Bollington: a new era!

[Gandalf]

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)

[steam for ever]

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.

[steam for ever]

NG15 are good locos, perhaps a larger wheeled version.

[steam for ever]

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.

[48111]

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

[steam for ever]

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.

[swisstrains]

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?

[steam for ever]

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?

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by steam for ever

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.

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

Originally Posted by steam for ever

.................PS, what did you think of Bollington viaduct?

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

[steam for ever]

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.