Moorlands and City Railway

Don't get me wrong- I totally agree that the CVR would appear to gain from the proposals and good luck to them. And good luck to Moorlands & City Railway- I'm sure that freight contracts will be gained and other aspects of the scheme will move on from there.

As for the Alton Towers rail link my question remains whether it would be viable, and genuinely present the answer to Alton and the surrounding area's traffic problems.

It would not make the traffic situation worse , and so every little helps, and I'm sure it would get more than 2% of the trade, but how much? Too often rail schemes are bandied around as the 'green' solution to every transport challenge when they really offer only some benefit. I'm not sure that for Alton Towers (unlike Norden for Swanage) the scheme necessarily provides the convenient mainline connection and/or ample park & ride facillities to really address the issue.

 

Agreed. It is a great pity that much of the southern end of the CVR has been built over, imagine a park and ride next to the A50 at Uttoxeter.

 

Don't mourn for things that can never be.Be happy for the fact that there is the prospect of a large part of this line being returned to use.As a local resident to this area I am over the moon that we are highly likely to be connected to the national network.

 

I recall going to Alton Towers on the train in the 1950s. I'm pretty sure the main platforms held 12 LMS coaches and that there was a bay on the non-Towers side which held 10. There was another exit, different to the one in the photographs. It was very wide with metal barriers, similar to the dividers at a football stadium, to cater for a train stopping and dropping off 800 people.

 

Platforms are all still there, including the bay. I think the metal barriers have gone now as I didn't see them though they were on the platform there is no public access to. However wouldn't take too much to put back.

The bigger issue be at Leek where there is a supermarket on the old station grounds.

 

I believe the idea at Leek is to build a new station on the site of the old cattle market, south of the original station.

 

For those interested in how the section of line being discussed looked in the 60's and earlier, the North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSRC) has a large and interesting gallery on the CVR's Website:

http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/photo_gallery6.htm

You can see Leek (now a supermarket!), Oakamoor and Alton stations from the links off this page.

 

This will be a massive task and will need major surgery, I have permission to walk these lines and photograph their present state. Yesterday I only managed to cover around 3 miles in 4 and a half hours..! (the section from just outside Cauldon Lowe, to the crossing at Cooks Hollow) Many parts have thick trees growing bewteen the rails, the rails are all there but often cannot be seen. I was also suprised at the number of small bridges, allowing farm access or drainage channels to pass under. A couple of sections were so flooded and overgrown I could not pass through and had to climb the embankment. Once I have completed the project I will make all the pictures available to the M&R so hopefully they will be accessible to everyone online. Wish me luck..!!!

 

"La Farge are a major aggregates producer, and we are talking Plc not people here. Couple this with coal traffic inbound and the only problem will no doubt be the flat earth global warmers, who will object to carbon footprint or something else that the soap dodgers object to."

Ahhh another one of those Climate Change sceptics....what an idiot!!!!

 

...as interesting as that debate can be, may i suggest its not carried it out in this thread. It really has very little if any relevance to MCR.

 

In fact I would hardly say that I was "carrying on the debate" but I was commenting on the potential environmental issues surrounding any potential traffic flows.

Kind regards,

Aidan

 

Mention La Farge and watch the soap dodgers gather!

If they are the prime potential traffic its a dead cert

 

2 posts and both attacking another member, very Troll like behaviour...

Much as the Hippies would like to think so, the world is not yet capable of running itself off a tiny little Windmill and a Solar Panel (with British cloud!), hence things like this are needed until that time, would you prefer 20 + Lorries a day thundering through the Staffordshire Villages ?, rail is a far more sensible way of of moving the load seeing as it will be moved one way or another seemingly.

The Soap Dodgers are their own worst enemy anyway to be honest, All the millions of cars in Britain (most of them conveniantly forgetting to mention they own one) making pollution and instead of addressing the problem, choose to give the Avon Valley a graffitti problem, unable to organise a round in a Brewery and drop in the ocean come to mind!.

How about putting your energy into finding 'Green' resources that actually work large scale than continually bleating about a Country which has people and an economy to consider which they completly ignore when making their demands, MCR's scheme is the most sensible way of moving heavy freight around, a 66 is a damn sight greener than a procession of lorries.

 

Is anyone else as puzzled as I am? Isn't this a bit random - nothing on this thread for 8 months, and then this? Please explain.

 

Looking at the posters join date, just a post on a thread they had a view on ?

 

A very thoughtful and well-worded approach... assuming you ignore the countless numbers of self-sufficient homes across the UK and other countries. I suggest you bookworm up on sustainable energies and the actual, real methods available before spewing your Top Gear-esque blinded view of the reality of the situation.

 

Probably knitted that response going by the posters name

 

As someone that has a keen interest in the environment,does not eat meat or dairy produce,has solar panels and grows their own food(So I am guessing that I fall into the catagory of a soap dodging flat earther to many of the older posters on here),I find it baffling that I would be considered to be in a group of people that would be against this project.Quite the reverse.I think that you will find that most environmentalists would back this project.The only people that are against this are the middle class nimbys' along the route who stand to lose the garden extensions that now encroach on to the trackbed.
I feel that as I work in the same industry as Lafarge I should point out that they will still be using coal but to a lesser degree.Substitute fuels such as tyre chips,MBM and SRF can only be used to a certian degree before they alter the chemistry of the cement.However I think there is very little hope of these alternative fuels being delivered by rail.
This post has neither been knittted or constructed in anyway from recycled materials!

 

But it is painted red - by a veggie - nuff said