Happy Birthday

It's official. The Apedale Valley Light Railway is One today. We had our first day of passenger trains on August 21 last year - although we did sneak in a train the previous Saturday. So, the AVLR should be getting rid of its dummy, moving onto solid food, and seriously contemplating walking. Much has changed in what has been a very short year. Probably two of the main achievements have been the arrival of the Joffre steam loco, and the near completion of the station building. The photo shows where we were with the station last year. You can, of course, come along and see the progress we have made at the "Made in Staffordshire" September Gala - now just a couple of weeks away - September 10 & 11. All being well, the Joffre will be in operation and the station building will be open for business. There MAY still be time to get tickets in advance if you're quick - check here. Even if you can't get along the Gala, we running all three days over the bank holiday weekend, with steam on the Sunday & Monday. As ever, get in touch here.

The Joffre Arrives

The Moseley Railway Trust is delighted to announce the arrival of Kerr Stuart steam locomotive no.3014 of 1916 at the Apedale Valley Light Railway, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. This locomotive is known as a Joffre type; it arrived at Apedale on the morning of 13 August 2011.

The locomotive was built locally – the Kerr Stuart works were just a few miles away in Stoke-on-Trent. This loco was ordered by the French Commission for their artillery railways, and was delivered new to Nantes, France. After the war, it was sold from Verdun to a dealer, Brunner & Marchand of Borray, Seine & Oise. In October 1930, it was sold on to Societe Anonyme des Carrieres de la Valee Heureuse et du Haut Banc, Marquise Rinxent in the Pas de Calais area of northern France. This was a stone quarry, and had at least four other similar locos. By August 1956, the locos on this site were derelict. It was repatriated to the UK onboard the ferry Free Enterprise VII on 11/10/74.
It was moved to the abortive museum project at Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry, North Wales, and then on to the Gloddfa Ganol slate quarry museum complex, near Blaneau Ffestiniog. Here, it was mounted on a plinth by the museum operator's house, and became a familar site to passing motorists as they struggled up the lengendary Crimea Pass road out of Blaneau to the north. Following closure of the Gloddfa Ganol museum, the loco joined the MRT collection in 1998. It has been subjected to a long and thorough restoration over the last thirteen years.
The locomotive is owned by a small consortium of MRT members. Although a number of finishing-off jobs are still to be completed, the locomotive has been test-steamed and has moved under its own power.

The Joffre joins Stanhope (Kerr Stuart 2395) on site; together, these locally-built locomotives will form the centrepiece of the Made in Staffordshire gala to be held at Apedale on September 10 & 11. Further details are available here.

Phil Robinson, MRT Chairman, said "We are delighted to welcome a second Kerr Stuart locomotive to Apedale. We hope that many people will come to our event at Apedale in September to see the locomotive in steam in the UK for the first time in more than ninety years"

The Apedale Drought

What an exciting week we have had at Apedale. Our regular Wednesday working party discovered that the water supply was somewhat less than its usual self. This caused some considerable consternation, since we were heading towards the steam weekend. One thing steam locos need in some considerable quantity is water (if you don't know why, wikipedia is the place for you). As the week progressed, it became clear that no-one (especially the water people) quite understood how the water supply to the site worked, and consternation begain to turn to near-panic. Fortunately, our friends at the Heritage Centre managed to sort out a temporary piped supply, but the root cause of the problem remains under investigation. Meanwhile, we must record our gratitude to the local fire service who turned out to fill the tank on the steam loco "Stanhope". Other heroes of the hour include various locally-based members who turned out at all hours to let in plumbers and other water-related professionals. Thus far, fixing the problem has cost over £1000 and that bill is only going in one direction. You will have noticed the "donate here" buttons on the main wesbite - they are not there for decoration. They are there because every so often, we will have a crisis such as a Drought, which will eat into the reserves and make the Museum project even more challenging. I could say that every donation is a drop in the ocean, but perhaps not in the circumstances. You can see the temporary water supply in the photo. You may also notice something else creeping in, but more about that in a day or two. Contact us here.

Open Weekend Model Railways

The model railway line-up for the Moseley Railway Trust’s September Open Weekend has been confirmed as listed below. The Open Weekend is on September 10 & 11th, at the Trust’s site at Apedale, Newcastle-Under-Lyme. The event is open from 1100 to 1700 both days.

#1: Royal Gunpowder Mills - Scale 6mm/ft - Tony Barratt

For 200 years the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, Essex, manufactured gunpowder and in later years cordite. An extensive canal system was used for transport within the factory and sailing barges took finished products to Woolwich Arsenal. The Royal Gunpowder Mills museum has been open to the public from 2001 - for more information visit: www.royalgunpowdermills.com

This layout features an 18 inch gauge railway system which was first installed in 1917 and then extended in the inter-war period, using diesel and battery powered locomotives. On the model a few of the hundreds of explosive production and storage buildings have been re-arranged to form a linear diorama. All buildings, trains and boats are scratch built from original drawings, direct measurements and photographs.

#2: New Haden Colliery - Scale 4mm “EM” Gauge - Stafford Railway Circle

New Haden Colliery is a long-term project to faithfully reproduce, in model form, a part of your rapidly disappearing industrial heritage. The prototype for this layout was situated one mile South West from the North Staffordshire town of Cheadle. The mine complex was served by a purpose built branchline, which left the North Staffordshire Railway’s Stoke to Derby line at Creswell.

The model is built to ‘fine-scale’ standards and all the buildings are scratchbuilt, from photographic evidence and field surveys of the remaining site. Watch out for the automatic loading of the coal wagons beneath the main screens buildings in the centre of the yard.

#3: Dwarven Mining Railway - 1/50^th (9mm track gauge) - Jonathan Tansley

The dwarfs, a proud race of miners, are no longer as powerful as they once were, but in this small mining community the dwarfs are at their full force. This gorge contains a vast array of underground tunnels. In its centre the forge constantly pumps out armour for the marauding dwarf army, while the brewery keeps the army “fuelled”. The miners mine endless amounts of coal, tin, copper and the most valuable of metals, mythril. That is, when they’re not protecting themselves from the hordes of goblins and ogres in the area who also want these supplies. All locos are freelance, based on early prototypes, built to a 1:50 scale (well, near enough!). Figures are from the “Warhammer” range, suitably modified. Buildings are scratch-built, using foambord as a base.

#4: Fallgate - 4mm Scale, 9mm track gauge (009) - Stephen Little

Fallgate is an 009 layout representing Fallgate station and yard on the 60cm gauge Ashover Light Railway near Chesterfield and Matlock, sometime in the late 1930's. This layout was originally created by Brian Love in 1998 and it has been extensively exhibited throughout Southern and Eastern England. Since 2009 it has been based in Manchester and owned by Stephen Little and Matthew Barrett. They are now bringing Brian's excellent achievement to new audiences.

#5: The Wetlands Light Railway - 7mm scale – 16.5mm track gauge (O16.5) - Tony Pritchard

The Wetlands Light Railway (WLR) is set in the border country between North Wales and Cheshire/Shropshire during the 1950/60s. In this era narrow gauge railways were in decline, derelict or being restored to what have now become known as Heritage Railways. The WLR is still struggling along taking goods for the companies who still haven't changed to motor transport, along with the occasional passenger train, usually on market day - and sometimes combined with the cattle wagons.

#6: Birches Barn Extension Railway - Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers

The Birches Barn Extension Railway is a small 16mm scale, 32mm gauge layout representing 2’ narrow gauge trains. The emphasis is on the operation of small live steam hauled trains. Several models of Staffordshire built locomotives will be featured and the layout is operated by members of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers.

The Sistene Chapel

Builders are not easy people to deal with. Imagine Pope Julius II's reaction when he saw Michelangelo's bill. All the pontiff actually wanted was a nice artex ceiling finish on the place and a couple of wall lights. The Moseley Railway Trust's very own team of Michelangelos have been at work with a vengeance this weekend. The Silverdale station building project is now very close to conclusion, and our own Pontiff (or the Chairman, as he self-styles) determined that the walls should be painted. Fortunately, the ceiling has yet to be fitted, so at least that was one debate that wasn't needed. And so an army of willing-ish volunteers armed with rollers, brushes and a rather nifty paint spraying machine got to work and watched a large number of litres of large paint soak into the walls. Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't seen to ooze out the other side, but that can only be a matter of time. What will be the shop area now has white walls, all the better to display the produce in. The store room, on the other hand, was painted with some surplus paint, in a nifty combination of red and blue. But we think the final effect works really, really well. So, before long, you will be able to not only buy train rides, but also participate in a retail experience the likes of which Mary Porta can but dream of. Next weekend is a Steam Weekend, so you can look out at Stanhope through the newly painted window frames. You just can't beat that, now can you? Get in touch here with ideas for ceiling frescos.