Joffres

One of the lesser-known members of the Moseley Railway Trust fleet is No.5 in the steam fleet, Kerr Stuart 3014/16. This locomotive was one of the "Joffre" class, named after the famous French general of the First World War. The loco is an 060 well plus side tank, with two 8 1/2" x 11" cylinders. Kerr Stuart supplied seventy of these locos in three batches; the design was closely based on similar locos being built by the French builder Decauville. The similarity is understandable when one learns that the French government provided KS with all the drawings for the locos. No. 3014 was supplied new to Nantes in 1916, for use on French government artillery railways. It was purchased, from Verdun, by a dealer, and resold to a stone quarry SA des Carrieres de la Vallee Heureuse, along with at least four similar locos. Derelict by 1956, it was repatriated in 1974, along with four other Joffres, and became part of the now-defunct Gloddfa Ganol collection. It spend many of the following years on a plinth alongside the famous Crimea Pass road out of Blaneau Ffestiniog (see top photo). In 1998, the loco became part of the MRT fleet. As will be appreciated, 40plus years of dereliction has taken a severe toll, and it will be a long haul back to service for this loco. However, great strides are being made. 3014 is not yet at Apedale; its restoration is progressing off-site. It will be a great day when it returns to a site no more than five miles from where it was built and hauls a passenger train. We have been inspired recently by the return to steam of one of the other ex-Gloddfa Joffres, this one number 2451 at the Lynton & Barnstaple group's base at Woody Bay. Our friends at the West Lancashire Light railway own a Joffre (no. 2405) which was part of the 1974 import batch but escaped incarnation at Gloddfa. There is a website here which gives lots more Joffre-related information. We have been lent some slides, taken in 1963 by Mr D. Trevor Rowe showing two of the Joffres at the stone quarry - one of the shots is shown below.

As ever, get in touch with us here.

Bums on Seats

The issue of bums on seats, specifically fare-paying bums (with rest of valued customer attached) is one which pre-occupies any operator of a passenger railway. As the Moseley Railway Trust works towards the hoped-for opening of the Apedale passenger railway during 2009 (watch this space!), the issue of where our potential passengers are going to park their bums has been high in our minds.

The MRT already has one passenger coach. This (seen above) is basically a re-build of a vehicle used on the Penrhyn railway in North Wales to transport quarrymen to and from their work. This vehicle is currently being fitted with air brakes by our friends at Alan Keef Ltd. Anyone who has been to a Keef open day in recent years will have seen and travelled in this vehicle. However, this vehicle has a couple of drawbacks - it has limited seating capacity and it has no roof. It has, on the odd occasion, been known to rain in North Staffordshire.

We also have a much more "original" Penrhyn coach, but that is more of a museum exhibit, although we may explore how to sympathetically modify it for passenger carrying in the future.

Attention has therefore been given recently to a second vehicle, which a steel brakevan built by Hudson as recently as 1991; it was built in Ilkeston after Hudson closed their famous Gildersome work, and merged with the mining equipment company of Becorit. The vehicle was new to RAF Chilmark; it then spend a while at Eastriggs, near Carlisle, before joining the MRT collection. It is in need of some cosmetic work and a re-trim. The bogies have now been removed, as seen in the picture, for overhaul and adjustment of the wheelsets - Dave the Gauge is seen determining how much the wheelsets need adjusting to "fit" the railway correctly and safely. The vehicle also needs to be fitted with air braking equipment. It remains to be seen how it performs in traffic - being basically a steel box, it may be necessary to issue ear plugs to passengers!

The third element in the MRT's passenger fleet will be a replica of a Hudson Toastrack coach, similar to those still in use on the Ffestiniog Railway. Under construction currently, this vehicle will solve our passenger carrying issues for the foreseeable future.

As ever, please contact us here.

Mostly Montanias

The vast majority of the Moseley Railway Trust's fleet of locomotives are, naturally, UK-built. However, a small number were constructed overseas. This week, we'll take a look at an overseas works with a lot of history. Orenstein & Koppel were a very long established German engineering company, and they survived as an entity until very recently - visit a shopping centre and there's a fair chance that the escalators will say "O&K" on them. O&K built very large quantities of railway equipment in their various works in Germany. As far as the narrow gauge is concerned, prior to WW2, there were two key works. Steam locos, and a few of the larger diesels were built in the "Drewitz" works, in the Babelsburg suburb of Berlin. Chillingly, the business changed its name to MBA after 1935 - Orenstein, a Jewish name, was unacceptable to the Nazi regime. After the arrival of the Russians changed the political landescape somewhat, this works evolved into "Lokomotive Karl Marx" - so no mistaking the political allegiance there.

The smaller narrow gauge internal-combustion locos were built at a works in Nordhausen, in the Harz mountains, and were marked under the "Montania" brand - it being the Montania works. O&K took over this works in 1912, and ran the place until it closed in January 1942. During this period, 9371 locos were built. Perhaps slightly surprisingly, a good number were shipped to the UK; O&K had an agent, William Jones, who seems to have been very adept at selling things without getting into unfortunate discussions about where they came from and why can't we understand the funny writing in the instruction book. The MRT has three such Montania/William Jones locos in the collection - two petrol locos, types MM and M, and a diesel RL1B. The MM seems to have been built only for UK customers, and the loco in the collection is the only known survivor. Similarly, the RL1B again seems to have been specific to the UK market. There has always been some suspicion that the locos were shipped from Germany as kits, and final assembly was done by Jones. The top pictures show the MM (left) and the RL1B (right).

Nordhausen later gained notoriety as the centre of manufacture for the Nazi V1 and V2 rockets; even this factory used narrow gauge railways, and the remnants of a steam loco used in the works, and the associated forced labour camp, is preserved as a memorial (photo below). This loco is like the O&Ks in the MRT collection - it is an object through which future generations can understand the past; in some cases a pretty unpleasant past. Find out more here.

The MRT is hoping to take the MM O&K on a rather happier foreign outing next year - see here for details.

In the meantime, you are more than welcome to contact the MRT here.

Transfers from Armley Mills

The Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to announce that agreement has been reached with Leeds Museums & Galleries at Armley Mills for the transfer of a number of railway assets. Amongst these is the 1918-built "Tin Turtle" locomotive. This 2’0" gauge petrol loco was built by the Motor Rail & Tramcar Company as their number 1369. Delivered too late for the First World War, it is of the "Protected" type, which offered some limited protection against enemy fire. Rather than France, the loco worked at Knostrop sewage works, near Leeds before being preserved. The locomotive has been in the care of the Moseley Railway Trust for more than ten years, and was restored to working order as part of the "Salvage Squad" TV series in 2003.

The locomotive was formally handed over to the ownership of the Moseley Railway Trust during the MRT’s open day at its Apedale site on 9th November 2008. The locomotive formed the centrepiece of the event, which was held to mark the 90th anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War. Neil Dowlan, Curator of Industry for Leeds Museums & Galleries, handed over the locomotive to Ron Redman, President of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society. Ron was instrumental in preserving the locomotive, and accepted the locomotive on behalf of the MRT.

Neil presented Ron Redman with the starting handle for the locomotive, witnessed by His Worshipful the Mayor of Newcastle-Under-Lyme Councillor John Cooper and the Mayoress Mrs Angela Cooper. The top picture shows Richard Grey, Deputy Chairman MRT, holding the starting handle, along with Mrs Cooper, Cllr Cooper, Ron Redman (with a replica of the loco works plate) and Neil Dowlan. Neil Dowlan said "The MRT has impressed with its professionalism, its attention to detail, and its ethical care of the objects in its care. The condition of the locomotive is a testament to that".

Other locomotives which will be transferred to the MRT are a Hudswell Clarke diesel locomotive which worked at Calverton colliery, and two 18" gauge Greenbat battery locomotives which were used at mines in Derbyshire. A number of wagons will also be transferred. Phil Robinson, the MRT’s Chairman said that "these locos and wagons will help to round-out the MRT’s collection in certain under-represented areas. In particular, the equipment which is from mining industries is very appropriate to our base at Apedale, where we are developing a former coal mine into what will be the UK’s leading industrial narrow gauge railway museum".

The Moseley Railway Trust wishes to place on record its expression of thanks to Neil Dowlan and his team at Leeds Museums & Galleries for their help with this project. The Motor Rail locomotive is on site at the MRT’s base at Apedale, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The remaining transferred assets will be moved to Apedale over the next few months.

As ever, get in touch here.

Remembrance

Today has seen the Moseley Railway Trust open its doors on the Apedale site for the second time this year. This time, the event focused in the military railways items in the collection. By deliberate choice, the event was held on Remembrance Sunday, when the UK and Commonwealth nations remember those who have made supreme sacrifices in both the World Wars and a host of other conflicts. A service of two demonstration freight trains were run; one train was themed around the First World War and used the two "Tin Turtle" locomotives, Motor Rails 1320 & 1369. with restored WW1 rolling stock. The other train represented the Second World War, and used contemporary Motor Rail and Ruston locomotives hauling wagons which mainly originated at the huge RAF munitions depot at Fauld, Staffordshire.

We also took the opportunity to place on display many of the locomotives with a military pedigree, including the ex-Ghana Hudswell Clarke (the same type was extensively used by the Allied forces in WW1), and the War Office Locomotive Society's Hunslet 460 locomotive, which they repatriated from Australia - again, a very common type with Allied forces.A rather important little ceremony took place mid-afternoon - watch this space for more information. In the meantime, the photos will give a flavour of the day. As ever, contact us here.

Smoke Gets in my Eyes

The Moseley Railway Trust is gearing up towards its second and final public event of 2008, when we are open to the public on Sunday 9th November (full details here). The event is on Remembrance Sunday, which is of course 90 years since the end of the First World War. We have therefore been checking out the genuine WW1 items in the collection. One which has slumbered for longer than most is MR1320 of 1918. This loco was built as a 40HP petrol-powered "Tin Turtle" type loco (remembering that these locos came in the open, enclosed and protected variants). However, it was sold on into industry (as with so much WW1 railway equipment). The quarry fitters did not have complete respect for the historical artifact in their care. It was re-engined with a Dorman 4 cylinder diesel, which necessitated a fairly comprehensive rebuild to get the drivetrain to line up. It also acquired bodywork which can only be described as aesthetically challenged. Our first photo shows the loco at Inns & Co, Sawbridgeworth quarry, Hertfordshire, in September 1966 (photo courtesy Peter Excell). Fortunately, later generations did recognise its importance, and it was preserved, first at Brockham, then Amberley. After that, it had a while at a private site in Wales, then Cadeby. The loco was really a bit too large for the Cadeby line, and certain lineside trees had to be "sculpted" to allow it to pass! The loco moved to Apedale with most of the rest of the Cadeby fleet in 2006.

The loco hadn't been run for some years at Cadeby - size and mechanical issues made it an unpopular choice - but the MRT has risen to the challenge, and it now runs reasonably well. The photo below shows the loco being coaxed back into life with the gentle assistance of a 48DL Ruston. It's not perfect - it currently features a total-loss coolant system, and at least one of the engine cylinders sees its role more as an observer than active participant. It is also reasonable to assume that the emissions are some way short of Euro3 (hence the title of this week's post). But it goes, and, barring disaster, it will haul demonstration trains on 9/11/08. Come and see us or contact us here.

Apedale Update - It's all a matter of Opinion

It's been a little while since we've had a general update on Apedale progress, so here goes.

Tracklaying has resumed again; those who visited our September open days will have seen trains operating on what is known as the Red Shed Bypass line; the main passenger running line will run parallel to the Bypass line, then alongside the large Aurora North storage shed, and then beside the site access road until the Stage One terminus at Apedale Road is reached. Later stages will see the railway cross Apedale Road and head into the Country Park, but that's in the future.

Laying the passenger running line has been delayed by obtaining the necessary consents to divert a slightly inconvenient footpath. Whilst this churns through the corridors of power, we have commenced work on the railway alongside the access road. The need to preserve the current footpath means that the new section of railway is not connected by rail to the existing system, which makes construction rather challenging logistically. Thus far, two approaches have been tried - firstly to build the track into panels elsewhere on site, and then transport by crane to site and lay into position. This can be seen in this week's first photo. The alternative approach is to build the track in situ, bringing all the required parts to site using the dumper truck. It's fair to say the jury is out on the best method. The second photo shows the MRT "A" Team contemplating said dumper truck.

If you fancy coming along and telling us where we're going wrong, then we're on site every Saturday - contact us here. You can come along and just have a look around on November 9th, when we mark the 90 anniversary of the end of WW1 - more details here. And if you come on that day, offering opinions on the best way to build track is not mandatory.