Forthcoming events at Apedale

Following the success of May’s Tracks to the Trenches World War One themed event, the Moseley Railway Trust is pleased to confirm the events line-up for the remainder of 2016.

Aimed firmly at families with younger children, August 13 and 14 sees the Teddy Bear’s Outing weekend. We’ll be running steam train on both days – and children who bring a cuddly friend will get to travel free! There will also be a Bear Spotting Quiz, with small prizes for children who manage to spot all the bears on their journey to Apedale Road and back.

We are running steam trains again on all three days of the August bank holiday weekend. Sunday 28th is Classic Cars and Steam Trains day when the site will fill up with the dream rides of yesteryear. Young and old will enjoy the gleaming chrome and lovingly polished coachwork, whilst the sights and sounds of our steam locos will add noise and smells! We are also pleased to announce that this event will be supported with a real ale bar from Titanic Brewery (with soft drinks for the drivers!).

Our autumn enthusiasts event is the Steam Centenary Weekend, on October 8 and 9. This event will mark the 100th birthday of two of our steam locomotives – the Hudswell Clarke and the Kerr, Stuart “Joffre” loco. Apart from sharing the same year of construction, their subsequent careers had little in common; the Hudswell worked in Ghana before coming to a nasty end in a river during a rainstorm. Halfway across the world, the “Joffre” worked rather closer to home in a quarry in Northern France. The birthday boys will be supported by our other steam loco “Stanhope”, a mere stripling at just 99 years old. The fleet of internal combustion locos will be out performing, and it will be possible to visit our storage sheds.

Finally, October 29 and 30 sees the Halloween Spooky Specials, with things that go Bump in the night…..

For all of the events, entry will be by purchasing a train ticket – great value at just £2.50 adults, £1.50 children. Trains run from 1130 to 4pm – later into the night at Halloween.

Santa will, of course, visit the railway again in December – watch for more details.

Looking further ahead, May 13 & 14 2017 will see the Apedale Valley Light Railway’s annual steam gala; 2017 will see the centenary of Stoke-built steam loco “Stanhope”, the flagship of the AVLR fleet. The event will mark this anniversary, and will be focussed around a major exhibition of model railways. It is hoped that a model railway-led event will become a fixture in the Apedale calendar in years to come.

As ever, the team at Apedale would be pleased to hear from potential exhibitors at any of these events – get in touch at info@mrt.org.uk.

Regards,

Simon Lomax
Press & Publicity Officer