/98. A mere 4,542 days later, the MRT is back in the passenger carrying business. This has been a truly historic weekend. We received the confirmatory letters of approval from the Office of the Rail Regulator on Friday (and a big thanks to them for putting a first class stamp on the envelope!). A formal sign-off of the trackwork was needed, along with completion of various minor works in the Apedale Road loop area. ORR had also requested some final checks on the train braking systems. After all this work had been completed, we got to about 1600, and a knot of people looking over the fence was noticed. This seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, so they were invited to become the first-ever passengers on the Apedale Valley Light Railway. For the record, they were a local man from Chesterton, Mr Middleton, and his guests from Market Drayton, the Brown family. Being a nice day, they chose the open Penrhyn coach. Once we worked out how the ticket system worked, we parted their money from them, and off they went.

The railway will now be in operation from 1100 to 1630 each Saturday from now to the end of October, plus a few extra days. Check the website for full details - but please be aware that it will take us a few days to update this to reflect the opening of the railway. The grand opening of the AVLR will take place over the weekend of the 18 & 19th September, when there will be a LOT going on - obviously, we'll be running both Saturday & Sunday that weekend. The photos show the first train, and then a group shot of just a few of the people who worked so tirelessly to make this all happen. As ever, get in touch here, especially if you fancy a bit of tireless working.

The final drop

The front wall for the platform extension on the Apedale Valley Light Railway has been completed. This, you will recall, is needed because the reconstruction of Silverdale station is still on-going - so there's scaffolding occupying the original platform. To allow the footings to be poured, a lot of the platform road ballast had to be removed. So, with the completion of the wall, it was time to put it all back using the side discharging hopper on loan from our friends at the Statfold Barn railway and a Wingrove & Rogers battery loco - not exactly the most suitable for ballasting, but its light weight was important on track where the ballast was missing from one side. All being well, this will be last time for a while that the familiar scene of the faithful Fordson tractor loading ballast will be witnessed. It's also one of the last few hurdles to the AVLR being brought into passenger operations, hopefully later this month. In anticipation of using the railway to separate money from visitors later this year, some very odd things have been seen in August in West Lancashire. If you want to know more, or fancy becoming an elf, reindeer or generic other-worldy folk, get in touch here.