East Midlands Railway Trust/GCR (Nottingham)

Nice to see the more regular updates but it would be good to have some more information as to when running will properly start.

 

It's nice to see that things are still happening at Ruddington, to be honest, considering the last few years.

 

On the GCR(N) website there is this which appears to be happening on the 6th August....

"Catch a free vintage bus from the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre at 11am, midday, 1pm and 2pm to Rushcliffe Halt station to see the incredible restoration progress.

buses return at half past the hour."

 

In the early days that might well have been the case.

But given they have put so little time (myself and the team have put significant time in and got it to where it is before internal spats kicked off) and money into the building, then it looks like its being used for something more specific to the railway (but yet again, we get told nothing!).

And yes, only four coaches (two on each road) with an area in front and behind them for working.

I have to say the actual thought that went into the original planning years ago is questionable, as there is little room around the coaches when in the building to get work done on them (no5 is also 'tight' but the size of that was determined by the size of the trusses from the original Boots building which it came from), if it had been further away from No3 it would have been so much better (even 1m or so!) but, we are where we are

 

Thanks for your input Mark, it is good to read from someone actually involved.

 

...and there's more.......
https://gcrn.co.uk/node/30

 

That is good news and the increasing activity will, I'm sure, see additional volunteers to the GCR(N).

 

Not home and dry yet though- see https://gcrn.co.uk/node/32

£15,000 still to raise. Well, unlike the A60 bridge, at least there's an obvious appeal to donate to. I do hope this is indicative of the Railway moving on from merely bemoaning how it needs to invest in its infrastructure and actually moving on to telling us supporters how we can be of assistance.

 

There is another update on the GCR(N) S & T website with good news about the Hotchley Hill signal box. There is also more work taking place at Ruddington so the steady progress there is spreading wider - which is very good news!

 

My daughter just got a place at Nottingham Trent University, so I hope to be able to make regular visits to Ruddington over the next few months and years.

 

Well done to your daughter...I'm sure you will see great positive changes to her ....and the GCR(N) over the next few years!

 

The latest Driving Wheels announces that test trains have been operated/ operating between the Heritage Centre and 50 Steps Bridge since late July, which is I think a great achievement from the situation a few years ago. Things are certainly going in the right direction it seems.

 

Yes. Various promising things talked about in driving wheels, including the resumption of work on no.4 shed. Just a shame, as always, that there was no publicity or communication about it to volunteers or the public around or shortly after the date of these things and the first we heard about it was nearly a month later...

 

Off the top of my head, the article indicates trespass incidents on the line from the Asher Lane crossing to 50 steps, which needs addressing before running recommences, including more community awareness (apologies if I miss-quote, I’m at work and my copy of Driving Wheels is at home).

It’s still wonderful that they’ve got back to a position where they can try some test runs-lots of hard work I’d guess!!! Thanks and good luck to them!

 

New Video about the 16 year carriage shed construction......



(not that they mention it was started circa 2007......)

 

Progress only stopped previously as the Trust(s) would not fund the next stage of work (circa 6K for concrete to the flooring)

 

Thanks for posting Johann - I'm sure the £15K to finish it off will be raised quickly.

 

How about the various AMnning Wardle locos that have ledt recently?

 

One has gone to Workshop X. I sincerely hope this means we get to see some of them back in action.

 

Workshop X?