We are pleased to announce that Santa has been able to negotiate the recent bad weather in the Rutland area and will be at Rutland Railway Museum on Tuesday 22nd December.



We will be offering a warm welcome to children and family visitors and if conditions allow, rail trips to "the North Pole" where Santa Letters can be posted.

The Museum hopes that you will take care when travelling in Rutland and hopes that visitors will dress in warm weather clothing and waterproof footwear.

We wish all of you a Happy Christmas!

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It is with great regret that the Museum has had to make a decision about the Santa events which were due to take place over the weekend of 19th and 20th December.

At 3pm on Friday, at the point at which the locomotive would have had to be lit and food preparation was due to take place, around 6 to 8 inches of snow had already fallen at the Museum and a sharp overnight freeze was forecast.

Our organiser, with the full backing of the Trustees and Managers has decided that it would be very unwise for the weekend events to take place and has decided to cancel both days. We would not want families to set out on journeys through uncertain weather and road conditions and for the event to run at less than full service.

All pre-booked tickets will be honoured in full on Tuesday 22nd December and we hope that this will allow visitors to enjoy a busy pre-Christmas Museum in safety.

If you have further questions please ring 01780 764118 and ask for Santa.

An update will be posted on our news board on Monday.

Once again, we hope that you will not be too disappointed but that you will understand our caution in the extreme weather which has lead to a regrettable decision.

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The Museum is pleased to announce that the pair of John Fowler 424 Class diesel hydraulic locomotives have been purchased by the Waverley Route Heritage Association and will be used to assist their impressive restoration project in the Borders.



The photo shows the loco being loaded onto a lorry for its long journey North, courtesy of volunteer Ian Graham.

The first locomotive, JF 4240015 of 1962 was collected from the Museum on 8th December 2009 arriving at the new heritage site at Whitrope on the 9th.

In the new year, sister locomotive JF 4240012 will also leave the site.

The Trustees are extremely pleased to have been able to assist the Waverley Route Heritage Association with their project and we all hope that the acquisition of motive power will give added impetus to their success. Further details can be found on their website www.wrha.org.uk

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We were very pleased to receive copies of two photographs taken in the early 1960's at the United Steel Companies Ore Mining Branch Colsterworth Mines.

Nickolas Silver starts to dig!



The first picture shows a newly assembled and operational Marion face shovel at Colsterworth. The sheer scale of the face shovel is clear to see in this picture. The machine was built by the American Marion company to deal with the heavy "overburden" lying above the iron ore in the Colsterworth quarries at this time. In the spirit of the times, the machine was named "Nickolas Silver" after the Grand National winner in the year of its construction by United Steel Co. to mirror the naming of the W1400 dragline "Sundew" at their Exton Park Quarries. This shovel would have worked with the Yorkshire Engine Co. diesel electric locomtive "1382" which is on display at our Museum for much of its life at Colsterworth. After Colsterworth quarries closed, the machine was carefully transported to the Glendon Quarries near Kettering (and where our own "Holwell No.14" worked) until they closed in 1980.



The second photo is believed to be Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn No.7296 built in 1946 and numbered No.38. This locomotive is hauling two loaded 27-ton British Railways Iron Ore Tippler wagons out of the mine. One can sense the amount of work that these locomotive would have had to expend in hauling a relatively small load up the steep climb out of the pit. The impression of the fresh cut iron ore slabs in the wagons, which would have been sent to Scunthorpe over the High Dyke Branch to the East Coast main line really brings the scale of the operation into focus.

The Museum would welcome additional photos of the loacl quarry systems to add to its extensive collections. The information gathered through photographs in invaluable in recording and gaining further information about these local operations.

If you would like to discover more about the history of these sites, please visit our Museum or contact curator@rutlandrailwaymuseum.org.uk

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As part of the Heritage Open Days initiative which is taking place across the country, Rutland Railway Museum is to stage a “Quarry Railways Heritage Day” on Sunday 13th September 2009 at the main museum site near Cottesmore, Rutland.

During the event visitors will be able to see demonstrations of steam and diesel hauled quarry trains.

It is hoped that former ironstone quarry steam loco “Cranford No.2” (WB 2668) and our authentic iron ore hopper or tippler trains will be in use on our “mainline” which features a 1 in 60 climb to the central yard during the day.

Our unique quarry railway section will also be in use featuring the last diesel loco to work on a quarry railway in the UK, Thomas Hill “Mr D”, which will return to traffic for the occasion after an extensive overhaul.

There will also be the opportunity to visit the museums rail connected quarry and view items of historic quarry plant in action.

The open day will also feature a special display to mark the 35th anniversary of “The Great Walk” when the giant W1400 dragline named “Sundew” walked 13 miles from Exton Park ironstone quarry in Rutland, to Harringworth near Corby in 1974.

The museum will be open from 11am to 5pm and car park and refreshments will be available. Further information, when available and news about the museum can be found on the website:

www.rutlandrailwaymuseum.org.uk

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Now that the summer holidays are here, the Museum is pleased to welcome young visitors to our site on Thursday 30th July between 11am and 4pm to take part in a BBC breathing places event promoted by the Green Balloon Club and ECO Ceebies.

The Museum will be running a series of events for under 6's, parents and carers but all visitors are welcome. Free entry for the event activities.

Further details can be obtained from the website,

bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces

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On Wednesday 1st July 2009, Rutland Railway Museum were extremely pleased to host a visit by a group of young people from Belarussia.

The group of 17 children are visiting Britain through the work of the Charity Friends of Chernobyl's Children. They were able to visit Rutland through the support of Cemex and their Barrington Works manager Mr John Drayton MBE.




At the Museum the party of keen enthusiasts were able to enjoy a train ride, visit our quarry, blow the whistle before planting a tree to secure the ties between Belarus and Britain across Europe.









The party departed for a boat trip around Rutland Water after an ice lolly from our cafe...... we hope to see them all again some time soon!

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Rutland Railway Museum were pleased to welcome the latest addition to its operational fleet last Wednesday, 1st July 2009.

Andrew Barclay No.1931, built in 1927 was originally supplied to the Kidderminster Sugar Beet Factory. It was transfered to the Wissington Factory in the fens in the early 1960's but ended its industrial life at the now closed Spalding Factory with "sister" locomotive No.1932.

The locomotive was preserved with the intention to run at the tentative Buckminster Heritage Park but was transfered to Market Overton in 1973. It shared sidings with Flying Scotsman, Pendennis Castle and Pulman coaches for a brief period when the former ironstone locomotive sheds were home to Flying Scotsman Enterprises.

The locomotive was one of the original locomotives which started the Rutland Railway Museum. After a long wait, the tentative restoration started 6 years ago.

The locomotive has been rebuilt in every aspect and now is complete with vacuum braking systems ready for passenger work at the Museum.

After suitable tests and try outs over the last few weeks, the loco was launched into traffic on Wednesday. It is finished in a livery which was effectively the Andrew Barclay standard type, but with lettering appropriate and authentic for our Museum site.

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Local members and visitors may have been aware that the former substation which supplied electricity to the Exton Park quarry system, and which is located just off Barnsdale Avenue, has been converted to a bakery.

The substation is one of the remaining features of the large ironstone quarries and the Museum is pleased that it appears to have a secure future in its present use. It would have provided the power to "Sundew", the large electric dragline which was such a feature of the quarry.

Before the work took place, one of our members was able to take a couple of photographs of the substation, surviving in very much the same condition in which it was left in 1973 when it was decommissioned.





The substation lies just to the south east of the remaining railway bridge into Exton Park, where the northern branch passed under Barnsdale Avenue.

As you can see, the bridge is quite complete after backfilling the railway cutting.



Note: All three photos were taken on private land and with permission. You should obtain suitable authority before visiting these locations yourself.

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In anticipation of the 3rd Annual Vintage Vehicle Gathering to be held at the Museum on the weekend of 4th & 5th July, our volunteer quarry vehicle section have been servicing and checking their machines.

A welcome return to working condition is our Euclid quarry dumptruck which ran a short test trip from our quarry area to the new entrance roadway.

The lorry is now standing as a gate guarding sentinel in its fully authentic working condition but is likely to see further work before the open day.

The lorries were familiar in the area and a fleet of three were used to relace the narrow gauge railway on our own site when modernisation took place in 1957. United Steel Companies Ltd built a heavy duty concrete roadway, a servicing workshop and a concrete loading dock to update the victorian quarry system in the Cottesmore Mines.

Although modern for the time, the cab facilities do not really meet current day driver needs. Our volunteers are hardy types and look forward to using the machine for its intended use!


The large 6 cylinder dorman diesel is very vocal and visitors to the Gathering are likely to be highly impressed with the sheer size and volume when in action.



For further details of the event please contact the Museum. Enquiries about late vehicle entries will be welcome but we cannot guarantee that space will be available!

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