Putting all the fun and glamour of the Stoke Steam Special behind us, it's back to reality for the good people of the Moseley Railway Trust down t'Valley. It's been a week of intense lorry traffic to and from the site, with various vehicles coming and going, but also rather a large consignment of rail doing a lot of "coming". It has been acquired from a gold mine in Scotland. Apparently, the driver of one of the lorries had never been this far south, and his boss explained that Stoke on Trent is just a "little further on" from Cumbria. Which would explain why the driver rang from Carlisle with that "put the kettle on, we'll be there in ten minutes" tone of voice. Despite geographic reality, and being Scottish, the delivery was executed swiftly and professionally. However, gravity was the main driving force of the unloading, leaving the European Rail Mountain for the MRT to sort out. Saturday was spent sorting, de-scaling and stacking more than 10 tonnes of rail - and that's only just over halfway. There was a number of members who went home and slept well that night. Being from a gold mine, there was some excitement about what was being knocked off the rails. That excitement was tempered by the words Iron Pyrites, and the revelation of how much gold had actually ever been extracted from this mine in question - precisely nil. Not a sausage. Zippo. Still, hope springs eternal, eh?
Meanwhile, at the other end of the railway, work was continuing on the new Apedale Road Hauptbahnhof. Having seen our previous efforts at bricklaying, we got Proper Workmen in to do the job, and consequently the tea room sugar bowl is significantly denuded. But they've done a nice job. The light coloured heaps in the foreground of the photo is the spoil which has been knocked off the Scottish rails. So, whilst there may be gold in them thar hills, there may also be gold in this 'ere platform. As ever, get in touch
here.
Putting all the fun and glamour of the Stoke Steam Special behind us, it's back to reality for the good people of the Moseley Railway Trust down t'Valley. It's been a week of intense lorry traffic to and from the site, with various vehicles coming and going, but also rather a large consignment of rail doing a lot of "coming". It has been acquired from a gold mine in Scotland. Apparently, the driver of one of the lorries had never been this far south, and his boss explained that Stoke on Trent is just a "little further on" from Cumbria. Which would explain why the driver rang from Carlisle with that "put the kettle on, we'll be there in ten minutes" tone of voice. Despite geographic reality, and being Scottish, the delivery was executed swiftly and professionally. However, gravity was the main driving force of the unloading, leaving the European Rail Mountain for the MRT to sort out. Saturday was spent sorting, de-scaling and stacking more than 10 tonnes of rail - and that's only just over halfway. There was a number of members who went home and slept well that night. Being from a gold mine, there was some excitement about what was being knocked off the rails. That excitement was tempered by the words Iron Pyrites, and the revelation of how much gold had actually ever been extracted from this mine in question - precisely nil. Not a sausage. Zippo. Still, hope springs eternal, eh?
