Moorlands and City Railway

Does anyone know if MCR have actually received RGF money? There's been some controversy about the fund and the time its taking to go through the due dilligence process.

Chris

 

I emailed Michael Murphy about the village green application. The current intention, unless there is a fresh development, is for the application to be considered by the Countryside and Rights of Way Panel on the 9th November 2012. The agenda will be published on-line along with all material to be considered (e.g. application, evidence, comments, Mr. Murphy's report) in due course.

The panel's homepage is Committee details - Countryside and Rights of Way Panel

Watch that space!

 

Does this impact the start date for heritage trains running to Endon, in any way?

 

What a difference a week makes. After a mild morning the afternoon bought constant rain as our small gang did the linewalk from Apesford Level Crossing to Cheddleton Level Crossing, got slightly wet. The bigger gang went with the 33 working down the Valley from Froghall to Cheddleton doing routine maintenance. Hope they managed to keep drier than we did.
Just the one photo of a wet Leek Brook and one of Tamworth Castle in Cheddleton Yard in readiness for the Diesel Gala.

 

Whilst determination of the village green application is entirely legalistic, with no "merit" input, a little demonstration never does any harm. If the track is fit, it would be useful for the company to run celebration specials to Endon prior to 9 November, with appropriate welcoming festivities from the local residents.

 

I believe a recent photo charter has been active on that section of track; what consequence that will have on the legal argument is yet to be seen.

 

Strictly speaking, it will have no impact.....but there's no such thing as bad publicity. A real train full of real people just helps to make the village green claim that little bit more outrageous.

 

In that case why don't MCR run weekly one-off trips up there to gain familiarity? Maybe each Wednesday. Maybe asking the media to report on them too.

 

Because the track is presently not up to scratch for passenger carrying trains. I'm sure the PWay team will be grateful though if people want to come down and help change this.

 

Oh. Though the photo-charter was populated. Obviously not.

Wish I could help but for various reasons I am unable to. Always think about you doing a good job though. Very tiring that is too.

 

Surely the relevant point was that a train ran along the line - what type of train is surely irrelevant in the context that the railway line was used by a train within the prescribed period thus negating the claim to make the track a public access.

 

The weather was better than forecast yesterday as the gang split into 3 groups to ensure that all the track was ready for the gala this weekend. One group did around the Leek Brook area, one in Cheddleton yard and the third group took the 04 to fettle the track between Consall and Froghall. So all those coming have a good ride and a good day. Just a couple of photos of the 04 yesterday and the 20 in Cheddleton yard.

 

Indeed, run some works trains, shunt some stock around - anything to make it beyond all doubt that the line is operational.

 

I cant remember seeing this local press article mentioned before - "Rail plan on track despite cash quest"

Despite the news that initial services to Endon will be hopefully be running "within six to nine months", there's little else to cheer about - apparently the RGF grant of £1.65m will only be available 'once the project is up and running', and even then will only make up a small part of the sizeable £8m they expect reopening the line for freight will cost. Apparently they are looking for funding from banks "or more likely a pension fund".

Chris

 

This is just a wild guess, but I suspect fundraising efforts through whatever channel are currently blighted by that pending village green application. If you were a bank and someone was trying to get you to lend money on a scheme which could be stopped in its tracks (groan...) by an application which might succeed, no matter how unlikely, would you lend the money anyway or wait for the outcome of the application? Perhaps the scheme will go roaring ahead once the application is dismissed. It is due to be presented for consideration in early November so there is not much longer to wait. Apologies but the exact date has slipped my memory at this time of night.

 

Im sure it doesn't help but i expect the problem is a lot more fundamental - they need to produce a viable business case to attract investors which will be no mean feat based purely on charging freight trains to use the line, and arguably impossible without a long term commitment from Lafarge. Going by what the company has said so far that seems unlikely.

Chris

 

Indeed! This project has always seemed heavily laden with a "wouldn't it be nice" philosophy.

P.H.

 

The challenge the directors of MCR face is a daunting one and arguably the greatest so far in the heritage railway history. To reopen so much standard gauge railway without the sort of initial private financial backing that the WHR had is a massive ask.
The costs are all up front and really wothwhile revenue won't come in until regular services restart ideally with freight.
The WHR reopened a bit of railway, restarted regular services so they were hopefully self financing and also built up their operation and business base. Then they opened the next bit and built up revenue and capacity a bit more. Irregular special trains dont do that and indeed might well start to decline after the novelty has worn off.
The scale of losses shown in the accounts shows the pressure. It appears the plan was to revalue the assets after they were aquired and as they are refurbished and borrow against them. That might have worked before 2008 but is looking a very hard sell now unless some clearly reliable revenue streams are identified.

 

Another wet day down the valley today split into 2 groups one doing the line walk from Froghall to Cheddleton the other working at Consall. The Consall group were doing some jacking and packing in the loop and also on the south points. We had lunch together in the waiting room on platform 2 and 33021 came down on an education day. It looked good with the window frames in black and as you can see from the photos the train spotters of the 50s and 60s really enjoyed it. Still kids at heart eh.

 

Nice bright day today just one short shower, 2 teams again, drew the short straw and stayed at Chedd to do some tidying up and trying to find the parts for a hydraulic rail bender in the yard, found the parts but they were from 2 different designs, back to the drawing board.The other team went for a jolly up the Cauldon line. Just some photos of the yard, but I observed the testing of the air pump for the S160 in the shed, seemed to be working well, so hopefully we will be able to dispense with the diesel shortly.