No, really, you're too kind.....

We're all getting out the penguin suits and polishing the best shoes. Why? The opening of the Apedale Valley Light Railway has been voted "Best Narrow Gauge Moment 2010" by the users of the National-preservation.com website. The runner up was some operation in North Wales - the opening of the Welsh Highland Railway or some such. We've got Gwyneth Paltrow to write an acceptance speech; strangely, the invitation to the glittering ceremony has yet to arrive, but it can only be a matter of time. Of course, such awards are always down to teamwork, and the team has been hard at work again down at Apedale. The team of happy carriage cleaners have been making the passenger train fit for the hoards of paying passengers who will be descending on us from the start of the season - which is April 2nd, by the way. The Road Motor division achieved a first start on the Motor Rail dumper engine after installation into the vehicle. As you may see, some minor adjustments are still needed to achieve Euro III emissions compliance. And the Baguley Drewry loco has started on the test programme needed to allow operation on the passenger trains. The photo shows the brake van being set up with just some of the huge range of sophisticated instrumentation used for this process. Not many people appreciate that NASA is largely funded through e-bay sales. I wonder who will give the award? I hope it's not Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood. Get in touch here (unless you represent Sam Fox or Mick Fleetwood).

Remembering things past

It has been said that the Moseley Railway Trust is a bit like some of the better regiments in the British Army; it really does matter where you went to school. We were reminded of this when, during some work on MR7066 this weekend, two of the "old boys" of the Grammar School posed on the loco, recreating the days of the Moseley Industrial Tramway at Cheadle, in Manchester. The number of active members still directly associated with the School era is still considerable, but their numbers are being overtaken by people who never knew the delights of the Margaret Danyers college and its precursors. In those halcyon days, portable railways were rather less bound by red tape than today, and the second photo shows such an operation at the Hayfield Show some considerable number of years ago. The loco in the B&W photo is now a resident of Cornwall. What such scenes should remind us of is that today's Trust has its roots back in the last 1960s. A curiosity with the restoration of No.6 is that it is being done to a Preservation condition, not as it was in Industry. More than a few preserved locomotives have now spent longer in preservation than in industry - so perhaps we should be thinking about how we recreate some of the early preservation era? Get in touch here. Early Moseley Memories and especially photos are always welcomed.

Back to Reality

After all the Santa jollifications and the excitements about Joffres and all that stuff, it was back to earth at Apedale this weekend. The former Elite Fencing Team have now been retrained and released back into the community as the Elite Fishplate Greasing Team. Meanwhile, wagons were mended, engines tinkered with and containers painted.The first wagon gingerly entered the C&W container for a little TLC to its floor, and the WDLR Water Tank wagon had an outing down the mainline to check that some modifications to the underframe set-up had been successful after a minor earth fault some while back. Get in touch here.

Joffre Announcement

The owners of Kerr Stuart steam locomotive no.3014 are delighted to announce that the restoration of this locomotive has now entered its final phase. The locomotive will soon be moving to the Moseley Railway Trust site at Apedale, where it will be used to haul trains on the 2’0” gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway.

It is entirely appropriate that the locomotive is based at Apedale, which is just a few miles from the Kerr Stuart works where the locomotive was constructed in 1916. No.3014 was ordered by the French Commission for their artillery railways, and was delivered new to Nantes, France during WW1. Kerr Stuart built 70 locos of this type, known as the “Joffre” – named after the famous French General. After the war, it was sold from Verdun to a dealer, Brunner & Marchand of Borray, Seine & Oise. In October 1930, it was sold on to a stone quarry - Societe Anonyme des Carrieres de la Valee Heureuse et du Haut Banc, Marquise Rinxent in the Pas de Calais area of northern France. By August 1956, the locos on this site were derelict. In 1974, 3014 and four similar “Joffres” were repatriated to the UK onboard the ferry "Free Enterprise VII" on 11/10/74.

3014 and three of the other locos eventually resided at the Gloddfa Ganol slate quarry museum complex, near Blaenau Ffestiniog. Here, it was mounted on a plinth alongside the museum operator's house. It became a familar site to passing motorists as they struggled up the lengendary Crimea Pass road out of Blaenau to the north. Following closure of the Gloddfa Ganol museum, the loco was acquired by the 3014 Society. The locomotive has been restored at a number of sites, and was recently test-steamed for the first time in fifty years.

The key remaining activity on the locomotive is to complete the work on the side tanks, followed by detail finishing and testing. It is expected that the locomotive will be completed and moved to Apedale during Spring 2011.

Gareth Roberts of the 3014 Society said “This locomotive has been restored from a scrapyard condition, and it will be marvellous to bring it home to Staffordshire. The Moseley Railway Trust has a growing collection of vehicles from the First World War military railways, so 3014 will complement and add to this collection considerably”.

It is planned to hold a “launch day” for 3014 at Apedale; the date for this will be announced in due course. The Moseley Railway Trust is hoping to determine if there are any surviving Kerr Stuart employees – the company closed in 1930, so it’s JUST possible! Any leads in this regard would be appreciated.

The photographs are a Joffre works photo, 3014 approaching completion and when it was displayed at Gloddfa Ganol. Get in touch with the MRT here.