The Sins of the Past

A sign of a moderate hint of intelligence is the ability to learn from the past. At the Moseley Railway Trust, we nowadays place some store on valuing the artifacts which are placed into our care. It is fair to say that the historical significance of narrow gauge railway equipment and (in particular) diesel locos has not always been fully appreciated. Indeed, the much revered tracks of the MRT in its days at the Margaret Danyers college once carried such horrors as a steam-outline conversion of a perfectly respectable Ruston loco. A few photos have recently come our way showing Motor Rail 2197 when it was at the Cadeby Light Railway; as can be seen, the livery is not entirely accurate, and the nameplate was made up for the benefit of Rich Morris, of Narrow Gauge Enterprises and Gloddfa Ganol fame. The current owner of the loco can honestly claim no involvement in this. The photo was taken in 1974, and he was only just out of nappies. You will all be greatly relieved to know that the loco has now got a rather more appropriate appearance, as can be seen in the second photo. We all live in fear of a midnight raid by the Authenticity Police. Help us fend off that day - get in touch here.

Clearing the way

The day edges ever closer when the Moseley Railway Trust's Apedale Valley Light Railway opens to the public. A slightly embarrassing recent discovery was that we didn't have sufficient siding space to accommodate the fleet of wagons. The wagons have been stored on the main line during the construction phase, and used during the open weekends (this year's being 18 & 19 September - book the date now). However, having rafts of wagons on the main passenger running line is not really compatible with running passenger trains. HMRI take a dim view of that sort of thing. So, a swift programme of building extra storage sidings has been instituted. One of the plus points of narrow gauge railways is that storage sidings can be rapidly laid using preassembled Jubilee track panels. So, in the space of an afternoon, we turned an existing point through 180 degrees, which allowed a previously disconnected siding to become part of the general network. A second point was then manhandled into place, and another siding laid from that. What could be easier? In the First World War they did this sort of thing under shellfire. All we had to worry about was when the Heritage Centre ice cream store would be closed. Meanwhile, work has also progressed swiftly on the Hudson Toastrack coach; it now has completed airbrakes, and the flooring is mostly completed. The only way is upwards now for that project. Contact us here.

Coaching Progress

No, we've not become management consultants. With the majority of the railway infrastructure completed on the Moseley Railway Trust's site at Apedale, attention is now largely focussed on completing the vehicles needed to carry our hordes of paying passengers (with particular emphasis on the "paying" bit). The Hudson brakevan has been masked for sparying MoD Green. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the colour, but I don't like to argue with the MoD. They've got more firepower than we have. Once the painting is complete, it just needs two windows fitting and the job's a good'un. Meanwhile, the Hudson toastrack coach replica is also storming along. Half the floor has now been fitted, and the other ends just awaits sorting out a few trivial details on the bogies - like the brakes. But no matter, we can deal with such issues. As ever, get in touch here.

Go Ahead for Hudswell

The Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to announce that a programme and funding has been put into place for the restoration of a 2’0" gauge Hudswell Clarke steam locomotive. The locomotive was built in Leeds in 1916, and was exported to Ghana. It worked for AngloGold Ashanti at their gold mines in Ghana until 1952, and was eventually put on display at the complex at Obuasi. Through the considerable assistance of AngloGold Ashanti, the locomotive was repatriated to the UK in 2008. Porterbrook Leasing sponsored part of the transportation costs from Ghana. Since 2008, the locomotive has been on display at the Moseley Railway Trust’s site at Apedale, near Newcastle under Lyme. In 2009, the locomotive was loaned to the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway in Bedfordshire to help mark the 75th anniversary of that railway. The locomotive has now moved to a private workshop facility where restoration to fully operational condition will take place. The work will be carried out by the team who have recently completed the overhaul of the Hunslet loco "Edward Sholto".
The funding for the restoration of the Hudswell Clarke locomotive has come from two main sources. Firstly, the family of Terry Stanhope has provided a substantial bequest. Terry, who died in 2006, was a life-long railway enthusiast and supporter of the Moseley Railway Trust. It is entirely fitting that he will have a permanent memorial in the form of the restored locomotive which will provide enjoyment and interest to many people. Secondly, a PRISM grant has been awarded, which recognises the importance of this locomotive to the UK’s industrial heritage.
There remains some funding yet to be obtained to complete the project, and the Moseley Railway Trust would welcome any further contributions towards the overhaul of the locomotive.
Phil Robinson, the Chairman of the Moseley Railway Trust said "Since AngloGold Ashanti kindly allowed the repatriation of this locomotive, we have been working to facilitate its return to steam. Through the kindness and support of the Stanhope family, and with the help of the PRISM team, we are now well on the way to achieving this. On behalf of the Moseley Railway Trust, I would like to express our thanks to the Stanhope family and PRISM".

Contact the Moseley Railway Trust here.

Industrial Interest

This weekend, the Moseley Railway Trust hosted the Annual General Meeting of the Industrial Railway Society. We're all about Industrial Railways at Apedale, so this was right up our street (or perhaps "siding"). I didn't keep count, but I am told that we operated something like 18 different locomotives, which is probably some sort of record for an IRS AGM! It was a glorious sunny spring day, and nothing went too badly wrong. Arguably the star of the show was Edward Sholto, which has now departed Apedale for the Ffestiniog Railway's "Quirks & Curiosities" event over the Mayday weekend. As ever, contact us here.

Annual General Meeting Day - and a puzzle

April 17th has seen the Annual General Meeting of the Moseley Railway Trust at Apedale, Staffordshire. It's the opportunity for the membership to give the Trustees a good kicking, although this year did seem to be rather a tame and well-humoured affair. Perhaps we're all getting older and wiser (or not). A much more probable explanation is that everyone wanted to get out into the glorious spring sunshine and play with the trains. We were very fortunate to host Andrew Neale's newly restored Hunslet steam loco "Edward Sholto"; this look simply glorious, and has gone down in history as the first steam loco to reach Apedale Road. We took advantage of a good number of our members being on site to conduct some brake testing on the passenger train. A necessary part of this was to take the

train down to Apedale Road - the photo shows the 60S Simplex No.13 running round the train. And now a puzzle. The nameplates on "Edward Sholto" have a full stop have the word Sholto - suggesting an abbreviation. The plates from "George Sholto" on display in the museum at Towyn also have the same punctuation. So, why? What is "Sholto" short for? And no, a quick Google won't tell you. Get in touch here with your answers (marking your entry "I'm a Know-All").

Grand Opening Gala - September 18 & 19

The Moseley Railway Trust has made good progress with the construction of the 2’0" gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway at the Apedale site near Newcastle-Under-Lyme, North Staffordshire. It is expected that the operation of public passenger trains will commence during the summer of 2010.
A Grand Opening Gala will be held at Apedale on 18 and 19 September 2010. During this weekend, the official opening ceremony will take place – and the MRT is planning that a VIP will "cut the ribbon".
It is hoped that at least one visiting steam locomotive will be in use, and there will be a wide range of traders, vintage vehicles and model railways. Our colleagues at the adjacent Apedale Heritage Centre will be running underground tours of their coal mine, and the café will doubtless be doing a roaring trade in its now legendary oatcakes.
The Moseley Railway Trust would be pleased to hear from potential exhibitors, especially vintage and veteran commercial vehicles. The Trust can be contacted here.

Further announcements will be made, so keep watching!