Moorlands and City Railway

Yesterday went on our New Years Annual Picnic unfortunately it rained slightly and so we ended up having it in Bradnop tunnel. We also did some work on the line going up there on the sleeper trolley at a steady 5mph. Anyhow a belated Happy New year to you all and here are a couple of photos from yesterday unfortunately not the best quality but will give you a flavour of a good day .

 

A photographic journey, taken along the line and trackbed from Kingsley & Froghall railway station to Denstone; calling at Oakamoor and Alton along the way.

[video=youtube;Kr2IhriIKrk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr2IhriIKrk[/video]

 

cjh - that is a really good way to portray the trackbed and to see what is still there, excellent job!

Cheers
Martin

 

Most enjoyable and informative. Thanks for posting. Ray.

 

Well let's hope that 2013 brings some progress on this project. There is certainly a lot that has been achieved so far. Unfortunately a lot of money and work is still needed to get to Stoke let alone to Alton.

 

I notice that at Denstone, the village hall is adjacent that, with the adjoining field, could provide a car park and the bus stops there too. Is that the idea?

 

My understanding is that MCR would eventually like to restore the track up to Alton (for access to Alton Towers). Alton station is currently privately owned (rented out for holidays I think), so they may have to build a new station. They wouldn't restore the line to Denstone.

MCR want to restore the line from Leekbrook to Stoke first though; there's a Photographic Journey relating to this on my YouTube channel: cjh30003's channel - YouTube

 

MCR are re-opening Cauldon Lowe to Stoke via Leek Brook Junction with the aim of restoring a full freight service.

CL to LBJ has been done so CVR heritage services can operate.

LBJ to Stoke is hoped to be completed over the next 12 - 18 months. It will start with LBJ to Endon, which has already been cleared but needs further track work before any full opening.

Once this is done, the aim is to re-open North from LBJ to Leek to extend CVR services and also for MCR to provide a Leek - Stoke commuter service. This requires a new station however & MCR are currently in talks over finding a suitable site.

The third extension is South from Kingsley & Froghall to Alton Towers via Oakamoor to connect with the Theme Park. There are no plans to go any further South than this. The original Alton Station is owned by The Landmark Trust as a holiday home, and so if an agreement with them cannot be met then it is likely a new station will be built further South. However this is still to de decided so we can only wait for an official announcement.

There are currently no plans to extend further South than Alton.

 

There did not seem to be any obstruction to Denstone. Is it just an uninteresting place to go to? It looked very pretty on GE and SV.

 

What you have to remember is that the MCR is a commercial railway so it's therefore looking what will put bums on seats. Denstone is a nice village but nothing special therefore not profitable to lay track into.

 

A very misty day at Bradnop today, concentrated with chainsaws on clearing the old siding area and the platform which we worked on on Saturday. The old coal yard does not belong to the railway but we have access rights.We cleared all the trees out to expose the old retaining wall and it seems to be in good order.

 

A cold snowy day today where most trackside work would have been impossible or very difficult. Concentrated instead on burning some of the debris from the tree felling that has happened over the past few months at Bradnop - but there is still plenty to go at

 

Sorry I didn't make it today, a bit to cold for me, dread to think how cold it was up there. Hope the bonfire was bigger than showed on the photo, we could be up there for weeks getting rid of all that brushwood. Did you and the gang get a sweat on?.

 

What's the latest anticipated date for the Endon runs? Anyone know?

 

Get yourself a chrystal ball, and then you can tell us all.

 

Spotted on Stoke-on-Trent City Council Facebook page today:

Structural maintenance works to the rail and river bridges at the A52 Bucknall Road start this week.
The bridges are close to the Bucknall Road/Leek Road and Dividy Road/Bucknall Road junctions.
The works include replacing the defective bridge deck waterproofing and movement joints and carrying out concrete repairs to the rail bridge. Along with parapet upgrade works and joint replacement works to the river bridge.
GallifordTry have been appointed by Stoke-On-Trent City Council to carry out the construction work which is expected to take 10 weeks to complete.
The improvements will be carried out in a phased manner and lane restrictions will be in place throughout the works to allow so continuous traffic movements as the works progress.
Every effort will be made to keep delays and disruption to a minimum, however, there will inevitably be some delays to traffic.
Motorists are advised to allow more time for their journey, drive carefully through the works or use alternative routes where possible.
​

Is this the start of the push into Stoke?

 

Looks like it is just the Council/Highways maintaining the road bridges over river and rail.