Yes Marples was certainly the scourge of rail enthusiasts and certainly not the type of Cheshire MP that we need today when trying to get this project up and running.
Rumour has it that he was instrumental in the decision not to award a knighthood to Ian Allan for his services to trainspotting. Although Ian Allan did publish road transport books Marples never forgave him for bringing out the ABC railway series.
I'm glad we've sorted out that misunderstanding. Actually I'm not even sure that Lord Millet of HOLTS fame is still alive. I know, after being forced Underground, that he suffered horric injuries when his ceremonial robes became caught in an escalator at Victoria tube station. In fact, it was this incident which resulted in the society's members changing to ermine-trimmed anoraks for all future spotting trips.
I notice from the Middlewood Way publicity material that the route is also a bridleway. Have you canvassed the RSPCA's view on this matter? Steam trains and horses in close proximity could be problematic. You could issue the horses with ear-plugs (http://www.saddleandtackwarehouse.co...p?item_id=1255) but at nearly 20 dollars a pair this would soon eat into the railway's profits.
On the subject of football......a considerable number of professional footballers and indeed TV celebrities live in East Cheshire. Have you approached any of them for sponsorship? A loco could be named in their honour or they could even become guest drivers for a day. Coincidentally I read in today's news that Kerry Katona from Wilmslow is now available(subject to the necessary testing). What a crowd-puller that would be in this celebrity obsessed World we live in?

Swisstrains you are an absolute genuis.
For a start we want to put a fence between the track and the paths.
Celebrities are indeed a good idea and this shall be pursued later on after the reply to the email to the council comes through.
I have also come up with a plan to beat the council if they say no. If no is the answer, then I shall ask everyone here in the forum to bombard the council with emails, letters and phonecalls pleading our cause and showing them how there is next to no problems. [B]Do not do this yet!!!![B]
I will let you know when the time is right. On the point of the horses i shall argue that they are not bothered by cars on the road and so there should not be a problem with trains. Anyway we shall advise to horse riders that it would be sensible to use pariferal vision blockers that fit over the eyes.
Of course the local clubs will be informed and will ask for their advice on horse habits and give our safety advice which will also be posted at all joining points for the path.
Now if I seem a little rude to anyone regarding copyright and stealing it is because we are very wary right now about that subject. It is no longer possible to do so but we we still want to be careful. Sorry if i offend you.
As we go from strength to strength we will let you know of furthere developments, but there are some things that we cannot tell you for credibility and opposition (if there is any) issues.
Remember that we are enthusiasts and together we have stopped steam from disapearing and created many beautiful little lines so we are a force to be reckoned with.

There is now an opinion poll in the thread.

Now that the opinion poll is up and running, I should mention to those who have not read the posts that this is a serious project that is making steady progress. we do of course need enthusiast support and we would be greatful if you took a look through the past few pages on some of the points made that may help you in your decision.
I will update if any news arises.

I voted NO to helping because I feel that this is way to big for a group of amateurs to tackle. It requires a professional team working with solicitors and architects and Lord knows who else. Just getting a Lottery Grant would have to be matched pound for pound and the application is so taxing it would try the patients' of a saint. Best of British but I dont hold out much hope of you getting over the first major hurdle - Planning!!

Here we go.
My family has been in the rail industry for years. One part of the family is in insurance and surity that can cover the railway line.
Where planning is concerned we have several arguments which we are protecting from public eye currently.
MAY I REMIND YOU THAT WE WOULD NOT HAVE RUNNING STEAM OR ANY HERITAGE RAILWAYS SO EVEN IF WE WERE JUST AMETURES WE WOULD STILL SUCCEED. :mad:

I should also mention that we have a very good friend who is an architect and I am beginnig training.
No matter which way you put it we are slowly suceeding and as it has been proved, enthusiasts are a very powerful force.
Oh so angry!!!

Wouldn't it be great if we could get one of these for the B&MLR?
http://www.chemistry.bristol.ac.uk/org/murray/ok%202797.htm
It could be named after his lordship and known affectionately as the "Millett Mallet"

Yes it would but they may be hard to come by.
Tell you what swisstrains, take a look at www.prestonservices.co.uk
and look at railway locomotives. They have some tank engines by the same builder.

Oh sorry for the meeting date wait.
We are waiting for the reply from the council currently.

I am now getting a little bit fed up with the wait for the reply.
I think I am going to have to consider that letter bombardment If you are willing to take part and show that there is interest in such a project.
Anyway let me know first and wait for me to give the go ahead.
Phone calls would do as well but remember, wait for the signal.

We now have a huge task ahead of us.
What we are about to do is build a railway of 9 miles in length, and create something for future generations to remember the past.
We forget of how these old lines were created:
Pain, sweat, toil and tragedy all went into them, but now they lie dead.
We need to honour these men who did this to create the world as we see it.
From what I see there are some enthusiasts that are submissive.
Someone needs to stand up and say what they believe.
With numbers we are unstoppable and the dream will become reality.
You may not think it, but each and every supporter counts, so why not you?
If everyone says "let someone else do it"
All that we love would not exist.
As contact with the council continues, I for one will never give up whatever the outcome.
Look at the poll. If you cannot help then thats fine.
Won't help I will never understand. This railway and the friends of the B&MLR will honour and remember the pain and suffering even if no-one else will.

Which council has'nt replied?

Cheshire east council. This is the same council that replaced macclesfield borough council and others only weeks ago.

Thanks for that,have Stockport M.B.C. been more responsive?

I'm not sure that they would come into this as it is cheshire east that owns the trackbed.
Worth a try though.

Again things are taking a step forward. We are now begining to plan in detail where things like sheds shall go and other structures.
At the next meeting we shall disscuss things like whether we should have a partnership with other railways so we gains support and greater publicity.
We have 5 in mind to choose from but we are not giving any names as yet while our desicions are refined.

We have decided that things like general meetings that anyone can attend will be in autumn and early winter at the earliest but to proceed we need the govenment to reply. I think we will contact stockport now.

Running steam trains and a foot/cycle path together can be done as can be seen from this photo from the gallery.

http://www.railwayforum.net/gallery/...php?photo=4304

Philip.

Stockport M.B.C come in to it because they manage and are responsible for the pathway from Middlewood to Marple.

Running steam trains and a foot/cycle path together can be done as can be seen from this film in the TV site (steam section)

http://www.railwayforum.tv/members/a...key=790974d4e2

A large proportion of the Nene Valley has a footpath/cycleway beside it,
Uses part of the other trackbed after the line was singled. Never heard of any problems as a result and only a stranded wire fence as a barrier.
John (G)

Now you see that we are a narrow gauge line.
We will of course take up less space than standard gauge so again a strong case. I am currently searching through loco designs to look for a possible new build.
Where the middlewood interchange is concerned, there is plenty of possibility.
Here we could set about having a standard gauge shed on the old junction area for railtours.

NG15 are good locos, perhaps a larger wheeled version.

This hasn't been abandoned for anyone wondering, but things like meetings may take longer to have dates and that.
Progress is being made, but some info is now confidential.

Well I am not in that area, in fact I am a long way from there,but in all honesty, I wish you well, "Good on yer". It sounds as if a lot of work is going on behind the scenes, I can only wish you well, keep up the good work.


48111

Yes thankyou, our vision is to bring railway heritage into everyones lives who wants it. When walking in the area I have always thought of a railway to complement it's wonderful views and bracing country.

I am a very impatient person and as all feedback on this project appears to have dried up I decided to carry out my own feasibility study.
Yesterday my wife and I walked the route of the proposed line from Macclesfield to Rose Hill Marple and as a result of this I have a number of questions that I would like to put to Mr.Bazley and Lord Millet.
1) Where do you propose siting the station at the Macclesfield end of the line? I assume that the original trackbed was covered by the A523 road making an alternative alignment extremely expensive.
2) At Bollington an industrial estate now covers the original trackbed. How do you intend coping with this obstacle as the terrain doesn’t make the present alternative route wide enough for a combined railway and bridleway?
3) The tunnel beneath the A6 north of Middlewood is far too narrow for both a railway and a bridleway. Do you have any plans to deal with this bottleneck?
4) For much of its length the original trackbed is very wet with countless numbers of small ponds. Although the abundance of marsh plants add to the scenic beauty of the route it is going to be very expensive to reinstate suitable drainage before the railway can be restored. Have you budgeted for this?
5) What plans do you have for a station at the Rose Hill end of the line?

Sorry for the wait.
I have had to keep some info secret for the obvious reasons.
However, if you check back at the start of the thread, I have altered the thread with a message saying that it was later decided to go from marple to Bollington only.
This was because we realised what would be involved.
That is why it is called the Bollington and marple light railway.

Yes there are several small ponds along the route.
We propose to move these as they are man made features, into adjasent fields or by the canal to provide an alternative nature walk.

Plese remember that we are a narrow gauge railway, so we won't take up much room.
Also remember that it was double track.

We are going back to the line shortly to measure exactly the width.

At rose hill, we plan to have a station about 20 yards down the line as there is a flat open space here.
It may not be obvious with the trees mind you.

Like an ordinary railway, we are not going to do this all in one go.
We shall start at one end and slowly extend, but at a rate of about a distance of a mile or two a year to break things down a bit.
The tunnel, like the rest of the line will be an interesting part of the project.
We are hoping for a single track line I should add at this point.

Anymore questions would be gladly answered as we have moved quiter a step from this point.
It is also worth mentioning that we have a website under construction.
Until it is competed, all info will be here.

PS, what did you think of Bollington viaduct?

Silly me. I didn't bother to read back through the thread but I should have realised from the name.:o

Very impressive and from what you can see it also appears to be in excellent condition.

I have an article documenting how the locoal people fought to dave the viaduct, even hanging signs off it.
I think that with that much support to save the bridge back then, putting in a new steam line would have similar support.

I should mention that at the time of closure, a large group of people tried to take over the runnig of the railway to provide a commuter service between Marple and Macclesfield with steam runnig at weekends, but this was halted by the lines destruction south of Bollington.
They had a different challenge back then.
Such a project would not work now.

We are runnig a different project and we shall always remember their struggle.

You say that no restoration is required to most of those Locos. Having viewed the Preston Services website, it is stated next to EACH LOCO'S photo that it is UNRESTORED. Looking at the photos it is obvious that each loco has had an Exterior coat of paint to make them look respectable but on looking closer there are parts missing from all of them. Expensive Parts too. Injectors. Clack valves. Copper pipework. These will all need replacing before you can even think about just TRIAL STEAMING the locos let alone putting them into service. What is the mechanical state of each loco? Unspecified on the website. What is the state of the Boilers? Again unspecified on the website. You cannot be serious that these locos will not need any restoration.

I did say that there were several of one type.
One of these would probably be used for spares.
All aquired locos will receive full B&MLR colours, which have not been decided.
What liveries can anyone suggest?

Is there any chance that you could answer my queries, please, and not try to slip away from the point?

Oh, right well OK then.
As I have said there are several locos on sale there and so spares will not be a problem.
We will have at least one loco for spares.
Preston services do say that they are in good condition.
Heavy overhall will not be necessary here as we will have the spares as I have said.
We do not wish to restore them as upgrades usuall mean for the better, but we will certainly have a full inspection done before buying.
Anyway the livery is an issue whci needs to be adressed.
Sorry if I seam unreasonable.

Not unreasonable, just not familiar with the essentials of running steam locos. Those locos have been brought into this country from somewhere in eastern Europe. do they come with all the NECCESSARY documentation re boiler inspections, repairs etc?

It is european law.
Anyway as I have said the locos will have full inspections.
I would not be doing this If I was unfamiliar with these things.
I m not just going to buy them and then kick them into service if that's what you think.

You seem VERY unfamiliar with these things, and come across as a wishful thinker, in the whole of the thread you have stated very few FACTS, but plenty of what I can only describe as Wishful Thoughts. Have you Ever been involved with ANY Preserved Railway or Steam Locomotive?

Yes indeed I have.
You cannot seriously expect me to tell you everything can you?
I have to protect some info about the project as all preservation societies have the right to do and do.

Sinilarly have YOU ever had any experience with this sort of thing.
I don't want a fight, but some of the things you say are just plain insulting.

Most preservation Groups are up front about their aims and clearly set out what they are aiming to do. That is how they get support for their projects!

Having read all your posts my gut fealing is that you do not have a lot of experience of Heritage Railway Projects.

Please do remember that there are quite a number of very knowlegable people contributing to this Forum, whose expertise could serve you well if you bothered to read their posts before adding your next comment.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Can I just add to what John H-T has posted and then may I put a couple of questions to you SFE.
Any railway project needs support and the only way to get that support initially is to shout out loud, ie use any media available to you, then when you see what sort of response you get you can start to formulate a master plan, why then SFE is this forum the only place I have seen this grand idea mentioned?
Secondly what make you sure you can see this project working when not many miles away those wonderful people at Rowsley and Matlock are still trying to fulfill their dream,and in all due respect to your line,it has'nt half the potential of what the Peak has.
And finally why at this pre-embryo stage why are you worring about locomotives? Believe you me if you open this line, loco owners will be coming to seek you out no matter what guage you use.
Over to you SFE.

Cheers John