2017 season starts HERE

This Saturday is the first day of the 2017 operating season - the first train is at 1130, and then every half hour until 4pm. It's looking to be a great year; we're celebrating the centenary of our favourite steam loco - "Stanhope" - at the May Gala, and we have the first-ever Diesel Gala in October. We're running every Saturday now until October, plus Bank Holiday Mondays and some Sundays. Visit here for the full timetable. Fares are unchanged at just £2.50 adults, £1.50 kids - what's not to like? Come on down and enjoy a train ride down the Valley.

Two Wrens for the Gala

The Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to confirm two more visiting locomotives for the 2017 railway gala at the Apedale Valley Light Railway.

Continuing the theme of the event – which is the Kerr, Stuart locomotive company of Stoke-on-Trent - is Kerr, Stuart 3128. This is one of the iconic “Wren” class locomotives. This locomotive has had a particularly interesting career, including crossing the Atlantic four times! It was built in 1918 for a factory at Avonmouth which supplied Mustard Gas to the British forces fighting in the First World War; after the end of hostilities, the factory became the National Smelting Company producing zinc products. In 1959, the loco was exported for preservation to Canada. The loco was returned to the UK in 2013 and was restored at the Statfold Barn Railway to full operating condition. It was returned to its owner in Canada; tragically, problems in Canada prevented its operation, and it returned to Statfold in 2016.

The visit to Apedale will be the first time that this locomotive has operated away from its Statfold base; the Trust wishes to thank Graham Lee, Henry Noon and the Statfold team for allowing the locomotive to attend the event.

The second locomotive is also a Wren – but a much more recent incarnation. The modern successor to the old Kerr, Stuart company is the Hunslet Engine Company, based at Statfold Barn Their number 3905 of 2005 is named “Jennie” and is now based at the Amerton Railway, near Stafford. Owned by the Gully family, the locomotive has previously visited a number of UK narrow gauge railways, but will be a first-time visitor to Apedale. The Trust is grateful to the Gully family for facilitating the loan of this fascinating locomotive.

Phil Robinson, Moseley Railway Trust Chairman said “Having two Wren class locomotives on site at Apedale will be really exciting. This is the design of locomotive which most people associate with Kerr, Stuart. We think that having five Kerr, Stuart designed locomotives in operation is a record in preservation. It will be fascinating to compare two locos which are very similar in design, yet are 87 years apart in age. This must surely be another record – the longest production run of a product design!”

The “Stanhope Steam Gala” will be held on May 13 and 14. Admission will be £6 adults, £3 children.

More details of the Trust and the Apedale valley Light Railway can be found on Facebook or on the website here.

FR117 has an outing

It's been a Big Weekend for the FR117 coach project. The bogies were fitted last weekend and the air connected up. The new electrical system has been tidied up to the extent that the coach could move; this involved the usual wrestling match with flexible conduits which seemed to take their inspiration from irate boa constrictors. With that done, it was time to summon an air-brake fitted diesel loco and Give It a Go. It's fair to say that this was a bit of a nervy moment; however much measuring takes place, it's always good to see things work in reality. The first step was to make sure that it would fit through the shed door - remember, it has changed a LOT since it was put in the shed. Then, careful checks were made as the coach traversed the sharper points in the yard, and onto the station. Measurements of stepping distances were made, and this needed a run down the mainline to Apedale Road platform. This also allowed a test of the new passenger emergency valve, which was found to be very effective. All seemed to go quite well, so the coach has now been returned to the shed. The electrical work is well advanced. Key stages now are the repaint and cleaning/refitting all the interior. However, we're pretty confident that FR117 will now carry passengers at Apedale during the forthcoming operating season.

An anniversary

So, everyone, 17th March - what's special about that? Apparently it some sort of Saints Day, popular in Bord Na Mona land. But the real significance of 17th March 2017 is that it is 10 years to the day since the first piece of track of the Apedale Valley Light Railway was laid. Looking back at the photos, it is remarkable how the site has changed in the intervening years. I could make a comment about changes to the people, but best not. What is encouraging is that, of the people in the photos, all are still Trust members and almost all are still regular volunteers at Apedale. You know who you are, chaps!

Apedale Update

One should never start by apologising - but sorry for the slight hiatus in publishing updates; this was due to the regular key tapper taking a trip to Germany to carry out research for the Trust's magazine - Moseley Matters. Available to members four times a year (visit www.mrt.org.uk to become a member). To prove it, one of the photos is NOT taken at Apedale - can you spot it? Anyway, back to home happenings. As we come to the end of the winter maintenance period, many projects are coming to fruition. The steam locos have all been undergoing the annual examinations, and Mr Boiler seems happy. "Stanhope" is in the last year of the current boiler ticket, so best to see it in action this year if you have the chance.

We are building a new concrete loading pad, which is intended to make the movement of rail vehicles on/off the site by lorry easier and safer - sterling work has been done on this, esepcially by some of our younger members, and it is now nearly ready for the concrete pour.

The new coach, ex the Ffestiniog Railway, has run into a couple of engineering issues which have delayed completion - but we are through those now. The second bogie has been fitted back under the coach. This was rather more complicated than it sounds, because the coach stands on a dead-end road, and it's not possible to run the second bogie all the way under the vehicle. Hence the bogie had to be run down a parallel track, and then traversed across the the track on which the coach stands - what could be simpler?

Diana at May Gala

The Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to confirm arrangements for the 2017 railway gala at the Apedale Valley Light Railway. This year’s gala, to be held on May 13 and 14, will mark the centenary of the Kerr, Stuart locomotive “Stanhope”. Kerr, Stuart were a Stoke-on-Trent based locomotive manufacturer – so “Stanhope” is now preserved less than five miles from where it was built. However, the intervening century saw it work in England, Scotland and Wales!

The gala will be themed around Kerr, Stuart products, and the visiting locomotive line-up will reflect this. The Trust looks forward to welcoming Phil Mason and his locomotive “Diana” to the railway. “Diana” will also mark its centenary in 2017, and is the only “Sirdar” class Kerr, Stuart loco in Europe; there is one other preserved in Namibia. “Diana” was used on the long-closed Kerry Tramway in Wales, and now operates on the Bala Lake Railway. The locomotive steamed again in 2015, 65 years after being taken out of traffic.

Further visiting locomotives are under negotiation and will be announced in due course; suffice to say that the Trust is aiming to have the largest-ever gathering of Kerr, Stuart locomotives in preservation at Apedale in May! There will be the usual supporting cast of model railways and trade stands, plus military re-enactors in the recreated World War One trench system.

The Trust will also be launching a new book telling the story of “Stanhope” and its’ astonishing survival - the loco owes its survival to an argument between two well-known personalities from the early years of narrow gauge preservation!

Phil Robison, Moseley Railway Trust Chairman said “We are all looking forward to bringing Diana home to Stoke-on-Trent; the Stanhope Steam Gala looks like being another really good weekend at Apedale. The MRT has developed a reputation for top-notch railway galas, and we are expecting this to be no exception!”

The “Stanhope Steam Gala” will be held on May 13 and 14. Admission will be £6 adults, £3 children.

Training on the Trains

We have had a Training and Assessment day at Apedale. This has focussed on re-assessing a group of mainline passenger drivers and Guards. We are required by law to have a training and assessment regime which is every bit as rigorous as a mainline operator. The days of "if the face fits, you can be a Guard" are long gone. Whilst this regime can be quite onerous, it does mean that both our volunteers and the management team know exactly who is authorised to do what job, and everyone is trained and assessed against a common set of standards - no favouritism and none of "clique problem" which afflicts some organisations. It also means that any of the volunteers can become part of the training process - but acheiving the necessary standard takes some time and commitment. A spin-off benefit is that we have documentation demonstrating the competence of our people, which is useful when Apedale locos visit other railways - we can demonstrate the competence of the crews which may accompany the loco. We are always looking for new volunteers, please get in touch here.