Mountsorrel Heritage Centre

Apparently some very limited work has been taking place recently e.g. New display boards for the Rail Museum, but, obviously, revised working methods will have to be considered for more labour intensive work - such as rebuilding/extending trackwork - what was the main task there prior to "Lockdown".

 

The other point is now completed........


And there is an extended siding for stock storage where the cars are parked....



This extended siding has now been buried to top of rail level.
Above two photos courtesy of Steve Cramp.

The site is hoping to reopen by mid July, and there could well be another steam loco on display in the museum building by then (and not one from Snibston...)!!

 

This was posted on their FB page today:-

Since the government released the guidelines for the hospitality industry to reopen last week, our volunteers have been working flat out to put everything needed into place and we were tentatively hoping to be ready to reopen next week. The new lockdown in the city of Leicester only extends as far as Birstall, so doesn’t affect us. It does worry us though as the cost of reopening the site, restocking Granite’s, etc is huge. The financial risk if we were to then have to close again a few days later would be difficult to bounce back from. We are therefore tentatively now looking at a revised date of Monday July 13th. We’ll post again as we get nearer to that date.
We haven’t been sitting with our feet up during lockdown! A huge amount of work has been going on at the site to make it even better for your return! More details on that to follow as we get nearer to reopening.

 

Good news!

 

The Museum/Granites etc are all reopening from Thursday 16th July!
Details on their FB page.......
https://www.facebook.com/Mountsorrel-And-Rothley-Community-Heritage-Centre-43876650405/

 

Apparently the concrete floor in the new workshop is going in today and the 3F (47406) arrives for 12 months display tomorrow, so it's certainly happening there at the moment!

 

Did you mean 47406?

Keith

 

Yes - Fat finger syndrome I'm afraid!
It's going on display in there for a year, by which time it will be ready for its overhaul to begin. It's an appropriate exhibit for Mountsorrel, as it was in charge of the Royal Train for Prince Charles at the official opening ceremony back in January 2017...

 

Thanks Johann, that explains why 47406 is paired with a brake van in the siding at Lbro today...

 

I know they have also requested that the unrestored LMS box van from Swithland - which is their next restoration project - be delivered to the Heritage Centre, so that could possibly be moving there tomorrow as well.

 

No, it won't.

 

There is a photo of the Jinty being delivered on their FB page..
https://www.facebook.com/43876650405/photos/a.10150100682355406/10158577068120406/?type=3&theater

 

Is any steam running on the GCR running tomorrow or next weekend for trail runs before reopening?

 

If you look at the GCR Facebook page, mention is made on there that patrons of the Butler Henderson Cafe at Quorn "will be able to see passing trains" - certainly today (12/7) and, I would think, next weekend as well.
I understand that "shunting demonstrations" could well be taking place at Mountsorrel next Saturday (using their diesel) at least, so that could be something else to look out for. This should be confirmed later this coming week.

 

Thanks Johann for that

 

Hi and60007
This was running on Thursday, so I'm sure there will be trial trains running next weekend. They will be running past the Swithland end of the Mountsorrel Branch (just to keep on topic!)

 

Thanks Phil

 

A bit short notice, but they have confirmed on their FB page that they will be doing shunting demonstrations at Nunckley Hill using their Ruston 48DE between 13.30 and 15.30 today, Saturday 18th July.
Will be interesting to see if any test runs are taking place on the main GCR this weekend as well, as they apparently used the NER autocar last weekend, according to their Rail Mail e-newsletter that appeared yesterday!

 

Nice to actually escape from my hometown for the first time in 4 months and see some trains operating at a preservation site somewhere!

As expected, the Ruston was used on shunting demonstrations this afternoon..



A surprise bonus was the operation of the narrow gauge line as well to move the box van visible in the photo above...



Only the Ruston was operational, but the Simplex had to come along for the ride to keep the track clear where the van was being positioned!

The concrete floor is now down in the workshop, though it will eventually be painted with floor paint.



One restoration job ongoing that hasn't received any publicity is a Harbilt electric platform trolley which was used at Leicester Midland station. It was obtained as a wreck from a local museum (no names mentioned....) who were actually going to scrap it, and it has been completely refurbished to operating condition by one of the volunteers at Mountsorrel. A new wooden platform body still needs to be constructed once suitable wood can be obtained. It is actually registered for road use - registration 625 RTW.

 

Thanks Johann.