Misbourne Valley Light Railway

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15/07/09: Summer Update


I'm quite ashamed of how long this site has gone without an update; I'm afraid the usual suspect, exams, is to blame! These are now out of the way, but in October I will (if all goes to plan) be leaving for university. Therefore, I am determined to complete as many outstanding projects as I can and run the railway as much as possible over this summer.

I have already made good progress with various projects, and a (long!) update to the workshop page covers these in more detail; pictures can be found in the Photo Gallery. For the first part of the holiday the railway was in regular operation, but unfortunately the weather has become more variable recently. Hopefully the sun will be with us again soon. However, we have had a problem in that the electrics have mysteriously stopped working, precluding the use of Albatross and Lyn. I shall have to investigate this at some point.

Nevetheless, the prospects for the MVR are at the moment looking good, and I hope there will be further updates to the site before the end of the holiday.

06/01/09: New Year's Update


As usual, I'm afraid I have very little to report - a hectic Autumn Term followed by a very cold Christmas holiday has left the MVR very quiet. However, we did have a small gala yesterday with the usual visitors from the Woodrow Light Railway: pictures are now in the photo gallery, along with a few shots of the on-loan Roundhouse Millie taken last summer (but not uploaded until now!). The Stock page has also recieved a small update recording this loan, and our new arrival...
Our efforts in the workshop this holiday have largely been devoted to building a new open wagon. This came about due to the enlightened decision of the 16mm Association to send a free wagon kit to every Junior Member, for which I still (just!) qualify. It requires only some attention to the paintwork to be complete, and will take the number T2. Some progress has also been made on painting the G-scale figures acquired some time ago. A few more projects are also planned:

• Making a new nameboard for Rutton Signalbox (and fixing the fire buckets!)
• Repairing the nameboard for Box End station, which has broken off from the platform
  
• Repairing W2 after last year's accident damage (I just need to get the parts...!)
• Modifying A1/2 to take chain couplings (after almost ten years, I have finally worked out a way to do this. And it's unbelievably simple.)

29/08/08: The Signal Box


As detailed in the last update, I celebrated my birthday last month with the MVR open day. But I still had some birthday money that needed spending, and my brother suggested that I might like to spend it at GRS. So, with the family holiday now past we duly set off there today. As ever, I was quite spoilt for choice, but after about twenty minutes browsing I found, tucked away on the bottom shelf in a corner of the shop, a second-hand signalbox. Now I know some of you will say, "but the MVR dosn't have any signals!"...and you're right, it dosen't. But, the points at Rutton still need controlled, and it is not uncommon for ground frames to be enclosed in small signalboxes, especially on preserved lines. And on a practical level, it would provide a useful covering for the leads we use to connect the power supply for the electric locos. It was already built which would save me time, and even authentically weathered. So, what was not to like? Nothing, I decided...

Anyway, here's a picture of the box in it's new location at Rutton. I still need to change the name and and replace the missing fire bucket, but that can be done over the winter:



Unfortunately, as happened last year cicrumstances have combined to ensure that I have not been able to run trains as often as I would have liked, amd termtime is almost upon us again. But I have just quit my Saturday job, which will hopefully ease the time pressure a little next year.

25/07/08: Open Day


Frankly, I never thought I'd have so much good news to tell you all! As the above heading implies, we held an Open Day at the MVR yesterday, and a full report is now on the Community page, and photos will hopefully be in the gallery soon. Not only was the day itself a huge success, but it provided me with the incentive I needed to finish a number of workshop projects - details on the Workshop page, of course! Another development arising from the gala is that Woodrow Light Railway No. 3 is now on loan to the MVR again.
Finally, I have also updated our fictitious history to take account of recent developments, such as Lyn and the new Box End station (did I mention that it's finally finished?). With exams over, I can hopefully now look forward to plenty of running on the railway...

17/02/08: New Year Round-Up


Yes, yes, yes, it's been far too long since I posted an update...however, we've actually had quite a bit going on recently, so I'll actually be able to give you a decent-length report for once! Although the home page hasn't been updated, I've actually been quietly beavering away on a few pages recently. The Stock page has been updated with details of WLR No. 8903 (which now qualifies for inclusion following her two-week loan at the end of last summer), and K2 and W2 have made their long-overdue appearences in the rolling stock table. The Workshop page has also recieved an update, though sadly there is little to report! On a happier note, I have managed to find a couple more garden railway links for the Links page: the Rurr Valley Railway, a very interesting Tasmanian line, and the Garden Railway forum, which is highly reccomended.

In terms of goings-on on the line, there hadn't been much to report until recently. We had a gala on New Years Eve, with the customary visiting stock from the Woodrow Light Railway; no Commuinity page report this time I'm afraid, but a comprehensive selection of photos is in the photo gallery. However, apart from this no trains had run since the end of summer until this month, when the need arose to get the electricty supply working again (Why, I hear you ask? Patience, I'm coming on to that!). So, the rails were duly cleaned and Albatross was able to run for the first time in several months. And with the weather being unseasonably sunny, and homework levels at a rare low, I couldn't resist the chance to get Russell and Blackbird running again too! Pictures of their exploits over the last week are in the photo gallery.

And now to the most exciting piece of news (and the reason I needed to get the electricity supply working again)...the MVR has a new loco!

A few weeks ago a Bachmann Lyn was advertised for sale on the Miniature Railway World forum, and with some money saved up from the Saturday job I've been doing since September, I felt the opportunity was too good to miss! She arrived at the MVR yesterday and was given a quick trial this morning, which went without a hitch. A couple of pictures are already in the photo gallery, and hopefully I'll get her written up for the stock page soon. With her came a bogie coach scratchbuilt around a Bachmann chassis; the body, although quite attractive, is unfortunately far too flimsy to stand up to regular MVR use, so the intention is to build a new one. I've already got some ideas for possible designs...keep an eye on the workshop page for future developments!

20/8/07: Vintage Gala & Other News

Sorry for not telling you about it in advance (it was arranged at very short notice), but the long-promised summer gala finally took place on the 17th August. The event had more than than its fair share of problems, but I think we all managed to enjoy ourselves in the end! A full report on the event can be found on the Community page, with pictures in the Photo Gallery.

26/6/07: The Return to Steam

At last, the dreaded GCSEs are over!  But unfortunately, it's still not plain sailing for the MVR website. Whilst I was diligently revising for my exams, our internet connection went down, and a month later we still haven't been able to fix it (dealing with BT is like fighting your way through a monolithic beauracracy - oh wait, they are a monolithic beauracracy  ), so I won't be able to update the website as frequently as I'd like.

6/5/07: We'll meet again...


...but not, I'm afraid, until after my GCSEs are over. My study leave begins next week and I'll need to devote my time to exam revison, rather than running trains or working in the workshop. So this will be the last site update for a little while, but I've left you with plenty to keep you going

• The Workshop page has recieved its final update until the summer, with news of K2, W2 and Box End station.
• The Route and History page has seen the fictious history updated yet again, with more details of the extension to Rose Halt which supposedly opened one hundred years ago this year.
  
• The Photo Gallery has had pictures of the entries into service of K2 and W2 added.
  
• The Community page has recieved two new reports, one with pictures of the Hampton Loade Paddock Railway and the other a report of the Woodrow Light Railway's Spring Gala.
• The Links page, neglected for far to long, has had the prototype links section overhauled, with dead links removed, broken links repaired and a few new links added. I'm planning to give the garden railway section the same treatment once my exams are over.

So that's all for now...my last exam is on the 15th June, and you never know, we might just rustle up a little gala to celebrate So exciting times are ahead for the MVR this summer...if we can just get those exams out of the way!

31/3/07: It's that time of year again...

To the 16mm enthusiast, the first weekend of April means only one thing: the Stoneleigh show, without doubt the most important event in the 16mm calender. The show was bigger than ever this year, and was, as always, an extremely enjoyable event. As well as having a look at several excellent layouts - and seeing the impressive sight of double-headed SM32 garrats on one of them! - I took full advantage of the many traders attending the event. Details of my purchases can be found on the newly-updated workshop page, along with a photograph of the latest addition to our rolling stock!

8/2/07 - The Right Kind of Snow!


As the rest of the South-East ground to a halt under several inches of snow today, the MVR was kicking off its 2007 season in style! Until now, the MVR has never run trains in the snow - we hardly ever get any in Buckinghamshire, and on the rare occasions when we do I am normally at school! During the Christmas holidays in 2005, we had a light dusting that stayed long enough for me to pose Russell for a few pictures, but my dream of actually running steam in the snow had always remained unfulfilled. So I was understandably pleased this morning to wake up and find several inches of snow, and that my school was closed! My thoughts turned to the railway almost immediately...

After doing my best to clear several scale feet of snow from the line, a task made more difficult by the fact that it was still snowing (!), I attempted to run Blackbird and the passenger set. This proved impossible almost immediately - the battery diesel simply didn't have enough adhesion to grip the icy rails. So after posing for a few pictures, Blackbird went indoors, and Russell took her place! She ran very well considering the difficult conditions - the only major problem was that the front pony truck kept derailing. In the end, we only ran light engine to eliminate the risk of the coaches de-railing, but it was nevertheless an extremely enjoyable running session. I was too busy driving to take pictures, but fortunately my father was on hand with a camera; the photos can now be seen in the photo gallery.

Also, the workshop page has now recieved its January update - slightly overdue I know, but hopefully worth the wait as it contains some rather exciting news!

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