Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived

Another busy day at the Apedale Valley Light Railway has seen a number of projects progressed. A broken rail had been noted some time ago on one of the lesser-used extremities of the Field Railway - at the the point known as Loos Loop. Repairing it had become a priority as we have a visit from the Branch Line Society next weekend, and they are keen to visit all the extremities (Debacle Railtours proudly present the Apedale Explorer II). So, with judicous use of the welder and a much improved set of fishplates and new bolts to carry the load, the rail was duly repaired. Meanwhile, Ruston No.29 has been having some attention to its hand start equipment. Unusually for a Ruston, this one is electric start, hence the hand gear had fallen into disuse. However, with 74 locos on site, there are never enough batteries to go round, so it's useful to be able to hand start the loco. Not sure why quite so many people found this so fascinating, but that's life. Some of the younger members have been overhauling the wagons we inherited from National Grid at Woodhead. The plan is that these will be used as sleeper carriers when we start extending the railway. We are quite taken by the half-timbered Tudor House look of the new paintwork, doubtless inspired by our neighbours at Little Moreton Hall; in view of the Tudor vibe, it has been decided that the wagons will be named after Henry VIII's wives. So, meet Catherine of Aragon. I'm sure it's just the memorial she would have wanted. Get in touch here (unless you are Tudor monarchy).

All dressed up and somewhere to go.....

All dressed up and somewhere to go - Stanhope polished to within an inch of its life and with Penrhyn couplers fitted, ready to head back to Penrhyn for next weekend's jolly. Hopefully it will emerge from Penrhyn afterwards in a slightly better state than when it left previously. Behind Stanhope is the Hayfield coach, which is off to Alan Keef Ltd's Open Day on the 17th, where it will once again be used as the passenger coach on their demonstration line.
Meanwhile, the Hudswell is home from Leighton Buzzard and licking its wounds slightly; all things considered, it performed admirably on what is almost certainly England's most demanding narrow gauge railway. Please read that last sentence carefully before complaining.

Michelangelo comes out of retirement

It's been a busy few weeks at Apedale with a variety of projects being progressed. One project which very rarely sees much limelight is the continuing programme of repairs and reurbishment on the buildings which we occupy. Some of these are seriously old, probably dating back to the Apedale Ironworks, and one suspects that's about the last time that they had any real TLC. The main workshop block has had a new roof in the last year, but it could still be somewhat cold in the winter. It's tempting to say that we should just out a thicker woolly on - but we need people to be comfortable if they are going to support us by volunteering. Also, it's difficult to produce decent finished work in a poor environment. So, a new ceiling is being installed. This will be painted and insulated. The project leader was seen to be looking at pictures of the Sistine Chapel with some interest.
Elsewhere, a couple of wagon projects have been progressing nicely. An explosives wagon is just about finished - the lads pushing it around did check it was empty first, and a wooden Trench Tramway wagon is also nearing completion. This arrived as a kit of parts, and was immediately compared to an IKEA bookcase, leading to some speculation as to what daft name IKEA would have given it were they to move into selling railway rolling stock.
Next weekend it's steam both days with the Joffre having an outing. The Hudswell is enjoying a stay at Leighton Buzzard, and the Stanhope has been prepared for a trip to the Penrhyn Railway, complete with Penrhyn couplers - so it cannot couple to the passenger train at Apedale at the moment.

Classic Cars

Just a reminder that this coming Bank Holiday weekend will see steam trains at Apedale on all three days from 1130 to 4pm. And the weather forecast, by August bank holiday standards, isn't too bad. As if that wasn't good enough, Sunday sees the Classic Cars and Steam Trains Day. Break out the chrome polish and the fluffy dice cleaning kit as the site fills up with cars of yesteryear. And we've even got a real ale bar courtesy of our friends at the Titanic Brewery. What's not to like?

Olympic Games

It's been a training day at Apedale. Three of our brightest and best members have been coming to terms with the most common loco types in the collection - a Small Motor Rail, a Small Ruston and a Battery Electric. All have their own unique challenges (the locos, not the trainees) but the team did well. It's a bit like the Olympic Games; we have 100 yard sprint, the Hill Climb and the Weightlifting. In this case, the Weight was the rather massive (carved from a block of cast steel) 48DL Ruston - used to give the trainees experience of actually hauling a worthwhile load. We also held the "Who Will Be the First to Stall the Engine" contest. Discretion prevents us from disclosing the winner. Sadly, one of the contestants was disqualified after failing a test for banned substances. It was either the Blue Smarties on his Cornetto or the oatcakes. Also worthy of record - and taking place on a previous weekend - was the visit of the Hayfield Coach to hitherto unexplored (by passenger stock) parts of the Apedale railway system. This has been done as part of testing prior to a visit planned by the Branch Line Society later this year. All will be revealed in due course. As ever, get in touch here.

Andrew Barclay

By way of a change, this time we'll take a look at one of the recent additions to the fleet at Apedale. The Kilmarnock company of Andrew Barclay is well-known for building chunky industrial steam locos of various sizes (as seen in the second photo); at one time, no self-respecting Scottish colliery/distillery/quarry would have been complete with at least one Barclay tank engine shuffling a few wagons about. Barclays built relatively small numbers of narrow gauge locos, and even fewer narrow gauge diesels. However, by the early 1970s, they couldn't afford to be too fussy about what they built. This led to a batch of seven fairly unsophisticated 2'6" gauge diesels - works numbers 554 to 557 and 560 to 562 - being built for the ICI Nobel's Explosives works at Ardeer, Scotland. The locos existed outside of the public gaze - not surprisingly -until around 1994 when two of them were sold. These two, numbers 556 and 560, went to a peat extraction company. This company - which changed its name regularly - operated peat mosses at various sites in the south of the Scottish Central Belt. It says a lot for the basic robustness of Barclay's design that the locos survived the onslaught of peat works life - in the case of number 556, basically unchanged from when it rolled out from Kilmarnock. Peat extraction is not entirely environmentally friendly - although opinions vary on that matter - and has largely ceased in the UK. Consequently, the railway equipment cam up for disposal in 2015. After some discussions, a Trust member bought loco 556; he was keen on this because there isn't a Barclay in the collection, and also because he used to work for ICI (one suspects the loco will end up restored into ICI livery). The loco is still 2'6" gauge, but is a runner; the gauge problem means it is limited to about 10 feet of track presently, but doubtless the loco will be regauged in time.
Of the other locos in the batch - 554 and 555 ended up on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, 557 at the Almond Valley Railway near Edinburgh and 561 at the ARPG at Dalmellington. 562 seems to have succumbed - but six out of seven survivors isn't bad?

Forthcoming attractions

Following the success of May’s Tracks to the Trenches World War One themed event, the Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to confirm the events line-up for the remainder of 2016.

Aimed firmly at families with younger children, August 13 and 14 sees the Teddy Bear’s Outing weekend. We’ll be running steam train on both days – and children who bring a cuddly friend will get to travel free! There will also be a Bear Spotting Quiz, with small prizes for children who manage to spot all the bears on their journey to Apedale Road and back.

We are running steam trains again on all three days of the August bank holiday weekend. Sunday 28^th is Classic Cars and Steam Trains day when the site will fill up with the dream rides of yesteryear. Young and old will enjoy the gleaming chrome and lovingly polished coachwork, whilst the sights and sounds of our steam locos will add noise and smells! We are also pleased to announce that this event will be supported with a real ale bar from Titanic Brewery (with soft drinks for the drivers!).

Our autumn enthusiasts event is the Steam Centenary Weekend, on October 8 and 9. This event will mark the 100^th birthday of two of our steam locomotives – the Hudswell Clarke and the Kerr, Stuart Joffre loco. Apart from sharing the same year of construction, their subsequent careers had little in common; the Hudswell worked in Ghana before coming to a nasty end in a river during a rainstorm. Halfway across the world, the Joffre worked rather closer to home in a quarry in Northern France. The birthday boys will be supported by our other steam loco Stanhope, a mere stripling at just 99 years old. The fleet of internal combustion locos will be out performing, and it will be possible to visit our storage sheds.

Finally, October 29 and 30 sees the Halloween Spooky Specials, with things that go Bump in the night…..

For all of the events, entry will be by purchasing a train ticket – great value at just £2.50 adults, £1.50 children. Trains run from 1130 to 4pm – later into the night at Halloween.

Santa will, of course, visit the railway again in December – watch for more details.

Looking further ahead, May 13 & 14 2017 will see the Apedale Valley Light Railway’s annual steam gala; 2017 will see the centenary of Stoke-built steam loco Stanhope, the flagship of the AVLR fleet. The event will mark this anniversary, and will be focussed around a major exhibition of model railways. It is hoped that a model railway-led event will become a fixture in the Apedale calendar in years to come.

As ever, the team at Apedale would be pleased to hear from potential exhibitors at any of these events – get in touch.