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Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening Gala

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by chris meadowcroft, Jul 5, 2010.

  1. Chris A

    Chris A New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Had a great day yesturday me and fellow nat press member George A was on the evening beer train and rode in the observation car infront of the black 5 along with the locos owner and blimy didnt she go for it in places (apprently pushing the 8F in some parts to!!!) the noise both locos made i think was worth the full £30+ the day cost alone!!!!!
     
  2. Sheff

    Sheff Resident of Nat Pres

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    The 8F was leading, looked like a mobile fireworks display all the way up the bank to Apesford. Even more impressive considering the appalling weather at the time. GS was on the back was giving it plenty too :) I did try recording some of it on my phone. If it's any good I'll try and post it. Nice to meet Admin (Glyn) and Mrs Admin afterwards at Froghall too. Photo's of the first train of the day to follow at Winkhill. Shame about some of the stupid parking and trespassing ..... Muppets Plse click 'show info' for captions
     
  3. C WALL

    C WALL New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    8624. Suspect 44767 was doing its bit too but it was a long way back.
     
  4. Sheff

    Sheff Resident of Nat Pres

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Here's a few of my efforts from Saturday morning, plus one night shot (not sure if this works or not!) Iain

    MCR Gala Plse click 'show info' for captions
     
  5. cjh30003

    cjh30003 New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Here's a video from the gala of 13-Nov-2010 showing the first pulblic passenger train to Cauldon Lowe for 75 years:

    [video=youtube;6WCKg7wYNJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WCKg7wYNJc[/video]
     
  6. Cambrian55

    Cambrian55 Member Friend

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    I paid a visit to Froghall on Satuday morning but refused to pay the extortionate £25 each for a day rover when all we wanted was a single run to Cauldon Low and back with the idea of locating some photo points. Even more annoying was the fact that because we would not buy a ticket, we could not get to see the trade stands, visit the bar or even get a cup of tea and something to eat. M&C you got that badly wrong.
     
  7. chris meadowcroft

    chris meadowcroft Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    I was driving 44767 on the evening special, full reg and 55% cut off all the way up the bank from Leekbrook to Ipstones summit.

    44767 then pulled 12 coaches + 8624 up the 1 1/2 miles of 1 in 61 unassisted!
     
  8. Sheff

    Sheff Resident of Nat Pres

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    The trackwork is actually in very decent nick and rode very smoothly, as you would have found had you rode over it, and as those of us who have slaved away over the last months in all weathers to get it ready can testify. We've changed thousands of sleepers, dropped hundreds of tonnes of ballast where required and then tamped the whole stretch. The fact that it could do with some more weedkilling is neither here nor there. Glad you appreciated our efforts. And by the way - I think you'll find the HMRC have nothing to do with rail safety.
     
  9. Chris A

    Chris A New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    yh the black 5 was also like a fireworks display - very impressive, george got some vids on his camera
     
  10. C WALL

    C WALL New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Superb !!
     
  11. thegrimeater

    thegrimeater Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Aha, you'll be who I talked to on the phone last night!

    Black 5 sounded amazing even over the phone!
     
  12. MAPLE CHRIS

    MAPLE CHRIS Member

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    When will people get it railways are not cheap to run £25.00 for a day rover is not bad value look at all the expense that has been incurred 3 hired in engines coaches etc.
     
  13. 98wilsga

    98wilsga New Member

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    I am a little baffled by your post.

    The event only has a day rover ticket or multiples thereof. We are sorting out a platform ticket for the next series of running days as admittedly that was an under estimation on our part.

    Could you just pay a ‘reduced price’ to go into Alton Towers to have a look round to see what rides you would like to go on at some future date ?

    I think you have very little concept of what such an event costs to put together. If you travelled from Deganwy and obviously have internet access then I assume you would have checked on the MCR website which makes no mention at all of ‘single’ tickets.

    So yes we got the lack of platform (well marquee) access wrong but I don’t think the rover ticket was a problem. If you have travelled to other big events you will find that rover tickets are quite common.


    Gregory Wilson.
     
  14. admin

    admin Founder Administrator

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Fantastic two days, very nice to meet the many members who introduced themselves. Really enjoyed the beer train on Saturday Evening.
    Thanks to Lyn, Phil, Greg, Janet, Dave and anyone else who we met at the gala and made us very welcome.

    Thank you to Neil & Ralph for helping at the gala.

    Would like to go back on the full line in the daylight one day!

    Cheers and well done
     
  15. Churnet Valley Railway

    Churnet Valley Railway New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Excellent video! Captured the event very well.
     
  16. Cambrian55

    Cambrian55 Member Friend

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    Our visit was a spur of the moment thing, so as a result I had not checked ticket pricing before setting out.
    I do have a concept regarding what it costs to put these events on having worked at SSS1 and 2, but I also have the concept re losing custom.
    Of our party of 4, I was the only real enthusiast and had I been on my own would have happily paid up and done at least one round trip. But with 3 others not that keen, £100 was just too much as in this case it would have been the one trip. Then not being able to get to the shop, bar or trade stands was another blow as I'm sure money would have been spent there even if we had not travelled on any train.

    Did the stall holders know when they booked to attend that their customers would only come from those who had paid admission and not just those passing who decided to take a look?
    Whilst standing by the ticket office I heard several others commenting about the price when just wanting one trip and then turning away. Even a £15 one trip ticket would have made all the difference.
    I'm not sure where your reference to Alton Towers fits, we are talking here about having the option to do one trip or as many as you want in the day, surely a straightforward enough idea.

    Anyway whatever my thoughts I hope the weekend was a success and you did manage to cover your costs.
     
  17. Guest

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    A whole minute off the Churnet Valley - as the teacher might have said - could do better
     
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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Chris - I think you were driving the 8F on Saturday night - that was leading Leekbrook to Cauldon Low, (how could you forget, or had the White Star reached the footplate too?) - and you gave it some stick pushing back from Ipstones towards Bradnop - I was leaning out of the back window of the LMS set watching the rockets - Have they come down yet?

    It was a magic night amongst the farms my family knew so well sixty or so years ago.
     
  19. cjh30003

    cjh30003 New Member

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    Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

    Thanks!
     
  20. p/wayman

    p/wayman Member

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    Re: Moorlands and City Railway

    Great to see 5199 working today,it must have been a bit heartbreaking yesterday after all the work in to get it ready for the gala. So well done to all the team for all the hard work put in to get it running today.
     

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