The Apedale Valley Light Railway attracts visitors from far and wide to the scenic delights of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It's called "Regenerating the area" and yes, we'd like a cheque from the Government to recognise our efforts at regenerating the area. £500k should be a start - make it payable to "Moseley Railway Trust". Anyway, today we saw a couple visiting us all the way from Cologne. Koln (as it is locally known) has quote a place in narrow gauge legend as the home of the Deutz company. Deutz were, at one time, a profuse builder of locomotives. They were never common in the UK (apparently warranty support was not very good between 1939 and 1945), but exist in large numbers throughout many European countries. The Bord Na Mona peat harvesting operations in the Republic of Ireland used Deutz locos in very large numbers, and many of them still exist over there. The Moseley Railway Trust is fortunate to have one third of the UK population of Deutz locos in the collection. Number 10050 worked in the glamorous surroundings of a sewage works in Dartford before being preserved. It's had some engine problems of late, but should hopefully be back in business before long. This has been achieved with the assistance of our friends at the Golden Valley Light Railway, Butterley. They have a Deutz of their own, number 10248 (the blue loco in the pictures). The third Deutz in the UK is number 19531, which is in the care of the Amerton Railway.
Deutz not only built locos, but also engines which other companies used in locomotives. Three locos at Apedale have Deutz engines - the Simplex 4oSD "Sludge", the tiny "G" class Simplex and also the Ransomes & Rapier loco. The R&R loco seems to have gained this engine at some point in its "interesting" past. So, all in all, there's a lot to thank the Germans of Koln for! As ever get in touch here. We're running steam tomorrow (10/7/11) and then the Simplex No.13 will be in use next Saturday. That assumes its recent electro-mechanical difficulties are finally cured. If only everything in life was as reliable as a Deutz.
