Further locos at Tracks to the Trenches

Late exhibit entries entries are coming in now for Tracks to the Trenches. We are delighted to announce two real celebrity machines will be making a first-time visit to Apedale. They are the Ffestiniog Railway's 40HP Simplex (once known as Mary Ann) and Moelwyn - the UK's only surviving example of one of the Baldwin tractors which were very popular with American and Canadian forces during WW1. Being FR locos, their wheel standards are alsightly incompatible with the railway at Apedale - so they MAY be static display or very limited operation - testing will decide. 

There's still just a few days to buy advance tickets. The deal is pretty good - you get to skip the queue, and get the guidebook thrown in. The guidebook is £4, and is really nice - so you get £13 worth of ticket and book for £9, and quick entry. A bargain if ever there was one. We've also still got a few Access All Areas passes left. Closing date for advance ticket sales is 1st May, so stop messing around and go to here with your credit card in hand.

The Big Push

With only three weeks to go before Tracks to the Trenches 2016, activity at Apedale has taken on a frenzied pace. The usual mega-shunts have begun to try to clear running lines of wagons and begin to get vehicles where we need them. This has been made a bit easier this time by the departure of eight of the ex-South Africa bogies, all off to North Wales for use in various projects. Two of the eight are MRT property, and will eventually return to Apedale under the second ex-Ffestiniog Railway coach.
Various projects are rapidly coming to fruition; the replica King George Trench Tramway Inspection Car has been completed (but is a little camera shy). The large Pechot bogie wagon has been absorbing the entire UK stock of MIG welding wire - and there's still more to be done. Will it be completely finished in time? There's only one way to find out! As ever, get in touch here.

Friends Reunited

One of the advantages of our rather large locomotive collection at Apedale is that we can show and contrast how locos were used, modified and abused in industry. One such comparison is the two Lister-Blackstones in the collection, 52610 (the grey one) and 52885 (with the cab). Ostensibly similar locos, 52610 was (probably) built without the overall bodywork, and had an engine cover carefully bodged into place by the Scottish peatworks where it worked. 52885, on the other hand, was left in fairly original condition by its owners (a West Midlands clay pot maker). 52610 returned to Apedale this weekend after a prolonged holiday on the Sunny South Coast in the care of the Amberley Musuem Rail Group.

In other news at Apedale, the arrival of the locos back from Beamish prompted something of an accomodation crisis, and hence the new container was rail connected as a matter of some urgency. The first tranche of locos to live in their new home are seen in the final photo making their way across the site.

As ever, get in touch here

All around the UK

Another busy weekend for the Moseley Railway Trust has seen us operating railways over quite a significant geographical spread. At home at Apedale, it was a normal timetabled steam service. We also took advantage of the reasonable weather - in the morning at least - to complete the move of a new container into its final resting place. The arrival of the ex-FR coach 117 has put considerable pressure on storage space, hence the new container. Its designated home was, unfortunately, inaccessible to road transport and even less accessible to cranage. Hence, the movement was by rail and the positioning was by jacking and packing. As can be seen in one of the photos, we did borrow a passing Ruston just to give the box a quick shove at a key moment.

Meanwhile, the Hudswell steam loco, Motor Rail 1369 and two WDLR wagons were having a little holiday in the North East at the invitation of Paul, Matt and the rest of the Beamish team. This was part of their Great War Steam Fair. Four days have been spent gently shuffling wagons around their growing narrow gauge empire. This included serving the needs of POWs who had been put to work on a fearsome saw bench turning trees into planks - the railways then removed the planks for use elsewhere. As ever, get in touch here.

Heavy Metal

It's been a weekend of heavy lifting and heavy metalwork down at the Apedale Valley Light Railway. We are hoping to extend the current demonstration field railway in time for Tracks to the Trenches in May. A loop is to be created at the south end of the railway, and two points were identified for this some time ago, but subsequently put into storage, condition unknown. As time is now pressing for the event, and trying to avoid unpleasant surprises, the points have been duly dug out of storage (yes, dug) and brought around to the workshop for examination. The photo shows the poorer of the two. The work done to this point was:- 1:- Rectify broken rail, 2:- Burn out check rail bolts and replace. 3:- Burn out fishplate bolts on closures to blade joints, rectify fishplates and replace all bolts. 4:- Repair stretcher bar and replace all bolts. 5:- Re-weld broken slide plate, and bolt same to steel sleeper (which entailed making a "special" fisplate to clear the bolt head). 6:- Ensure correct fit-up of blades to stock rails and adjust as needed.
After that, we had a cup of tea.
After the cup of tea, we turned our attention to the Pechot wagon; again, this is a vehicle wanted for the Tracks to the Trenches event. Fitting the end platforms has proven tricky, due to the headstock being anything other than flat and square. However, Mr Gas Axe and Mrs Very Large Hammer have been carefully employed to improve the geometry of the wagon end, and this has finally allowed one of the end platforms to be welded into place. This is a big step forward for the wagon, as it makes it look a lot more "finished". Visit here for more information on Tracks to the Trenches.

New Coach

The volunteer team at the Apedale Valley Light Railway have been very impressed by the ex-Ffestiniog coach no.117; we now recognise that large, high-capacity coaches are they way of the future. It is hoped that we will augment No.117 with a second ex-FR coach in due course, but that has led to a debate about what to do in the interim. We are told that 117 was known as a "Tin Car" when it ran in Wales, which got the thinking cogs turning. We have therefore procured a more basic coach body for the next one; it needs some work doing on it - like cutting side windows, fitting seats and the like. However, on the bright side the structure seems sound and the end doors give an air of spaciousness. It's a bit higher than would be ideal, so it will be mounted on a pair of low-floor bogies which came from Southend Pier. The team can be seen making a few delicate tweaks to the first-fit of the bogies in the photo. All being well, this new coach will be introduced into service on 1st April 2017.