Turtle Tricks

A bit warm down the Valley this weekend - more suited to eating ice cream than working on railways! Nonetheless, progress was made on several fronts. We are providing a temporary railway for the North Norfolk Railway's World War One event next weekend - called Tracks and Trenches, which is a strangely familiar title. We're providing two locos - the Tin Turtle and and 20hp open tractor - plus a number of wagons. The locos have been extracted, tested and cleaned ready for the voyage East. Meanwhile, work has continued on MR1320 - which is a close cousin of the Turtle. The engine has reached the "gory oily bits stage", allowing a view of the big ends, mains and camshaft not seen for many, many years.

Working in the sun

The dismantling of Motor Rail 1320 has taken a major step forward with the main components being craned out of the frame. The frame is now elsewhere for shotblasting, and the engine is in a cradle for further work. The photo of the wheels serves to remind of a key reason for undertaking this project. We have received an offer for the old wheels from Gillette, as the flanges are sharper than any of their razors. This is not, by a long way, the only project happening at Apedale. For example, the large Pechot wagon featured large in these notes a while back, at a time when it was using up weld consumables at a formidable rate. After a bit of a hiatus, the wagon has now been finally assembled and finish painted. We are reminded that it dates from 1888, which makes it one of the oldest - if not THE oldest - vehicle on site.

Gala Success

Moseley Railway Trust celebrates successful Stanhope Gala – and looks to the future

The Moseley Railway Trust held the annual railway gala at the Apedale Valley Light Railway on May 13 & 14. The theme for the 2017 event was to mark the centenary of the Kerr, Stuart locomotive “Stanhope”. Kerr, Stuart were a firm of locomotive builders based in Stoke-on-Trent – just a few miles from Apedale.

Three visiting engines attended, two built by Kerr, Stuart, and the third built to a Kerr, Stuart design. With the home-based fleet of Stanhope and a further 1916-built Kerr, Stuart loco, it is believed that this was the largest gathering of Stoke built locomotives in preservation.

The Gala attracted over 1000 visitors. Phil Robinson, the Trust Chairman said “We are very pleased with how the Stanhope Gala went. On behalf of the Trust, I’d like to express my thanks to the visiting loco owners and also to all our volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the weekend a success”.

The centenary of Stanhope was marked with various cakes – edible by humans and edible by engines. The owner of Stanhope – or the “current custodian”, as he described himself – Dr John Rowlands made a speech describing the remarkable story of how the loco survived into preservation. It was a close-run thing! This story has been put into print in a new book written by Phil Robinson and published by the Trust.

Looking to the future, there will be a new enthusiast-focussed event in October. The Diesel Delights weekend – 7 & 8 October 2017 – will see many of the Trust’s collection of internal combustion locos in action. Some will haul passenger trains – in some cases, these will be the first-ever passenger working for locos over fifty years old!

In 2018, the Trust will hold the third of the popular Tracks to the Trenches events, themed around the First World War. The site will be transformed into the Western Front for the weekend – July 13, 14 & 15 2018. The Trust would be pleased to hear from potential exhibitors of WW1-appropriate items, particularly road vehicles.

More details of the Trust and the Apedale valley Light Railway can be found on Facebook or here.

MR1320 and the Coach

In between running a steam service, and hosting "Diana" having a last running day before she heads off to Amerton, various other projects have been moving forward at Apedale. The engine of MR1320 has now been stripped back to "block" stage, using the loco frame as a very convenient mobile workstation. It's fair to say that the condition of many components is as bad as was feared. In particular, the radiator elements are very poorly and also very non-standard compared to other Motor Rails. It looks like someone will have the job of assembling some 22,000 fins onto new radiator tubes. The cylinder liners are also in bad condition, which would largely account for the poor running of the engine. If anyone has any Dorman 4DWD liners down the back of the sofa, do get in touch. Meanwhile, the FR117 coach project is rapidly approaching completion. The coach was taken for a comprehensive test run on Saturday, followed by the slightly scary brake testing process. This all went extremely well, to the point where the project manager was seen to smile slightly at one point.

Gala Weekend

It's only four sleeps to Gala Weekend - help us celebrate the centenary of our flagship steam locomotive "Stanhope". There's no need to bring a cake, we've already made one. All the visiting steam locos are site - we'll have six operating, with more than 500 years combined history. Not many events can boast four locos which are a hundred years or more. Opening times are 1100 to 1700 both days, with last admission at 1600. Ticket prices are Adults £6, children (3-15) £3 and a family (2+2) £15. The ticket includes one round trip on the railway - further train tickets can be bought if so desired. There are still a few Access All Areas tickets available at £20. In addition to all the trains, we expect model railways, sales stands, the ever-popular Titanic Brewery, living history people in the WW1 Trench - and more. The forecast looks pretty good - all we need now is YOU to make all the effort worthwhile!!

412 years of history

A busy weekend at Apedale preparing for the Stanhope Steam Gala. All three visiting steam locos are now on site, which inevitably means a mega-shunt to get them all safely into the shed. Also part of the mega-shunt is clearing the main shed out to allow the floor to be cleaned so that it is safe to allow visitors in to view trade stands and model railways. In between all of this, normal project works have continued. The large Motor Rail no.1320 is rapidly shrinking as it is stripped down for its restoration - this is not terribly photogenic. On the other hand, the FR coach has been painted and looks rather splendid. Sunday has seen us hosting a photo charter for 30742 Charters - the sun shown and everyone seems to have had a jolly good time. The opportunity was taken to line up all the Kerr, Stuart locos. Simple maths tells us that there is 412 years of history in the photo. Wikipedia tells us that 1605 was the year of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plot. Draw your own conclusions!

 

Stanhope Steam Gala

Just to confirm a few key bits of information about the Gala weekend - May 13 & 14. Opening times are 1100 to 1700 both days, with last admission at 1600. Ticket prices are Adults £6, children (3-15) £3 and a family (2+2) £15. The ticket includes one round trip on the railway - further train tickets can be bought if so desired. There are still a few Access All Areas tickets available at £20. Tickets can be bought in advance from the shop at Apedale this Saturday 6th May - or just turn up on the day! We will have six locos in steam - the three residents plus visiting engines from Amerton, Bala and Statfold, model railways, sales stands, the ever-popular Titanic Brewery, living history people in the WW1 Trench - and more.