Sludge's Busy Day

Simplex Mechanical Handling (SMH) were the successors to Motor Rail, who built so many of the Moseley Railway Trust's locomotive fleet. In 1979 they turned out their number 40SD516 - so called because it's a 40Hp Simplex with a Deutz engine. This loco worked for Severn Trent Water at Minworth, near Birmingham. This was a vast sewage works, treating the outpourings of millions of Brummies. A fleet of of locos were employed on a 2'0" gauge railway system. When the railway closed, 40SD516 joined the MRT fleet and acquired the name "Sludge". I imagine a good wash was also something of a priority. Sludge has always been a popular loco, being electric start and powerful. It's spent the day as the main shunt loco at Apedale. Following our recent successful visit from ORR, considerable effort is being put into training crews for the Apedale Valley Light Railway's passenger operation. The building operations which can be seen in the first photo mean we currently cannot run round in the loop at the Apedale Heritage Centre station, so Sludge was kept fully employed acting as "shunt release" loco to allow the training runs to reverse. Hence the rare sight of the passenger stock in the loop road. Later on, Sludge returned to more work it would be more familiar with - hauling skip wagons. These were moving materials to assist in the construction of an improved walkway to the Aurora North shed. This will form the focal point for the September 18th & 19th Grand Opening weekend. Fortunately for the MRT Chairman, these skips were filled with railway ballast rather than (errrrr) Sludge. If you want to know more, get in touch here.

A sigh of relief

To coin a phrase, it's been quite a week down the Valley. The Summer Working Week for the Moseley Railway Trust at Apedale has been and gone. It's called the Summer Working Week due to the traditional selection of the wettest week available between May and September. Many projects have made good progress, of which the most visible has been with the Hudson Toastrack coach. This is a reconstruction (not a replica, or a rebuild or any other words like that) of vehicles used on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland in the 1920s. The MRT vehicle now has the beginnings of a roof, and hopefully the first glimmerings of the light at the end of this particular tunnel are now in site. The first photo shows the team sitting down on the job. Honestly, anyone would think they'd been busy. Elsewhere, a lot of work was put into the track and generally sorting out the railway in anticipation of the visit from the Man from the Ministry. The MFTM has now been, and seen, and pronounced himself basically happy. There's a few minor issues to be sorted, but it looks like we have the green light for passenger carrying (or, as you can see below, perhaps a green flag is more appropriate). Therefore, the event on the 18th & 19th September really WILL BE the Grand Opening of the Apedale Valley Light Railway. As ever, get in touch here.

The Daily Grind

It's our Summer Working Week at Apedale. As is traditional, the Sun has done a bunk and been replaced by heavy rainclouds. Has that dampened spirits? Well, just a bit. However, the current main project, the replica Hudson Toastrack coach, is storming along. It had a brief appearance out of doors today before it headed back under cover in time for the project supremo to set to on his creation with an angle grinder. He is available for watch repairs and keyhole surgery at very modest rates. Meanwhile, certain individuals celebrated the end of the Ballast Shovelling project and had to be restrained from making a bonfire of all the spades and shovels. If you fancy getting involved in this sort of malarky, or are in need of amateur surgery, get in touch here.

Hudswell Update

Some may recall that the Moseley Railway Trust's Hudswell Clarke steam loco no. 1238 is now under serious restoration. This loco was imported from Ghana in 2008. It had a time on display at Apedale and then at Leighton Buzzard. Restoration has now started in earnest, and the loco is now almost fully dismantled. It's a bit of a curate's egg - some parts are good, some parts are shockingly bad. There does appear to be some evidence to support the story that the loco fell into a river and killed its driver - certainly the firebox has suffered a major failure at some stage which is consistent with the story. The first photo shows one of the loco mainframes being riveted and strengthened where wasted. The second photo is one of the cylinders being bored to take a liner. It's going to be quite some time before the loco is completed, and the project is NOT fully funded - we have a very generous bequest but it's looking unlikely that this will complete the project - so we would be very grateful for any support which we can receive with this. Get in touch here.

The Heat is on

Another day of progress on many fronts down in the sultry sub-tropical paradise which is the Apedale valley. The Penrhyn coach has now had the reinforcing bars installed, which was rather like trying to wallpaper your front hall through the letterbox. The first photo shows one of the bars being threaded into the underframe. Meanwhile, teams have been trying (and succeeding) at improving their overall fitness levels and muscle tone by packing and tamping ballast. The Toastrack coach continues to gain parts at a rapid rate, and a start has been on the start of construction of the platform extension. Finally, our friends up at the Apedale Heritage Centre have taken delivery of an enormous winding engine. This was the emergency winder from one of the local collieries (Hem Heath??) - I dread to think how big the day-to-day machine was! The Man from the Ministry is coming to look at the railway in 17 days - so the pressure is really on now to finish off the railway. Get in touch here if you can help relieve the pressure.

Drilling Down

Some years ago, the Moseley Railway Trust built a replica of a Penrhyn Quarryman's Coach. The vehicle has had a few public outings - at the Alan Keef Ltd open days, and on a temporary line at the Hayfield Sheepdog Trials. However, the vehicle has needed a fair bit of work to make it ready for front line operation on the Apedale Valley Light Railway. Probably one of the trickiest operations has been the inserting of tie rods into the underframe. These were deemed necessary to provide additional strength to the underframe. Obtaining 12' long steel bars, threaded each end, proved to be challenging in its own right - not many people have lathes that big, and steel bar comes in standard lengths of 3 metres. Fortunately, our friends at the Hunslet Steam Company at Statfold came up with the goods. It was then simply a question on making a series of closely aligned holes through the vehicle underframe, taking care to miss the air brake pipes and other minor details. What could be simpler? Nuclear Fusion, for a start. Fortunately, we were able to call on the World's Largest Electric Drill, needing a crew of three to operate safely. We borrowed it from BP who said that they "weren't planning on drilling anywhere for a while". The job isn't finished yet, but we have got a method for doing it now, and another day should see the vehicle back in business and read for service on the Apedale Valley Light Railway. Get in touch here.

Modeller's Mecca

As both regular readers know, the Grand Opening Gala for the Apedale Valley Light Railway will be on the 18th & 19th September. Amongst other attractions, we're planning a record number of model railway layouts this year.

These will be in a variety of scales from the delights of Hull Miniature Railway Society’s ‘Barrowfleet’ (009 and 00) and Hazel Grove MRC’s penultimate outing of "The High Peak Tramway" (O16.5) right up to ‘Hookers Junction’ in 1/12th scale. The photos, courtesy of Hazel Grove MRC and Paul Harrison, show the High Peak Tramway. Rumour has it that the CME can be seen pointing at something in one of the scenes.
This is the perfect opportunity for narrow gauge modellers of any scale to get ‘up close and personal’ with camera and tape measure to a considerable range of locomotives and is not to be missed.
Further announcements will be made, so keep watching the press and here for more details of what will be one of the Narrow Gauge "events of the year". The ‘how to find us’ button on our website provides maps and useful sets of directions. As ever, get in touch here.