Kerr Stuart Joffre Steaming - 8/9th October

Dear All,

In case you are interested, the Kerr Stuart Joffre (3014/16) is going to be steamed over the Moseley Railway Trust's Steam & Industry weekend on 8/9th October. It is currently planned that Stanhope will be operating passenger turns & the Joffre will be on freight duties.

This is likely to be the last public steaming of the Joffre this year.

If you didn't make it to our September "Made in Staffordshire" Gala, or couldn't get enough of the Joffre action (the exhaust & spark arrestor are very impressive!) - then 8/9th October is for you.

Attached is a taster of what you may have missed at the September Gala...


Please see the Apedale Valley Light Railway website for more details (www.avlr.org.uk)

Cheers,
Gareth

 

I like the sound of this and am very tempted but is there any chance the joffre could be used on a few passenger trains as it's a long way tlo come from South Wales to watch it hauling a freight?

 

Responding to demand, I have had some words with our ops controllers - we will allow the Joffre onto a couple of passenger turns on both the Saturday & Sunday, from around 14:30 onwards.

I hope this is suitably interesting!

Cheers,
Gareth
www.mrt.org.uk

 

Good news - it's great to see a railway listening and responding positively to enthusiast demand.

I visited for the first time for the Gala a few weeks ago, and had a fantastic afternoon. Plenty of action all over the site (I didn't manage to see it all), a variety of locos on the passenger train, and lots to see. The model railways and 16mm layout in the shed were a nice touch too.

Will there be any side attractions (a la the Gala) for the Steam & Industries Weekend?

The Joffre is well worth travelling to see - it looks superb. With the WW1 actors posed around it, it really looked the part. It also seems to have quite a distinctive exhaust beat, with more of a roar at the chimney.

Cheers,

Phil.

 

That's brilliant, thank you, I'll definitely try and make it!

 

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the note of appreciation - the September event was a lot of hard work to stage! We are still recovering from it....

This October Steam & Industry weekend is a much lower key event & is pretty much centred around the railway operation. I would expect that there will be steam & diesel freights operated at points during the days in addition to the passenger train.

I'm not sure if the mighty MRT shop will be present (the Station building is not permanently fitted out yet) - but there is a possibility in some form. The Apedale Heritage Centre (our site neighbours), will have their museum open as normal & should be offering underground mine tours - their much mentioned Cafe will also be open offering Staffordshire oatcakes amongst other things.

We are at a stage where a lot of preparation is starting for the foundations for the new museum building on the site adjacent to the station building - as there may not be as much site space available as in September & we hadn't planned to use it!

If anyone has a model railway or display they may like to show - please let me know, as there may be some space we could provide within the station building.

Best regards,
Gareth

 

Just a brief note - the Moseley Railway Trust shop will be available in a slightly reduced form - but with a full range of Meridian Models 009 (4mm scale narrow gauge) kits & some books/DVD's etc. Why not take advantage of visiting us & avoiding mail-order shipping charges!?

Cheers,

 

Just a reminder that this will be in action tomorrow & Sunday (11am - 4:30pm) - see you there?!
www.avlr.org.uk

Gareth