useum; 153314 in Chappel & Wakes Colne P1, 56223 in P2. (Peter Scott., 29 Oct 2006.)
BELOW: (Item MR182) Chappel Miniature Railway; 'Frederick' r
runs back from sheds to the station. (Peter Scott, 10 Oct 2021.)
BELOW: (Item MR185) Sandiway Miniature Railway; 'Lilla
a' arrives back at the station. (Peter Scott, 27 Aug 2023.)
BELOW: (MR 183) Mountsorrel Railway; at Mountsorrel towards the junction
n, 50321 shows the destination as Hawick - if only! (Gary Pullan, 24 Aug 2023.)
BELOW: In the opposite direction, through the cab of 50321, looking to the end of the branch.
MR183] Mountsorrel Railway, Leicestershire (MR p7): One of our more senior members made the journey from his home in Sussex to Loughborough (Midland) station on Thursday 17 August for the through service operated by the Great Central Railway (GCR) over the Mountsorrel Railway - thanks to the note in BLN 1429.1841. The 10.15 branch service was formed of 2-car DMU M50321/ E51427 which, unlike other rolling stock on the GCR, was fitted with bars on the drop light windows due to a very tight overbridge clearance between Nunckley Hill and Mountsorrel station. The branch was not built for passengers originally, only quarry traffic. Our ex-BR staff member asked about a 'Priv' fare for the return journey, as the GCR usually offers such concessions, but was told that the 'Priv' GCR Day Rover at £14 would be the cheapest as on that day no extra charge would be made for the branch trains. He was also told that children on that day could have unlimited travel for just £1; indeed, such passengers were plentiful! At Nunckley Hill all passengers were asked to pay £2 adult, £1 child as they passed through the exit gate to enter the Heritage Centre for which a sticker was provided as proof of payment. There was no discount for travel there by train (although there has been on previous occasions). Other branch trains departed from Loughborough Central at 12.10 and 14.15. Another member visited on 24 August, the penultimate day of operation this season of the ThO three DMU workings from Loughborough Central. The 2-car Metro Cammell unit was used, reversing at Swithland. On return from Mountsorrel the train ran to Rothley, passing southbound through the station without stopping, reversing on the single running line, then calling at the station northbound. Note that TRACKmaps 4 p27C 2022 shows mileages (from Manchester London Road - now Piccadilly - via Penistone) increasing towards Leicester North in accord with original GCR practice and signage but notices at Loughborough described trains to Leicester as Up trains, also in accord with original GCR practice on its London Extension to Marylebone. Unlike the 25 February workings, no manual securing of points was required. No additional fare beyond the GCR £22 'non-Priv' all day ticket was required. The sand drag at Mountsorrel is under the minor road overbridge and the buffer stop just beyond. The platform is clear of the overbridge on the Nunckley Hill side by about 20m. Mountsorrel and Nunckley Hill have substantially built platforms with brick or stone front walls, slab nosings and wood rear fences. Nunckley Hill platform is curved. The first working, 10.15 ex-Loughborough was poorly loaded. http://www.minorrailways.co.uk/trackplans/greatcentral.pdf is the 19 August 2023 track plan. The Nunckley Hill area and narrow gauge: http://www.minorrailways.co.uk/trackplans/quarrybottom.pdf MR178] Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, Lincolnshire (MR p20) (BLN 1422.MR63): When visitor Rob Nicholls arrived at the 2ft gauge railway, he let it be known that the line was N o 27 on his 'must visit' list for his challenge to raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Research Charity. Rob is aiming to visit each of the 41 narrow gauge railways in the British Isles which operate steam trains and have a track gauge of 60cm (1' 11⅝") or more, awarding himself 'points' for each visit, using them to encourage people to convert his progress to donations to the charity via https://bit.ly/3sPtpUP his Just Giving page. Rob lives at Tamworth (ironically, very close to the largest collection of narrow gauge locomotives at the Statfold Barn Railway) and is supported by his wife Wendy on his challenge. At Skegness he was invited on to the footplate of 'Jurassic', built in 1903 in Bristol by Peckett & Sons Ltd for Kaye and Company's quarries in Warwickshire. Acquired by the railway in 1961, she was restored to running order in 2017. He had travelled to the railway after visiting the Isle of Man Vintage Transport Festival. MR179] Ruislip Lido Railway, Greater London (MR p17) (BLN 1386.MR187): The railway has received a £75k grant from HS2's Community & Environment Fund to convert one of their diesel locomotives to low carbon battery power. Forming part of a fleet of six locos that operate on the railway, 4w-4wD 'Graham Alexander' (Severn Lamb 1990) is currently fitted with a 4.5 litre Perkins Engine weighing three tonnes in total. It will be converted as part of a wider drive to reduce local noise pollution and remove CO₂ costs associated with running the 12" gauge railway. Matthew Thomas, a member of Ruislip Lido Railway Society, said: Graham Alexander is expected to re-enter operation later this year, hauling visitors around our unique Railway. A local organisation recommended that we looked into a HS2 grant, we were pleasantly surprised with how simple and user friendly the application process was and would certainly encourage other organisations to take full advantage of this great scheme.
MR180] North Weald & District Miniature Railway, Essex (MR p16) (BLN 1426.MR103): Another visit was made here by a member on Sunday 13 August for the latest tickets to add to his collection and to ride on the extension to Woodland Halt. The £2 per person fare provided a green Standard Return card ticket and there was a blue Family Return at £8 for four people, so no cash advantage for four £2 fares. The only other ticket on sale was a £20 for 12 rides in a year on a larger yellow card, which was not purchased by our member. The 'title' on all three tickets was 'NWDMR' and can be used for a journey starting from Hastingwood Central or Woodland Halt and are usually clipped accordingly. http://www.minorrailways.co.uk/trackplans/northweald.pdf is the new track plan of 14 May 2023. Opened 28 August 2022, the Woodland Halt branch ends with an island platform, three tracks and a turntable, so that run round movement can be made should trains be at both sides of the platform. It was stated that while just the two locos mentioned in BLN 1426 are the ones in normal two-train use, on Gala Days more locos can be brought into service, thus providing turnover locos to avoid using the triangular junctions to make the ECS propelling movements to turn the trains. It appears that no passenger carrying propelling moves are now permitted. The 4w petrol loco carries the name 'Frances' with a small headboard 'Frances Jenkins 1941-2020'; this late gentleman was the founder of this 7¼" gauge line at the garden centre. A leaflet available at the ticket office gives a graphic plan of the 400yd track layout with three trains operating round the circuit and another one on the branch! MR184] CairnGorm Mountain Railway, Highland Region (Supp 1) (BLN 1416.MR17) (TRACKmaps 1 p20F 2021): Highland & Islands Enterprise (HIE) has received £11M in an out-of-court settlement relating to construction defects. The cases will not now proceed to a court proof hearing, which had been scheduled to begin in August. HIE, which owns Cairngorm Estate and commissioned the railway, had been pursuing legal action in the Court of Session against construction company Galliford Try Infrastructure and designer A F Cruden Associates for work undertaken in the 1990s and early 2000s. HIE was also seeking payment relating to guarantees issued by Natural Assets Investments, which was the parent company of previous operator Cairngorm Mountain, and from Natural Assets' main shareholder. Built at a cost of £19.5M, Scotland's only funicular railway opened on Christmas Eve 2001. Construction was publicly funded through HIE, with support from the European Regional Development Fund. On 27 September 2018 the service was withdrawn by the then operator, Cairngorm Mountain, after an inspection raised safety concerns. In December 2018, Highland & Islands Enterprise took over operations through a new subsidiary, Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland), which continues to manage the resort. After two years of work to strengthen the 1.7km viaduct, the railway reopened on 26 January 2023, following four years of inspection, design and engineering works, at a cost of around £25M. More recently it did not run on Tuesdays due to 'finishing off works'. The funicular 'temporarily' closed again on public safety grounds from Friday 25 August until further notice, for 'snagging work' - specifically tensioning of the 'scarf joint assemblies' that link the beams at the top of the piers which did not meet the required tension. 1432 FIXTURE REPORT (Paul Stewart) [email protected] 2181] Immingham Area Signal Box Visits Part 1, Wed 22 Mar 2023: By Nick Jones. The day dawned bright and sunny. It also felt like the dawn of a 'new era' of signal box visits, which had been on hold for over three years due to Covid-related restrictions. Our group of 16 members assembled in Stothard House, Barnetby station for a briefing from our hosts for the day, Mobile Operations Managers Doug Pratt and Gary Crompton. Stothard House was the original station building and now serves as Network Rail offices. Refreshments were kindly provided by our hosts and the building itself held much interest. An original ticket window survives, plus various old photos of railways in the area. The highlight for many of us was the set of original preserved signal box diagrams, including Barnetby East and Goxhill. :①Wrawby Junction:: Suitably fed and watered we drove, in convoy, the short distance to Wrawby Junction. The access road crosses the connection to the disused (and heavily overgrown) Up Sidings. Wrawby Junction box was visited by our Society on 4 Oct 2014 when it was still operational but it closed on Christmas Eve 2015, with its beautiful array of many junction semaphores swept away at the same time. The LED signalling in this area is now controlled by York Rail Operating Centre (ROC).
BELOW: (Item 2181) An original ticket window at Stothard House, the former Barnetby station building, now NR offices. (Pictures all 22 Mar 2023, mostly by Nick Jones, who is standing, far left, in the group photo.) NEXT: An undated (but post 22 Jun 1969) Barnetby East box signalling diagram. FOLLOWING PHOTO: Wrawby Junction box diagram in 1962 (both were displayed at Stothard House).
BELOW: Group photograph, standing, second right is Nick Garnham, your BLN Ea
ast Midlands Editor. The two Mobile Operations Managers are crouching far left.
BELOW: The very tall, now non-operational, Wrawby Junction box looking east towards Barnetby station. Note that the ground level Locking Room was kindly opened for participants to see as well.
BELOW: View east towards Barnetby station in the far distance.
BELOW: The view of the triple junction west, to Lincoln and Newark far
left, Brigg and Gainsborough / Scunthorpe and Doncaster to the right.
BELOW: The recently refurbished Barnetby Up Ground Frame, could it have been painted red previously?
BELOW: The access to Barnetby Up Sidings is well out of use… No, it is not a dead sheep.
[BLN 1BELOW: Immingham West Junction box; Humber International Termina
1432] al (HIT) diagram; Killingholme is off left and Immingham West Jn right.
BELOW: Immingham West Junction siding groups, HIT and Killingholme off leftNEXT: The panels at Immingham West Junction
t; it is non-geographical like many box diagrams (TRACKmaps 2 p31B 2020). n - the HIT panel is on the left. (Nick Garnham.)
ling panels at Immingham rec
eption box. (Nick Garnham.)
ABOVE: The Barrow Road Crossing….. and New Holland end of Oxmarsh….. Crossing signal box diagram. ….… . LEFT: Who says that you can't get the,,. staff these days? Nick Jones did!.. .....
BELOW: A Down train to Barton-on-Humber (off to the left) at Oxmarsh CroNEXT: Oxmarsh Crossing and its traditional operational level crossing gate
ossing, the former Up line (latterly to New Holland Bulk Terminal) is right. e wheel. THIRD: Oxmarsh Crossing, looking south towards Cleethorpes.
BELOW: The new box diagram waiting to be installed (maybe after the summer Sunday services end?).
PREVIOUS: The rather decrepit exterior appearance of Barrow RBELOW: Through the looking glass, from inside the box towards Barton
Road Crossing gate box, Barton-on-Humber is round to the left. n, New Holland Sidings are right; an Up train is expected from Barton.
[BLN 1BELOW: The glory days when Barrow Road was a
1432] proper signal box with 28 levers and no spares…
BELOW: The slotted home levers. Our group of members weren't the only signal box fans present.