Moseley Railway Trust announces visiting engines for Tracks to the Trenches 2016 – May 13-15 2016

The Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to announce the details of the first two visiting steam locomotives for the Tracks to the Trenches 2016 military railways event.

Coming from its normal base at the West Lancashire Light Railway is Kerr, Stuart No.2405, built in 1915. This locomotive is the oldest survivor of the type known as the Joffres and this locomotive carries that name. The type is named after Marshal Joffre – known as Papa – one of the key leaders of the French military effort, especially in the early part of the conflict.

This visit will re-unite this locomotive with the Joffre-class locomotive resident at Apedale, No.3014. The Moseley Railway Trust is very grateful to the owners of Kerr, Stuart 2405 for their assistance and support in facilitating their locomotive’s attendance at Tracks to the Trenches.

Making a very welcome return visit to Apedale is Hudswell, Clarke no. 1643. Although built after the end of World War One – in 1930 – it is of the same design as the “G” class Hudswell steam locos which saw considerable military service. Again, there is an Apedale home-fleet loco of the same design – no.1238 of 1916 – and every opportunity will be taken to pair these twins together. We wish to express our thanks to Graham Lee, Henry Noon and the team at the Statfold Barn Railway for making this locomotive available.

Sadly, however, the War Office Locomotive Trust’s Hunslet 4-6-0 locomotive no. 1215 of 1916 will not, after all, be able to attend the event. Restoration is continuing on the locomotive, but a number of delays have been encountered – as is inevitable when restoring 100 year old machines. The owners and the Moseley Railway Trust have therefore decided that the best course of action is to ensure that the best possible restoration is carried out on the locomotive, rather than rushing to meet the May 2016 deadline.  

The event organising team believe that, despite the regrettable absence of Hunslet 1215, Tracks to the Trenches 2016 is shaping up to be every bit as good as the now legendary 2014 event. It is planned that further announcements will be made in the coming months as further major visiting exhibits are confirmed.

Tracks to the Trenches 2016 will be open 12-1730 on Friday May 13 2016 and 1030-1730 on Saturday & Sunday 14 & 15 May 2016. Admission prices are Adult £9, Child £4, Family (2 + 2) £20. A limited number of Access All Areas passes will be available, priced at £30. The event has a dedicated Facebook page and its own website. Tickets are available in advance via this website.

The Trust would be delighted to hear from potential exhibitors with suitable period vehicles or other exhibits – get in touch via the above website, or the main Trust site.

Loco Exams

Today has seen a number of the ungalmorous, but very necessary, winter maintenance tasks taking place at the Apedale Valley Light Railway. No.13, the 60-hp Motor Rail which takes the brunt of the diesel-hauled passenger duties, has been undergoing its annual maintenance exam. This includes an oil and filter change. This is not the easiest of tasks, and led the person doing the work to suggest that the designers may have failed to attend properly to the maintainability aspects when they developed the locomotive. Or at least that's what I think he said. Meanwhile, the Joffre steam loco has been undergoing preparation for boiler exam; this involves - amongst other things - removing the firebars and fusible plug, then cleaning the firebox. The Joffre is unusual inasmuch that it is basically built around the ashpan. Therefore, access into the firebox is very difficult. Enter Sam; it would seem that Sam is the only one on site today who was thin enough to get into the firebox. We are therefore now placing Sam on a carefully-monitored, calorie-controlled diet, since it is clear that the steam loco maintenance programme critically depends on Sam not eating any more pies. As ever, get in touch here (unless you work for a well-known pie manufacturer).

Hasta La Vista, Mine Spur

The arrival of ex-FR coach 117 at Apedale has created something of a space crisis; it's a big vehicle, and the desire to accomodate it under cover has led to other - equally worthy - items having to live out of doors for the time being. The eventual resolution to this space problem witll be the museum building, but that is some years away. So, a short term fix is the impending arrival on site of another ISO shipping container. We have therefore commenced the task of re-modelling the trackwork near the wagon traverser to allow rail access to the container when it arrives. This has meant re-working a fair bit of the track which was laid last year, and the removal of the Mine Spur. Already, it seems that the Mine Spur Preservation Group has been formed to oppose the closure and work towards its reinstatement, promising to recreate a Lost Age of Steam and Nostalgia. Doubtless they will be queing to come and assist in the rather moist conditions for which this part of the site is somewhat prone. One of the few trains to venture along the Mine Spur can be seen in one of the pictures.

Field Railway Fettling

The Field Railway Fettling programme has continued unabated, not letting minor details like freezing temperatures stand in the way. After all, feeling cold is nature's way of telling you that you're not working hard enough - right?

The curve on the southernmost part of the field railway triangle has proved to be troublesome. A combination of poor rail joints, severe curvature and joggled fishplates has created a bit of a derailment hot-spot; notable victims included our Hudson brake van at the November 2014 military weekend and a Baguley loco during Tracks to the Trenches. Whilst live and unplanned demonstrations of rerailing might be entertaining for the visitors, it does little to ease the stress levels felt by event organisers.

Therefore, the curve has now been rebuilt to eliminate the bad joints, and new, properly joggled, fishplates manufactured to accomodate the change in rail sections. It was getting rather dark by the time we finished, but initial testing suggested we had acheived the planned improvement. Fortunately, we had a very inquistive Robin acting as clerk of works throughout the whole job, so we knew who to ask when advice was needed.

Round Two Quiz - The Answers

I know that many of you have been itching to mark your answers sheets (either that or it's wind again). So, here are the answers:-

1:- A visiting loco - Penrhyn via Newbold Vernon. Which loco, when did it visit?

Sybil Mary, 2013.

2:- What is the only steam loco to have made TWO visits to two separate Apedale Galas (it's NOT Paddy!!)?

GP39 (aka The Hudswell Formerly Known as Bornllwyd)

3:- Which railway did "Stanhope" visit in September and October 2014?

North Gloucestershire Railway, Toddington

4:- An unusual non-steam visitor, son of Uther Pendragon. Which loco, which gala, where is home railway?

King Arthur, Baguley 2043, 2009, Wickstead Park

5:- Built with a Mclaren engine, now a Dorman - which Apedale loco?

Hudswell Clarke D558

6:- Goldfish shoals, nibbling at my toes. Which loco, which galas, where is home?

Battery Electric "Red Dwarf", Wingrove and Rogers 5655, 2008, 2009 and 2012, Shropshire Mines Trust

7:- Resident steam loco, worked in England, Scotland and Wales?

Stanhope

8:- Ships - which loco is associated with "Free Enterprise VII"?

Kerr Stuart 3014 - it's the ship on which it returned from France.

9:- What were the names of the ships which carried HC1238 to and from Ghana?

SS Prahsa and MSC Samantha

10:- What is F836 on BnM?

Massey Ferguson hybrid

11:- Which Safety Management System document covers off-site working?

MRTSP 26

12:- In 1948, how many different track gauges did the NCB use underground?

60. In January 2016 - none.

13:- 2015 saw two AVLR locos visit Threlkeld. How many other locos currently on site at Apedale have been at Threlkeld at some stage? Which locos?

Hunslet 8830, Hunslet 8968, Hunslet 6007, Ruston 235725, Clayton B0475, Clayton B1854, Clayton B0495, Lister 52885

14:- Where is the Baltic Juice Terminal?

Ventspils, Latvia

15:- Which railway did "Stanhope" visit in September and October 2014?

North Gloucestershire Railway, Toddington. Obviously, this is a parallel universe and completely unrelated to question 3......

16:- Listermania 2015 - how many locos on a passenger train?

Twelve

17:- The only ex-Standard Gauge vehicle in the collection?

Wickham 4131

18:- This Apedale loco has been regauged twice - which loco?

We were actually thinking of the Woodhorn Ruston 256314 – 26”, 30”, 24”, but will accept that MR7066 – 22”, 20”, 24” is also a correct answer.

19:- How many Baguley Drewry locos of the same type as AVLR No.90 have there been?

18 (but would accept 16 as correct for various reasons).

20:- Where did Ruston 193974 and Hibberd 2306 meet prior to both being at Apedale?

Erin Peat Products, County Offaly and Keef's yard.

No completely correct answers were received, but we did have a winner with the lowest number of inexcusable errors. We're not going to name him, and he's camera shy, but we did our best; he's the one in the blue.

The Battle of Midway

Work this weekend has been focussed on completing Midway Siding - so called because it is Midway along the Field Railway. This siding began life in 2014 for the Tracks to the Trenches event, when it was realised that we needed somewhere to display the non-operational Protected Simplex which was coming from Leighton Buzzard. So, a siding-cum-display plinth was built in extreme haste. The quality of the trackwork reflected the extreme haste. The gradient was like something at Alton Towers, and it had the most extreme joggled rail joint anyone can remember. However, like all railways, we are always short of siding space aty Apedale - so Midway siding stayed. Attemps to actually use it as a proper siding at the November 2015 Military Memories event showed just how hopeless it was. However, it was also recognised that it had potential. So, Midway siding has been rebuilt - much extended, much improved and on a slightly different alignment. Paralleling the main Field Railway, we hop it will allow for some interesting new displays and photos at TTTT2016 in May. Elsewhere on site, the Howard Petrol Loco - flushed with success from its first outing last weekend - was run again for the benefit of its former owner. Strange how all other works grinds to a halt when a new red engine chugs around the corner......