Mountsorrel Heritage Centre

This has appeared on their FB Page this afternoon...
https://www.facebook.com/43876650405/photos/a.10150100682355406/10159334662185406/?type=3&theater
...confirming that steam shunting demonstrations will be taking place this coming Saturday from around 10.30 to 15.30 with 0-4-0ST "Colin Mc Andrew".

Shame the weather forecast for Saturday isn't exactly sparkling.....

 

Their latest Newsletter is now available on the website....
http://heritage-centre.co.uk/newsletters/may-2021/

 

Thanks for the link Johann - I'm looking forward to my next visit and being able to watch the shunting!

 

All systems are still Go for this Saturday.......
Even the weather seems to be going to play ball as well!

 

A few photos from yesterdays steam shunting session....







Certainly a very nice locomotive and it's the perfect size to be used in the sidings at Moutsorrel. Given the fairly indifferent weather that we seem to be suffering at the moment, there seemed to be a good turnout of visitors in the morning and afternoon, though attendance did die off quite noticeably at lunchtime. The sun did finally put in appearance for the 15.30 demonstration shunt though...

 

Thanks for the pictures Johann - glad it went well and was enjoyed by all.

 

The next steaming day is apparently planned for Saturday 19th June 2021 for anyone interested.

 

Some film of the shunting last Saturday has now been put on YT....

 

A different shunting video from Saturday 19th June....

 

I went along to the heritage centre at lunchtime today.....but the car park was full.... Very glad to see that it was so popular.. then I went to Quorn instead for a coffee and sausage bap!

 

That is the main problem there at the moment from what I've been told - The car park fills up most days, despite the number of parking spaces being increased last year. Plans exist for another car park, but it is all down to extra £££ as it is on land that doesn't form part of the Heritage Centre. The local Council don't seem interested with helping at the moment.
There is more parking available at the Mountsorrel station at the end of the branch line, but there are still roads closed giving access to that (they have been shut for a while) and when they reopen, there is no direct path to the Heritage Centre from there, even if it is only about 500 yds away as the crow flies!

 

Actually Bond Lane (the road through to Mountsorrel village) has been open for a while now. Goodness knows what state Mountsorrel station itself is in though, since it appears to have been built in the bottom of a swamp.

(For those unfamiliar, this was a new platform built in in the bottom of a cutting; the cutting previously continued further but the end has been blocked with quarry waste which means that it doesn't drain and consequently floods regularly. Short of digging out the quarry waste I don't really see a solution - and if you did that you might as well abandon the station and continue into the village. Anyway, that's a debate for the next generation, as the quarry isn't going anywhere in a hurry!)

 

"Colin McAndrew" will be in steam on Fri 30 July (Staff training/crew passing out day) and Sat 31st July (Shunting Demos) from what I was told yesterday for anyone who wants to see the loco operating.

 

Next steam shunting display by "Colin McAndrew" should be on Sat 14th August - which conveniently corresponds with the GCR "Railways at Work" Gala Saturday.

 

Discovered yesterday that they have aquired a new exhibit....


With Brush shutting down operations at Loughborough in the coming months, they have donated one of their Brush Pony electric vehicles to the Centre. Not sure of it's age, but that type of vehicle was produced by them over a fairly long time period. Apparently it only arrived there in the last couple of weeks.

 

Apparently, a start will be made on excavating the foundations to take the Stephenson Lift Bridge at some stage in the next couple of weeks, though erection of the bridge is still a long way off, as the required 3-d modelling of the structure has yet to be completed.

 

There is an update of things happening on their Facebook Page, but this excerpt is the main piece of rail related information....

Some good news is that planning permission has been passed for the restoration and reconstruction of Robert Stephenson’s 1834 historic lift bridge!
With some of the required funding already in place, work will start on the foundations over the next couple of weeks. Find out all about the lift bridge on our website http://www.heritage-centre.co.uk/in…/stephenson-lift-bridge/
Work is also progressing well on the new museum space inside the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) wagon, that we restored at the beginning of the year. A Mountsorrel resident has spent most of his life creating a mini museum of interesting historical items in his garage! He now wishes visitors to the Heritage Centre to be able to enjoy his collection! We hope to have the new museum open before the end of the year.

I saw that steps had been constructed to give access to the van when I was there earlier this month, but hadn't realised it was going to be used as an exhibition space - I assumed it was going to be an additional storage area!

 

It's pretty vague as to what's going into the LMS van, even I don't know! We'll find out in due course I'm sure...

 

I remember Steve C telling me that they had been offered a "collection" of things by a local resident on one of the occasions when I visited Mountsorrel earlier this year, but at that stage he hadn't seen what it consisted of. Looks like we'll find out when it all arrives...

 

Called in at the Centre yesterday and in case anyone wants to see Colin Mc Andrew doing the shunting demonstrations there, next Saturday, 16th October and also Saturday 30th October are the next planned steaming dates.