Well, today has been a bit of a first for the Moseley Railway Trust - the first time when major snow clearance was a feature of AGM day!! A quick check back to photos taken at the 2012 AGM (March 24) shows people in shirtsleeves basking on a nice Spring day. Believe me, not much basking going on today, and anyone in shirtsleeves needed their head examining. The AGM passed off peacefully and the UN were not called on to separate warring factions. Rumours that the Treasurer had been head-hunted to become CEO of the Bank of Cyprus turned out to be untrue (although he does have a Russian phrase book). Afterwards, a few VERY hardy individuals had a play with some of the more exotic and lesser-seen members of the loco fleet, including Motor Rail 1320 and the Hudswell Clarke. 1320 is known to its (few) friends as The Block of Flats; this is presumably in reference to rather nasty 60s blocks with "problem" tenants. On a perishing cold day, only about 2 1/2 of the 4 cylinders in the engine showed any real interest in participating; the rest of the engine slept through the whole thing and asked to be woken again only when the sun was shining, thank you very much. The big Hudswell was being run as part of the evaluation for its forthcoming restoration and overhaul. It's a historic beast, and will be used as a test-case for the museum curatorial processes which are being developed for the Trust. It was also so the person who will lead the project could get re-acquainted with the loco, and its rather less than endearing habit of trying to select two gears at once, which can lead to some loss of happiness. Next week, Mother Nature permitting, we open for Easter, so come on down and see us. Get in touch here.
