Narrow gauge fun and oatcakes
Locos from Leeds
Back Contact Geoff
© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2015
Geoff’s Rail Diaries
16 May 2015
“Where did you say you were going today?” “Apedale” “Is that the place with the oatcakes?” “That’s the one” “Can I come?” Apedale is in Staffordshire, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, so the oatcakes are the large floppy kind, resembling plate-sized disks of dried porridge. They taste much better than they sound, especially with bacon and melted cheese... Oatcakes eaten, we’d better check out the railway. It’s the Apedale Valley Railway’s annual gala, which has relocated temporally, from September to May. The theme for the weekend was “Locomotives from Leeds” (ably assisted, of course, by locomotives from Stoke, Bedford and one or two other places). Star steam attractions were CSR 19 (Hudswell Clarke 1056 of 1908) from Statfold and from the home fleet
No 9 (HC 1238 of 1916), Stanhope (KS 2395 of 1917) and Joffre  (KS3014 of 1916. Internal combustion? Too many to list in detail; that ancient Hudswell Clarke (D558 of 1933) is sublime, and at the other end of the scale was visitor “Merlin”, steam-outline brother of resident Hudson “Chaumont”, with a similar top speed... The steamers have a main line to operate, with passenger and freight trains, while the field railway provides an excellent playground for the little diesels, especially around the WW1 trenches where Motor-Rails trundled back and forth. Yes, we had an excellent day, and the oatcakes (I think there was a minor crisis in the heritage centre kitchens) were worth waiting for. Apedale is fun! Link: Apedale Valley Light Railway
Industrial narrow gauge Trenches Trench transport Merlin - Chaumont's brother Little and large - Chaumont and Joffre D588 - the red Hudswell Built in Leeds, 1933 Joffre at the station No 9 with the freight Stanhope steams away Hudswell and train Hudswell chimneys Stanhope's from Stoke WW1 tranport No 9 leaves the loop No 9 at the station CSR 19 arrives A last look at the Hudswell diesel CSR 19 at the station