…is themed around History. Whilst it’s very tempting to quote Henry Ford at this point, it is also undeniably true that those who ignore lessons from the past are doomed to repeat them. History is a big part of our work at Apedale. We are, perhaps, rather unusual in the world of the heritage railway movement. Not for us the gleaming brass and copper of bygone express steam locos, or even the cliche’d milkchurns and mail barrows of sleepy wayside stations. No. We are about a grittier history, the history of the Industrial Narrow Gauge Railway. Until the advent of the all-conquering conveyor belt and fork lift truck, such railways could be found in all manner of industry – anywhere that something which was beyond human strength needed to be moved predictably and repetitively. From quarries and mines to factories and stores, the industrial narrow gauge did the job. And most of this happened out of the public view, recorded in the memories of the workers and (sometimes) by the cameras of a small band of enthusiasts – let’s face it, a Motor Rail in sewage works will never have the draw of “Flying Scotsman”. Although deeply unfashionable, such railways can justifiably claim to have made the modern world. And probably out-lasted any big shiny express steam loco! The pictures, for reference, are a large Ruston at Gardrum peatworks (Scotland), a 40SD Motor Rail crossing the road at Minworth sewage works near Birmingham, and a homebuilt battery loco at Funton brickworks, in Kent.
