Museum gets Go-ahead

The Moseley Railway Trust is delighted to announce that it has obtained full planning consent for the construction of a museum building on its site at Apedale, Staffordshire.
The museum will mark a further step towards realising the Trust’s mission statement of preserving, conserving and interpreting industrial narrow gauge railways. With a floor area of more than 430 square metres, the building will give ample space in which the Trust will be able to display its collection of narrow gauge locomotives, rolling stock and other artefacts.
This will, however, not be just another static museum. Included in the plan is a re-creation of a "real" industrial railway – with lightweight, weed-grown track and locos picking through the undergrowth with trains of skip wagons. By necessity, the passenger-carrying line at Apedale has been built to the very highest standards – consequently, it doesn’t show visitors what industrial railways looked like. The Apedale industrial railway aims to allow the museum exhibits to have outings into an environment typical of their working lives.
Phil Robinson, the Chairman of the Moseley Railway Trust, said "Since arriving on the Apedale site in 2006, we have made great strides. We are confident that the passenger-carrying railway will open in 2010 – this was phase one of our development plan. Phase Two is the museum, and achieving full planning consent achieves a key milestone. Now the real challenge begins – fundraising to realise the dream. We have started dialogue with the Heritage Lottery Fund, but we are also very keen to hear from anyone else who may wish to help. The museum will, when opened, play a major role in the continuing regeneration of Apedale, Chesterton village and the surrounding areas".
Watch the press for details of the opening of the passenger railway – known as the Apedale Valley Light Railway.

MRT Heritage Railway Museum Building V2 -

What's the point?

Well actually it's the large thing loaded onto the wagon seen in this week's photos. The more observant will have noted that, in last week's photos, one of the two points for the Apedale Road loop was more of a self-assembly kit than the finished product. Indeed, if IKEA ever start doing components for 2'0" gauge railways, then this is the sort of thing they would sell. Only with an included Allen key and instructions in Swedish. Unfortunately, we had neither Allen key nor instructions in Swedish, so we had to do our best. So, some of this weekend has been spent making the kit into one lump; we have also changed out all the bolts and generally fettled the component parts - the point will, in time, form part of the passenger running line, so we need to be 100% sure of the condition of all its parts. The subject of the photos has been heard to concede that he may be getting a "tad thin" on top. If you know of a miracle hair restorative, or just want to get in touch, we're here.

Apedale Site Update

As late Summer turns to Autumn, the devoted volunteers of the Moseley Railway Trust are making steady progress with completing Phase One of the Apedale Valley Light Railway. You will recall that this runs about 470 metres from a station at the Apedale Heritage Centre to Apedale Road. The Apedale Road terminus will have a run-round loop, and is located in an area colloquially known as Bermuda Triangle. A team are progressing steadily northwards with erecting fencing to protect the Innocent public from our vicious trains (or perhaps the other way around). The next step is the groundworks; as you can see in one of the photos, the need for land drains is obvious! Apedale Road, by the way, is marked by the electricity pole visible in the background.

Meanwhile, another team has been pre-fabricating the pointwork and track ready for installation once the groundworks are completed. The photo shows one of the rather splendid Alan Keef Ltd points (on the right) which will be installed at the "passenger" end of the loop, and another point which needs some rebuilding; this will go in at the north end of the loop. There's a lot to do, and all help, in any form, is greatly appreciated. Contact us here.

Hurrah for Hudswell!

One of the more prolific, and long-lasting, of the British private locomotive builders was Hudswell Clarke & Co Ltd. From their Railway Foundry works in Jack Lane, Leeds, they turned out 1,851 steam locos. Moreover, they recognised the trend towards dieselisation early one, and did pioneering work in this field - but the inevitable came and the works closed in 1972. A good proportion of the output were narrow gauge and the Moseley Railway Trust is fortunate to have representatives of both diesel and steam narrow gauge Hudswells in its collection. The diesel representative is loco D558 of 1938. This loco worked at Beswick's lime works near Buxton; it was built with a McClaren engine, but now has a Dorman 4LB fitted. It has been recently returned to active service, albeit in need of a cosmetic make-over. The photo shows it hauling the MRT's restored WW1 tank wagon during the September 2009 open weekend. D558 is of considerable historic interest, as it was the first Hudswell diesel for the UK market. Hudswell didn't build many small diesels of the type which predominate in the MRT collection - after WW2, it focused on locos for the coal mining industry, and output included some monsters, such as a 300hp triple-unit.

The MRT's steam Hudswell is 1238 of 1916 (photo courtesy Leighton Buzzard Light Railway). This was exported to Ghana, from where the MRT repatriated it in 2008. This loco is currently on loan to the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, where it is seen smartly turned-out by LBLR staff. We hope to be able to release some exciting news about this loco's future in the next few months - watch this space for information. Suffice to say that if you haven't seen this loco, a trip to Leighton Buzzard may be a good idea! As ever, contact us here.

Open day Retrospective

Well, that was Open Weekend 2009. The visiting engines have all returned home, the site has returned to its normal self, and the organising team's blood pressure has dropped from the previous dangerous levels. We were certainly blessed by the weather, and it was could to see so many faces on the site - many friends, old and new. This will be the last open weekend in this format, because the next time we open the site up, the Apedale Valley Light Railway will be in its full passenger carrying glory. A highlight for me was the Sunday transhipment demonstrations using the Sentinel steam lorry - learning from Saturday, we timed this to get the sun in the right place for photos! So, enjoy my favourite photos from the event. This weekend, it's back to reality at Apedale, as the Moseley Railway Trust's volunteer team resume the task of railway building. If you fancy joining in, get in touch. If you came along to the open weekend, and have comments, positive or negative, let us know. Contact us here.

Open Weekend - halfway through

We've got halfway through the Open Weekend at Apedale, and thus far it's going very well. The weather has been very kind to us, and we've seen lots of visitors, all of whom seem to have enjoyed themselves and gone home happy. Setting up the roadside photoshoots was a little tricky because the sun was in the wrong place - we haven't seen the sun at Apedale for some time, and we had forgotten where it appeared in the sky. But we got there, and everyone seemed to get the photographs they wanted. So, there's still another day of this to look forward to, so hopefully we will be inundated with visitors and their money tomorrow. See you there? Details are here.

Open days - Do YOU have this booked?

Just a quick update - The Moseley Railway Trust's Open Days are getting close. The line up of visiting locos is now confirmed as the Orenstein & Koppel steam loco "Max" from Statfold, "Red Dwarf" which is a battery electric from the Shropshire Mines Trust, and finally the rather splendid Baguley "King Arthur" which will be having its first ever awayday from its home at Wicksteed park. There is also a possible last minute extra visitor - only time will tell on that one.

Then there's also the minor matter of the home fleet of 50+ locomotives. And you can even see Project genesix - provided your retina scan is accepted. We'll be running effectively two separate railways - the main line and the sidings - so there will be loads of opportunities for parallel running, double departures, all that type of stuff. We've got a 16mm live steam layout, a ride-on miniature railway, trade stands and model railways. All this for £4 admission. What an absolute billy bargain.

The Open Days are Saturday and Sunday 12 & 13 September, from 1100 to 1700. More details are here. What are you waiting for - form an orderly queue. Contact us here with any enquiries/comments/offers of money.