Author Archives: Simon Lomax

With Lockdown3 now in full swing, there isn’t much to report from the Apedale site. So, to entertain both regular readers, we thought we would produce a few features looking at the life and times of some of our exhibits. The first one is fleet no.61, Motor Rail 1320 of 1918. This loco was built […]

Sadly, we had to cancel all of our Santa Special trains due to the pandemic. This left us with a rather large pile of presents – mainly wrapped chocolate selection boxes. We have chosen to donate these to others in the community less fortunate; we have split the donation between the Salvation Army and the […]

We are really sorry to have to disappoint you so close to Christmas, but we have had to cancel all of the Santa Special trains for this year. This is as a result of our area of Staffordshire being placed into Tier 3 for COVID safety measures. We have made this very difficult decision to […]

Despite Lockdown2, some work has been progressing on the Apedale site; sadly, the site is currently closed for (almost) all volunteering activities, but the contractors working on two projects have made good progress.A Water Tower is being created at the south end of the line. This should add visual interest, and make servicing steam locos […]

Last day of the season, and running a steam loco as a small compensation for the cancellation of the Halloween services. Sadly, the weather didn’t really play nicely. However, that didn’t stop the groundwork team from pressing on with the foundations for the new shed – it seems that these guys are impervious to anything […]

Just to remind people that, with great regret, we will not be operating our Halloween Scary Trains this year. Sadly, we could not devise a way to deliver the experience and remain within the guidance for protecting both our staff and visitors from the pandemic. As a small substitute, we will be operating a steam […]

A very wet day on Saturday saw limited progress. There was inevitable shunt and clear-up following the diesel weekend, along with ministering to the wounded from that event. Amongst the casualties was the unique Type MM Orenstein petrol loco which had a fit of the vapours during the event. Unfortunately, the vapour in question wasn’t […]

We are pleased to report that the Smoke without Fire event this weekend will now host two very different visiting locos. The first is a Wingrove & Rogers battery loco, which will visit us from its usual home at a private railway in the North West.Secondly, we are pleased to welcome Motor Rail diesel loco […]

The casual visitor could have been forgiven for thinking that the Diesel Gala had happened a week early, as many of the fleet were extracted from sheds, tested and fettled. All of this work is to hopefully ensure that next weekend’s operations are as smooth and trouble-free as one would expect when using tempramental machines […]

We have today welcomed a new locomotive into the collection at Apedale. Such moments are usually a cause for celebration, but in the case it’s rather bittersweet. The locomotive in question is a 48DL Ruston, number 224337 of 1944. The loco was delivered new to the London & North Eastern Railway, and worked on a […]