Aln Valley Railway lease signed

[52D]

Good news the Aln Valley Railway today signed the lease on the trackbed now they can start to lay track. Im stealing 60044s thunder here so no doubt he will fill all the details in. Just got message at 2100 today.

[60041]

The AVR have issued the following press release;
On Wednesday 22nd February 2012 a major milestone in the revitalisation of the Aln Valley Railway between Alnmouth and Alnwick took place at Alnwick Castle, with the signing of the Lease between the Aln Valley Railway Trust and the Duke of Northumberland.

The lease will allow the first construction elements of the railway to begin almost immediately with a view to having some limited running of short trains by the end of summer this year. Hopefully visitors will be able to visit the site to see the construction progress.

AVR Trust Chairman Martin Robinson said:

"We are absolutely delighted to have reached this important milestone in the restoration of the railway. Everybody involved has worked tremendously hard to achieve this, but there is still a huge amount of work still to done, especially if we are to hit our target dates.
"Our first works contract has already let to a local Alnwick firm, and we will be going to tender on the second contract shortly thereby helping the local economy in these difficult times."

“However, we need more volunteers for everything! Now that we will be able to demonstrate progress on the ground tangibly we hope that as many people as possible will rally round to help get this fantastic project off the ground. All offers of help will be very welcome.

“The Aln Valley Railway is very conscious of its ability to add to the continuing well-being of Alnwick and North Northumberland, and we will do our utmost to contribute.

“I pay tribute and offer grateful thanks to the Northumberland Estates for their continuing help, and the Coast and Lowlands Leader project for grant-aid without which the project could not have progressed.”

Access to the original Alnwick station is no longer possible, as part of the trackbed was breached for the construction of the A1 Alnwick bypass, and a supermarket has been built on another part of the former line. Thus the Aln Valley Railway will be building a new station at a site known as “Lloyd’s Field’ close to the A1 and adjacent to both the original line and the Lionheart Enterprise Park. A curved track will link this station to the former alignment allowing trains to reach a terminus next to the East Coast main line at Alnmouth for Alnwick station. This, however, lies well in the future! Initial works will concentrate on the new operating base and station site, which will be called Alnwick (Lionheart).

Access to the station site will be via Ash Close on the Lionheart Enterprise Park to the south of Alnwick. Local contractors, Messrs. D. Purvis, will be starting on the necessary roadworks at once.

Meanwhile over the winter AVR members carried out vital remedial work on the former trackbed which has involved improvement to the drainage and the cutting back of vegetation. A special license was granted by the Northumberland Estates for this and for the digging of some test pits to determine the underlying ground conditions. The results facilitated the creation of an accurate bill of quantities for the main tender for levelling of the station site.

Work has continued at two other locations. At Wooler considerable progress has been made with the repair and refurbishment of rolling stock. The locomotive shed is at Wooler as a ‘kit of parts’ ready for erection at Lionheart, as is the water tower. Meanwhile at Longhoughton track panels are being assembled for transport to Lionheart as soon as vehicle access is possible. Some track panels, purchased from Network Rail, and other rail items donated by the National Railway Museum at York, will move north shortly.

The restoration of this railway line was first mooted in the mid-1990s. At long last the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are beginning to find their place! Hopefully, later this year, the Aln Valley Railway will start to run trains, albeit on a short length of track, and join the list of Britain’s Heritage Railways! In doing so it will also add to the attractions of the Alnwick area.

Potential volunteers or donors should contact the Aln Valley Railway’s Secretary, Mark Hayton, via secretary@alnvalleyrailway.co.uk or via the railway’s website at www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk.

[60041]

Work has finally started on preparing the ground for the new station at Alnwick.
The attached aerial photo, taken today, shows progress so far. The station and shed will be in the area where the machinery is working and the almost completed headshunt can be seen . The new connection to the old trackbed is dropping down to the field boundary and will soon be taken down to the original track level on a small embankment. The original alignment can be seen running left to right in the foreground, Alnwick is to the right on the other side of the main road (A1)
The groundworks are expected to be complete by early april when AVR volunteers will move onto the site to erect a steel framed engine shed, a cafe building and start to lay track as well as doing the fencing, landscaping, planting trees and sowing grass seed.
It is hoped that the site can be opened to the public by mid to late july to allow visitors to see work in progress and visit the museum and cafe. The first trains, which will be diesel hauled brake van trips, are expected to run in late august. The possibility of a steam presence has not been ruled out - watch this space!
If anybody fancies lending a hand and helping the project forward please either pm me or visit the AVR website at:
http://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk
We would really appreciate some help!

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Congratulations, you are underway at last, it looks interesting, I'll keep my eye on this one.

To prove my ignorance, is it narrow or standard gauge !!

manna

[52D]

Four foot eight and a half inch manna, lol.

[Blink Bonny]

AY up!

Good on yer, as out Antipodean mates would say.

[Bryan]

I take it there is no prospect of actually crossing the A1 then?
How far away is Alnwick centre by foot?

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Thank you for that, why I asked that question, isn't there a narrow gauge railway being built in that area , Northumberland/Scots boarder ??

And could this be a future home for the J21 ??????

manna

[60041]

I take it there is no prospect of actually crossing the A1 then?
How far away is Alnwick centre by foot?

We did have plans originally to cross the A1, and when the cutting was opened out to dual carriageway width, about 10 years ago, test borings were carried out to check ground conditions to see if a bridge would be viable.
The two problems are mainly cost, about £1.5 Million at 1998 prices, and the fact that there is little prospect of being able to cross South Road in Alnwick (another expensive bridge) and gain access to the original station. Part of the station yard is now occupied by a supermarket and some industrial units have encroached onto the trackbed just beyond the station throat. The local council originally backed the scheme and said that the route would be protected, but then approved the plans for the supermarket.
The new layout has been designed to allow for the possibility of extending towards the town at a later date, it is still technically possible but would now cost a huge amount of money.
As for walking, it is about a mile to the centre of town via the road; this could be cut to about 1000 yards if a lightweight foot / cycle bridge was built across the A1.
A local firm runs a regular vintage bus service around the town during the summer months and he intends to extend the route to take in the new station once we are up and running.

[richard]

Sorry if I missed it elsewhere, but roughly when do you think you will be open, and what will the rolling stock initially be?

(I might be in Northumberland around Christmas time)


Richard

[60041]

G'Day Gents
Thank you for that, why I asked that question, isn't there a narrow gauge railway being built in that area , Northumberland/Scots boarder ??
And could this be a future home for the J21 ??????
manna

The narrow gauge line is the Heatherslaw Light Railway that runs from Heatherslaw Mill to Etal, it has recently been extended and is now about 2 1/2 miles long. It is well worth a visit.
As for the J21, I would love to see it in Alnwick - I think that and the new build G5 would be the perfect motive power.
You never know, by the time we have extended all the way to Alnmouth, they might be ready!

Sorry if I missed it elsewhere, but roughly when do you think you will be open, and what will the rolling stock initially be?
(I might be in Northumberland around Christmas time)
Richard

Our first trains are expected to run this summer and will consist of a couple of brake vans hauled by the Drewry "04" that was kindly donated to the AVR by Drax Power Ltd.
One of our members owns a couple of Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 steam locos, one is presently working at Tanfield and the other is on the Boness and Kinneil Railway. He intends to bring one back to Alnwick as soon as it is practical to do so and it will be used to haul some ex BR Mk11's that we will start restoring as soon as the shed is built. There is the possibility of some Mk1 stock coming to the site and also some historic wooden bodied coaches.
If you are in the area over Christmas, please pm me and I will be glad to show you around.

[Coboman]

. The local council originally backed the scheme and said that the route would be protected, but then approved the plans for the supermarket.

Isn't it amazing how brown envelopes change coucillor's tunes.....

[60041]

Well, the first length of track has gone down. The attached photo was taken last weekend and shows 2 AVR volunteers barring the first rail into place. This is one of the roads in the new shed, you can see the uprights behind wher they are working.
I visited the site this morning, and the shed is almost finished, the last of the cladding should be on by this evening. I will post photos later.

[60041]

As promised, 2 pictures of the new shed this morning. The cladding is now finished so once the other track is laid this weekend, the floor will be concreted and we can start thinking about moving some stock in.

[Autocar Publicity]

That's good, and a sign of progress. When things start to be built, it's a visible sign of a railway's development. Suddenly magazine editors sit up, take notice and start publishing your press releases... It should make a big difference to your ability to restore and maintain stock and operate services. What's the capacity of the shed?