What a difference a day makes! Not 24 hours, earlier the weather for our 'Bury Bubble' railtour had been glorious all day. Fast forward to 09.00 the next day, the weather was wet and blustery. Departure for 17 hardy souls was prompt at 09.30, as we needed to complete our planned track coverage in good time for the afternoon tour and there would be public running on the normal passenger line later too for .... 'Normals'.

https://www.apedale.co.uk/see-and-do/apedale-valley-light-railway/ is the Railways website.

First thought: An introduction to Apedale, for those who are unfamiliar with the site. A couple of hundred years ago or so when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, ironworks prevailed in the Apedale Valley supported by good canal connections, later rail connections and, most important of all, an abundant supply of coal. Apedale Colliery was one of the few coal mines that had an 'open access' and was known as a footrail mine. This means that the coal face was reached on foot by a shallow incline rather than the more conventional vertical shaft. This particular mine held the record for coal extraction per man on two occasions. The mine finally ceased production in 1999 after water pumping ended at the nearby Silverdale Colliery (below). The area had seen standard gauge railways serving the mines emanating from the North Staffordshire Railway Newcastle-under-Lyme to Market Drayton route. The start of the Apedale Colliery branch serviced the later Holditch Colliery (1912 -1989). Nearby Silverdale had its passenger station closed 2 Mar 1964 but the station buildings remained for some years as train crew accommodation for British Rail staff who worked the trains to Silverdale Colliery (which closed 31 Dec 1998). In 2009 the track was lifted from Silverdale station westward through Silverdale Tunnel.

Apedale currently hosts the Apedale Heritage Centre on the site of Aurora Mine and the 2ft gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway (MR p23) (public run 500yd) opened in 2010 by the Moseley Railway Trust. The narrow gauge railway is a 'modern' railway and was not present when the site was an active mine.

The morning tour was planned to last an hour longer than the afternoon tour to additionally cover the run round loops and extremities at Silverdale (not on the site of the eponymous mainline station) at the southern end of the line and Apedale at the northern end of the line. These lines had been covered on our previous three visits. The Hayfield coach (so called because it was built by the Hayfield Group), which seats 18 (one is the guard) at a squeeze, is perfect for railtours and was hauled by No13. The loco was delivered new to the Pilkington Brothers on 2 Jun 1960 and was used to collect sand from arable land in the area it worked. Its last location being Intake Lane, Bickerstaffe, just southeast of Ormskirk, in 1978.









Once the 'main line' area had been completed the tour headed off onto the much more extensive and complex also 2ft gauge, 'Field Railway' (no public running). Since our last visit on 27 Mar 2022 the line had been extended to provide a full loop circuit allowing direct access into both Aurora South Storage Shed and Brian's Barn / Field Railway Containers, depending on which way round the loop the train goes.

Four new sidings (Embsay Sidings) are also being built, next to the Field Railway Containers. At Aurora South Storage Shed participants detrained to travel on the manrider (personrider?). Haulage was SMH 60SD754 making its passenger debut. Up until this point the weather had been rather overcast, blustery with a few showers. However, as soon as we boarded the fully open exposed Whittlesea Manrider the heavens opened! [The afternoon tour was dry with even some sun; other members on a steam train from Bristol Temple Meads to Pembroke Dock and return, had a very lovely sunny afternoon!]



In one part of the site, a demonstration WWI trench has been created. Over the years Apedale Railway has played host to several WWI 'Tracks to the Trenches' events (rides not given), highlighting the major part narrow gauge railways played in supporting troops on the front line in their dugout trenches.



Parts of this tour reminded me of the old Heineken advert - The BLS reaches the parts other operators cannot reach. The tour returned to Aurora South Storage Shed for the trip back to Silverdale station so that the dry out could begin! The afternoon tour was shorter than the morning run, designed for those who had been on previous visits here. For both trips, the highlights were the chance to ride over the newly installed Field Railway trackwork and to be hauled by '754' at this very friendly pro-enthusiast railway. Thanks to our member Gary Lonsdale for making all the excellent arrangements for the Society.












A final thought. Once Sir Nigel Gresley owned the Apedale Estate. Not the Nigel Gresley you are thinking off, as he born some 100 years later. Maybe they were related?