Moorlands and City Railway

From an earlier post, the lifted line is leased from Network Rail - does the lease involve a commitment to keep track on the formation?

Steven

 

Sadly not, the user concerned more than lives up to their name with their armchair expert postings and Jeff has every right to post as he has.
This thread was perfectly innocuous but then someone (with history of doing so) finds another reason to knock us once again.

Out of interest how did you gain access to a private site (the photo of Bridge 3/1) if you aren't a working member of either MCR or CVR?
And where has it ever been said the line has been "closed"? The Official press release regarding the removal doesn't mention this?
http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/news/cauldon-branch

As Jeff says, this line is Network Rails on a 150yr lease to MCR. The T&Cs of this lease are known only by those involved. It has never been a preserved railway, and it required serious investment as some of the trackwork still had NSR stamped on the fittings! But hey don't let facts get in the way of another dig.

 

Correct, at least someone understands.

 

What else would you do with stuff that is only good for scrap?

 

Clog & Knocker. 2x of the locations are on Railway Property. If C&K is who we think it is then they really should learn, as it wont be the first time that they have been caught trespassing on MCR/CVR property (and it wont be the first time they published the pictures to prove it either!).

 

Could have been used for sidings. If the p'way was that bad, how come it was passed for passenger trains to run on it?

 

Where are you getting this figure of £2M/mile from? I can quite believe that would be the cost of totally renewing a part of the WCML where you need to arrange a posession, divert traffic, do all of the work at night and pay the gang for a full shift even though only about 4 hours work is possible, and get it open for 100mph trains again by the next morning. I can't believe that it would cost that for a rural single-track freight line with no booked traffic, easy access and very relaxed time constraints. If that is the real price, it's no wonder so much freight goes by road.

 

Dreams them up whilst asleep in his signal box!

 

But where would we put these sidings? We've pretty much filled everywhere we can, and whilst I'm sure we'd love to be able to magic additional space (as would most railways!) we can't.

 

It was always a case it was on limited time, and that it would need to be replaced at some point. As said previously, a lot of the fittings still had the NSR stamp mark on it (which ceased to exist come 1923!). For whatever reason, it was decided the Southern section (which was considerably the worse section) required removal earlier this year. This decision though was made by MCR and not CVR, for it is they who the lease. CVR simply have running rights, and upon being informed of the decision arranged to have the loop rebuilt at Ipstones (which was completed in 5 weeks by the volunteers). What made MCR take this decision now only they know, we at the CVR simply got on with the job in-hand and continue to do so.

 

Err.... Oakamoor?

 

As I recall, the line to Cauldon was initially suitable for heritage running but would never have been suitable for heavy freight. I believe it was always a given that the entire line from Cauldon to Leekbrook would have to be renewed for freight operation. I also seem to recall reading that the line from Ipstones to Cauldon needed some serious work to keep it open for heritage running. Given the limited number of days it was in use it was not financially worthwhile to do so when the track will all have to be replaced anyway. The merger between Lafarge and Tarmac has thrown a spanner in the works as regards getting the freight operation going so it seems sensible to do whatever can be done with the resources available to progress other parts of the MCR network. If life-expired track can be liquidated to raise funds to do so, so much the better.

Best wishes,
Nigel

(not involved in any way with CVR/MCR - just an interested observer over the years)

 

So it was saf

So it was safe for passenger trains but not for freight trains you say? If that was true then why have they spot re sleepered the Chord line at Madeley instead of completely re laying it? Some of that rail is far more worn than anything to be found on the Cauldon line. All that was needed apart from that was for that buckling of the track to be sorted out at Cauldon which wouldn't have cost anything. I remember when they first started running trains up to Cauldon three years ago David Kemp told the press that the line was in better than expected condition.

 

Might be interested in a chair with NSR stamp marks on for a door stop...
Got any left ?

 

I don't really have anything to add to what I wrote in my previous post. I have not seen a report stating the work which would have been required to keep the Ipstones - Cauldon stretch serviceable for heritage trains so I am unwilling to make comparisons with other locations. I am also not an expert in the area of rail wear and so unable to comment on your assertion in that regard. I wouldn't have thought that buckled track is a big issue - it happens all over the place in very hot weather and is quickly rectified.

Best wishes,
Nigel