Churnet Valley and Rudyard Lake Railway visit - 30th August 2008
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| | Cheddleton station. Geoff Morris |
On Saturday August 30th, 11 members made a pilgrimage to the ‘Knotty’, visiting the Churnet Valley & Rudyard Lake Railways, both of which occupy parts of the North Staffordshire Railway’s line from Uttoxeter to Macclesfield. We assembled at the Churnet Valley’s Cheddleton station where we were early enough to observe the first train of the day departing formed of Lima-built class S160 2-8-0 No. 5197 with 5 maroon Mk 1 coaches in tow. Although the station possesses 2 platforms there is no loop here as the northbound line is currently severed at the south end. A class 104 dmu, (50455/50517) in its original BR green livery, stood in the northbound platform while blue-liveried class 37, 37075 stood in the bay platform
| | Cheddleton Yard. Geoff Morris |
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| | Cheddleton Yard. Geoff Morris |
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After the service train departed we adjourned to the station buffet for “elevenses“. The bacon baps were superb and are thoroughly recommended. Suitably refreshed, we were then given a tour of the loco shed and yard.
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| | 7821 at Cheddleton. Geoff Morris |
Inside the shed were the frames from a second class S160 that had arrived recently from Poland and had been stripped down for overhaul. Its boiler and tender were in the yard alongside the boiler from Stanier 8F 48173. Also in the yard was 7821 Ditcheat Manor, now out-of-use following the expiry of its boiler certificate . It has been sold and is likely to move to the West Somerset Railway. BR diesels present included D2334, 47524 & 33102. A 4-VEP emu stood in the yard with 2 coaches repainted into the original BR blue livery while its other 2 coaches had not yet been repainted from the Connex livery they bore on withdrawal. It carried unit number 7852 on the blue end but 3822 on the other.
We interrupted our shed tour adjacent to the signalbox to photograph 5197 heading north to Leekbrook Junction
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| | 5197 heads north. Geoff Morris |
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| 5197 storms away from Consall. Geoff Morris |
On completion of the tour we returned to the station to join its next southbound departure. However our initial journey was brief as we alighted at the first station, Consall, for the short walk to the well-known Black Lion Inn which stands alongside the line. Here we were able to sit outside, enjoying some superb food and beer, and photograph 5197 storming away north. We noticed that two of the footplate crew were ladies.
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| | Kingsley & Froghall station. Geoff Morris |
All-too-soon we reluctantly dragged ourselves back to Consall station to complete the round trip over the line. We first headed south to the current southern operational limit at Kingsley & Froghall station. Here the loco ran around and there was time to admire the superb replica station that has been reconstructed here - actually all of the station buildings on the line are reconstructions and the standard of each of them is a credit to everyone involved. In the northbound direction, the train runs non-stop through Cheddleton station up to the operational limit at Leekbrook Junction where the North Staffs line joined the (now mothballed) line from Stoke to Cauldon Low Quarry (and, many years ago, also to Waterhouses for the Leek & Manifold Light Railway). Again the loco ran around and returned us to Cheddleton station.
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| Rudyard sheds. Geoff Morris | |
A short drive saw us at the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway. This is a 10¼” railway that runs for about 1½ miles northwards from Rudyard station (built at the site of the NSR station) to Hunthouse Wood, passing through an intermediate station at The Dam and a passing loop at Lakeside. An hourly service was being operated by 0-4-2T No.7 (Merlin) hauling a 7-coach rake plus open wagon (for conveyance of pushchairs). 3 of the coaches were articulated. The loop allows 2 trains to operate on busy days. The line runs alongside the eastern side of Rudyard Lake and carries up to 40,000 passengers a year !
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| | Rudyard station. Geoff Morris |
The train was very well filled when we made a round trip over the line. One person (Mark in this instance) has to do everything when a single trains service runs - i.e. drive the train, operate the points, collects fares etc.. Despite this, Mark still found time to push most of the other steam locos out of the sheds for us to obtain photographs (Picture 56)! Like Merlin, these locos were built by Exmoor Steam Railway and named after characters associated with King Arthur: 0-4-2WT No.6 (Excalibur), 0-6-2T No.8 (King Arthur) & 0-4-2T No.9 (Pendragon) .
A scale 7.25” model of the Talyllyn loco Dolgoch was pushed outside for us to view and we were also allowed into the sheds to view the a 4-4-2 scale loco (Waverley) plus two non-steam locos.
We photographed the final departure of the day and most of the party stayed on to see it return. We then witnessed how slickly Mark could close the railway down. This required him to shunt the coaches into their various sidings in the sheds (mostly done by hand), put the locos away and then remove the level crossing barrier & associated flashing red lights that protect the level crossing at Rudyard station !
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| The Final Departure of the Day. Geoff Morris |
As usual, all information is made in good faith from personal observations on the day, plus a little background information from the railways’ websites , which can be found at :
http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/hanson.mike/rudlake.htm
Geoff Morris
30/08/08
