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East Midlands Railway Trust/GCR (Nottingham)

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Flying Phil, Jan 25, 2021.

  1. Legrandanglais

    Legrandanglais New Member

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    EMRT has proudly announced that the Fund has raised Exactly £7000 in the first Month - need a few more £ before the A60 Bridge gets it required upgrade!

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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    The article on EMRT that was listed in the last edition of Steam Railway as going to be in the copy I receieved today has not happened, preumably as a result of the ongoing situation. There is, however, a full page summary of the saga so far, which doesn't actually put NHR in good light, particularly when they declined to make any comment about it all......
     
  3. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    The chairman of the EMRT was in the marquee at Quorn during the recent gala and was happily talking to visitors about the vision of the EMRT and reunification......He certainly wants to get the situation amicably resolved if possible.
     
  4. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    The "Steam Railway" article does say the the NHR " has been offered an agreement for running into Rushcliffe Halt" and that the EMRT has said that "both allegations were completely unfounded" about Mountsorrel quarry sidings and Ruddington hotel development.......Which would seem to remove the NHR main causes of concern?
     
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  5. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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    I called in at Ruddington for a short while this morning - basically to get one of the excellent breakfasts from the Heritage Cafe - whilst en route to the NET Clifton P&R site as I was heading for a bus event being held in Hucknall today.
    From the hammering noises coming from the main workshop building, it appeared something was being done in there today, though there was still no public access in there, which there used to be. The Cafe had a birthday party booking for a large number of children, so they were very busy, and the model engineers were running a couple of passenger trains on their circuit. The bus group appeared to have a Bristol MW out ready to do something - possibly as part of the chilrens birthday routine.
    Other than that, not a lot different to a few months ago, though I took this photo to record the work so far on the other platform at the site....

    DSCF5722a.JPG
     
  6. ruddingtonrsh56

    ruddingtonrsh56 Member

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    The green Mk1 to the right of the photo is new too, that can't be a bad thing
     
  7. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Thanks for the update Johann, the site has so much potential. Hopefully the deafening silence from the various parties is a sign that they are actually talking to each other constructively, in private, to reach a beneficial resolution to their differences.
     
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  8. Hando

    Hando New Member

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    In relation to the claims surrounding the Mountsorrel quarry sidings, two weeks ago, I was chatting with fellow MARCH volunteers about the NHR's allegations. It transpires that years ago, Lafarge looked into using the Mountsorrel Railway as a secondary output of granite; even going so far as to do a feasibility study (if I remember correctly). This came to nought of course. It should be obvious that using the MR and GCR to transport granite to the MML, once gap was bridged, would have been extremely uneconomical, requiring two reversals for the loco from one end of the train to the other.
    One of the chaps I was chatting too also pointed out that if Lafarge wanted to transport granite using the MML up line, they could simply extend their conveyer belt from the current terminal, under the MML via a pre-existing tunnel (this was used by an industrial railway to access pits to the north of the railway from Ellis and Sons' lime works).

    Regardless, the proposal hasn't been brought up since, but perhaps this is where the NHR's exaggerated exasperations stem from?
     
  9. ruddingtonrsh56

    ruddingtonrsh56 Member

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    I received my copy of 'Driving Wheels' (The NHR termly newsletter/magazine). Some interesting contributions, including transcripts of Q&A interviews between the editor and the chairmen of both the NHR and EMRT (conducted separately), asked the same/similar questions about the disputes of the last few months, changes at the centre and looking to the future. Too much for me to try and reproduce here, and I'm afraid I'm not 100% sure whether those who aren't NHR members will get access to it, but some highlights worth sharing:

    -One comment from the NHR chairman is (when asked whether the an NHR objective remains the ultimate creation of the GGCR): "There needs to be a unified line, timetable and rulebook, we just need to establish a way that this works betwseen two separare operating organisations". Encouraging that the chairman has publicly stated his intention for the GGCR to, from the public's perspective at least, operate as one railway. The question of whether two separate operating organisations will work is something that has been debated in the past and surely will continue to be debated until we get to see what it actually looks like.
    -At the time of writing it was stated that the goal was the resumption of passenger carrying trains in Mid September. Obviously we are now at the point and this has not happened, perhaps people's summer holidays have got in the way.
    -Initial passenger services will be undertaken by the Pacer and by diesels with the Mk3s. A time frame for steam-hauled services cannot yet be given as first an appointment needs to be made of a person to undertake annual FTR exams on the Mk1 stock.
    -New Assessment papers have been drawn up for diesel crew, guards and shunters. No word on how this is progressing for steam crews.
    -For a period of time during the pandemic the "old" board of directors was prevented from spending any money by shareholders, which the column writer claims has added at least a 6 month delay to the restart programme
    -An external PWay examination has been undertaken of the line between Ruddington Fields and 50 steps and identified some minor work which needs doing before passenger services can be ran over this section. The 3.3miles from 50 steps to the stop board before Bunny Road Bridge (Bridge 307) is the next section identified for this examination.
    -Fencing is to be upgraded along the length of the line.
    -A lot of the communication from the different parties involved gives an impression that they all want the same end goal (passenger services to resume and eventually reunification as part of the GGCR), but there remain differences in opinion about how best to go about this, and varying levels of success in efforts to understand viewpoints of others and reach agreements or compromises.

    Still a bit of a way to go, but some encouraging stuff in there. Annoyingly an incredibly busy summer has meant I have not been able to get down to lend a hand and won't be able to until October, but certainly I plan to make myself useful when my diary finally allows!!
     
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  10. ruddingtonrsh56

    ruddingtonrsh56 Member

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    New Facebook post from the NHR confirming the appointment of Ruth Edwards, MP for Rushcliffe, as Patron of the railway (which I'm sure I already knew was a thing, but I can't remember whether that came from public communication or communication to members only).

    Of particular note is the following paragraphs:

    In addition to supporting heritage operations, the Board is looking forward to working closely with Ruth on job creation initiatives at the Ruddington site, the development of the East Midlands as a hydrogen technology cluster and environmental improvements in the local area. Discussions have already taken place on these issues.
    Ruth notes ‘I am delighted to become a patron of Nottingham Heritage Railway. I look forward to working with the team on getting the railway up and running again and supporting their exciting ideas to create jobs and support the development of hydrogen powered trains in the future’


    Seems potentially the board have a goal of the railway being used as a development centre and test bed for hydrogen trains.
     
  11. William Fletcher

    William Fletcher Member

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    A little bit behind the curve given developments and dynamism elsewhere involving 314s, 08 and 37s and COP26 very soon I fear. A bandwagon perhaps, but one whose train has already departed?
     
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  12. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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    That was my thoughts on that statement too, though also a case of a Politician attempting to gain some brownie points with the local electorate as into the bargain....
     
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  13. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Interestingly from the ORR website...
    "Great Central Railway (Nottingham) Limited

    I/ SJS/20201023/GCRN/01

    This notice was served as Great Central Railway (Nottingham) Limited have not established a safety management system in relation to the examination, maintenance and repair of structures on their railway infrastructure such as the bridges and Barnstone tunnel as there is no element of their safety management system which specifies the arrangements for structures examination, fault management, repair or maintenance. 23 October 2020 28 February 2021 Complied"
    So good to see that progress has been made in that aspect.
     
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  14. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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  15. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    That echoes what was on the Rail Advent site a few days ago....Obviously good news for all concerned.....
    ........ Now to see some physical building bridges!
     
  16. ruddingtonrsh56

    ruddingtonrsh56 Member

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    I think it's pretty much the same text as appeared on the Rail Advent website, and the NHR social media page, which makes it seem like a statement agreed by all 3 parties involved. I'm a little perplexed as to why RailAdvent published this before either of the railways, but maybe that's me looking for things to read into too much
     
  17. J Rob't Harrison

    J Rob't Harrison Member

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    Good to see that cooperation is no longer a dirty word on the Nottinghamshire/ Leicestershire border.
     
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  18. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    In the latest "Trackside" #7, it says that new directors have been appointed to the GCR(N) board (NHR?). These are Richard Drew, Peter Ward, Andy Fillingham, Peter Morley, George Green and Tom Ingall, all leading lights in the reunification project. Two existing directors John Akinin and Peter Wilson remain on the board.
    this represents a Huge change and I'm sure many people will be very pleased.
     
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  19. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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  20. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    NHR is a trading name of GCR(N); they are one and the same.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

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