Mountsorrel Heritage Centre

A few photos from Mountsorrel today.

The tank wagon shown at the top of the previous page now looks like this....



Main attraction today was a gauging run of the NER Autocar along the branch which was used as a special train for volunteers/supporters at the Heritage Centre.

Arriving at Nunckley Hill...



After careful checking, it continued to the end of the line at Mountsorrel Halt....



The restricted clearances under the bridge by the Heritage Centre currently prevent the normal DMU services to operate beyond that point, so this could be the only train to reach the end of the line this year.

Work is well underway to install the first of the points which will lead into the workshop area...



A trailing point is still to be installed between the newly installed left hand turnout and the workshop. This will eventually provide a spur track to go over the lifting bridge, once that has arrived and been restored....



A general shot of the first track parts inside the workshop. Once constructed properly, the floor area will all be concreted in....



There is quite a lot planned in the way of developments at the Centre, as long as finance is raised.
Next item of rolling stock on the cards to be restored seems to be an LMS box van, and another standard gauge steam loco will eventually appear, presumably once all the trackworks have been completed and stock rearranged!

 

By a process of elimination, this might be the next wagon that they are going to restore...
http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=7237
Only 2 LMS vans (with chassis) appear to be on the GCR, and one has already been restored by Quorn Wagon & Wagon.

 

Good photographs and detailed update (I was well beaten!) Thanks Johann!

 

I do know the identity of the loco that has been promised from the Snibston storage site, but I don't really want to identify it until the Heritage Centre make it public themselves. However, as cryptically mentioned in one of the photo captions above, the ex Leicester area canal lift bridge (or rather, the metal parts of it..) which was also at Snibston, and prior to that Abbey Pumping Station, is planned to be re-erected (with new wood) at Mountsorrel sometime in the future as well.

 

The Mountsorrel running this weekend has been cancelled according to the GCR website - due to Coronavirus situation....

 

The Heritage Centre and "Granites" are still open at the moment, but how long for is anyones guess. As the coffee shop provides the funds for keeping the place open (and free admission to the site..) any closure of that operation will have a major effect on the site. Hopefully some support may be forthcoming from the Govt. if they are forced to close, given the nature of the business.....

 

Against the gloom, doom and despondency that seems to pervail at the moment, work is actually continuing on installing the new trackwork at Mountsorrel.
Thanks to Steve Cramp for the photo....



No doubt they would still appreciate donations for all the work going on there at the moment.........

 

Great to see the progress!

 

Given the current climate, it is good to highlight some things that are going on out there. At least some of their their volunteers are carrying on, with allowances for any health problems that may arise, rather than the blanket "we're shut, don't bother turning up for the duration..." that I received in an e-mail from my local museum - "Alles Geschlossen" (which I have supported for 42 years...). As Mountsorrel are 140 mlies away from me, they can at least rely on the £££ aspect, rather than physical help!
The money (donations) aspect is equally applicable to other railways at this moment in time. Do you want them to survive? If so, Its's time to break out the chequebook... (assuming you can afford it)

 

I totally agree and if we all donated the money that we would have spent visiting, our railways will survive.

Just a point though, there is an On Line Donation via the GCR website which is very easy to use but the Mountsorrel Branch requires cheques to be posted......not so convenient these days. Could they somehow "Piggy-back" onto the GCR system?

 

I've ended up doing my (largeish) donations directly to Mountsorrel, though the"general" stuff should go via the DCRT side of things, accordingly annotated to the Mountsorrel Heritage Centre. At least I have a nice stockpile of cheques at the moment, and all the ones I have written have seen a fairly rapid rate of return, unlike other preservation schemes!

 

Hi Johann
I am intrigued by your "fairly rapid rate of return"......I presume this is where you see the money being put to use and progress being made in terms of track laid, bridges built or locomotives returned to steam?

 

Yes - Restoration workshop erected.
How I became involved is a rather long story, and not really for this forum.
Other schemes I have donated to elsewhere have taken ages, or not actually been finished yet......

 

There is a posting on their website to mark 4 years since they first opened to the public....
http://heritage-centre.co.uk/news/our-4th-anniversary/
It contains a rather interesting 5 minute film shot by a drone which gives a tour of the site, particularly for those who have never been there. Exhibits rather good drone flying skills as well!

 

Thanks for the link Johann. As you say, impressive drone flying skills - especially with those pylons and 275kV wires overhead!

 

I like the look of this railway. Does the narrow gauge line go along around a loop and back again to the start? It looks good

 

There is now a complete loop of narrow gauge track in the area adjacent to the rail museum buildings, though I don't think many trains have used it as yet. A branch off this runs behind the museum buildings and serves the current (small) loco shed where the 2 locomotives are kept and then continues adjacent to the reconstructed quarry masons huts.
There are plans to expand the narrow gauge display, including, possibly, a larger loco shed. It is, however, not inended to run passenger trains on it - only demonstration freight services of the type to show visitors how narrow gauge lines were used in a quarry environment.

 

As a slightly different method of fundrasing during the Covid-19 closure, they appear to be holding a sale of garden plants in their car park on Sat 30th May!! (Ice cream available as well....)
https://www.facebook.com/Mountsorrel-And-Rothley-Community-Heritage-Centre-43876650405/

 

Discovered this amongst my e-mails this morning........(have only copied the first part)

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service



We are absolutely ecstatic to announce that we have been awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in the Queen’s Birthday Honours!



Since 2007 hundreds of passionate and dedicated volunteers from the surrounding communities have come together to contribute almost 200,000 hours of volunteer time to restore the Mountsorrel railway line and to then go on to create the Heritage Centre with museums, nature trails, Quarry Heritage building, and many other areas of interest for local history and wildlife.



The Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre opened to the public only as recently as 2016. Open 7 days a week visitor numbers have grown to almost 140,000 per year. The Centre has attracted royal interest previously with HRH The Prince of Wales visiting in January 2017 and HRH The Duke of Gloucester in July last year.

Part of a Supporters Newsletter that has been sent out. No doubt the full text of the Newsletter will be reproduced on their Website/Facebook page in the next day or so, as there is nothing on either about it at the moment!

 

That is fantastic news and a well deserved Award for All those involved!