Moorlands and City Railway

Isn't that in Yorkshire, not Staffordshire?

I'll get my coat...

Tom

 

Very good Tom - took me a while to spot my error even after you highlighted it. Now everyone, just try Googling Goole .......

 

I don't think you would get any steam loco much bigger than a j94 through Stockton Brook tunnel and that is with the track already lowered - and flooded.

 

What's your basis for this comment? Have you measured the clearances and/or are you privy to any surveys carried out by NR/MCR? If not then your post looks suspiciously like 'trolling'. If you have a problem with MCR, let's hear it.

 

And you really think those issues are not known about? Instead of living up to your name why not show support for the project. We've just provided some good news for this project despite what the naysayers have banged on about for ages, and yet people now look elsewhere to try and pick fault. And you then wonder why MCR don't provide updates themselves?

 

sounds very similar to someone we know Jon

 

I dont think the poster is that familiar with a j94. its a big loco for a shunter and where a J94 goes so will most others. Like others I wish MCR good speed with their project. We recently celebrated SVR to Bluebell. SVR to MCR would be a much more family friendly trip. SVR to Bluebell was a very early start with a late finish

 

A warm welcome awaits you Dave, and any others wanting to run tours in once the line is reopened

 

Sorry shelf if i have upset you, no i know nowt about any surveys or owt but i just thought the roof looked a bit low like, as it must be a good foot lower than in steam days. its not much further on from endon so hopefully we will find out for sure before very long, obviously it's good for a class 47 and no i do not know high a j94 is but i thought they were quite small and i did read once that princess elizabeth once damaged its chimney under a bridge on the main line because the track had been tamped.

 

Stockton Brook Bridge received repairs whilst still in use for Sand traffic, as did a number of other locations. All bridges though have been surveyed and work will be carried out as necessary when we get round to it. But as we haven't even got Endon services running yet it'll be a bit longer before we need to look at Stockton Brook!

6201 incident was because the ballast height was increased but the bridge profile was not updated. Separate thing that wont be allowed to happen here.

 

So no basis what-so-ever then actually, as you don't even know the dimensions of a J94 it appears. Comments like that are intensely frustrating for those of us who have stuck with the project through thick and thin and worked on the various branches in all weathers, particularly when we've just had some very positive news, then people like you pop-up and post stuff without substance that just encourage the other knockers to crawl out of the woodwork . I'll accept you apology this time, but just think before posting such nonsense in future please. You must think that the MCR board were born yesterday - I doubt Adrian Shooter would be much impressed for one http://www.mcrailways.co.uk/news/5020/adrian-shooter-joins-mcr.html

 

That sound a like a significant vote of confidence in the project.

Tom

 

Nobody is saying anybody was born yesterday and if you want some encouragement, i have say the railway looks a lot better at leek brook by the tunnel when i drive past and at cheddleton by the crossing since your veg clearance program.

 

If the plans for the Leek extension are available at a public exhibition is there any chance that they can be made available for viewing online?

 

It took a while to find it. The principal dimensions of a J94 (Hunslet Austerity) are

Height from rail to top of chimney - 12ft 1 1/2 in
Width - 8ft 2 1/2in
Wheelbase - 11ft
Weight in working order - 48ton 4cwt

This data is from a facsimilie of a Hunslet catalogue in Locomotives Illustrated 61 - Ian Alan October 1988

For comparison the height of a Bulleid coact is between 12ft 1in and 12ft 4 in> BR mk1s are probably similar

 

I had a gander at the plans yesterday. 89 houses are proposed, of various sizes and styles. The station being mooted is in a different place to the existing unused platform - at the northern point of the triangle, with the platform facing the line from Leek - I guess the reasoning behind this location is to allow boarders there to get on trains directly heading towards Leek, Stoke, and Froghall. The small station building would also include a small retail store - to service people living on the estate (and rail users of course!) When I asked about the main sewer underneath the trackbed to Leek, I was advised that it runs from the proposed new Leek station to just north of Birchall tunnel, and is positioned between three and four metres below the surface - contrary to the one foot or so that I've been led to believe for decades! If true, I don't think running fully loaded 10-car trains to Leek behind a 100 ton locomotive would be beyond the realms of possibility.

 

Speaking from the fortunate position of having driven both, I should point out that 6201 is substantially larger than a J94. IIRC Stockton Brook tunnel was originally double track. The recent photos reveal that it has been re-lined with brick and supporting steel, with the track now re-aligned into the centre. I went through it in the sixties on an 8F, later on the "Knotty Rambler" DMU special and later still on a Class 25 to Oakamoor. I don't recall any clearance problems.

 

I was led to believe it was relined with injected concrete in about 1977 presumably because of fears of increasing lorry weights.
We do know of course that diesel locos and MK1 are not a problem though.

 

There is a clip on one of Robert Cartright's Churnet Valley videos showing the original pipe supported on saddle brackets on the western side of the embankment before it was moved across. It was filmed out of a carriage window.

 

Think it was built to double track standard, but only ever saw use as single track. I'm led to believe the double track sections were Stoke - Milton Jcn, and Endon to LBJ.