The Charity is extremely pleased to anounce that 0-6-0 Saddle Tank, STAMFORD, Avonside Engine Company Works Number 1972 of 1928 has arrived at the Museum.

The locomotive is now the sole surviving locomotive from the Pilton Ironstone Quarry system in Rutland although fellow RRM exhibit, Bagnall "Cranford No.2" made a fleeting visit to the quarries to cover for overhaul works in the 1950's and may have "rubbed buffers" with STAMFORD before.

The locomotive was used in a series of rail tours of the quarries by the Industrial Railway Society shortly before the system closed in the late 1960's.

Sold as a working loco, it travelled south to the flegling Bluebell Railway but saw little use there. Shortly after arriving the loco was stripped for restoration but sadly was stored as a kit of parts until the late 1990's.

The locomotive is now subject to a long term loan to our Museum and now that it is back in its home County, will be assessed for potential restoration to working condition.

The locomotive is still partly stripped and the years have not been kind to it but it is still of prime importance to our collection and the local community and we hope that progress will be made in due course.

We hope to update the website as we make progress with our assessment.

0 Comments

The Museum had a busy day recently when two exhibits left the site for new homes and restoration plans which should see them brought back into front line service before long.

Hunslet Austerity No.65, a long time resident at Cottesmore after a short working life in the coal industry and then preservation at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, has found a new home at Crewe Heritage Centre where early restoration is in prospect. The loco has carried a vivid yellow livery recalling its last working days at Cadley Hill Colliery, one of the last outposts of steam in the early 1980's.



On a busy day, Southern Railway parcels van departed for a private collection for use next to a teak Gresley dining coach. The van, which will be fully retimbered and rebuilt, will be used as a fully fledged kitchen and food preparation vehicle to provide catering facilities. We hope to have an invitation to the launch!



The vehicles were collected on 20th July 2010 and volunteers were on hand to regulate the busy low-loader traffic through the gate. Many thanks for the photos from member Ian Graham which record the movements.

0 Comments

The Museum received a "new" locomotive on Tuesday 17th August 2010. GEC “Stephenson” 0–6-0 Diesel Electric locomotive, Works No. 5578, built in 1980 is believed the last standard gauge locomotive built at the world famous Vulcan Foundry at Newton the Willows.

Sold to ICI at their Mond division works for moving the 100 ton limestone hoppers it was originally named “Ludwig Mond” after the famous chemist and founder of ICI.

Powered by a Dorman 8QT, V8 diesel engine of 500 hp, weight 50 tons in working order at a 16.5 ton axle loading, this class of locomotives were main line locomotives in miniature. There were two models produced, 50 and 75 tons, with either 8 (500hp) or 12 (750hp) cylinder engines. They were an expensive machine and sold to British Steel (75 ton model) National Coal Board (both weights) and this example to ICI.

A similar diesel hydraulic model was the mainstay of shunting within the Corby steel works.

When the ICI hopper work ended, the loco passed through a dealers hands and was eventually sold to Barrington Cement works for its main line work into the exchange sidings. It has therefore spent its entire working life in the quarrying industry and fits the museums aims, albeit in a slightly wider context!

The locomotive was fitted when manufactured with train vacuum brakes. The exhauster has now been removed and train air brakes fitted. It is intended to restore the vacuum brake to bring the loco up to dual brake capability. Until a suitable exhauster is purchased and fitted it is intended to reinstate the vacuum gear to allow it to work a vacuum fitted train brake system with another loco creating the vacuum.

It has not worked since the closure of the Barrington Light Railway and upon arrival at Rutland it will require a major service, all electrical machines cleaning, a repaint and a new set of batteries before entering service upon completion of this work.

The locomotive will join Ruston Hornsby "Elizabeth" and Thomas Hill "Mr D" both operational locomotives in our fleet which were shed mates at Barrington in the last days of railway operations there.

The lorry which delivered GEC has taken a return load in the form of 0-6-0 Sentinel diesel "KEN" which is leaving the Museum after a long overhaul by its previous owner. We understand that it will shortly be in operational use at Telford.

0 Comments

We are pleased to report that the restoration of M691404 is close to completion.

The LMS 20-ton Iron Ore Hopper Wagon was one of a pair saved by the Charity in the 1980's when they were found in an isolated siding at the British Sugar Corporation factory in Newark. They were recovered in the last rail movement on the internal light railway before it was removed so that a roadway and sludge settling pond could be built.

The wagon was unrestored and still bore its faded BSC livery until recent years having been seen as a long term restoration project. In addition, one of its wheelsets continually ran hot when moved.

Over the last year, the wagon team has slowly carried out a thorough restoration of the wagon. This has included lifting and straightening a bent "W-Iron" which had been the cause of the problems with the wagon.

During the restoration, it was found that coal dust had filled the axleboxes, this being the principal use for the wagons when in use at Newark.

Authentic worksplates were acquired for the wagon and replica plates have now been fitted to the solebars.

The wagon has been repainted into the British Railways livery which fits with the period in which the Museum operates. In the next few weeks, the wagon will be completed and join the other examples in our operational hopper train.

The restoration team are keen to recruit further volunteers for their next project which will be revealed next month.

0 Comments

The Trustees were extremely pleased with the success of the event which took place at the Museum as part of Rutland Walking Week.

At around 10am a group of intrepid walkers led by walk leader Sophie set off on a "medium" grade walk of around 5 miles.

The walk took an initial railway character following the Museum Nature Trail which runs beside and around the operational line. The walkers then branched off to pick up the footpath over the fields to join the route of the old Oakham Canal to Market Overton Wharf. The spring nature was out in force with the familiar native species enlivened by brave Cowslips.

Close to the wharf, the group took to a green lane before looping up the escarpment overlooking Teigh village, and across the ironstone outcrop under Market Overton village.

The path along the ridge leading to Market Overton church bordered the ironstone workings which dated from the very early 1900's close to the village to 1949 at their northernmost edge. It is a remarkable vantage point to look down into the Catmose Valley and note the site of successive former ironstone workings from Market Overton, Barrow, Cottesmore and Burley in the South.



The group then wound through the village and dropped across the rape fields before heading back to the canal and railway route beyond.



We hope to participate in the next Rutland Walking Week event and hope that more people will take advantage of the opportunity.

We welcome walkers at the Museum. If you wish to use the Museum as a base for your day out, booking is not required but we would appreciate if you could contact us through this website or on 07798 641105.

0 Comments

The Museum were very pleased to take up an invitation to the Stamford Model Railway Exhibition on 1st May 2010.



A merry band of enthusiastic volunteers including David Corbridge, Geoff Halliday-Pegg and Phil Marston were able to discuss the Museum project with visitors to the exhibition. Our 2010 events programme and Driver Experience leaflets were distributed and a great deal of interest was generated for our late-Summer Model Railway and Engineering Event. This features layouts and models in a range of scales with the main event located in our engine shed and workshop, which gives the event a quite different flavour from the usual fare!

0 Comments

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!

0 Comments

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.

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

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

0 Comments