|
Latest News: Archive
November 2010
|
|
|
Latest News: Archive
November 2010
|
 |
King Edward II at Didcot. July 2006. Photo: Frank Dumbleton |
The Mid-Norfolk Railway wish to confirm recent reports in the railway press that we have been speaking with representatives of the Great Western Society (GWS) about their locomotive 6023 "King Edward II" being used on the MNR's service and special event trains during the summer of 2011. Details of an agreement for KEII to undertake a major part of its 1000 mile running-in programme on the MNR are now at an advanced stage.
The MNR is working jointly with the GWS to create an operating timetable which will enable an escalating programme of running-in journeys to be made during June and July 2011.
MNR Chairman, Barry Woodgett, said: "We are working with the GWS to bring this unique locomotive to the MNR next summer and look forward to the public in East Anglia having the opportunity to ride on trains hauled by King Edward II on the Wymondham - Dereham line."
KEII, at one time regarded as a forlorn hope because of its badly damaged main driving wheels, spent c.1962-1984 in the scrap yard at Barry in South Wales, when it was bought with the sponsorship aid of a Bristol wine importer. Eventually the loco made its way to the Didcot Railway Centre for restoration. Their mission is to preserve Great Western Railway artefacts.
The King class locomotives were one of the most powerful steam locomotives ever designed in Britain and the principal express passenger locomotive used on the Great Western for over 30 years, operating between London and Bristol, Plymouth and Wolverhampton. They feature four cylinders, with no hammer blow during running due to perfect dynamic balancing of their motion mechanism.
The MNR also wish to announce a further visit of Dennis Howells' 0-6-0 Pannier Tank No. 9466 during the summer of 2011. We will stage our first ever two-engine Steam Gala, using 9466 running alongside King Edward II, and employing the new passing loop at Thuxton.
By Matt Goodrum, Toby Rawlings and Gary Hall.
Toby, Tom and Richard from the Dereham to North Elmham Group delivered 80 new sleepers to Hoe for changing on Sunday via a Works Train kindly run by the Operations department. We then ran north of the crossing to test the jacking and packing we undertook last month - this stood up well under the weight of the Class 73. Before returning south Danny and Chris loaded up the remaining corbels stored at Hoe for use at Thuxton on the new 'Up' platform.
 |
Clearance around bridge 1700. 14th November 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Nine Northern Section Group members, joined by Southern Section's Owen, Barney and Trevor, managed to change 62 sleepers running south from Hoe Level Crossing. The high turnout allowed two teams to split the workload, with the Southern Section boys reminding us Northerners how to do it. All the old sleepers seemed to be thinner than their replacements resulting in every bed underneath needing to be broken up. While we could not match May's amazing figure of 80 we will continue with another batch next month.
The Dereham to North Elmham Group were joined at bridge 1700 near Hoe by Ray and Neil from County School. With an 8 o'clock start for the chainsaws we managed to fell 22 trees from around the bridge by lunchtime, while in the afternoon we removed overhanging branches. All the logs we produced were sold on the day, producing valuable income, and a large bonfire took care of everything else.
Six Dereham to North Elmham Group members managed to clean & backfill ballast around 56 of the 62 new sleepers between Bridge 1699 and Hoe LC. We also replaced missing or worn rail keys between Hoe Road and 1699; this leaves just 13 track panels to tackle.
Meanwhile Julian, Paul and a friend felled a good many trees north of the level crossing. The first row on the western side of the line (Down cess) all needed removing and this has produced a lot of material to burn at a later date. For the second weekend running we managed to sell all the logs that we created.
 |
 |
Backfilling sleepers near Hoe. 21st November 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Logs for sale. 21st November 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford and Roy Malyon.
 |
Ernie discovers a catch pit after digging out the cess at Thuxton. 6th November 2010. Photo: Simon Addington |
Today was the first day without services running at this end of the year. We took maximum advantage with two works trains in operation. One travelled to Wymondham and collected the crane. After returning to Thuxton, we spent the remaining time tidying up the site. Most of the spare rails were gathered up and loaded onto the tench and we cleared out the cess of the up loop to make a tidy walkway. Meanwhile another train was up north delivering sleepers ready for changing on the next day. This was then loaded up with further corbels from Hoe. After returning, this too ran to Thuxton where they were unloaded ready for continuing the platform extension. We then filled up the flatrol again with smaller items and ran the whole train back to Dereham to unload.
P-Way took out a works train again today. We started off by running the shark through the dropped ballast between Yaxham and Thuxton. (The shark is a ballast plough mounted on a brakevan.) We then went down to Wymondham and dropped a hopper load of ballast near to the sewage works and sharked this as well. The hopper was then taken and deposited in the headshunt whilst we ran round at Wymondham. Finally on the way back, we collected cut logs from Danemoor and unloaded them for customers in various places.
The current signal box at Thuxton is a temporary structure, built using second-hand materials recovered from other projects. Behind it, the permanent box is taking shape. We spent today in Dereham, where we took delivery of the signalling frame for the permanent Thuxton box. The stack of parts all needed to be sorted and tidied ready for restoration to working order.