Christmas Quiz - Part 2

Ok, we have at least one set of correct answers to Part 1. They are:-
1 Fleet no 74 - Orenstein 3444?
2 Fleet no 59 - Orenstein 4588 - a tough one, considering it shows the loco partly dismantled, and further dismantling has now removed many of the bits shown in the picture!!
3 Fleet no 29 Vanguard - Ruston 195846
4 Fleet no 50 - Deutz 10050
5  Stanhope - Kerr Stuart 2395
6 Visiting loco Red Dwarf - a Wingrove beloning to the Shropshire Mines Group.
7 Fleet no 6 Genesix - MR 7066
8 Visiting loco Marchlyn - Avonside 2067

In the words of the meerkat, "Simples". Now for something less simples. For each of these, I want the loco and the railway at which it is to be found. Good hunting. Answers to here please. In a few cases, the answers are perhaps debatable. In such cases, answers will be submitted to a carefully selected peer review panel for consideration; their deliberations will then be totally ignored, and I shall use a combination of  bias, corruption and spite as the means to determine who is crowned MRT Smarty Pants of the Year.

No.9

No.10

No.11

No.12

No.13

No.14

No.15

No.16

Christmas Quiz - Part One

Bored? Fed up of hearing your relatives' obnoxious opinions? Beginning to see things after the eighth glass of sherry (don't worry, that's quite normal)? Why not have a go at Part One of the Moseley Railway Trust Christmas Quiz. Once again, a glittering prize is on offer - provided you nip down to Cash Converters with a housebrick. How it works is  simples. All the pictures shown snippets of locomotives which should be familiar to anyone who knows the MRT fleet - or some of the locos more obliquely associated with the Apedale site. All you need to do is determine which loco the snippet is from. Simples. Get in touch here when you think you know the answers. The more incorrect ones will be ridiculed. Round two will be significantly more tricky. Be afraid, be very afraid.

No.1

No.2

No.3

No.4

No.5

No.6

No.7

No.8

Ho Ho Ho

The first weekend of Santa trains at Apedale has come and gone, along with most of the population of North Staffordshire it seems. My, but wasn't Santa a busy man? To be fair, a day at Apedale is a stroll in the park compared to delivering all the presents on Christmas Eve - but it was quite close. The toughest bit, of course, is checking with the Elves who has been naughty and who has been nice. A major problem for one of our members is that elves are scared of meerkats, so they just enter a default "naughty" entry on the spreadsheet. We've got it all to do again next weekend. There are still just a few (and I really do mean a FEW) seats left on some trains. Visit here for more details.
In other news, it can be revealed that the Xmas Quiz WILL return this year - more fiendish than a very fiendish thing. So start swotting up now, and check in next weekend. In the meantime, we recommend this for wasting an hour or so. It will certainly improve your knowledge of London!!

Only six sleeps

...until Santa arrives at Apedale. We've had a word, and he's jollier and happier than ever before. So, if you're after a truly ludicrous present - say an Aston Martin DB5, or a Furby - then perhaps this could be your lucky year. Santa trains are running and 15,16, 22 & 23 December, using the Kerr Stuart Joffre for traction. The Grotto is finished. The train has so many fairy lights that it's now visible from orbit, all we need now are the fare-paying hoardes. Many of the hoardes seem to have already booked - so please check out here, as seats are selling out quickly on some trains. Some snow would be nice, too.

Top Gun Trains

There are many activities where it's reassuring to know that there is some form of training regime helping the people do the job better. Obviously, this doesn't apply to any known call centre, but it would be slightly alarming if one thought the pilot of one's Boeing was thumbing through the instruction manual as the aircraft thundered down the runway. I know it sometimes seems that way on certain of the less expensive airlines, but we're not naming names as they have a better corporate legal team than we do.
We've put a lot of effort into revitalising the training regime for members at Apedale; just like the pilots in Top Gun, they feel the Need for Speed. Unfortunately, we gave them the Pikrose battery loco to drive, but life's full of disappointments, isn't it? Tragically, Kelly McGillis failed to turn up as the Instructor, which would doubtless have resulted in significantly more attention being paid to what was being said. Yesterday saw the first fruits of training regime, with two new drivers achieving the much coveted Yard Driver wings. In the photo, we see one of these elite individuals, who is also the MRT Head of High Energy Particle Physics. You will note that he is trying to tame the fearsome swing-wing, after-burning Pikrose, newly renovated and looking very smart indeed (the loco that is, best not say about the driver). The requirement to wear white gloves and carpet slippers when driving it is causing some resentment.

Meanwhile, the Black Smoke Working Group were also active at the workshop, the Ruston "Pluto" saw the bodywork essentially complete; you will recall that this project was primarily the responsibility of our younger members - three of whom are in the team photo below. One of them either lied about his age or has had a very tough upbringing. As ever, get in touch here.

Tracks to the Trenches 2014

The Moseley Railway Trust will mark the centenary of the start of the First World War with a major event, entitled Tracks to the Trenches – 2014. The event will be on September 12, 13 and 14 2014. The Trust is confident that this will be one of the major narrow gauge and First World War centenary events of 2014.

The First World War was one of the key turning points in European history – and narrow gauge railways played a major part in the war. All combatants made considerable use of tactical 60cm gauge railways, supporting the colossal demands which the first truly modern war put upon logistics systems. This moment in history helped define and standardise the gauge of many post-war industrial railways (Ashover, Nocton, Leighton Buzzard, etc), through the use of readily available War Surplus materials.

The Trust is pleased to be able to confirm the booking of the first visiting steam locomotive to the Tracks to the Trenches - 2014 event; Baldwin 4-6-0T No 778 from the Leighton Buzzard Railway in Bedfordshire. No 778 has not made many visits to other lines since restoration was completed in 2007, so this event will provide some unique locomotive/rolling stock combinations and photographic opportunities.

These 10-12-D class locomotives (the classification designated by the manufacturer) were supplied en-masse to the British War Department from 1917 onwards in all theatres, eventually totalling nearly 500 by 1918. They were the most common steam locomotive operated by the War Department Light Railways during the Great War. Based on a very similar design previously supplied to the French Army in Morocco, they had a limited life expectancy on the Battlefield of a mere 6-8 months.

Gareth Roberts, one of the event organisers of the Tracks to the Trenches event commented - Today, only a very small number of these machines have survived and an even smaller number are operational. We are extremely grateful to the Greensand Railway Museum Trust and the Leighton Buzzard Railway for making available this locomotive, fully restored to original appearance, for this important WW1 Centenary commemoration.

A website has been set-up for the Tracks to the Trenches event – it’s here. The Trust would be very pleased to hear from individuals or groups who wish to participate in the event – contact can be made via the website. The Trust is also seeking sponsorships for elements of the event – there are opportunities from main event sponsor to individual donations.

Museum Progress

There's been a lot happening on the museum project at Apedale of late. Mostly below ground level. Visitors from last year may recall the steel piles which appeared, resembling an installation art work (although sadly the Arts Council grant cheque never arrived). They have now been cut back, and are now all joined up by large amounts of concrete to form what are known as Ground Beams. The next steps are to start building the walls up to just below the damp proof course level, apply an inert fill and an insulation layer between the walls, and then pour the concrete slab. Railway tracks will then be laid on the slab, and then a further concrete pour to create a level floor. Sounds easy when you say it quickly - but what it doesn't sound is cheap. So, the appeal continues - if you've recently won the Lottery/premium bonds/work sweep we'd be quite pleased to hear from you. In the meantime, winter maintenance work continues elsewhere on the railway - the winter PWay maintenance programme has been completed in record time, allowing attention to be switched to the construction of a much-needed new siding near the Station. Because Parkinson's Law applies particularly to railway preservation schemes. It is a well known fact that the wagon fleet expands to fill the siding space available to it. As ever, get in touch here (especially if you have a few thousand bricks going begging).

Big Brother, Little Brother

The Moseley Railway Trust has recently taken delivery of a pair of bogies which will form part of the restoration of a "Pershing" wagon. Used extensively by American forces in World War One, these are very much narrow-gauge sized versions of the classic three-piece bogie. The three-piece bogie has been around for donkey's years - and is still widely used. For example, a derivative is shown under a DB Schenker HTA coal hopper. In its purest form, one of the clever features of the bogie is that there are no threaded fasteners whatsoever to come loose. As you will see in the photo, the Pershing bogies do deviate somewhat from that principle, but we'll forgive them this time. On the downside, Railway civil engineers loathe the things, since the whole of the bogie side castings are unsprung mass. And, as you well know, unsprung mass = track damage. We can only hope that the Apedale Valley Light Railway civil engineering department haven't twigged that, otherwise the track access charges for the Pershing will go northwards. Which would be a pity, as it will be a nice wagon, and a key exhibit at the 2014 Tracks to the Trenches event. Which we must tell you about in more detail sometime soon. Watch this space. As ever, get in touch here. Oh, and as a PS, don't forget that the countdown to Operation Santa is now well under way - you can book to come and see the Great Man at Apedale here.

The Mighty Whites

We've been painting a lot of stuff white recently. Firstly there was an ex-McAlpines U skip we painted up for the Gala. More recently, we've had a go at the Pickrose battery electric loco. We got this going a couple of months ago following repairs to one of its traction motors. Now the costmetic work is coming along a treat. The following picture shows Cynthia proudly finishing off the new paintwork, although it seems that Cynthia has got as much paint on her coat as the loco. It has to be said that the loco, if not the coat, is a great improvement.

Perhaps the next to enter the paint shop could be "Lady Anne" (CE B0922A/1975). This locomotive was obtained from Hunslet Loco Hire (HLHL) in 2003 and has been resident in the Apedale Heritage Centre since July 2004 as part of the static loco display. However, recently it was moved out to make way for new displays, so our attention turned to one slight problem... the Lady is the wrong gauge. Thankfully, those thoughtful people at Clayton Engineering built her as gauge-convertable, so her modification from 18in gauge to 24in should be straightforward. And indeed it was, on one axle anyway. Lady Anne also has a bit of an identity crisis in more than gauge. Above the rear axle flies a Union flag, above the front a Scottish flag. Quite how this came to be is unknown. However, what did become clear was that they make axles quite a lot more stubborn North of the Border. Fortunately they make people stubboner, in the shape of our resident sledgehammer-wielding Alex (illustrated below).

Anyway, a bit of percussive maintenance soon had that uncooperative axle beaten, and we could drop the loco onto the track and into the workshop. Here, the CME attempted to entice the batteries back into life. In the final photo we see the CME surrounded by his battery-enticing equipment. The more observant amongst you can also play "spot the meerkat" with this photo. Anyway, with a bit of luck we'll lave Lady Anne back in fine form and perhaps ready for a new coat of paint, but that probably depends on how fed up Cynth is with painting stuff white. Benevolent white paint suppliers can contact us here.

Cats and Dogs...

With work proceeding on the Museum foundations, thoughts turned to the exhibits to put in it. Whilst our curator has been busy trying to properly catalogue our vast collection of narrow gauge equipment, we've been working to restore some of the more needy items and also pose him an interesting conundrum. One project just started involves a hybrid Dick Kerr skip wagon that had at some point in its history been separated from its original wheels and mounted rather ignominiously on top of a fairly grotty Hudson chassis. We have managed to locate a suitable set of wheels and running gear from a donor chassis to restore this wagon to its original condition, which will make a pair in our collection. This, of course, leaves a Hudson chassis behind, hence two museum artefacts where only one existed before this weekend!

With focus in the last couple of blogs on our feline friends, we should not forget their canine relatives. Mechanical work on "Tiddles" is nearing completion, so now "Pluto" the Ruston has been receiving attention. Work on this Apprentice project slowed over the last month, partially because of work directed towards preparing for the open day, but also as we were waiting for new parts. The original bulkhead was corroded beyond repair, so new drawings have had to be made and the three sheet metal component parts cut and folded to order. These arrived last week and were assembled over the weekend. The construction is a combination of bolting, welding and folding. With this work now progressing, we can focus on fitting the various controls then cleaning and painting. At this stage our target for completion by the end of the year still looks achievable (if we can keep the apprentices focussed).

So we have two more restored exhibits on the way, but there's still a long way to go on the museum and its contents. If you think you can help us realise our ambitions, contact us here.

Civil Engineering

With the Gala now behind us, work has now re-started in earnest on the Museum foundations. Contractors have been hard at work digging out trenches around the piles which were inserted some time ago. The next step is to insert re-inforcing mesh cages and pour a lot of concrete to form the ground beams. From these beams, the walls of the museum building will rise. Sounds simple when you read it quickly, but this is very expensive work, and given the current state of funding, work will stop at the ground beam stage pending another injection of cash. We hope you all got the pictures of the field railway in September - because the connection to the main system has now been replaced by a very large hole. The site has been exposing some of the fascinating wealth of industrial archaeology, with the top of a drift mine being exposed, and the foundations of some mine building coming to light.

Meanwhile, the passenger train fond an unexpected use moving a display concrete pipe from the Heritage Centre to storage in Aurora North. Based on the long-standing tradition of management by typographical error, the Popemobile made a dignified transit of the railway, and the pipe is now ensconced in its new home. It's steam trains next weekend - the Joffre will be unleashed - because Stanhope will be watching the rain in North Wales. Get in touch here.

What's New, Pussycat?

Fleet No.56, Hunslet 9082 of 1984 is not a locomotive which has troubled these pages much before. It worked at a Royal Ordnance Factory in Bishopton, Scotland, on the 2'6" gauge railway there. The team at Apedale have recently completed the regauging process - which is not exactly a five minute job. So, it was taken for an exploratory trundle down the main line. I have to say its Perkins engine does sound quite good, and not many bits seemed to fall off. The people at Bishopton determined the loco to be Cat C. This actually means Category C, and refers to the flameproofing installation on the loco. Spark-emitting diesel locos and ordnance factories do not make happy friends - so buildings and locos were categorised. If your building is Cat C and your loco is Cat C - a long and happy life (or something close, this being Scotland). If your building was a higher category than your loco - goodbye Bishopton, hello a nice new boating lake in Renfrewshire. Clearly someone at Bishopton had a sense of humour, and decided that Cat means Tiddles. So, we welcome Tiddles the Hunslet to the operational fleet. If your company makes catfood and wants to sponsor Tiddles, get in touch here.

What it's all about....

What's it all about? Is it about tamping track in the rain, or trying to assemble bits of engine which really don't want to be assembled? No. It's about seeing two immaculate Penryhn locos basking in the early morning sun in the yard at Apedale. It's about seeing all our visitors seemingly having a good day. It's about seeing interesting diesel locos exploring parts of the Apedale site which they previously could only dream of. It's been a good gala weekend, and a big thank you to all our volunteers and above all to all our visitors. What it's all about - is about days like these.

Gala Day One

It's been a terrific Day One of the Contractor's Delight Gala. Glorious weather, lots of trains, lots of visitors. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Field Railway with the Triang No.2 curve linking it to the rest of the system. The field railway looks & feels like a real Industrial Narrow Gauge railways, which is actually what it's all about. So, the forecast is good tomorrow as well, so slap on the sunblock and head on down to Apedale Valley Light Railway Contractor's Delight Gala.

They're here!!

"GP39" "Marchlyn" and the Mystery Diesel Loco all arrived safely today. Weather forecast is good - all we need now is to be rushed off our feet by the visitors. That's where you fit in......

Nearly Time

An epic weekend spent shunting has seen virtually every vehicle at Apedale turn wheels several times. There is a plan, but it is too complex for mortal man to comprehend. We believe it was produced by someone who used to work on the Enigma code at Bletchley Park and fancied something more difficult. Why? All preparations for the Contractor's Delight gala this coming weekend. The objective of the shunt was to place on display some of the more obscure locos, and get the runners all in accessible places. Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it!) the runners hugely out-number the non-runners, so space can be at a premium.

Meanwhile, the new Field Railway is looking like a real industrial line - rough track, grass everywhere. Everything anyone who ever visited an industrial narrow gauge railway will remember. The visiting locos are all loaded and en-route - the Mystery Ruston (never seen before at a public site), and the steam locos "GP39" and "Marchlyn". All in all, it's shaping up to be a great show. All we need now is YOU. We're open from 1100 to 1700 both days, £6 adults and £3 kids. What's not to like? The photos are a couple of scenes from last year. This year will be similar but better!! Get in touch here.

Marchlyn comes to Contractor's Delight

The Moseley Railway Trust is delighted to announce a second visiting steam loco at the Contractor's Delight gala on September 8 and  9. "Marchlyn" is a delightful Avonside side tank. She was new to Durham County Water Board for a dam construction contract. Like Apedale resident "Stanhope", when the project was complete, it was sold on to Penrhyn Slate Quarries, arriving there in 1936. In 1965, it went for preservation in the USA, returning to Statfold Barn Farm in 2011. The Moseley Railway Trust is very grateful to Graham Lee and the Statfold team for exhibiting this locomotives, and the other visiting loco - Hudswell Clarke "GP39".


Contractor's Delight is shaping up to be a classic Apedale event. A key attraction will be a newly built link across the site between a recreated industrial railway and the main railway network. This link runs across the site of the Museum at Apedale - and work will recommence on the Museum immediately after the Gala. So, if you don't see trains on this track at this event - you probably never will. Two visiting steamers, the home fleet, lots of other attractions and entry only £6. How can you go wrong? There are a few "Access all Areas" passes left when I write this - check out here for details of these and all other Gala matters.

It's all just too exciting......

Fresh from our triumph in the Olympic Pit Building championship, the Pit has been put to the test; it was built to allow the Joffre boiler exam to be done - so until the Joffre had been on the pit, it wasn't Finished. As you can see from the photo - it's Finished. The Owners are pretty confident that the Joffre will pass its boiler exam given that it's only a year since restoration. If not, they'll be hoping that they remembered to post off that Warranty Registration Card to some obscure address in Harpenden or somewhere. Meanwhile, preparations are progressing apace for the Contractor's Delight gala - September 8 & 9 - see here. The Pikrose battery loco has been poorly for some time with a motor problem. Fortunately, maintainability was obviously a key criteria when the loco was designed. Hence it was necessary to strip the loco almost completely down to extract the traction motor brushes. Obviously no-one could ever reasonably expect to need to change the brushes on a DC traction motor. Clearly the designers didn't have Triang locos when they were kids.  Anyway, the Pikrose is back to full health now and running nicely on both motors. It has a rather hyperactive suspension - a run down the mainline at speed is a bit like a cross between a ship crossing the Bay of Biscay in a Force 10 and a Virgin Pendolino (but not for much longer). The Pikrose (and the Joffre, but not the Pendo) will be in operation at the Gala. See you there. Finally - watch this space for an exciting announcement on the Gala later this week. Contact us here.

There's nothing quite like a deadline.....

...which in this case was the proverbial ticking clock on the Joffre's boiler ticket. Due to a slight design oversight at Kerr Stuart, the only way to access the firebox is from an inspection pit. And the inspection is almost due. Hence there have been some very late nights and achy arms finishing the inspection pit. But it looks like we've made it. The final big task was to block up the approach tracks to their required levels and then drown the whole area in ballast. Finally, the ballast is tamped into place.  Meanwhile, the pit steelwork is fettled and the rails levelled. Finally, it's time to test run the first loco onto the new structure. Wise heads comment that the calculations have huge factors-of-safety built in. Fine say others, but have the safety pins been removed from the Ruston ejector seats? Sorry, but it's like this.....