CVR and Cauldon Lines

The buffer stop was removed from Leekbrook on Monday and rails laid to allow access of a flailer to the Caldon Line and it is laid on a permanent basis. The flailer has now cleared up to bridge 4 and has done the worst part of the line for trees and bushes.

 

Sounds good - can you tell us a bit more about the significance of this?

 

The Moorlands City Railway has a long term lease on the Leekbrook to Cauldon line and is in negotiating to lease the Stoke to Leekbrook line and is working closely with the CVR for mutual benefit. How it will work out is at the moment has not been released but at least things are starting to happen.

 

This was the line at leekbrook junction with the buffer stop in place. this has now been removed and the track re joined with the line which is from stoke to cauldon low quarry. Which lies hidden in the back of the picture from the left to the right. Straight ahead is the line which will be (with luck) put back to leek which actually forms a triangle to the right just here at the junction which will one day be put back in so locomotives can be turned.

work started by the p-way gang on the points

 

The entire junction looked like this.

Then after a couple of wednesdays later

 

This is today after the flailer has been down. it does make a real mess of the line



and some work done by S&T


For those of you with Facebook more pics are on here: http://www.facebook.com/editphoto.p...cess=5&failure=0#!/group.php?gid=168488233307
Still lots of work to be done but it all will be good in the end.

 

Ah ha - al isr klar! Was at the CVR for the 40's w/e - excellent do. We also drove up over the moors and saw the Cauldon branch - you'd get some great views up there I'd guess. Leek would be a terminus looking at Google earth, and the triangular junction is with the Cauldon branch on the right, with the Stoke line trailing in from the left?

 

Yes that is exactly right. Best place to view is from google earth, you get a good sense of the triangle. the one thing you dont get tho is the incline from leekbrook junction to cauldon. This is (from what i have been told 1 in 29) and will really be a good chalange for locos. Looks brill when your standing there. So make sure your on the fisrt trains on the line when ever it is ready to be run on. Hopefully this year!!!

 

Tempted to join you on the project, not reclaimed a line from the wilderness for quite some time. Is there plenty more work on, or will it be a bit stop-start?

 

Sheff, Unfortunately this is a commercial venture by MCR and professionals are doing the flailing, drains ect. but you're more than welcome to help the pway on the CVR you do not know what it might lead to.

 

There is another 6 or so miles towards cauldon to look at then when thats done there is the line from leekbrook junction to stoke to cut down. So if MCR runs out of money doing it and the cvr pway team has spare time there may be some involvement

 

Is there a MCR website - I can't find one via Google?

 

No i dont think there is one, There was a page on the churnet valley website which just explains about the company but not to much about it. It also shows their plans to go to alton aswell
http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/mcr/index.htm

 

I walked this line many years ago and it had been flailed then,I believe if you travel straight across Leek junction from the CVR there are about 4 or 5 sidings hidden in the overgrown jungle where they used to stable the sand wagons (5th picture from the top) and the line that goes left in that picture runs down towards the water treatment plant to a buffer stop but looked like at one time it used to carry on under a bridge and into the distance,also if I remember there is a loop at the Cauldon Low end and plenty of space for more sidings/station although it aint a place to be on a windy cold day,lol,Talk about luck,the CVR will basically be handed another railway and mainline connection on a plate,lucky sods,lol

 

For the benefit of anyone still trying to picture the multiple lines that have been illustrated and discussed, a useful track plan is available here on the CVR website.

The current CVR operation comes in from the right and a run round loop has been constructed where signal 36 on the diagram is. The cauldon line branches off to the top left (in the diagram) and the stoke line comes in from bottom right. The lifted line to Leek would have carried on beyond the buffer stop on the left in the diagram.

Gav106's pictures should match up with the following on the diagram: The 3-way point in the 2nd image is point 11/17; The junction to cauldon in the 4th image are points 31 & 32; and the signal in the last image is signal 3.

Although most of the signals are gone, I believe the track layout is unchanged from the box diagram, so there are indeed sidings both in the triange (the fan of sidings is not shown entirely in the diagram but point 17 is where they link up with the "main line") and a couple more on the stoke line.

Also of interest are the gradient profiles, which suggests for the start of the cauldon line a section of 1 in 45 followed by a far more relaxing 1 in 50! The one for Leekbrook-BIS Oakamoor (the current CVR) looks like a pancake in comparison!

Another image showing whats underneath the undergrowth viewed from the signal box here.

Hopefully that's been of some use, the links have all come from the excellent NSRC collection of all the CVR stations at www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/photo_gallery6.htm

 

It is true that the flailing is being carried out by contractors however there have been upto 10 CVR volunteers working daily with the contractors helping to clear the large trees etc that the flailer can not get through.

If you are interested in joining the CVR then call down to the shed either mid week or a weekend there will be regular volunteer work taking place on the extension as well as keeping on top of the current operations on the CVR.

The whole of line should be cleared so that the track can then be inspected in detail by the middle of June 2010.

The gradient is not quite as steep as the 1 in 29 stated.

The intial gradient on the curve leaving Leekbrook and onto the Cauldon Lowe section is 1 in 45 and lasts for 2 miles. This then eases off to 1 in 50 for approx 4 miles before the line reaches the summit and drops down hill to the end of the line for 2 miles with the gradient at 1 in 40.

Regards

Chris

 

I'm still very confused with regards to this Moorlands scheme. I was under the impression the CVR intended to extend both to Caldon and to Alton one day; did they just give up on the former destination? Could they not afford to buy the trackbed or something? And why are CVR volunteers helping with clearing the line now? Nobody seems to actually know the answers to these questions (as of the last time I pondered it anyway)...

 

With respect the people who need to know the answers at the moment know them - all will be revealed in the next few months.

Regards

Chris

 

Well done the MCR and CVR

Good to see a strategic hands on aittude before the environmentals could get in place and start bleating about the silver birch "weeds"

 

To put the record straight on the gradient of the Caldon Lowe line please see attached the gradient profile for the line.

The CVR joins the Caldon Lowe line at Leekbrook Junction North and will run all the way to the run round loop at Caldon Quarry.

Regards

Chris