Moorlands and City Railway

Where does that leave Todmorden?

 

When the second tranche of RGF winners were announced late last year a lot was made of how few of the first tranche had actually seen any money - apparently because of the need to carry out 'due dilligence'.

Chris

 

I suppoose that the simplistic answer is "Nowhere near Foulridge"! Todmorden has not moved, nowhere moves but administrative boundaries change from time to time. Todmorden is in Yorkshire for what the Government grandly calls "ceremonial purposes" (anything involving the Lord Lieutenant or cricket eligibility) but is in Calderdale Metropolitan Borough for all practical purposes. Getting the relevant local authority is quite easy, one just looks on the OS 1:50,000 (which is of course online). Most of these changes took place 38 years ago but still haven't sunk in.

 

People with a Yorkshire birthright know. Yorkshiremen are born in the West Riding, East Riding, North Riding or the City of York. If you need to ask or consult a map, you were not born in God's Chosen County.

 

Sorry to be pedantic, but the two Foulridge reservoirs are, and always have been in Lancashire. The pre-1974 boundary was at a place called Sough on the road to Earby, but I remember that local residents actually dug up and moved the new road signs when they were inplanted on the North side of Earby by the Punch Bowl Inn. Bully for them! The reason the South reservoir was frozen over is that it was much shallower than the reservoir to the North on the other side of the road.
However, what is more important is that the Staffordshire Moorlands can in no way be said to be part of the English Midlands, and truly deserves to be honoured and recognised as part of the glorious and proud North of England!

 

A bold claim but, I think, not true. The border is somewhat debatable but the C.V.R. and M.&C.R. are both too far south. The local accents are distinctly Stoke-ish, for a start. No-one calls you "sugar" or "shoogs" in the North :smile:.

 

Try good old wikipedia for a definition of where the county boundaries of the midlands are en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlands_(England)

 

To drag things back to the point, the stations on the Cauldon Low Branch were always secondary to the quarry traffic. They either served insignificant little places like Bradnop or were nowhere near the places they were meant to serve like Ipstones. The two stations on the Waterhouses Branch might be of more interest. If it's impossible to restore through to Waterhouses (which would be the best), then what about a replacement for Cauldon Low Halt? There's nothing left of the original, which was all wood with a third-class carriage for a waiting room, so it would have to be started from scratch. Maybe it could be called "Yew Tree Halt" :smile:. Pie-in-the-sky, but an alcoholic can dream.

 

To drag things off course again (although I thought I was on the point anyway), the Yew Tree remains a work in progress for me - never seems to be open at knocking off time after the Wed p/way torture sessions

 

If a thriving "commuter" service is to prosper (how I hate that word), then a "drop of and ride/park and ride" service will be essential. I don't think there will be sufficient room for this at Leek, but I do think that either Bradnop, Leekbrook or maybe the site of Ipstones station could be ideal for this purpose. All these locations would avoid the heavy traffic congestion in Leek town centre (soon to be made much worse). There's also the possibility that quarry and cement workers would find a service useful. I think that MCR will be wanting to look at the various options once the basics are up and running. MCR have already stated their interest in a Waterhouses branch, as an extension to the station site is only a few hundred yards from the cement works, and this would provide a lovely summer service for the thousands of people who regularly enjoy the beautiful Hamps and Manifold valleys.

 

My statement wasn't a claim - it was an aspiration. In any case, people don't say "shoogs" in the Potteries - "duck" is the appropriate word. And you couldn't exclude the Geordies for calling each other "hinney" could you? The North Staffordshire dialect is derived from middle English, not Oxford English, and like other Northern dialects tends to decline its verbs in the correct fashion, as well as use the correct singular second person pronouns. I do admit, however, that the use of short vowels has been somewhat curtailed by outside influences, although this is equally true in Leeds and Manchester. My grounds for declaring affinity with the North are on the basis of altitude, attitude, topography, geography, geology and scenery, as well as the humour and temperaments of the Moorlands people.

 

Back on-topic chaps! I think I read somewhere that MCR will be renovating Endon station. Was I imagining it? Does anyone know who owns Endon Station at the moment?

Thanks,
Nigel

 

It's sad that Black Five 44767 George Stephenson has left the CVR prematurely. Due to defective weld repair. Apparently it will be withdrawn immediately while this and other repairs are carried out to enable it to qualify for Network Rail running.

I don't know where this leaves the Gala this weekend. Hopefully a replacement can be found at such short notice.

 

Look at the Galas area on this forum and the relevant thread, the arrangements and timetable are already on there. It looks good.

 

44767 is still at the railway, no final decision has been made by the owners of what/where the repairs will be carried out.
As for the gala it is now a 2 train operation with 5199 and 45379 as stated on the website and in the gala thread.

The remaining platform is to be restored as part of the re-opening. The platform is still owned by Network Rail, but I'm guessing the buildings were sold of as they are now in use by whatever is next door to the station (sorry I can't for the life of me remember what's there!).
CVR Latest News

 

Thanks.

Still a great pity though. I was looking forward to seeing the two B5's double-heading the run to Cauldon Lowe. Maybe this is still 'pictorially' possible? George running 'dead' behind 45379? Ah well....

 

Thanks for the information!

 

Good day at Cauldon today, ballasting the points and up to the buffers in readiness for the tamper coming through. Extra checking everything ready for the weekend running. Took some photos of the gang working plus one of the new ground frame. There has also been talk of the MCR showing interest in the old Waterhouses Station so have included a photo of this as well. Enjoy the track this weekend and think of the many manhours put in so you can have a good smooth ride.

 

Brilliant Jeff. Great to hear the loop will now be used so we can have steam both ways.

Pity that there is no access to Cauldon for some views of the run-round though.

 

Here is 5199's solo test run to Cauldon Lowe loop this evening (22nd Feb '12) with stock but with no loco on the tail end! 5199, first solo test run up Cauldon Lowe. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!