Top Gun Trains

There are many activities where it's reassuring to know that there is some form of training regime helping the people do the job better. Obviously, this doesn't apply to any known call centre, but it would be slightly alarming if one thought the pilot of one's Boeing was thumbing through the instruction manual as the aircraft thundered down the runway. I know it sometimes seems that way on certain of the less expensive airlines, but we're not naming names as they have a better corporate legal team than we do.
We've put a lot of effort into revitalising the training regime for members at Apedale; just like the pilots in Top Gun, they feel the Need for Speed. Unfortunately, we gave them the Pikrose battery loco to drive, but life's full of disappointments, isn't it? Tragically, Kelly McGillis failed to turn up as the Instructor, which would doubtless have resulted in significantly more attention being paid to what was being said. Yesterday saw the first fruits of training regime, with two new drivers achieving the much coveted Yard Driver wings. In the photo, we see one of these elite individuals, who is also the MRT Head of High Energy Particle Physics. You will note that he is trying to tame the fearsome swing-wing, after-burning Pikrose, newly renovated and looking very smart indeed (the loco that is, best not say about the driver). The requirement to wear white gloves and carpet slippers when driving it is causing some resentment.

Meanwhile, the Black Smoke Working Group were also active at the workshop, the Ruston "Pluto" saw the bodywork essentially complete; you will recall that this project was primarily the responsibility of our younger members - three of whom are in the team photo below. One of them either lied about his age or has had a very tough upbringing. As ever, get in touch here.

Tracks to the Trenches 2014

The Moseley Railway Trust will mark the centenary of the start of the First World War with a major event, entitled Tracks to the Trenches – 2014. The event will be on September 12, 13 and 14 2014. The Trust is confident that this will be one of the major narrow gauge and First World War centenary events of 2014.

The First World War was one of the key turning points in European history – and narrow gauge railways played a major part in the war. All combatants made considerable use of tactical 60cm gauge railways, supporting the colossal demands which the first truly modern war put upon logistics systems. This moment in history helped define and standardise the gauge of many post-war industrial railways (Ashover, Nocton, Leighton Buzzard, etc), through the use of readily available War Surplus materials.

The Trust is pleased to be able to confirm the booking of the first visiting steam locomotive to the Tracks to the Trenches - 2014 event; Baldwin 4-6-0T No 778 from the Leighton Buzzard Railway in Bedfordshire. No 778 has not made many visits to other lines since restoration was completed in 2007, so this event will provide some unique locomotive/rolling stock combinations and photographic opportunities.

These 10-12-D class locomotives (the classification designated by the manufacturer) were supplied en-masse to the British War Department from 1917 onwards in all theatres, eventually totalling nearly 500 by 1918. They were the most common steam locomotive operated by the War Department Light Railways during the Great War. Based on a very similar design previously supplied to the French Army in Morocco, they had a limited life expectancy on the Battlefield of a mere 6-8 months.

Gareth Roberts, one of the event organisers of the Tracks to the Trenches event commented - Today, only a very small number of these machines have survived and an even smaller number are operational. We are extremely grateful to the Greensand Railway Museum Trust and the Leighton Buzzard Railway for making available this locomotive, fully restored to original appearance, for this important WW1 Centenary commemoration.

A website has been set-up for the Tracks to the Trenches event – it’s here. The Trust would be very pleased to hear from individuals or groups who wish to participate in the event – contact can be made via the website. The Trust is also seeking sponsorships for elements of the event – there are opportunities from main event sponsor to individual donations.

Museum Progress

There's been a lot happening on the museum project at Apedale of late. Mostly below ground level. Visitors from last year may recall the steel piles which appeared, resembling an installation art work (although sadly the Arts Council grant cheque never arrived). They have now been cut back, and are now all joined up by large amounts of concrete to form what are known as Ground Beams. The next steps are to start building the walls up to just below the damp proof course level, apply an inert fill and an insulation layer between the walls, and then pour the concrete slab. Railway tracks will then be laid on the slab, and then a further concrete pour to create a level floor. Sounds easy when you say it quickly - but what it doesn't sound is cheap. So, the appeal continues - if you've recently won the Lottery/premium bonds/work sweep we'd be quite pleased to hear from you. In the meantime, winter maintenance work continues elsewhere on the railway - the winter PWay maintenance programme has been completed in record time, allowing attention to be switched to the construction of a much-needed new siding near the Station. Because Parkinson's Law applies particularly to railway preservation schemes. It is a well known fact that the wagon fleet expands to fill the siding space available to it. As ever, get in touch here (especially if you have a few thousand bricks going begging).

Big Brother, Little Brother

The Moseley Railway Trust has recently taken delivery of a pair of bogies which will form part of the restoration of a "Pershing" wagon. Used extensively by American forces in World War One, these are very much narrow-gauge sized versions of the classic three-piece bogie. The three-piece bogie has been around for donkey's years - and is still widely used. For example, a derivative is shown under a DB Schenker HTA coal hopper. In its purest form, one of the clever features of the bogie is that there are no threaded fasteners whatsoever to come loose. As you will see in the photo, the Pershing bogies do deviate somewhat from that principle, but we'll forgive them this time. On the downside, Railway civil engineers loathe the things, since the whole of the bogie side castings are unsprung mass. And, as you well know, unsprung mass = track damage. We can only hope that the Apedale Valley Light Railway civil engineering department haven't twigged that, otherwise the track access charges for the Pershing will go northwards. Which would be a pity, as it will be a nice wagon, and a key exhibit at the 2014 Tracks to the Trenches event. Which we must tell you about in more detail sometime soon. Watch this space. As ever, get in touch here. Oh, and as a PS, don't forget that the countdown to Operation Santa is now well under way - you can book to come and see the Great Man at Apedale here.

The Mighty Whites

We've been painting a lot of stuff white recently. Firstly there was an ex-McAlpines U skip we painted up for the Gala. More recently, we've had a go at the Pickrose battery electric loco. We got this going a couple of months ago following repairs to one of its traction motors. Now the costmetic work is coming along a treat. The following picture shows Cynthia proudly finishing off the new paintwork, although it seems that Cynthia has got as much paint on her coat as the loco. It has to be said that the loco, if not the coat, is a great improvement.

Perhaps the next to enter the paint shop could be "Lady Anne" (CE B0922A/1975). This locomotive was obtained from Hunslet Loco Hire (HLHL) in 2003 and has been resident in the Apedale Heritage Centre since July 2004 as part of the static loco display. However, recently it was moved out to make way for new displays, so our attention turned to one slight problem... the Lady is the wrong gauge. Thankfully, those thoughtful people at Clayton Engineering built her as gauge-convertable, so her modification from 18in gauge to 24in should be straightforward. And indeed it was, on one axle anyway. Lady Anne also has a bit of an identity crisis in more than gauge. Above the rear axle flies a Union flag, above the front a Scottish flag. Quite how this came to be is unknown. However, what did become clear was that they make axles quite a lot more stubborn North of the Border. Fortunately they make people stubboner, in the shape of our resident sledgehammer-wielding Alex (illustrated below).

Anyway, a bit of percussive maintenance soon had that uncooperative axle beaten, and we could drop the loco onto the track and into the workshop. Here, the CME attempted to entice the batteries back into life. In the final photo we see the CME surrounded by his battery-enticing equipment. The more observant amongst you can also play "spot the meerkat" with this photo. Anyway, with a bit of luck we'll lave Lady Anne back in fine form and perhaps ready for a new coat of paint, but that probably depends on how fed up Cynth is with painting stuff white. Benevolent white paint suppliers can contact us here.

Cats and Dogs...

With work proceeding on the Museum foundations, thoughts turned to the exhibits to put in it. Whilst our curator has been busy trying to properly catalogue our vast collection of narrow gauge equipment, we've been working to restore some of the more needy items and also pose him an interesting conundrum. One project just started involves a hybrid Dick Kerr skip wagon that had at some point in its history been separated from its original wheels and mounted rather ignominiously on top of a fairly grotty Hudson chassis. We have managed to locate a suitable set of wheels and running gear from a donor chassis to restore this wagon to its original condition, which will make a pair in our collection. This, of course, leaves a Hudson chassis behind, hence two museum artefacts where only one existed before this weekend!

With focus in the last couple of blogs on our feline friends, we should not forget their canine relatives. Mechanical work on "Tiddles" is nearing completion, so now "Pluto" the Ruston has been receiving attention. Work on this Apprentice project slowed over the last month, partially because of work directed towards preparing for the open day, but also as we were waiting for new parts. The original bulkhead was corroded beyond repair, so new drawings have had to be made and the three sheet metal component parts cut and folded to order. These arrived last week and were assembled over the weekend. The construction is a combination of bolting, welding and folding. With this work now progressing, we can focus on fitting the various controls then cleaning and painting. At this stage our target for completion by the end of the year still looks achievable (if we can keep the apprentices focussed).

So we have two more restored exhibits on the way, but there's still a long way to go on the museum and its contents. If you think you can help us realise our ambitions, contact us here.

Civil Engineering

With the Gala now behind us, work has now re-started in earnest on the Museum foundations. Contractors have been hard at work digging out trenches around the piles which were inserted some time ago. The next step is to insert re-inforcing mesh cages and pour a lot of concrete to form the ground beams. From these beams, the walls of the museum building will rise. Sounds simple when you read it quickly, but this is very expensive work, and given the current state of funding, work will stop at the ground beam stage pending another injection of cash. We hope you all got the pictures of the field railway in September - because the connection to the main system has now been replaced by a very large hole. The site has been exposing some of the fascinating wealth of industrial archaeology, with the top of a drift mine being exposed, and the foundations of some mine building coming to light.

Meanwhile, the passenger train fond an unexpected use moving a display concrete pipe from the Heritage Centre to storage in Aurora North. Based on the long-standing tradition of management by typographical error, the Popemobile made a dignified transit of the railway, and the pipe is now ensconced in its new home. It's steam trains next weekend - the Joffre will be unleashed - because Stanhope will be watching the rain in North Wales. Get in touch here.