"Project Miller"/125 Group

....Now that is a Man Shed!

 

It’s in the beer garden at the Alex in Derby. Bit of a landmark.

 

Just found an e-mail stating that Porterbrook have donated 43159, an MTU powered unit, to the 125 Group, which takes their "fleet" to four HST powercars now. It was one of the two power cars used on the train that holds the World diesel speed record, the other one already being donated to the NRM.

 

Good news Johann - I'm looking forward to travelling along the GCR, over the MML, in an HST.

 

From details on the Rushcliffe Council planning portal, the 125 group have planning permission for "Building No7" a 600 sq m stand alone steel structure with green steel cladding. Application 19/00040/FUL.
They have most of the money, so I'm sure will be getting ready to start construction as C-19 restrictions ease.
I wonder if the title of this thread needs updating or a new "125 Group" thread created?

 

The last I heard - which was 2 months ago now - was that some "legal matters" still needed to be sorted, but it was hoped that things could be sorted out fairly soon at that time. At the end of the day, it'll be down to the EMRT site management as to when work can start once the other aspects are completed by the 125 Group. There certainly will need to be a good clearout around that area of the site before any site construction work can start.

 

Thanks Johann. Perhaps the 125 group would like to update their shed appeal total, as it still shows the March amount.
And "Thanks" to the Mods for their prompt updating of the thread title.

 

43159 arrived at Ruddington by road yesterday evening....
https://twitter.com/GcrNottingham/status/1415801259341275149/photo/1

 

It is good that they have been able to get it to Ruddington barely a month after it was donated. Hopefully it will soon be under cover in building No7?.....

 

Saw an image of the other one in Railway Mag this week at the NRM, I’ve said this before but what is the NRM going to do with 3 power cars?

 

From the 125 Group website......."This puts 125 Group in a unique position, as not only one of the few owners of preserved HST vehicles, but the only one that can show such a wide range of the HST’s history; 43159 of-course being fitted with an MTU engine as part of its return to service with First Great Western in 2007."

 

43044 should be moving to Ruddington in the next few weeks to join 43159. 43044 is the one that is going to have a Valenta engine put back in it over the next 12 months.

 

Couple of open days at Ruddington the end of this month....
https://www.125group.org.uk/meet-the-fleet-open-weekend-at-ruddington/

 

It is good to see more activity at Ruddington. I wonder how the 125 group are responding to the EMRT/GCR(N) situation?

 

As I put in the GCR(N) thread (I think..), their latest mag said any further activity on the maintenance shed was on hold until the place got sorted. The press date for that mag would have predated the movement/announcement of the 2 power cars to Ruddington and the erection of the shed since mentioned on the ERMT Twitter page, so, depending on how much was known beforehand on the latest "eruption" there, that appears to have been already sorted out, or the two power cars wouldn't have gone there so quickly..
As, presumably, tennants of EMRT, the latest spat shouldn't affect them, or any of the other groups based there (GCRRST/567/NABS/Model Engineers/Cafe) as they can be dealt with directly rather than via NHR or any other operating company of choice that gets the rights to operate the line/centre. None of those groups seem to have made any comments on the situation so far, which is encouraging...

 

A Video has appeared about the 125 Groups activities on the Official GCR YouTube channel within the last 24 hours...


You'll have to click on the Watch on You Tube link by the look of that!

There is another one of historical footage around Nottingham Victoria in the 1960's on there as well which has been uploaded fairly recently, described as by an "Unknown Cameraman", but I'm certain I've seen that before at local RCTS meetings here in the past, unless there were a lot of people filming the GW loco + Victoria turntable incident that day....

 

Thanks for posting Johann. There is a lot of support for the 125 and I'm sure they will help restore the fortunes of Ruddington. That GCR film at Nottingham has an interesting beginning - wait for a bus and three turn up at the same time! Also "Trolley buses" with OHL were such a feature in several cities.... but all gone now.

 

Thats why I think I know who possibly filmed it, as he did some filming of the Nottingham trolleybuses as well as the railways. He was originally from Nottingham and moved down here to work at the BT Research Centre at Martlesham Heath.
There were commercial DVD's produced of his material when he was still alive, or shortly after his death, from memory, though I don't know if they are still available. Haven't been able to confirm whether it was from his archives as yet though...