WEST RIDING BRANCH VISIT TO LONG MARSTON

MERSEYSIDE, CHESTER & NORTH WALES BRANCH REPORT

On Saturday August 23rd, 9 branch members participated in the visit to Motorail Logistics at Long Marston organised by Malcolm Riley of the West Riding branch. Most people, including 4 of our branch members, went by car or minibus to the site (a few miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon). However, our other 5 branch members chose to travel by train to Stratford-upon-Avon and then use a taxi to reach the site.

We reached Birmingham New St via a pair of Pendolino services: 390028 was hauled by 57306 between Chester & Crewe while 390043 took us on from Crewe. After a refreshment stop we made the short walk to Moor St station. Here our admiration for the sympathetic restoration job that has been applied to the old buildings was tempered by the continued lack of use of the bay platforms - their only occupant was cosmetically-restored GWR 2-8-0 2885. We then joined 3-car Sprinter 150016 (still in the old Centro livery) for the run to Stratford-upon-Avon. The North Warwickshire line is something of a time-warp with semaphore signalling still in use between Shirley & Bearley Junction signal boxes and many stations retaining some of their original buildings, canopies and footbridges. Special mention must be made of our train conductor on this run whose appearance (pinstripe suit complete with floral button hole) drew many appreciative remarks from our party.

Our return journey followed the same route. 150016 again did the honours between Stratford-upon-Avon & Moor St. Further refreshments were obtained before Pendolino 390007 whisked back to Crewe and 158833 returned us to Chester where arrival was just before 1930. All trains that we travelled on were punctual but, apart from between Moor St and Stratford, patronage was moderate - probably reflecting the severely curtailed WCML service over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Long Marston used to be a MoD site but is now owned by the property company St Modwen. Our interest centred on the fact that it is now a major storage site for off-lease railway locos and vehicles. It also hosts companies that service the rail industry including Praxis Rail who have been restoring Mk 3 vehicles for Cargo-D and Electrical Traction Services who are preparing the class 87 electrics prior to transhipment to Bulgaria. It is still rail-connected via a branch (part of the old GWR line between Stratford & Cheltenham) to the Oxford - Worcester line which it joins at Honeybourne. The Stratford & Broadway Railway Society, who hope to restore the line between these 2 towns (and link with the Gloucester & Warwickshire Railway at Broadway) also have their base on the Long Marston site.

After an introduction and safety briefing by Ruth Flack, the managing director of Motorail Logistics who run the commercial activities on the site, we embarked on a 4 hour walking visit. Cars were used to travel between some of the site’s extremities and those members who had arrived by taxi were grateful for lifts from our branch members who had come by car! Note that in the H&S briefing reference was made to the dangers on the site created by rabbit holes.

I did not attempt to list all of the items of rolling stock on the site. One of the other party members generously provided us with a printed list of locos and coaching stock that he understood were present on site. Using this list, approximately 80 former BR locos (from classes 08, 20, 31, 37, 47, 56, 73, 86 & 87) were present along with a number of ex-industrial diesel locos. A list of locos actually recorded by Alan Donaldson and Dave Douglas is appended at the end of this report. Among the approximately 140 items of coaching stock were many former Virgin DVTs & Mk3 coaches, Mk 2 coaches from Anglia and Arriva and First Great Western‘s Motorail vans. Additionally, two to three hundred freight wagons were present and they kept the wagon-spotters in the party very busy!

Photography was permitted of everything apart from the surviving (sheeted-over) vehicles from Lambrigg crash victim 390033. Ruth advised that photos should not appear in the press nor on websites (hence this report is not illustrated).

Once again all information is provided in good faith from personal observations plus some background material from an article about the site that (fortuitously) appeared in the September 2008 edition of Modern Railways.

Geoff Morris

08736/728/928/869/813/827/517/345 Russell
20902/088/081/016/072/032/215/057/903
31439/301/423/437
37683/898/696
47295 off bogies, 47746
73138
86215/242/235/229/245/258/217/226/247/231/205/246/248/250/251/228/223/260/234/229/218
/232/230/401
87029/018/032/023/014/033/030/021/004/013/011/017/020/009/025/003/034/006/022/028/027
DMU vehicles 51909 54271 51352/376 59505

23/08/08