Author Archives: Simon Lomax

The Apedale Valley Light Railway will be running every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday from April 6 to October 27. Steam locomotives will be in use on event days, Bank Holiday weekends and the second complete weekend of each month. We have a number of special events through the year which will appeal to […]

In between all the Santa-related excitement (the elves have been busy on the Grotto), various other projects have progressed at Apedale. Ruston 191658 has held on to its engine with a vice-like grip which had defied all attempts to release. Until an assault by various heavy weaponry finally resolved the issue. Meanwhile, the on-going battle […]

With the end of the main running season, the Winter Maintenance Programme is now in full swing at Apedale. The WMP is a surprisingly complex concept, as we also use the closed period to undertake training. Therefore, a lot of thought goes into making sure that, for example, we have an intact and complete railway […]

The Halloween event normally marks the end of the main operating season for the Apedale Valley Light Railway, with just the Santa Specials in December to come. However, 2018 is different. At this time of year, hopefully no-one is unaware that this is the centenary of the end of the First World War. To mark […]

Saturday October 27th and Sunday 28th will see us running our Halloween Spooky Steam Trains once again. How does this work? We’ll run our normal train service from 11:30 until 3:30. From 4 until a last train at 7, we’ll be running the Spooky Steam Trains. The ride is suitable for all ages – we […]

Excellent Day One of the Diesel Delights event. 14 different locos used on the mainline passenger train, 8 of which have (I am told) never hauled a passenger train before. And we’ll be doing it all again tomorrow, with yet another selection of the huge fleet. Trains run from 1130 to 4pm, standard fares are […]

We hope we need hardly remind you that this coming weekend – October 6 & 7 – is the 2018 Diesel delights event, when the Apedale fleet of non-steam locos is given a chance to perform. The event title is a tad misleading, but “Diesel, Petrol and Battery-Electric Delights” didn’t scan well and wouldn’t fit […]

Preparations are in full swing for the Diesel Delights event on October 6 and 7. Various locos have been extracted from their hiding places around the site, and are now being fettled. Ruston 223667 was an old favourite when the School railway was in operation, but has since fallen on rather hard times. It has […]

The last couple of weeks have, as usual, seen lots of progress on several front at Apedale. Sadly, the August Bank Holiday weather lived down to expectations, which affected the Classic Cars event quite badly – it seems that Austin Allegros dissolve in the rain. Not to worry, we’ll try again next year! The use […]

August Bank Holiday – always a weekend of mixed emotions; nearly time to go back to school, and the Christmas trees have appeared in Woolworths (for younger readers, that used to be a sort of shop). But why not lighten the atmosphere and enjoy what promises to be a big weekend at Apedale. We are […]