Moorlands and City Railway

Yeah.

Suppose it's beyond expectation that the council would have the foresight to collaborate with MCR to do a combined repair job for road and rail. Probably MCR will have to redo some of this effort when the 'real' repairs start.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned Barry, as it is my understanding the recent crop of council bridge work is to do with raising the "axle load" (is this the right term?) for the new larger lorries to cross these overbridges. Therefore the work will presumably be for the road over rail examples, which wouldn't be the (rail over road/water/other) ones which you would think would be on MCR's repair list.

 

Chis

Ah. I mistook the bridge. Thought it was the rail-over bridge on the road going towards Abbey Hulton.

Yes fair enough. MCR will probably have to sort that one out on their own.

Barry

 

Snow and rain over the last few weeks loosened the roots of a small tree on the Froghall Oakamoor section and it fell across the line. Today was a bright and sunny day and it was a pleasant walk to go and sort it out. 15 minutes and it was all done.

 

Hey Neil dont tell me thats all you did. We had a busy day, we renewed all the wooden frame of the lever frame from Froghall at Ched in the morning. The took the red crane from Ched.( I was second man) to Froghall at a sedately 3 mph it took over 1.5 hrs. Positioned the ground frame and decided to speed back to Ched.on the sleeper changer at a speed of about 6-7 mph. Bad decision it started to rain no protection. Overall a good day made a nice change. Some photos of the day.
1st photo Starting out of Ched.
2 Good view being high up.
3 Home signal at Consall
4 positioning the crane at Froghall
5 Returning through Consall.

 

You should know us better than that Jeff! Neil omitted to mention the yomp down the valley side through liquid cow effluent to access said tree. We also took out another 3 trees overhanging the track on the way back, and dealt with a mass of willow saplings in the cess to save us a bigger job a few years down the line. All done and dusted and back at Froghall for lunch by 12. There were many rumours of your gang's likely ETA but they all proved wildly over-optimistic

 

Thanks Ralph could not get the resizer to copy the captions so have edited the post. Jeff

 

Yes, only jesting I know you guys don't skive, I got to Froghall at about 2-30 must have just missed you. An hour and about three quarters in the cab of the crane with ear muffs on my ears were like a pair of grilled lamb chops but the view was great so I supposed I was privilaged to do it. Did not volunteer for the return journey though another hour and three quarters and going dark, Bob did it lucky Bob.

 

Ralph, I can't edit NeilL's post of us clearing the tree, but it's at Ross Bridge, about a mile south of Froghall in the Oakamoor direction.

1st Pic - Now you see it.
2nd Pic - Now you don't.

 

There are some fantastic pictures of the work going on on the signal box and its new steps. But I cant post them as the owner doesnt like re posts from the emails. Would someone be able to go down and take a pic or two for everyone else? The steps look great and the box is looking like its finally getting its deserved second life.
Gav

 

Good cool day to do a line walk after getting a lift to Consall on a class 33 we started going from there to Leek Brook. The sun came through and warmed us up as we went. Pretty routine walk just the usual small bits to put right. Lunch at Cheddleton the on to Leek Brook through the tunnel where we had problems with the handlamps, but we struggled through . At the end of the walk we were rewarded with the sight of the signal box with its new stairs. A few photos for you.
Photo 1. A yard full of diesels all the steam engins were in the shed.
2 More diesels but managed to squeeze 5197 in.
3 The top half of the stairs on the box.
4 The view from the top of the stairs looking towards the Cauldon line and the siding that will eventually be to Leek.
5 the best full view of the box I could get.

 

The other team did a track walk from Froghall to Oakamoor, along the less used section of track. Surprisingly the fishplate bolts needed very little attention and only 3 keys were replaced. The sleepers are however of more varied condition. We benefitted also from the operation of the 33, it even came back to pick us up (thanks Iain). Some very neat and tidy tree felling between the railway and the canal by the canal group. We will get the Bradnop section into similar condition this year.

 

Welcome to a report from a very cold walk on the Cauldon line today. We decided to do a foreshortened walk today due to the weather forecast. We split into 3 groups each doing 1.5 to 2.5 miles. I first took a couple of photos in the yard then, having a car in place to bring us back, proceeded our walk from Leek Brook to Bradnop. At first though very cold the snow was only light, as shown on the photo. There was a Dmu coming up the line, so after 11-30 had to put a lookout behind the rest of the team. The snow got thicker as we reached the illegal crossing and shortly after heard the Dmu horn. We stopped and waited for about 7 mins before it arrived, the Dmu must have been at Leek Brook when we heard it, travels well in the cold air. We were like frozen chips but I signalled for the driver to stop to inform him that 2 others crews were on the line.
We finally made it to Bradnop and then back to Leek Brook. The journey home usually takes 40 mins. but this time it was over 1.5 hrs. the roads were really bad. then a nice relaxing bath AHHHHHH.

photo 1 the U inthe yard ready for the gala.
photo 2 the new front sanders on the S160.
photo 3 getting the freight ready.
photo 4 just after the walk started.

 

The second team were walking the line from Apesford Crossing to Bradnop and with it being nearer the summit of the line there was significantly more snow than apparently encountered by P/wayman and his team. We didn't waste time and had completed the stretch before the snow got too bad and got down of the highland quickly and safely, long before the DMU would have reached us.
Two pictures of the yard, one near Apesford and looking down on the line from the bridge at Bradnop
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[h=5]31806 test runs, CVR, 15/02/13!
Video footage (Abit shaky as I was taking photos at the same time haha!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbUuiRKB-Wk
Plus a nice set of shots: 31806, CVR, 15/02/13. - a set on Flickr[/h]

 

U-Class 31806 Photo Charter shots: CVR 31806 Charter, 17/2/13. - a set on Flickr

 

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