Author Archives: Simon Lomax

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 […]

Our next event will be the “Smoke without Fire” weekend, October 3 & 4. Nearly wrote “diesel event”, but a look at the roster suggests that battery and petrol-powered locos feature almost as heavily as the Hornsby-Ackroyd heavy oil colleagues. The event will run from 1130 to 1600 on each day, and the loco roster […]

A few photos from Day One of the Farewell Joffre event. The boiler cert expires on 30 September – so tomorrow really is the last day to see this war veteran in steam for some time. The traditional Saturday Night Staff outing this year was Le Mistral – French wagons hauled by two Decauville-designed locos […]

Whilst there has been a lot of focus on the hugely successful Classic Car day (which did stretch the concept of “Classic Car” to a significant degree), there has been a lot of other work going on around the site.The Baldwin Tractor, having gained the Lockdown Project cab, has now had the roof fitted. The […]

Many thanks to our volunteers and visitors who came to see us for the Teddy Bear weekend. Our first weekend of socially-distanced steam operation, and a few lessons learnt. Not least that large Rabbits are rather disobedient. Behind the scenes, lots of other work carries on – for example, the Baldwin tractor has recently gained […]

We have now completed two weekends of practice, familiarisation and re-assessment for re-opening to the public on August 1st. All of our crews have had to get used to a rather different way of working, with new habits to be learnt. Everyone has risen to the challenge, and we’re all now very much looking forward […]

We will re-open to the public on Saturday 1st August. During August, we will operate on every Saturday, plus Sunday 9th, Bank Holiday Sunday 30th and Bank Holiday Monday 31st. We expect to run a similar service in September – Saturdays plus Sunday 13th. Steam trains will run on August 8 & 9, plus the […]