Happy New Year

Happy New Year from the Moseley Railway Trust! 2016 has certainly been a year to remember, some good things, some less agreeable things. We have finished 2016 with a private charter for a family gathering - what better way to see the year out than a gentle trundle on a 2'0" gauge train? There's lot to anticipate in 2017 at Apedale. The May gala - 13 and 14 May - is shaping up to be a cracking event; more details will be announced in the new few weeks. We will be starting a new loco restoration project soon - again, more details in due course, but the photo is a pretty big clue. Hopefully, the FR coach will be in traffic for the start of the season. But don't forget that we do lots of little projects along with the big ticket items; one such is the restoration of a Hudson wagon from RAF Fauld. It was once, many years ago, used in the passenger train at Cadeby - it's the wagon next to the steam loco in the black and white photo. The intervening years have not been kind to the woodwork, but the underlying structure looks sound. So, keep looking in here, and we will try to keep you informed about goings on down the Apedale Valley.

Christmas Quiz 2016

OK, folks, here it is. Your challenge this year is related to stations and other railway-related locations. For each location, you need to determine if it is real or fictional. 

If you think it's a real place, tell us where it is located (with some degree of accuracy). Extra points will be allocated for wit and verve rather than obsessive accuracy. 

If, on the other hand, you think it’s a fictitious location – then in what film/book/song does it exist? Again, correct amusing answers will score higher than correct dull answers.

So, for example, Apedale Road is a REAL station and is one terminus of the Apedale Valley Light Railway.

The vast majority of the locations are in the UK (note careful choice of words).

As noted above, extra points will be allocated to amusing and educational answers; this therefore makes the concept of “winning” rather an arbitrary one, which is the way it is intended to be and hence differentiates this quiz from the Boxing Day game of Monopoly. OK? Brace yourselves:-

     1.  North Pole

2. Lake, The Lake and Lakeside Loop (three places)

3. Crouch End

4.    Hobbs End 

5.    West Ashfield  

Bonus question:- 4 & 5 can be found in close proximity. Where?

6.    Junction Road Junction

7.    North Haverbrook (bit of a clue - not actually a railway as such....)

8.    Westbourne Oak

9.    Mobil Avenue

10. Bungalow

11. Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion

Bonus question:- What would this score in Scrabble?

12. Milford

13. Hatley

14. Hollerton Junction (which is also served by which heritage railway?)

15. Grumbly

16. Pen Cob

17. Decoy

18. Arlesburgh West 

19. Vauxhall Cross

20. Mornington Crescent

Answers will be published here in a couple of weeks time. Exam papers may be e-mailed to info@mrt.org.uk or to Mr L's e-mail address for those who know it. Good luck!

Santa Restrospect

Well, folks, that's pretty much the Santa Season wrapped up for 2016 - not quite, as we have a charter day later this week for local schools. It's been by far our busiest Santa Season ever, with the trains sold out, and a few additionals crammed in where we can. We've moved well over 2000 people, which ain't bad for a little railway with little coaches! We have checked with Santa and reviewed his log sheets for the weekend, and can therefore confirm that a record 98.7% of children seen were on the Nice List. And he thinks the remaining 1.3% can redeem themselves this week if they try hard.

Certainly on the Nice List are all the people of the Moseley Railway Trust who make all this happen. It's worth taking a moment to remember the people who are on site at 0615 each morning to get the steam loco from the shed and light the fire. And the people still locking up late in the evening. The shop staff who are front and centre with all our visitors. The people who spend the day inflating balloons which are treasured by young ones. The team who designed and created the best-ever Grotto. The Guards and traincrew, and those who restore and maintain the trains and tracks. Did I mention those who spend every evening doing admin work? So, to you all - WELL DONE and HAPPY CHRISTMAS. When you get bored with watching Mary Poppins for the nth time in ITV4, have a look at the MRT Christmas Quiz which will be appearing here in just a moment.....

Santa - First Weekend

We've completed the first weekend of the Santa Campaign at Apedale - lots of visitors, lots of presents distributed by Santa, and hopefully lots of children going home and trying ESPECIALLY HARD to be good between now and Christmas. Our volunteers will now be going home for a well earned break - but we're back on the case next weekend, with a couple of mid-week charters for school parties thrown in for good measure. Many thanks to everyone who came along, and we look forward to next weekend's guests.

FR Coach bogies

Back in May/June time, we covered the dismantling of the ex-South Africa bogies which were acquired to go under the Ffestiniog Coach no.117. You may recall that the FR coach was only available without its Welsh bogies - these have been re-used under Boston Lodge's latest masterpiece. The SA bogies had two real issues. Firstly, the wheelsets were a bit tight on the back-to-back dimensions and clouted the check rails on some points. Secondly, the bogies are going under passenger carrying rolling stock and hence need to be spot-on in terms of condition; the idea of finding some long-forgotten assembly error when the coach is in passenger service at Apedale is not appealing. So, three bogies thus far have been dismantled with varying mixtures of cunning and brute force. The wheelsets have been machined to sort the back-to-back issue, and all the bogie components have been inspected and repaired as needed. Re-assembly of the bogies has proved to be fairly straightforward, and we now have two shiny black bogies. The next step is to install the air brake cylinders on them, and then they're ready to go back under the coach. There's a bit of an issue on the coach underframe which will delay things slightly, but the coach continues to make good progress. As ever, get in touch here.

Co-Op Community Fund

Co-Op Community Fund supports Moseley Railway Trust

The Moseley Railway Trust is delighted to announce that they are the recipients of a grant from the Co-Op Community Fund.

The Co-Op Community Fund allows communities to support local good causes. Every time a Co-Op member buy Co-op branded products and services - from buying a loaf of bread to planning a funeral - 1% of their spend goes to a local cause.

The Moseley Railway Trust will be using the money from the Community Fund to support the overhaul of a new coach for the Apedale Valley Light Railway. The railway is a 2’0” gauge narrow gauge railway which is operated by volunteer members of the Trust. The coach was acquired in 2015 from the world-famous Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales. However, the coach has needed extensive work to allow it to operate at Apedale. This work is continuing, but it includes overhaul of the running gear, a new braking system, a new electrical system and a really good clean! This coach will be first fully-enclosed passenger vehicle to operate on the Apedale Valley Light Railway. All of the work will be carried out by volunteer members of the Moseley Railway Trust, thus providing useful learning and training opportunities, particularly for the younger members.

Phil Robinson, Chairman of the Moseley Railway Trust, said “We are really grateful to the Co-Op for their support. Our customers have told us that they would like an enclosed coach for the journey, and hopefully we can provide that for them. So, we need local people to register as Co-Op members and select the Moseley Railway Trust as their chosen Good Cause”.

The Apedale Valley Light Railway will be operating Santa Special trains on December 10, 11, 17 and 18 2016, and will then open for the 2017 Season on 1^st April 2017.

Winter Maintenance

Despite the rather damp weather, a good start has been made on the Winter Maintenance Plan at Apedale. A selection of "past their prime" sleepers have been changed out, and various points cleaned, gauged and greased. The buffer stop at the extreme north of the railway (Apedale Road) was in need of a new timber baulk. This was not due to a serious misjudgement by a train driver, but it seems the timber became involved in a difficult-to-explain incident involving a takeaway pizza. There are times when the Trustees know it's best to stop asking questions.

Today was also notable for the being the first time that the ex-Ffestiniog Railway PWay van has been deployed to Apedale PWay duties following its overhaul and refurbishment. Interior fitting out continues, but it really is quite homely. Just needs a few scatter cushions and a lava lamp to finish.

Member's Day

It was member's day at Apedale yesterday for all members of the Moseley Railway Trust. It was the opportunity for a bit of introspection about the 2016 season - what went well, what didn't and how we can improve. The Trustees presented about plans for the future, both long term and immediate, and there was healthy debate about many areas. Despite the date, there weren't really any fireworks. After lunch, the opportunity was taken for members to operate some of the lesser seen members of the loco fleet. The grey Motor Rail "Lord Austin" demonstrated its considerable turn of speed by coming up behind a passing jet fighter and flashing its lights in a rather passive-aggressive sort of way. It's time to knuckle down to winter maintenance next week!

Catherine of Aragon moves on

More progress with carriage and wagons on a pleasant autumn day down the Apedale Valley. A Young Members project has been to refurbish one of the ex-Woodhead flat wagons. This, it will be recalled, was described previously as the Tudor Class.

It has been decided that this will be used to convey various generators around the site for next weekend's Halloween event - this gave a considerable impetus to finishing the wagon. After all, it doesn't do to keep the undead waiting. Meanwhile, the Trench Tramway wagon is now basically complete. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this wagon is typical of the vehicles which would have been on the very "last mile" of the WW1 railway operations - on the bits where it was too dangerous, or the track was too light, to send a locomotive.

Finally, the ex- Ffestiniog coach continues to progress. The project team have been fighting a bit of a battle with the drawgear - it needed to be lowered to match our locos and reflect the use of different bogies. The drawbar will now emerge under the vehicle headstock, rather than through a "letterbox" in the end of the vehicle. The next stage is to start assembly the bogies, and then we can find out if it will fit through the shed doors again!

Santa Claus is coming to town

Santa Claus is coming to town! Our Santa trains are now open for booking at here. We are running on December 10, 11, 17 and 18. Trains depart at 1000, 1100, 1200, 1330, 1430, 1530 and 1630 on each of the days. It costs £7 for children, £4 for adults if you book in advance. The trains are extremely popular, and we strongly recommend booking in advance - the last thing we want to see is any disappointed little ones on the day. If space is available on the day, the fares are children £8, adults £5. You will join the train for a round trip, and Santa normally pops up during the journey - it just depends where he's parked the sleigh. After the train ride, everyone follows Santa to the Grotto, where Santa has the all-important chat and finds out what he should be loading on the sleigh on the 24th.There's a good-quality gift for all the children and plenty of photo opportunities. Our Santa trains get busier each year - so please book ahead. You can book online here or call into our shop at the Apedale Valley Light Railway, Apedale Community Country Park, Loomer Road, Chesterton. The shop is open every Saturday until Christmas plus Sundays 9th and 30th October. We look forward to sharing the magic of Christmas at Apedale with you.

Boldly going where no man has been before......

We've hosted a private charter day for the Branch Line Society today; two trains were run, each full to capacity, and they set off to explore the more exotic parts of the railway system at Apedale. Before anyone thinks we do this sort of thing on a whim, several days planning and a nine-page method statement and risk assessment supported the whole operation. But good planning always pays off, and both trips passed off without a hitch. Participants got to ride on all the mainline trackage, most of the yard sidings (excepting a couple where the long-wheelbase coach is banned) and the Field Railway. Nobody in their right mind would take the coach down the Trench Tramway, so the passengers transferred to a small manrider to allow rides on that bit. This is very much NOT the sort of thing we do regularly, and it's unlikely we'll repeat this operation in the foreseeable future.

BUT next weekend will see trains on most of this network because it's the Steam Centenary weekend, with three locos in steam and demonstration trains running all over the place. It's looking like being a good do, so we'll be seeing you?

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived

Another busy day at the Apedale Valley Light Railway has seen a number of projects progressed. A broken rail had been noted some time ago on one of the lesser-used extremities of the Field Railway - at the the point known as Loos Loop. Repairing it had become a priority as we have a visit from the Branch Line Society next weekend, and they are keen to visit all the extremities (Debacle Railtours proudly present the Apedale Explorer II). So, with judicous use of the welder and a much improved set of fishplates and new bolts to carry the load, the rail was duly repaired. Meanwhile, Ruston No.29 has been having some attention to its hand start equipment. Unusually for a Ruston, this one is electric start, hence the hand gear had fallen into disuse. However, with 74 locos on site, there are never enough batteries to go round, so it's useful to be able to hand start the loco. Not sure why quite so many people found this so fascinating, but that's life. Some of the younger members have been overhauling the wagons we inherited from National Grid at Woodhead. The plan is that these will be used as sleeper carriers when we start extending the railway. We are quite taken by the half-timbered Tudor House look of the new paintwork, doubtless inspired by our neighbours at Little Moreton Hall; in view of the Tudor vibe, it has been decided that the wagons will be named after Henry VIII's wives. So, meet Catherine of Aragon. I'm sure it's just the memorial she would have wanted. Get in touch here (unless you are Tudor monarchy).

All dressed up and somewhere to go.....

All dressed up and somewhere to go - Stanhope polished to within an inch of its life and with Penrhyn couplers fitted, ready to head back to Penrhyn for next weekend's jolly. Hopefully it will emerge from Penrhyn afterwards in a slightly better state than when it left previously. Behind Stanhope is the Hayfield coach, which is off to Alan Keef Ltd's Open Day on the 17th, where it will once again be used as the passenger coach on their demonstration line.
Meanwhile, the Hudswell is home from Leighton Buzzard and licking its wounds slightly; all things considered, it performed admirably on what is almost certainly England's most demanding narrow gauge railway. Please read that last sentence carefully before complaining.

Michelangelo comes out of retirement

It's been a busy few weeks at Apedale with a variety of projects being progressed. One project which very rarely sees much limelight is the continuing programme of repairs and reurbishment on the buildings which we occupy. Some of these are seriously old, probably dating back to the Apedale Ironworks, and one suspects that's about the last time that they had any real TLC. The main workshop block has had a new roof in the last year, but it could still be somewhat cold in the winter. It's tempting to say that we should just out a thicker woolly on - but we need people to be comfortable if they are going to support us by volunteering. Also, it's difficult to produce decent finished work in a poor environment. So, a new ceiling is being installed. This will be painted and insulated. The project leader was seen to be looking at pictures of the Sistine Chapel with some interest.
Elsewhere, a couple of wagon projects have been progressing nicely. An explosives wagon is just about finished - the lads pushing it around did check it was empty first, and a wooden Trench Tramway wagon is also nearing completion. This arrived as a kit of parts, and was immediately compared to an IKEA bookcase, leading to some speculation as to what daft name IKEA would have given it were they to move into selling railway rolling stock.
Next weekend it's steam both days with the Joffre having an outing. The Hudswell is enjoying a stay at Leighton Buzzard, and the Stanhope has been prepared for a trip to the Penrhyn Railway, complete with Penrhyn couplers - so it cannot couple to the passenger train at Apedale at the moment.

Classic Cars

Just a reminder that this coming Bank Holiday weekend will see steam trains at Apedale on all three days from 1130 to 4pm. And the weather forecast, by August bank holiday standards, isn't too bad. As if that wasn't good enough, Sunday sees the Classic Cars and Steam Trains Day. Break out the chrome polish and the fluffy dice cleaning kit as the site fills up with cars of yesteryear. And we've even got a real ale bar courtesy of our friends at the Titanic Brewery. What's not to like?

Olympic Games

It's been a training day at Apedale. Three of our brightest and best members have been coming to terms with the most common loco types in the collection - a Small Motor Rail, a Small Ruston and a Battery Electric. All have their own unique challenges (the locos, not the trainees) but the team did well. It's a bit like the Olympic Games; we have 100 yard sprint, the Hill Climb and the Weightlifting. In this case, the Weight was the rather massive (carved from a block of cast steel) 48DL Ruston - used to give the trainees experience of actually hauling a worthwhile load. We also held the "Who Will Be the First to Stall the Engine" contest. Discretion prevents us from disclosing the winner. Sadly, one of the contestants was disqualified after failing a test for banned substances. It was either the Blue Smarties on his Cornetto or the oatcakes. Also worthy of record - and taking place on a previous weekend - was the visit of the Hayfield Coach to hitherto unexplored (by passenger stock) parts of the Apedale railway system. This has been done as part of testing prior to a visit planned by the Branch Line Society later this year. All will be revealed in due course. As ever, get in touch here.

Andrew Barclay

By way of a change, this time we'll take a look at one of the recent additions to the fleet at Apedale. The Kilmarnock company of Andrew Barclay is well-known for building chunky industrial steam locos of various sizes (as seen in the second photo); at one time, no self-respecting Scottish colliery/distillery/quarry would have been complete with at least one Barclay tank engine shuffling a few wagons about. Barclays built relatively small numbers of narrow gauge locos, and even fewer narrow gauge diesels. However, by the early 1970s, they couldn't afford to be too fussy about what they built. This led to a batch of seven fairly unsophisticated 2'6" gauge diesels - works numbers 554 to 557 and 560 to 562 - being built for the ICI Nobel's Explosives works at Ardeer, Scotland. The locos existed outside of the public gaze - not surprisingly -until around 1994 when two of them were sold. These two, numbers 556 and 560, went to a peat extraction company. This company - which changed its name regularly - operated peat mosses at various sites in the south of the Scottish Central Belt. It says a lot for the basic robustness of Barclay's design that the locos survived the onslaught of peat works life - in the case of number 556, basically unchanged from when it rolled out from Kilmarnock. Peat extraction is not entirely environmentally friendly - although opinions vary on that matter - and has largely ceased in the UK. Consequently, the railway equipment cam up for disposal in 2015. After some discussions, a Trust member bought loco 556; he was keen on this because there isn't a Barclay in the collection, and also because he used to work for ICI (one suspects the loco will end up restored into ICI livery). The loco is still 2'6" gauge, but is a runner; the gauge problem means it is limited to about 10 feet of track presently, but doubtless the loco will be regauged in time.
Of the other locos in the batch - 554 and 555 ended up on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, 557 at the Almond Valley Railway near Edinburgh and 561 at the ARPG at Dalmellington. 562 seems to have succumbed - but six out of seven survivors isn't bad?

Forthcoming attractions

Following the success of May’s Tracks to the Trenches World War One themed event, the Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to confirm the events line-up for the remainder of 2016.

Aimed firmly at families with younger children, August 13 and 14 sees the Teddy Bear’s Outing weekend. We’ll be running steam train on both days – and children who bring a cuddly friend will get to travel free! There will also be a Bear Spotting Quiz, with small prizes for children who manage to spot all the bears on their journey to Apedale Road and back.

We are running steam trains again on all three days of the August bank holiday weekend. Sunday 28^th is Classic Cars and Steam Trains day when the site will fill up with the dream rides of yesteryear. Young and old will enjoy the gleaming chrome and lovingly polished coachwork, whilst the sights and sounds of our steam locos will add noise and smells! We are also pleased to announce that this event will be supported with a real ale bar from Titanic Brewery (with soft drinks for the drivers!).

Our autumn enthusiasts event is the Steam Centenary Weekend, on October 8 and 9. This event will mark the 100^th birthday of two of our steam locomotives – the Hudswell Clarke and the Kerr, Stuart Joffre loco. Apart from sharing the same year of construction, their subsequent careers had little in common; the Hudswell worked in Ghana before coming to a nasty end in a river during a rainstorm. Halfway across the world, the Joffre worked rather closer to home in a quarry in Northern France. The birthday boys will be supported by our other steam loco Stanhope, a mere stripling at just 99 years old. The fleet of internal combustion locos will be out performing, and it will be possible to visit our storage sheds.

Finally, October 29 and 30 sees the Halloween Spooky Specials, with things that go Bump in the night…..

For all of the events, entry will be by purchasing a train ticket – great value at just £2.50 adults, £1.50 children. Trains run from 1130 to 4pm – later into the night at Halloween.

Santa will, of course, visit the railway again in December – watch for more details.

Looking further ahead, May 13 & 14 2017 will see the Apedale Valley Light Railway’s annual steam gala; 2017 will see the centenary of Stoke-built steam loco Stanhope, the flagship of the AVLR fleet. The event will mark this anniversary, and will be focussed around a major exhibition of model railways. It is hoped that a model railway-led event will become a fixture in the Apedale calendar in years to come.

As ever, the team at Apedale would be pleased to hear from potential exhibitors at any of these events – get in touch.