The Moseley Railway Trust has had a long and valued collaboration with National Grid. This has included corporate volunteering and team-building days and other support. There are a number of locomotives in the Trust’s collection which were formerly operated by National Grid at their cable tunnels at Woodhead in the Pennines. A railway, built to the narrow gauge of 2’0” between the rails, formerly served to support maintenance work on the cables within former British Rail railway tunnels.
One such locomotive is “Prometheus”. This is a battery-electric locomotive, built by Clayton in 1998. It arrived at the Moseley Railway Trust site at Apedale in 2015. Unfortunately, the loco has not seen much recent use due to a problem with its batteries. However, a grant from the National Grid Electricity Transmission’s (NGET’s) Community Grant Programme will provide funding to solve this problem, and hence allow “Prometheus” to operate again.
Simon Lomax, interim chair for the Moseley Railway Trust, said “We are extremely grateful to the NGET’s Community Grant Programme. We have recently completed construction of a large new museum on the Apedale site, and we have been keen to keep the interior free from dirt and contamination. Using a zero-emissions battery loco, such as “Prometheus”, was always our preferred solution – and the Community Grant Programme will help us realise that ambition. Our volunteers will be able to use the loco when we start to move exhibits into the Museum, and when we need to change over the displayed vehicles inside the building”.
The Museum at Apedale is expected to open to the public during 2026. Hopefully, Prometheus will play a key role in allowing this to happen – in a clean, zero-emission and sustainable fashion!
The Moseley Railway Trust operate the 2’0” gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway. Entirely staffed by volunteers, the Trust has a very large collection of narrow gauge locomotives and other items. Further details are available at www.avlr.org.uk
