Moorlands and City Railway

Slightly wrong there we were only doing the preparation on the sleepers removing the screws and digging out the sleeper ends . The main work will be done at the weekend. I wish we could work that quickly but you know what an oap gang are like.

 

You're right about the screws - all persuaded out manually with a pair of T-bars as the petrol wrench decided not to play. Sleepers however will be hoicked out by the sleeper changer at the w/e, but drilling the new sleepers and screwing down the chairs will be fun if no improvement on the mechanisation front!!

 

We went back up to Cauldon today and may I say what an excellent job the joint Mpd/P/way had done over the weekend. They had artic conditions up there, at least it was mild for us today. All the sleepers had been changed and all but nine of them drilled and screwed up, there were odd holes and a couple of missing and broken chairs to be done as well. These we did, but having no mechanical way of screwing them up had once again to use the t bar, which was a struggle. Certainly worked up a bit of a sweat today but its all been worth while. Roll on Endon then Stoke.

 

Just an update on the p/way another Permequipe has arrive on the line for use on the extention. A bit of work is required to get it in working order, Work has already started on it exchanging the engine, it hopefully will be ready to assist the work to be done towards Endon. A couple of photos of it in as unrestored condition.

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I hope the inside's in better nick than the outside,:laugh:

 

Had a nice walk around Consall today doing a few small jobs including changing sleepers. Very interesting was near where we were working was a derelict steel slitting watermill powered by the Churnet. This can only be seen from the line in winter when all the undergrowth has died down. The wooden vertical shaft is still there as is a wonderful vaulted ceiling. We then went to look at some carved stones with NSR on them ,they were on the other side of the Churnet about half way up a wooded incline, we thought they were boundary stones but were not sure as they were quite a distance from the line. Walking back to Consall we met the Civils gang at the station who suggested that there may have been a inclined tramway there. They also said there was a boundary stone inside the boundary fence at The Black Lion and sure enough there was exactly the same. All the times I had been there I'd not seen it . Some photos of both the mill and the stones to follow the 3rd stone photo is the one in the pub grounds. Also 2 photos taken today of the S160.

 

Blimey - this stuff is incredible! Perhaps we should consider some historical walks so we can find out more about it. Perhaps you've stumbled onto the remains of the Consall Plateway. I think this went all the way to Longton, and dates back to the 18th century. According to R. Keys, "a little way beyond (Consall station), a row of cottages on the right indicate the terminus of the Consall plateway, originally built to feed coal traffic to the canal, and later diverted to serve the railway". Mr. Podmore has restored a short length of track at Consall Hall, which is worth seeing. I also think there was a very rare old haystack boiler hereabouts, that was "rescued" (by someone in Manchester, I think). Back in the 18th century, the Consall valley was a hive of industry, mainly due to the use of charcoal for metal refining, and what looks like natural woodland simply isn't, because every scrap of timber back then was taken for charcoal. It was the burning out of the original timber which caused the decline of this industry.
I've always felt there was much more interesting stuff around here, and it's certainly worth preserving, and there's obviously a lot with railway interest.
I'm sure all the other "preserved" railways in the country would give their eye teeth for a fraction of our historical potential, and we really should be making a lot more of it.

 

I've never spotted those stones before. Judging by the flint mill in the background, the stone on the incline is on the footpath up to Hazles. I'm not sure that this path was ever a tramway, although there were certainly others in the area. None of the sources in my Churnet Valley-related "library" have it as one, although the other footpath/incline, leading off from the bridge over the river, definitely was one. It served a number of coal and ironstone mines on Far Kingsley Banks.

 

You could be right, our guide one of the pway gang and a well known local walker, said this was one five he knew about. The first one by the footpath was lost in a landslip and the woods were so wet and slippy we only went to the next one but the position did not suggest it went straight up the hill but more on a diagonal. I did wonder if it could be some sort of marker for mineral rights but then why would one be right by the Black Lion? Will have to wander around another time when the ground is drier but there again might not be able to get through the undergrowth.

A few more photos of the Mill.

 

You need to find a copy of the original NSR line plan - Have a word with Basil or the NRM. Railway boundaries often extended a long, long, way beyond lineside fences, and boundary marker stones are quite a regular occurence.

I have seen LNW, L & Y and M S L stones still validly marking title in the middle of adjacent fields many times - and put a stop to possessory title claiims and never lost one -accordingly.

 

I see from the CVR website that work to extend to Endon is about to start.

 

I presume that's current, despite the 26 Jan 2011 date. Looks like more hard labour for us p/way boys then

 

What are the plans for Station Road at Endon?

 

MCR must be confldent that they have a good case else why would they issue a statement at this time. Talks are also going on with Network Rail about the method of crossing the road. I would think whatever they agree to it would also apply to the crossing at Birches Head.

 

It does no-one any good to suggest that some form of permission, such as planning permission where the decision maker has a degree of discretion to excercise, is needed for these crossings. It is always going to be a matter of restoration of use being as of right once the relevant technical requirements are met. The starting point would surely be re-instatement of the arrangements in existence back in the Railtrack days, modified as necessary to meet current HMRI (I know that they're now in the HSE) standards.

One solution that I would certainly not advocate is that adopted by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway at Idridgehay where an AOCL has been changed to manual gates. They look nice but the delay on train movements and on (the admittedly minimal) road traffic is a retrogade step. Unfortunately Endon is one of those places that could not really be replaced by a bridge even if funding were available because continuity of the road either side is essential to the local community. I may be wrong but I have always thought that simple warning signs and flagmen would be sufficient for construction traffic.

 

Esentially that is what the Wensleydale do to this day when running all the way from Northallerton - but to return any form of normal traffic, the provision of real crossing equipment must be a concept of nightmare proportions.

 

Why do you say that Frank?

 

[FONT='lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Photos from todays Cauldon Lowe operating: [/FONT]MCR/CVR 29th Jan 2012 - a set on Flickr
all taken from public land!! ​