Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

Moorlands & City Railways took out a lease on the Cheadle branch and there was talk of reopening with diesel units. As others have stated, for various reasons, there is very little chance of there being a valid business case.

Back in the mid-eighties , just before Cheadle station was demolished, there was briefly a suggestion the North Staffs Railway Society might take on the Cheadle branch as they were at that time confined to Cheddleton yard.

Jon

 

Thanks Jon,
I see the context now

Mike

 

Yes - hats off to C& W team, they do a great job.

 

Of course I don't have any documentation to back up anything I say, but if you study the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council planning application ref number SMD/2014/0090. Study it very carefully, it will back up most of what I say.

 

That was not easy to find. To save others wasting time, the direct link is :- http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=51214 There's lots of interesting reading and a plans. Of course, as it says, the application has been withdrawn.

 

Who will want to live opposite a sewage works and its smells.

Also can anybody explain how all this set up works as there seams to be at least two parties involved with the Churnet Valley Railway who started of at Cheddleton Station, and took over the line to Oakamoor. Also there is now the Moorland & City Railway who seams to have the line from Stoke to Cauldon. So who own what or do either of them own the track bed etc, and how is the operating of it worked out as by reading these posts on here I am totally confused over it all.

 

Some of the CVR board members set up a company called MCR to lease the Stoke-Cauldon and Leek lines from Network Rail and operate a commercial railway.

CVR has free access to MCR routes until MCR opens.

MCR aims to link Leek to Stoke with passenger trains and Cauldon to the main line for freight trains.

CVR is in the process of buying the rails and sleepers currently on the MCR route for use, but not the trackbed itself. If/When MCR gets relaid the intent is to re-use this track elsewhere for heritage services.

Hope that's right.

 

People already live at Leek Brook, with an extension of the current housing estate being planned. MCR additional proposal is being reviewed at present and are to be resubmitted before the year is out. The proceeds from MCR development is to be used to finance the extension into Leek from Leek Brook Junction (roughly a 1mile extension North).

CVR PLC bought the Leek Brook Junction - Oakamoor Quarry line in the early 90s, and have operated along here since 1996.

MCR is a private company, set up to re-introduce commercial freight traffic between Stoke & Cauldon plus re-open the line into Leek and also the extension to Alton Towers South of Oakamoor. The 2x main men who set up MCR are directors on the 5-man CVR Board.

In 2010 MCR hired the CVR to operate a re-opening event on the Cauldon line between Leek Brook Junction and Cauldon Exchange sidings, following renovation work after they (MCR) took a 150-Year lease on the line from Network Rail. Talks are in-hand for a lease on the Leek Brook to Stoke line.

In 2011 CVR bought shares in MCR that now allows them to operate along MCR track free of charge (along with other benefits).

In 2013 MCR removed the track between Ipstones and Cauldon, with CVR re-instating the former passing loop at Ipstones as a run-round loop.

In 2014, CVR have launched an appeal to complete the purchase of the trackwork along the 5miles from Leek Brook to Ipstones. The trackbed is to remain under ownership of MCR, and once an agreement is reached with the quarries the track is to be upgraded at MCR cost. However due to LaFarge being up for sale talks have been put on hold for the moment.

 

Is lafarge up for sale or just cauldon jon? Last I heard cauldon is not up for sale now and another quarry is for sale as they want to keep cauldon which is better news for mcr I don't no? A new company may want to work with mcr more than lafarge but the current quarry only does tarmac and id be very surprised if that ever went by rail. But when I last went in there they had 25 years plus of rock to use if they wished which I'm sure would go by rail if they ever get a crushing plant back in which I'm sure new owners would want to do if it's for sale

 

I don't quite know, as it's all got a bit confusing.

The LaFarge and Tarmac quarrys were merged into the same company, and so the Monopolies Commission became involved. They eventually decided there was no issue (the minutes make very amusing reading!), but the Holdings company of this merger then put the quarrying side of their business up for sale.

However a couple of weeks ago LaFarge announced that the Cement works at Cauldon was to be exempt from the Holdings Company sale, as this works was being merged with Holcim (another Aggregates supplier).

Now is the "cement works" the one that goes across the former trackbed at Waterhouses, or is it the one at the end of the Cauldon Exchange sidings? Either way, I'm not sure myself whether this latest development means both sites are safe or just one with the second remaining up for sale.

 

Lafarge Tarmac's recent announcement referred to the "Cauldon cement works and associated assets" - which I'd take to mean the whole set up, rather than individual elements. It also included the phrase "potentially excluded" from the sale of the rest of the Lafarge Tarmac business - I guess they have to get a formal approval from the competition authorities before they can actually transfer Cauldon from Lafarge Tarmac to the new Lafarge - Holcim operation.

Another thought occurred to me yesterday - if you think about the "enormo-quarries" in and around the peak District (of course none are actually in the Peak National Park because the original boundaries were drawn that way deliberately) then the biggest are Tunstead (also Lafarge Tarmac, and the other quarry that they could have chosen to retain), Dowlow (lost track of who owns this one!), Pindale / Hope (previously Blue Circle then Lafarge as with Cauldon) and Hindlow (also Lafarge Tarmac, but to be sold off as part of the deal).

All of these are rail connected and all, (except I think Hindlow) send their finished product out by rail. Cauldon is the only enormo-quarry I can think of that doesn't use its rail connection (OK it needs relaying, we all know that). There's a great deal of pressure , from many angles, to get heavy freight back on rail and off the roads so I'd say that the odds on the quarry rail link coming back into use are pretty favourable.

 

Unless they are legally compelled to transfer freight to road it's a matter of cost, and depending on how the quarry's products are distributed whether a viable railfreight service is even possible.

Chris

 

Oooops, I forgot to mention Dove Holes quarry as well, also rail connected and also sending finished products out by rail although they also send stuff out by road. Lord knows I hear them coming past home in the morning!

Cauldon really does look like an outlier.

 

It is interesting to see how supportive Tarmac Lafarge have been to the Mountsorrel Railway project (branch off the Great Central), even though they have no intention of using that railway themselves.

"we are very grateful to Lafarge Tarmac who have provided most of the funding and some of the materials for the station build." http://mountsorrelrailway.blogspot.co.uk/

 

IIRC Originally it was mooted the Mountsorrel Railway was going to carry main line freight.

 

Evening all,

A few photographs now online from yesterdays Class 104 move to the East Lancs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frank47524/sets/72157648990897470/

She'll be missed!!

 

You'll be surprised. A whole housing estate down the road from me was built a few hundred yards from a sewage farm. It's aromatic in the summer but the houses sold and may of them were a tad up market.

 

The stone quarry is over the road bridge (which is shot) at the end of the Cauldon sidings. The cement works is down the old Waterhouses line. Now you could deliver cement to the exchange sidings by pneumatic conveyor, but assuming they'd want to bring the coal for the kilns in by rail as a 'return load' I don't know if that would be as 'conveyable', so it might be necessary to relay the branch. Of course that is another part of our dream - to reconnect a passenger service to Waterhouses to serve the Leek & Manifold bike and walking trail.

 

Cue rich townies demanding in the local press that the sewage works be closed! (Or can those sort of people bizarrely put up with the smell of human 5hit, but somehow not the smell of steam locomotives or the sound of church bells? )

 

You missed off cockerels crowing.