The Railway Magazine – August 2019

Main line

Shrewsbury-

Wolverhampton

Telford

MadeleyJct

Doseley

Horsehay

SteamCentre

Lawley

LightmoorJct

Coalbrookdale

Buildwas

Powerstation site

TSRoperational

TSRopening 2019

TSRleased trackbed

Network Rail Ir onbridge branch

Network Rail MainLine

HarworthGroup

TSRTramway

74 •TheRailway Magazine•August2019

Powerstation redevelopment

couldpavethe wayfor

Ironbridge steamreturn

THETelfor dSteam Railway (TSR)

is hopeful thataproposed

redevelopmentoft he former

Ironbridge powerstation could

see steam-hauled servicesreturn

to Coalbrookdale and the banks

of theRiverSevern onceagain.

The350-acrepower station site

wasacquiredfordevelopment

in 2018by the HarworthGroup,

aprojectthatcould include

hundreds of new homes and

retail/officepremises.

Threemilliontonnes of ash,

sand andgravelwillneed

clearing from the sitebefore

anyconstruction can begin, and

the HarworthGroup not only

wantstouse the mothballed

Ironbridge branchto extrac tit,

but also upgrade theroutefor

passenger use.

This givesthe TSRwhatit

describes asa“once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity”to return steamto

Ironbridge,and therailway has

thereforeincludedaproposal to

lease or buy the Up line of the

double-trackroute(Madeley

Junctionto Ironbr idge) from

Network Rail as partofi ts Steam

to Ironbr idge extension project.

TSRstations areenvisagedat

Lightmoor and the Museum of

Iron at Coalbrookdale,aswell

as oneto serve Buildwas Abbey,

and another in the old power

station site.

Additionally,parkand ride

facilities areproposed for

Madeley Junction andat Lawley,

taking traffic off theroads

serving this picturesque partof

Shropshire.

Suchamovewould requirethe

upgrade of the AlbertEdward

Bridge,which is closedto all

trafficowing to its degrading

condition (the linewas

mothballed in 2015).

TheTSR’s plans do not end

there, however. In orderto

serve the famousIron Bridge

a2ft-gauge tr amwaywould run

alon gthe formerSevern Valley

Railway trackbed.

Theuse of narrow gauge

would enable the current

footpath thatstands on the

routetoberetained,and occupy

less spaceinI ronbridge than a

standardgauge linewould.

All is dependentupon

successful negotiations with

the HarworthGroup,but in the

meantime theTSRispushing

ahea dwith the first phase of the

Steamingto Ironbridge scheme.

This in volves therelaying of its

line from HorsehaytoDoseley,

which it hopesto open next year

to gi ve athree-mileround trip

from Lawleyto Doseley.

Phase2isplannedto extend

further south fromDoseleyto

Lightmoor Junction, wherethe

TSRwould meet theIronbr idge

branch proper.

Formoreinformation visit:

http://www.telfordsteamrailway.co.uk

Bridgework delays

Mid-Hantsreopening

THROUGHrunningon the

Mid-HantsRailway from

AlresfordtoAlton willnot

restart until late-summer

owing to ov er-runningwork

on thenew bridgeat Butts

Junction.Theline is currently

closed between Medstead &

Four Mark sand Alton while

thebridgeoutside Altonis

replacedaspartofamajor

road improvementscheme.

It hadbeen plannedfor

the lineto reopen fully during

August,but thishas been

delayedowingto necessary

investigationwork into the

bridge’s foundations and

groundconditions.

‘CoalTank’withdrawn

withleaking tubes

THE BahamasLocomotive

Society(BLS) haswithdrawn

Webb 0-6-2TNo. 1054 for

overhaultwoyears before

the expiryofi ts boiler ticket.

Thedecisionto bringforward

the overhaulwasmade after

leaking tubeswerediscovered.

TheBLS pl ans to have the

NationalTrust-ownedloco

back in trafficby 2022to

celebrate thecentenary of

the London &North Western

Railway and Lancashire&

YorkshireRailway.

50 years ofsteamat

QuaintonRoad...

BUCKINGHAMSHIRERailway

Centrewillcelebr ate the50th

anniversary of th eQuainton

Railway Societ yonAugust

25-26 withaspecial birthday

weekend.All available steam

locomotives will be inservice,

including‘ModifiedHall’

No.6989Wightwick Halland

MetropolitanRailway0-4-4T

No.1,aswell astheextensive

industrialfleet.The even twill

featurefamily activitiesand

displays of classic cars.

...asnorthern

extensionwork begins

CLEARANCEwork on part

of theoldAylesbury&

BuckinghamRailwaytrackbed

between QuaintonRoad and

Verney Junction hasbeen

carried outby Buckinghamshire

Railway Centre (BRC)

volunteers.The work is

preparatory to aplanned

two-mile extensionby the BRC

in conjunctionwith HS2 and

EastWest Rail.Apanel of track

and bufferstop has been laid as

astatementofi ntent.

‘P2’tenderframes

nowcomplete

THEeight-wheeledtender

framesfornew‘P2’2-8-2

No.2007PrinceofWaleshave

been fully erectedbyIan

Howittat his Croftonworks,

nearWakefie ld.Inp arallel the

baseplate forthe tender tank

has been finishedby North

View EngineeringSolutionsof

Darlington, and the last of the

four tender axles hasarrived

at theA1Steam Locomotive

Trust’s DarlingtonLocomotive

Works.

SIDELINES

Isle of Wightlineconsiders optionsfor Ryde extension

THE Isle ofWightSteam Railway

(IoWSR) has had informal

discussions with theOffice of

Rail and Roadconcerning the

optionsavailable if therailway

wastoe xtend from its current

Smallbrook Junctionterminusto

Ryde St John’s Road.

Such anextensionwould see

steam services sharing the

St John’s Road facilities with

SouthWesternRailway’s Island

Line operation.TheIoWSRis

working with SWR and the

DepartmentforTransport

on waysin which this can

happen without steam services

impacting on those of Island Line.

Island Line trains needto use

platform1atStJohn’s Road

owing to the footbridge leading

to platform2not being mobility

compliant. However, IoWSR

trainswould takeoverand

occupythe presentUpl ine from

Smallbrook Junction thatalso

lead sintoplatform 1,asituation

which the IoWSR sees as being

far from ideal.

Options currently under

investigation include:

‘Top-and-tailing’IoWSR trains

from Smallbrookto platform 1

St John’s Road,dovetailing

services with Island Line in a

shared facilityarrangement.

Constructinganew platform

to the south ofSt John ’s Road

to remove the track sharing

requirement, but still running

‘top-and-tailed’trains.

Acquiring landat St John ’s

Roadforanew platform and

run-round loop,eliminating

requirementtot rack shareand

‘top-and-tail’.

Therailway hopesafirm plan

can beworked outat alaterdate.

Firstmoves

for‘S160’ at

Grosmont

FORMER-UnitedStatesArmy

TransportCorps‘S160’2-8-0

No.2253Omahahas made its first

post-overhaul movesatt he North

YorkshireMoors Railway.

Thecomeback did notcome

without its difficulties.

Theloco’sair pumpcould not

be madeto work properly in spite

of the best efforts ofrecognised

expertLen Pullinger, resulting in

areplacementbeing sourcedon

loan ,courtesy of IanRiley.

Themaroo n2-8-0 also failed

its boiler insurancesteam test

on June 21 withaleak in the

smokebox, whichrequired

rectification.

However, teething troubles

such as these aretobeexpected,

With the

replacement

airpump

working,

‘S160’

No.2253

Omaha

makesits

first runs

along the

Grosmont

headshunt

on July 17.

ANDREW

JEFFERY

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and the locowas soon put right

by the Grosmontengineering

team.

On July 17, the locowas ready

foranotheratte mpt and,some19

years sinceitl astmoved under its

ownsteam, No.2253 madeafirst

move in the hands ofNYMR driver

CharlieWood.Itw as subsequently

run up and down theyard and

reportedly ranfreely,much to the

delightofo wnerPeterBest,who

wastheretowitness the occasion.

Thesuccess of the movessets

the locoupfor its trial runs and

period of running-in beforeit

goes on long-term hiretot he

DartmouthSteam Railway.

It wastos team again on

July 25 beforehaving its insurance

inspection on the 29th.

Steam&Heritage Track Record