Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

I am pretty sure the two buried pipes only run as far as the start of the cutting north of the tunnel then branch off to the south west heading towards the sewage farm round the side of the hill, whereas I made my observations south of the tunnel.

 

Your complaints have merged into one, as simply there seems no pleasing you. Credible answers, positive work is merely met with silence and a search for the next perceived "fault". Sorry but we don't volunteer to feed trolls.

The triangle is being used for storage of materials, and to avoid driving over sleepers etc they have been placed to the side to allow machinery access as required. All will fall into place (literally) once the rails are onsite. Now can you either come down and offer your expertise in a positive manner, or just leave out all this negativity. There really is much better things to get excited over...

 

PWay trying out a new 'toy' today. A pressure sprayer to inject a solvent/grease mix into and behind fishplates so that they move more easily as rails expand and contract. Interflon magic lubricant. Hope it works because it is not cheap.

 

Just wondering if anyone has taken any photos of the Leek extension recently.
Noting from the web site the need for more volunteers/ staff to help with the extension future opening.

 

https://twitter.com/regenerate_sot/status/1546189523477987333?s=21&t=7eK2IJ0vdYyEOmjJBZbREQ

[mention]Wychan [/mention]


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At least some people can stay the right side of the fence!

 

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When I took a walk through Oakamoor recently I noticed a couple of things and wondered if the railway was aware/if would impact future extensions to Oakamoor.
- round the back of Oakamoor prior to entering the tunnel some new houses are been built what looks to be close/encroaching around the bridge leading into the tunnel.
- on the other side at the crossing cottage they have laid a permanent concrete floor on the trackbed as seen in the picture, seemingly to be used as a parking space for the cottage.

I know the focus is leek currently but is the track bed through to Oakamoor protected to allow future extension and why would these developments be allowed so close/on the trackbed if it were?

thanks!

 

Loo

Looks to me as though someone has very thoughtfully built them a nice crossing cabin ready for the dy the railway arrives!

 

That section is owned by Staffs County Council, and is up to them to preserve it.

- The new housing I take it you are referring to is North of the tunnel? Nothing is being built on railway land that I'm aware of, and the CVR owns up to the old river bridge (basically all the former sand exchange sidings).
- The homeowners of the cottage built that a few years ago (think it may even have been the previous owners). That part is SCC owned who have been lukewarm in backing an extension to AT to date.

 

Anyone able to help ?

Final Steam To Leek? - North Staffordshire Railway Co. (1978) Ltd. (nsrailway.co.uk)

 

I've posted the link on a couple of FB sites.

 

Oakamoor to Alton is one of those "dream extensions" that would give the CVR a southern terminus with real status, however the elephant in the room is that residents are viciously in opposition and have been for decades, making such an extension incredibly unlikely. AFAIK the council are correspondingly neutral on the whole topic, probably not wanting to anger the residents who are perfectly happy with the trackbed being an unspoilt path.

I for one would like to see the CVR's passenger numbers treble and the rails to Oakamoor (Moneystone) returned before asking Staffs Council to give any southern extension the time of day. Who knows, if the CVR raises its status and upps it's wider contributions to the local economy, the council may one day be more receptive to returning rails to Alton??

As you say Leek has been the focus and quite rightly so, I was always an advocate on heading towards Leek instead of Stoke-on-Trent and am delighted on seeing the progress to that aim, having been at the AGM 20 year's ago where the Chairman stated "we've extended to Froghall, we next head to Leek".

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Completely agree, Alton could be a game changer for the moorlands. In many ways if CVR extended to Alton now instead of Leek it would give it exclusive mass transit access to one of the UKs most popular tourist attractions. With all the expectations that go with it (365 access, specials, night trains for fireworks etc) It could be a real coup for the moorlands and provide access from all CVR stations.

Not only that it really is a stunning part of the world and having walked that line quite a few times, the thought of trains arriving at the old station with the castle lit up on the hill and the old gatehouse giving access to Alton Towers would be a real site to behold.

It could allow/force leek to become a real transport hub with suitable access, parking etc.

For those of you with better knowledge than me, what is the easier/more likely prospect, the 6/7 mile connecting the railway to the mainline at stoke or the 5/6 mile connecting Kingsley to Alton?

Also for what it’s worth I think the public would really support getting “leek” opening up stations at Endon, Fenton etc, at which point going that shorter distance to Alton seems a no brainer. But it is a bit chicken and egg. Being a member of one of the “oppose the extension to leek” Facebook groups (to see what they’re up to) there’s only around 100 members and could easily be dealt with using letters of support to MPs, council etc. There have been many very well supported petitions locally…


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If there were an extension to Alton, would the impact it would have on the railway be positive?

Alton Towers is a day out for people wanting to do the rides, with other stuff for party members accompanying them. In either category, it wouldn’t occur to me to visit the railway - quite apart from adding significantly to an already expensive day out.

The alternative is access to the park. Sounds great, but that suggests a very strong tidal flow and a lot of dependence on managing capacity to suit theme park visitors.

That may or may not be justified economically, but the impact on the existing heritage railway surely needs careful thought.


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If the railway is to be promoted as a means of access to the theme park, where would the customers board the train? If they need to drive to somewhere such as Cheddleton or Leek, why would they not just drive all the way? If the connection to Stoke is eventually restored, they could go all the way by train, but would that constitute a worthwhile amount of business for the railway?

 

Precisely


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Some years ago Alton Towers were really pushing their hotels and "extended visits" market, as they were at loggerheads with the council who were stressing that the local surrounding roads were at breaking point. Ever the capitalists, AT realised they could extract more money from those staying 2, 3, 4 days at the park rather than daytrippers, therefore expanding business without adding more cars to the roads.

Why is this relevant? Because AT were actively looking at markets outside of the stereotypical "white knuckle ride day trip" park visitor. They were looking at higher end, multi attraction and multi day. Whilst few of us would put theme parks and heritage lines together, at one point I really did believe that IF (and it was a big if!!) the CVR was at the bottom of the hill from the park (i.e. walking distance) then there could be a good partnership and joint trade there for a minority of AT visitors. It's worth remembering that AT has such frightening visitor numbers that even if 1% fancied a look at a steam train then CVR would be quids in!

Personally (warning: only my view!) I believed that the joint attraction route was far more realistic than any idea of using the CVR as a park and ride for theme park day trippers. If one has a spare 5 minutes, look at Stoke-on-Trent on a map and see how non direct the Network Rail and CVR rail lines are between there and AT, and you'll see what I mean! An almost 20 mile trundle, round the houses at 20mph with a reversal at Leekbrook would never compete with the existing bus links in and out of AT.

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**DISCLAIMER** The following is my own personal views and is not that of any organisation(s) I am associated to.


Alton Towers is an elusive white elephant, for some of the reasons already given above. Park/Ride won’t work, access to the park is either from the original station up a steep access path that requires passengers to cross a very busy road. Not ideal for those of limited mobility and will be 15-20 mins before people reach AT own gate.

Or we build a new station slightly further South, that requires a completely new entrance up a 60ft+ cliff-face. Neither options are really ideal.

Further the CVR is a heritage line restricted to 25mph. So get on at Leek that adds roughly 45 minutes in each direction to your day, plus the challenge to enter AT - so call it 2 hours in total. And that’s from Leek, coming from Stoke you can add another 30 minutes in each direction which is 3 hours of travelling without being inside the park.

There's all the scaremongering dog walkers & horse riders who are set on instilling fear of recreating “Smokey Oakey” in Oakamoor - forgetting it was the old copper works that caused most of the pollution. Look at how they've managed to delay the Moneystones development by over 4 years! Whilst Oakamoor to Alton is a permissive path currently, the original road access bridge for Oakamoor has long since swept away in the river with the road now being diverted onto the old track bed. So that will need replacing before any track re-instatement is thought of.

Oakamoor tunnel is a protected habitat for bats nowadays, so that isn’t going to be easy to change as we can’t simply smoke them out.

There’s just too many challenges and impracticalities to ever make AT feasible, and most who believe otherwise are kidding themselves. SCC have been lukewarm in offering solid support, and AT aren't going to discourage use of their £5/day car park are they?

The CVR has more than enough potential with what it already has; Leek the largest town of population in the area / Moneystone with the future redevelopment of the former sand quarry into an outdoor holiday pursuits site - with lots of potential for a "green" transport corridor / returning to Cauldon and potential reopening of the Waterhouses spur. Get that all done and there’s enough to develop a varied business providing a multitude of services without the need for AT.

To answer the question of what’s easier, Stoke or Alton. Stoke is complete and is simply a mothballed line owned by NR, whilst Alton is a lifted line now in ownership of the Council. So Stoke should be relatively easy, if someone provides the finance. But NR have no interest currently, and CVR could never finance the whole 10 miles on their own and upgrade the signalling to connect with Stoke/Rugby. So until someone does cough up, maintain our focus on the three destinations above for which CVR already owns/controls the trackbed for and can re-instate at their leisure. We do have plans...

 

Very little I could add to the very valid points made above re-Alton Towers, perhaps just to say Alton Towers have a nice income stream from charging to park your car.....

Jon