Massed arrivals

It's been a bit manic down the Valley today. Two of the stars of the Tracks to the Trenches event this weekend have joined us - the Baldwin from Leighton Buzzard and the Hesketh Bank Joffre. Apparently our local coal merchant heard that we now had two Joffre-class locos on site and was seen reaching for the holiday brochure.

The horse people have been with us, rehearsing for the horse haulage demonstration using our newly-manufactured swingletree.

Finally, we had a slightly unexpected visit by what seemed to be the entire loco fleet of a Scotrtish peatworks; one loco was unloaded and the rest disappeared as quickly as they arrived!

So, 36 hours to go the the big event opening - see you there?

Getting ready - and a new arrival

Work is full swing on preparing the site for next weekend and the Tracks to the Trenches 2016 megabash. In addition to the various vehicle projects which were reviewed last week, there have been various infrastructure projects coming to fruition. We have carried out a small platform extension, which will make the operation of trains using all four passenger coaches easier and safer. Coupled to this is the creation of a ramp exit from the station platform, which will aid circulation in this area.

The ever-expanding Field Railway has continued to expand with a southern extension to a new loop. The loop won't be finished - it will be two tracks and a single set of points - but it will operationally interesting and useful. There's been a bit of a debate as to the name of this new loop. Loopy McLoopface was popular for a while, but sense has prevailed and now it's officially Loos Loop - named for the 1915 battle.

Finally, we have a new arrival on site. This is a Baldwin tractor, of the type very popular with American and Canadian forces; the locos is currently standard gauge, having been regauged from 2'0" gauge at some stage in its life. When built, this loco and the Ffestiniog's Moelwyn would have been similar if not identical. A group of Trust members have imported this loco from a scrapyard in Switzerland. So, Tracks to the Trenches will offer a unique opportunity to see the UK's only two Baldwin tractors. The event will also be the only chance to see the Apedale Baldwin before restoration commences - which could be a long road ahead. As ever, get in touch here.

Whenever we have an event....

......we always seem to restore more wagons!

This year is no exception. The first photo shows the progress with the Class A wagon. The Class A, B and C wagons were the first standard types specifically produced for the British force. They were introduced from 1916, when the official orders finally came through to use tactical light railways. This restoration follows the important restoration in 2014 of the similar Class B wagon (LR5008 in the photo).

In recognition of the 100 year anniversary of the British Army formally adopting light railways in preference to other transport in forward areas, we are proud to be the only UK railway to be able to demonstrate an authentic 1916 train from that moment. Watch out for these Class A & B wagons being paired with a 1916 Simplex or our 1916 Hudswell Clarke steam locomotive during the event.

The third photo shows the rapid progress with the 1888 dated Pechot well wagon. The Pechot wagon was delivered to Apedale, and partially restored in advance of Tracks to the Trenches 2014. However, although usable, it still required further attention to the body and replacement of missing bits! Ad ever, get in touch  here, or visit the event website here.

Further locos at Tracks to the Trenches

Late exhibit entries entries are coming in now for Tracks to the Trenches. We are delighted to announce two real celebrity machines will be making a first-time visit to Apedale. They are the Ffestiniog Railway's 40HP Simplex (once known as Mary Ann) and Moelwyn - the UK's only surviving example of one of the Baldwin tractors which were very popular with American and Canadian forces during WW1. Being FR locos, their wheel standards are alsightly incompatible with the railway at Apedale - so they MAY be static display or very limited operation - testing will decide. 

There's still just a few days to buy advance tickets. The deal is pretty good - you get to skip the queue, and get the guidebook thrown in. The guidebook is £4, and is really nice - so you get £13 worth of ticket and book for £9, and quick entry. A bargain if ever there was one. We've also still got a few Access All Areas passes left. Closing date for advance ticket sales is 1st May, so stop messing around and go to here with your credit card in hand.

The Big Push

With only three weeks to go before Tracks to the Trenches 2016, activity at Apedale has taken on a frenzied pace. The usual mega-shunts have begun to try to clear running lines of wagons and begin to get vehicles where we need them. This has been made a bit easier this time by the departure of eight of the ex-South Africa bogies, all off to North Wales for use in various projects. Two of the eight are MRT property, and will eventually return to Apedale under the second ex-Ffestiniog Railway coach.
Various projects are rapidly coming to fruition; the replica King George Trench Tramway Inspection Car has been completed (but is a little camera shy). The large Pechot bogie wagon has been absorbing the entire UK stock of MIG welding wire - and there's still more to be done. Will it be completely finished in time? There's only one way to find out! As ever, get in touch here.

Friends Reunited

One of the advantages of our rather large locomotive collection at Apedale is that we can show and contrast how locos were used, modified and abused in industry. One such comparison is the two Lister-Blackstones in the collection, 52610 (the grey one) and 52885 (with the cab). Ostensibly similar locos, 52610 was (probably) built without the overall bodywork, and had an engine cover carefully bodged into place by the Scottish peatworks where it worked. 52885, on the other hand, was left in fairly original condition by its owners (a West Midlands clay pot maker). 52610 returned to Apedale this weekend after a prolonged holiday on the Sunny South Coast in the care of the Amberley Musuem Rail Group.

In other news at Apedale, the arrival of the locos back from Beamish prompted something of an accomodation crisis, and hence the new container was rail connected as a matter of some urgency. The first tranche of locos to live in their new home are seen in the final photo making their way across the site.

As ever, get in touch here

All around the UK

Another busy weekend for the Moseley Railway Trust has seen us operating railways over quite a significant geographical spread. At home at Apedale, it was a normal timetabled steam service. We also took advantage of the reasonable weather - in the morning at least - to complete the move of a new container into its final resting place. The arrival of the ex-FR coach 117 has put considerable pressure on storage space, hence the new container. Its designated home was, unfortunately, inaccessible to road transport and even less accessible to cranage. Hence, the movement was by rail and the positioning was by jacking and packing. As can be seen in one of the photos, we did borrow a passing Ruston just to give the box a quick shove at a key moment.

Meanwhile, the Hudswell steam loco, Motor Rail 1369 and two WDLR wagons were having a little holiday in the North East at the invitation of Paul, Matt and the rest of the Beamish team. This was part of their Great War Steam Fair. Four days have been spent gently shuffling wagons around their growing narrow gauge empire. This included serving the needs of POWs who had been put to work on a fearsome saw bench turning trees into planks - the railways then removed the planks for use elsewhere. As ever, get in touch here.