Moorlands and City Railway

Lots of short straws today. Packing dipping joints first entails identifying which joint the drivers mean. Luckily we had the S160 and education specials to help. After that it was just the hard work of digging out and re-packing. After lunch, in the sunshine, we did some lineside tree work in preparation for some track work in the coming weeks.

 

not sure about the short straw lol I enjoyed the day. Good company and always an education for me. Had a few trespassers on the Endon line..they are going to take some educating........ Roger...p/waymans apprentice

 

April showers in May, great on the open sleeper carrier, with 8 hearty souls peering through the rain, needed wipers on my glasses to see where we were going. Plus stupid sheep on the line, baaing at us was it them or we who were stupid? Anyhow we were on a quest to jack and pack sleepers where 6 in a row were pumping, pumping, there was a river running underneath them so the first thing was dig drainage ditches to get rid of the water. Mud, sludge water and ballast, well Icould go on but I won't. Just a couple of photos in the shed and one of some of the gang having lunch in the rain looking like gnomes.

 

The ex-Spa Valley Tkhs have arrived, I see.

 

Well one has, not sure about the second one?

 

Does anyone know when work on the Stoke line is likely to resume? The reason I'm asking is I was talking to a local councillor from Endon yesterday who has been trying to contact MCR for info.
He says they have not responded to his letters or emails and don't answer the phone.
Are the contact details on the MCR website still correct [Keele Centre], as it seems the site hasn't been updated for 12 months?

 

When I last heard David Kemp speak in public a month or two ago he was still pushing as hard as he could, so presumably it is still the legal process that is slowing things down. (I did hear somewhere that Network Rail were not exactly prioritising their part in this project.) I would suggest your councillor friend goes via Staffs Moorlands DC as they speak to MCR regularly.

 

Thanks, I'll tell him. Perhaps the parish council isn't considered "important" enough to be kept informed!

 

Not sure that's quite what I said! From what I can tell there is not a lot to say, but given that there are assorted strategic planning processes going on in the area it's not surprising that the District Council talks to MCR, as they do to our canal group and many others including CVR/NSRC.

 

Another good turnout today, we split into 3 groups. Our group went up the Cauldon line to burn some of the brushwood that was cut earlier in the year. After a hard days graft we reduced it by about 1/3 at least it kept us warm on another cool day

 

I hear that Leek Road, Abbey Hulton was closed by a bridge strike requiring emergency repairs yesterday. Anyone know how serious it was? Usually they just drag the vehicle out and carry on as normal so presumably something larger/faster than usual has hit it. Would be nice to get a bit of the refurbishment paid for by an insurance company

 

Communication is vital - especially when there isn't anything to report! Many railway projects lose sympathisers through a kind of masculine tendency towards taciturnity. One of the best though unmarked innovations in preservation circles in recent years has been the appointments of Marketing Managers who have illuminated their organisations, enabling their local environments to engage with them (not just the other way round). Just because nothing is happening is absolutely no reason not to communicate this - you cannot communicate too much - the pages of this forum show this over and over again.

 

Another day tidying up from tree felling earlier at Bradnop. Started off dry but got wetter after lunch which was ideal for damping down the bonfire before we left. The other half of the team went on up towards Blackbrook replacing chairs and collection scrap with the Hiab. Must have been a wet journey home in what had become pouring rain. Still more fires to have before the site is cleared.

 

Nearly finished the removal of the remains from the autumnal tree felling near Bradnop. One team of practising arsonists got rid of ton or two of branches in case cinders from engines set them on fire, whilst the rest took the Hiab up to Cauldon and completed the weedkilling over the whole line.

 

We reverted to more constructive tasks today and fortunately we had a large turnout for the PW gang. The major task was replacing 12 sleepers in a 300 yard length of track and this took 10 of us, whilst the other four went off on the Hiab to replace some fishplates. We were expecting wind and rain but it held off until long after we completed the jobs.

 

More arson today.

 

Good arson or bad arson?

 

Well - depends on your perspective. From the branches I guess a bit terminal. From the PW side we achieved a great deal.
Some of the regular workers turned into supervisors - but it was a warm day (even without big fires) and they needed a rest.