The Moseley Railway Trust owns and operates the Apedale Valley Light Railway. It is a registered charity. There are many ways in which you can help us. Individuals can become members of the Trust and can volunteer their time to assist the Trust and its work. We welcome corporate volunteering days. More information on volunteering can be found here.
The Trust currently has three main appeals for funding. They are:
The Museum – “The Narrow Gauge Railway Centre”
The Museum is the biggest single project to be delivered on the Apedale site since MRT commenced its work at the location. The project will deliver a world-class museum facility, focussing on the neglected story of the industrial narrow gauge railway in all its forms. The basic fabric of the building has been funded through a combination of MRT-generated funding, grants and a substantial legacy. However, much of the funding for the fitting-out of the building remains to be found. With your help, we can deliver a museum which will provide a lasting legacy and a significant addition to the site.
The Tipping Dock
The Tipping Dock has two linked objectives. Firstly, it will secure the Trust’s existing buildings by reconstructing an existing retaining wall which is showing signs of being at its life end. This will be done by re-creating an industrial tipping dock. Such facilities were found at many industrial narrow gauge railways, and allowed material to be tipped from a high-level narrow gauge train into standard gauge wagons – or road vehicles – for onwards transport. With an estimated cost of around £150k, this is a substantial but essential project. The image, by Mike Hawley, is an artist’s impression of the completed project.
We Never Knew you Were Here – Road signage
We are always keen to help people to find us! But one problem is that there are no tourist “brown signs” to guide visitors from the local main roads to us. Although our local authority is very supportive, the main roads are outside their direct control – and erecting signage on such roads is expensive. We are working with our friends at the Apedale Heritage Centre – signage will cover both MRT/AVLR and the AHC – but we need to raise around £8,000 to fund our share of the costs. Can you help?
