The Wrath of Tamp

Tamping and Lining a railway is one of the most important, but labour intensive, elements of the construction process. The Big Railway uses large and expensive yellow machines to do this, such as the one in the picture. These machines cost seven-figure sums, and are normally built in Austria. The Moseley Railway Trust, not having a seven-figure sum to spend, uses two kango hammers and, in this case, David and Alan to do the job. They aren't Austrian, but it is alleged that they did once see "The Sound of Music". The purpose of the operation is to establish the correct vertical alignment of the railway (having previously sorted out horizontals) and then pack ballast under the sleepers to preserve the vertical alignment. Jacks, spirit levels and experienced eyes are used extensively to align the railway. The kangos are easy to use, but quite physically demanding. Health and safety requirements limit the time any one person can use them, so a cycle of people taking turns is the only way to get the job done. It is fair to say that a trip to the gym is not needed after a few turns on the kangos. The improvement to the quality of the track after the tamping/lining is done is remarkable. Just to check, and for the benefit of a visiting party, we spent Sunday running heavy locos up and down just to check the track (or something). If you fancy a bit of track checking, or can't afford the gym in these straightened times, get in touch here. This year's chance to come along and see what we're up to is on September 12 & 13 - see here. The Edelweiss will be in full bloom by then, assuming that the fictional snake hasn't eaten them all.

To Seek Out New Life ...

The Apedale Community Country Park has more than railways to interest the visitor. In addition to the popular Apedale Heritage Centre and underground mine tour, there is the country park itself, with its rich variety of wildlife to be found. Most of it stays in the country park, but some occasionally strays onto the railway and its associated infrastructure. Recently we have been home to a family of swallows, and we have got used to the parents flying past our ears as we entered the amenity block where they are nesting.



In recent years, some of our members have reported the presence of snakes on site. The shy nature of these animals is such that they rarely stay around to be seen or photographed. This lead to the denial of their presence by some of the more nervous members of the Trust. This year was quiet until recently when sightings increased on the occasional hot days. However, the photograph below now constitutes unequivocal evidence that the site is home to grass snakes. So, if you come on site and happen to see volunteers walking round with duck tape wrapped round the bottom of their trouser legs, you'll know why.



If you don't mind sharing the site with our feathered and scaly friends, contact us here.

Project Genesix

This week, we have a rare opportunity to glance into the secret files of the MRT board of Trustees, as can be seen by clicking on the image below. If there is a short pause, this is simply because your computer is performing a security retinal scan prior to granting access.



Evidence of stage 2 of this hitherto classified project can be seen below on site at Apedale. Also shown is a rare historic shot of Number 6 in action at Moseley School in Cheadle in the late 70s. If you would like to join the Genesix team, contact us here.

.....where no Motor Rail has gone before

It's official. The Gap is no more. After a few months with two disconnected railways, the Moseley Railway Trust now has one railway with a very high level of connectivity. The gap was about 40', and was closed with two more lengths of track. Sadly, the Starship Vanguard wasn't feeling too well - it seemed that it's dlithium crystals had run down, or something, so it had to be rescued by the Klingon Bird of Prey "Sludge" (yes, it's not a great name, it probably means something better in Klingon). So, after the gap was closed, Sludge & Vanguard went off to explore the second part of the railway, hitherto untarnished by locomotive wheels. And it was agreed to be good, albeit in need of some fettling to improve horizontal & vertical alignments, and a lot of ballast to be dropped - but that's for next weekend. It is this stretch which we will use as a roadside tramway for the Open Day weekend, September 12 & 13. Access to this area will not normally be possible once passenger trains start running, so it's a great opportunity to get some unique photos of vintage trains and vintage commercial vehicles together. See you there? As ever, get in touch here.

To Boldly Go......

...where no Ruston has been before. These are the voyages of the starship "Vanguard". Actually rather a second rate starship; Captain Kirk's Enterprise was powered by Dilithium Crystals and had two warp nacelles, whereas Vanguard has a 20hp two-cylinder diesel engine. Nonetheless, Vanguard has indeed boldly gone where no Ruston has been before. For various reasons, the railway on the Moseley Railway Trust's site at Apedale has been in two disconnected sections. The push is now on to join these two sections, and this has entailed the rather delicate task of of track laying in the limited space between the new footpath fence and the Aurora North storage shed. The pre-assembled track panels were brought to site on a flat wagon using Vanguard. The Trust's crane, having been very careful threaded into place, was then used to lift the panels into place. What could be easier? And so the main line of the Apedale Valley Light Railway grew substantially today, and at the end of the day's work, Vanguard was able to set a new record for the furthest North travelled by an MRT loco at Apedale. The gap to link the two railways is now about 40', so two sections of track will now be built in-situ to close this. This will then finally allow rail access to the roadside tramway section, which we are hoping will be a prominent part of the September 12 & 13 Open Days at Apedale. If you fancy coming along and helping with this type of thing, come along or contact us here. The ability to confidently split infinitives is a definite benefit.

Off-Site Update

One of the better aspects of narrow gauge preservation, when compared to our colleagues in the standard gauge world, is that it is possible to do reasonable amounts of restoration work in "domestic" premises. It is not normally possible to accomodate, say a BR Standard steam loco, on a domestic drive, as this can cause problems with the neighbours and reduce property values. Narrow Gauge locos are much more easily accommodated. This week, we'll have a quick update on two projects which are closely associated with the Moseley Railway Trust, but are happening away from the main Apedale base. Firstly, the Kerr Stuart Joffre class steam loco, no.3014/16. Many of you will remember this loco from its sojourn on a plinth outside Rich Morris' house on the Crimea Pass road (shown above). This project is now storming along. The frames are now wheeled, the motion has been restored and fitted - it's really beginning to look like the bottom half of a steam loco. The firebox outer wrapper and the front section of the barrel have been test fitted. Boiler manufacture is now proceeding apace, and completion? Well, 2010 looks possible.

Meanwhile, the world of Internal Combustion has also been proceeding with work on a member's 30DL Ruston, no. 237914 of 1946. This loco worked at the DSF Refractories works at Friden, in the Peak District. It's coming together nicely, and the UK economy has been significantly boosted by a recent paint purchase. We can't promise that either of these locos will be on site for our open day, but if you want further details, get in touch here.

Finally, this week's blog is dedicated to the memory of Richard Bowen. A gentleman railway enthusiast.

Stoned with friends

If there is one lesson which I for one have learnt from building the Apedale Valley Light Railway, it is to not under-estimate that amount of ballast which needs to be deployed. We have recently completed a rather elegant series of sweeping curves, and it was apparent that we needed to ballast this as soon as possible such that the railway will hold its form. We have been employing the centre-discharge ballast wagon loaned to the Moseley Railway Trust by the Golden Valley Light Railway, and this does a fine job at dropping stone between the running rails. However, forming the shoulders on each side of the rails is equally, if not more, important. Until recently, this has been a slightly fraught process using two small side-tipping skip wagons. However, we now have another ballast wagon on load - this time a specialist side discharge wagon. This one has been loaned to the Trust by Graham Lee and his team at the Statfold Barn Railway - a big public thank you to Graham. The ballast trains have been shuttling back and forth along the railway, dropping tons of stone. It's beginning to look like a mighty fine railway - all that remains now is to tamp it all into place. So, if you fancy a bit of a tamp, get in touch here. And don't forget, you will get a chance to come along to the Open Days in 2009 - see here - and see all we have done.