The Ashover Light Railway Society

Lots seems to be going on this month!

The AGM of the ALRS is scheduled for May 11th with a 1.00p.m. start at Ashover Parish Hall (S45 0BA).  All members are encouraged to attend to hear about the progress of our exciting plans for a re-instatement of the Ashover Light Railway. We also welcome the Col Stephens Society who are holding their AGM in Ashover, prior to undertaking a bus tour of the sites along the course of the ALR. (As many of you will know, Col Stephens was involved in the planning and construction of the ALR in an advisory capacity. It is alleged that his advice was sometimes ignored!) More about the Col Stephens Society can be found by clicking here.

Meanwhile, in Clay Cross Library, we have a month long display about the railway, open to all.  This year’s display features a number of “new” photographs that have never previously been widely available and which do not feature in any of the three books published about the Ashover Light Railway.

The ALRS sales stand has been out and about, featuring presence at Bakewell, Peterborough and Ashover so far this year. The next appearance will be at the AGM of the Colonel Stephens Society, followed by our own AGM.

The ALRS tote was drawn at the beginning of March, and the results detailed below.

1st prize - £42.75 DV of Chesterfield

2nd prize - £25.65 VW of Nottingham

3rd prize - £17.10 CB of West Sussex

Congratulations to all the above. Application forms to enter the ALRS tote can be found on the Membership page of this website (although non members can subscribe)

The ALRS sales stand will be making an appearance at a number of events around Derbyshire (and further afield) in 2013.

The list will be updated as further events are added, but for the present time the following will see us in attendance.

April 13th (Sat) gauge 1 model railway exhibition, Bakewell Agricultural Centre.

April 27th (Sat) 16mm Association garden railway show. Peterborough

May 6th (Mon) Ashover May Day event

August 3rd & 4th Cromford Steam Fair, A615 crossroads Brackenfield.

August 10th (Sat) E Anglian garden railway show Bressingham.

August 14th (Weds) Ashover Show

We look forward to meeting friends old and new at these events, and any others we add as the year progresses. Would you like to help out? Our contact details can be found on the “contact us” page of this website.

The Ashover Light Railway has been a favourite for modellers in a variety of scales, but we have recently been advised that a 5″ gauge live steam model of the ALR locomotive “Joan” will be in an auction sale to be held in Sheffield on 15th March 2013.

Further details can be found by clicking here to download a PDF document. (Please mention in any correspondance with the auctioneer that you found out via this website.)

I never cease to be amazed at the constant appearance of images featuring the Ashover Light Railway.

The above image (copyright North East Midlands Photographic Record) is just one example.  It shows Fallgate yard around 1950.  As can be seen the ALR did operate a number of internal combustion locomotives to supplement/replace the Baldwins.  The ex War Department waggons were loaded with stone at Fallgate and then taken to Clay Cross.

Do you have any photos that show the ALR? If so, we would be interested in adding them to our archive.  The same comment also applies to cine film; it appears that there is only one cine film in existence that features the railway, unless you know otherwise.

The three winners of the ALRS tote drawn for December are:-

1. MB (Sheffield) £43.50

2. GL (Matlock) £26.10

3. PL (Alfreton) £17.40

Congratulations to the winners.

Application forms to join the tote can be found on the membership page of this website.

8/12/2012

The merchandise/sales pages of the website have been completely re-written to reflect the range of ALRS merchandise currently available from ourselves. (ALRS sales can also be found on Ebay)

The “How can I help” page now features a report from one of our workshop volunteer members, illustrating that no special skills are required to volunteer (apart from time and enthusiasm of course).  Scroll down to the foot of the “How can I help” page to see the report.

The ALRS headboard is in use again

As detailed elsewhere in this website; immediately after the railway was closed, the locomotives, most of the wagons and the trackwork were sold for scrap. A short section of track and a few wagons remained at Fallgate to service the quarry there, and until a few years ago there was a set of points visible at the entrance to Butts quarry in Ashover.

However, the ALRS committee recently became aware of the existence of another stretch of track, comprising a set of points. This was completely unexpected, and the reason why it was not removed by the scrap dealer is unclear. The survival of this stretch of track was probably because of its position in a difficult location, on private land, well away from public rights of way.

However, with the full co-operation of the land owner a working party of ALRS volunteers has recently rescued these points and moved them to a secure location prior to display in a projected museum. The work involved with the removal did include the “pruning” of a number of saplings that have grown up on the track bed since the closure of the railway, but the rails themselves were remarkably well preserved… surface rust and some pitting but otherwise complete after all these years!

Further photos can be found via the gallery page.