Heading North

One could be forgiven for thinking that all recent activity at Apedale has been on a certain cartoon-dog named Ruston. This is far from the truth. Today, a fairly large civil engineering project saw the workshop headshunt line extended further north. "Headshunt" is rather a misnomer, since this will ultimately form the access to the lower level industrial demonstration railway. However, we are stuggling to reach consensus on what this bet of railway is actually called. Aurora North 4, The Ramp, Aurora Bypass and the Headshunt have been suggested. Someone else did suggest we called it Brian, but we don't think he quite understood the question. Anyway, the Hayfield coach is off on a short holiday to the Amerton Railway next weekend, and this is the only place where we can end-load vehicles. So, we needed to get this finished. So, the gang extended the line by another panel, finished off levelling and aligning what was already there, and then ballasted the whole area. The final product was compared to a Network Rail main line, which we were rather offended by. Marking Armed Forces Day, we did see a brief dress parade by the 2nd Batallion Apedale Volunteers Company - a body of men not to be trifled with. You can come along and see Brian the Railway next weekend with Steam Traction - a special event in aid of the Douglas MacMillan Hospices. What better reason for a train ride down the valley? Get in touch here.

A Sneaky Peek

As you know, at the start of the year the Apedale Apprentices set themselves the challenge of rebuilding a little 10/13 Ruston locomotive within 50 weeks, which was the birth of the project called "Pluto". It is fair to say that excellent progress has been made against this target, which is sufficiently ahead of plan to allow us to aim for an early debut at the September gala. But after all the excitement of running the engine for the first time the other week come some of the more mundane jobs. Firstly, fitting the drive chains. Our standard gauge professional assures me that this is the most awful and fiddly job on any locomotive. How many HST power cars have drive chains I don't know, but I'm sure he knows best. Then there is the fuel filtration system to sort out and, even in the days before wholesale recycling, Ruston had no truck with disposable paper fuel filters; all theirs were cleanable. One of the apprentices did try the line "well it's been soaked in diesel all these years so it must already be clean." Sorry guys, warm water, washing up liquid and a scrubbing brush are the order of the day and keep going until the water stops going black. The combined patience of about 4 people (only 2 of them apprentices) eventually got the job done and in the process we discovered the origin of the term "the mess room". Then before we could re-fit the element, it would need to be dried out. No problem, that's what the oven's for and on a low heat it was done in no time. If Terry's warmed-up oatcakes taste a bit diesely next time, I guess we'll know why. And if you find that a bit icky, I assure you it';s nothing compared with the time we discovered that the reason our favourite teapot never poured terribly well was because the spout was blocked with dead flies. 

Anyway, I'm drifting off the subject; the point is with all this glamorous work being carried out by the apprentices, after they'd gone, we decided to have a go at refitting some of Pluto's body parts to see what needed fixing and how the exhausts would go, etc. After all, why should they have all the fun? Then it all started to look like a locomotive again. Can you tell from the photographs which bits have still to be restored? Anyway, if you fancy tackling a similar challenge, why not look us up here. In the meantime, don't let the apprentices know you've seen this. You don't think they read these, do you?

Douglas Macmillan Hospice Day - July 7th

On July 7^th, the Apedale Valley Light Railway will host a fundraising day for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice (DMH). The railway, operated by the Moseley Railway Trust (MRT), will operate steam trains from 1130 to 1600 – and profits from the day will be donated to DMH.

In addition to a frequent service of steam trains on the narrow gauge railway alongside the Apedale Community Country Park, there will be other attractions. Stoke-on-Trent Classic Car Club and the Six Towns Classic Car Club will be showing off their historic motor cars, and the North Staffs Model Engineering Society will be bringing miniature steam traction engines. The adjacent Apedale Heritage Centre will be offering tours of their coal mine, and the famous café will doubtless be stocking up on oatcakes.

Train fares are just £2 adults, £1 for children aged 5 to 15 – and free for under fives.

Phil Robinson, MRT Chairman, said “It is so important that charities work together. We are really looking forward to working with North Staffordshire’s best known charity – and we think this will be a really good day for our visitors, for our volunteers and for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice”.

Liz  Clarke, DMH Communications and Marketing Manager said “Douglas Macmillan Hospice is an independent registered charity and does not receive funding from any National Charity. The Hospice needs to raise in excess of £8 million each year to maintain the standard of care that we currently give to over 2,000 patients who suffer from Cancer and other life limiting  illness . We do thank the Apedale Valley Light Railway for organising a fundraising day and hope that they have a very successful day in raising valuable funds for the  Hospice “.

Find out more about DMH here or get in touch with us here.

Mickey Mouse will be pleased

...because Pluto lives! After some considerable trials and tribulations, Ruston No.31 - known as 189972 of 1931 to its builders, and Pluto to the team rebuilding it - has finally burst back into life. The project suffered a serious set back a while ago with the discovery of a fractured engine cylinder liner, and also certain critical components were absent. However, thanks to a real team effort (special thanks to Paul Jarman at Beamish) the engine (a 2VTO twin diesel) has now advanced to the point where it can be test-run. The engine was craned from its stand (where it was rebuilt) into the loco, and lashed-up fuel and cooling systems added. Turning the handle showed a very healthy oil pressure, so the handle was turned a bit harder - and away is went.This was to the considerable relief of the Safety Department stood nearby, who have seen this sort of thing happen. The loco has a little way to go yet; it's not self-mobile, requiring an engine-to-gearbox coupling and a set of drive chains fitting. The front tank (which is in place of the radiator on most Rustons) has had the tinworm replaced largely by MIG weld, and will be able to go on in the near future. The rest of the bodywork is best described as "variable". As you will note from the photo, the exhaust after-treatment system is also yet to be added. Project Pluto has been largely undertaken by the Apedale Apprentices, who are now vying within their number for who gets first drive. Too late lads, it'll be after your bedtime. As ever, get in touch here. 

Jubilee Jinks

The Empire Loyalists amongst the membership of the Moseley Railway Trust have been busy, and as you can see in the photo, the passenger train looks rather splendid. Sadly, this sight has not been savoured by too many passengers today, but hopefully the lure of a steam loco will have the crowds flocking on Sunday and Monday. We're going to turn out the Joffre to work some of its first passenger turns on a normal operating day - and certainly the first time it's been the sole steam loco without the reassuring and ultra-reliable presence of Stanhope in the background. I'm sure it will be OK, because the CME says it will be. He knows that the Queen will be displeased if the train service is disrupted for any reason.

Meanwhile, we have been having a gentle tinker with one of the more obscure members of the IC fleet. OK4588 is a Class MM Orenstein & Koppel. These tiny locos seem to have only been supplied to the UK market, and there is a theory that they may have been assembled in the UK from kits supplied from Germany. The assembly would have been done by O&K's UK agent, William Jones. OK4588 last worked at Cadeby more than ten years ago. After some minor tinkering and TLC, the engine was persuaded to start. It's a petrol, and (by definition) more than a tad temperamental. There's also something nasty in the fuel tank, described as POUP - Petrol Of Uncertain Provenance. But it does run, after a fashion, so there's nothing fundamentally wrong. It's just a question now of sorting the cosmetics and improving the operations. As ever, get in touch here.