Ian Smeeton

How many of the LMS BGs got blue/grey? There have been a couple of photos recently, but I only remember them in all over blue. Regards Ian

Collected my recalcitrant e-bike from Halfords this afternoon. Gave it a quick run round the car park and everything seemed fine (like last time) Waited for the rain to stop, and thought a quick 7.5 miles round the block to check everything OK. No go. Back to the same problem. 1 or 2 seconds motor kicks in, then stops. First time this happened, instead of using 18-22% battery on the way to work, I got there with 99% battery remaining. Despite a new motor, factory reset, firmware update and new ECU, everything is the same. Looking now for recommendations for an e-bike around £1200 to replace. Any suggestions? Regards Ian

Diesel Driver for a Fiver tomorrow at Rocks by Rail. Rolls Royce elegance dressed up in the Brute Force which is Jean, all slimline 30 tons of her could be at your disposal tomorrow. Betty, shunting (but identical to Jean) Jean, 57 this year is ever young and sprightly and will be strutting her stuff from 10.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. along 3/4 of a mile of former ironstone sidings. Big diggers & Dumpers, nature trails, engine sheds and workshops and a mean bacon butty (or two) in 19 acres of the unspoiled county of Rutland. LE15 7FF for your satnag. Regards Ian

BURLEY IRONSTONE QUARRY, RUTLAND REMEMBERED 1919 – 1962 In July sixty years ago the quarrying of ironstone by opencast methods came to an end at Burley Ironstone Quarry situated in rural Rutland. Construction work for the new ironstone quarry at Burley was commenced in 1919 by Bell Brothers Ltd who were the owners of an ironworks at Port Clarence on Teeside. They sought to secure further supplies of ironstone from the Midlands as their local supply showed signs of running out. Construction work started with a tramway railway system using two different gauges. The Ironstone deposits lay at the top of the escarpment and a standard gauge line was first built along the foot of the hill. On top of the hill 3ft gauge narrow gauge lines were laid to the quarry and the narrow gauge wagons of ironstone were lowered down the escarpment on a rope worked incline (the last to be built in the ironstone industry) to a tipping dock in a similar way to that adopted at Cottesmore Mines, located a short distance away to the north. The quarrying of ironstone began in 1920. The ironstone was under very shallow cover (4-5ft) whilst the ironstone seam measured approximately 6ft in depth. Three small narrow gauge steam locos were employed to move the V shaped side tipping wagons between the quarry face and the top of the incline. On the standard gauge one loco was used to transfer the full standard gauge wagons to Cottesmore Gorse Exchange Sidings (adjacent to the RbR Museum Site). In 1923 Bell Brothers Ltd operations they were taken over by Dorman Long & Co Ltd who decided in 1926 to replace the narrow gauge quarry railway with an extended standard gauge line. The narrow gauge incline was replaced by a rising curved standard gauge line. The narrow gauge bridge under the Cottesmore – Oakham road was replaced by a larger structure whilst a new substantial brick built two road loco shed to maintain four locomotives was built near wagon sidings serving the extensive calcine clamps. In 1930 an extension to the shed was built with the rear part of the enlarged building used for steam loco repair work. An earlier narrow gauge loco shed was used for wagon repairs in maintaining the fleet of wooden bodied side tipping wagons then in use. During WW2 the wooden quarry side tipping wagons were replaced by a fleet of 3 skip steel wagons for transferring the ironstone to the three calcine clamps where it was off loaded by crane. Once the ironstone had been “burnt” or calcined it was re-loaded into steel hopper wagons for the trip to the distant ironworks over the mainline railway. In 1930 the thin overburden was removed by hand with a steam powered face shovel to load the rail wagons with ironstone. The first diesel powered quarry machine arrived in 1920 with a larger diesel powered 43RB machine arriving new in 1954. To deal with the increasing depth of overburden an electrically powered Ruston Bucyrus 5W walking dragline was transferred from the adjacent Exton Park Ironstone Quarry in 1956. From 1957 only raw ironstone was dispatched from the quarry. Burley was Dorman Long Ltd’s only Midlands ironstone quarry and most of the small steam locomotives used at the quarry were transferred from the Companies other works. One exception however was steam locomotive PATRICK which was supplied new to the quarry in 1926 from the builders Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. Ltd of Kilmarnock, Scotland. The advent of WW2 saw a surge in demand for ironstone for the steel and munitions industries and another steam locomotive JUPITER was transferred to the quarry to join PATRICK, BERYL, EUNICE and ANGELA in helping to move the increase in wartime ironstone production. Two more Andrew Barclay saddletanks were transferred to the quarry in the early 1950s from the company’s other works. From the 1950’s four small steam locomotives were required in service each day running on various sections of the quarry railway system. From 1957 locomotive usage was reduced to 3 per day. In 1957 the Burley quarries came under the control of the United Steel Companies Ore Mining Branch who operated the adjacent large Exton Park Ironstone Quarry. In 1959 the Burley quarries railway was joined to the Exton Park mineral railway but mineral movements continued much as before. Exton Park made available one of its larger and more powerful YEC Type 1 steam locos to take the wagons from Burley Quarry to the exchange sidings. Further integration of the two quarry systems followed and in 1961 the remaining Burley locomotives were re-numbered by USC. Any locos requiring heavy overhaul were treated at Exton Park whilst light repairs were still undertaken in Burley shed. The production of ironstone at Burley ceased in July 1962 and the small locos were cut up for scrap either on-site or at USC Colsterworth workshops. Burley loco shed was then used to repaint the USC Exton Park locos in their new maroon livery until the building was sold into agricultural use in 1963. The former quarry area was restored to agricultural use and the mineral railway tracks lifted and also restored to agriculture. To mark the anniversary of quarry closure a small exhibition on Burley Ironstone Quarry will added to information on display at the Museum from the public Open Day to be held on Sunday 31st July 2022. RbR Steam loco PATRICK was purchased new in 1926 to work the ironstone quarry railway at Burley Steam loco PATRICK repositions JUPITER on the track adjacent to Andrew Barclay built No.33 at Burley loco shed. Photo courtesy I Peters Worksplate from the Ruston Bucyrus 5W walking dragline used at both Burley and Exton Park Ironstone Quarries Regards Ian

Each as useful as the other! Regards Ian

I Don't think anyone on here would object, although it might be worth reporting your own post and asking Andy Y. I would copy and paste the same and get it on the VAG, and also to the Newsletter editor so that everyone goes with the same ideas of what your AG should be about. Regards Ian

IRONSTONE QUARRY RAILWAY MEMORIES Recently a railway enthusiast contacted the Museum and made arrangements to donate some books and some negatives and prints to be placed in our archive. We are also very grateful to him for transferring copyright of his photographs , taken in 1967, to the museum so we may share the images with others. A selection of images are reproduced below showing the rural nature of these long gone scenes in the East Midlands orefield. Bagnal 0-6-0st LODDINGTON No.2 and train seen at Cranford Andrew Barclay BUCKMINSTER traverses a farm crossing Iron ore tippler wagons and combine harvester at Storefield STAMFORD and loaded train at Pilton, Rutland Andrew Barclay No.11 and train en route to the exchange sidings at Storefield Regards Ian

With regard to alignment, I noticed that @2mmMark was using rare earth magnets to align his sector plate on British Oak at the 2 mm Diamond Jubilee event. This seemed to give very accurate alignment. Might be worth experimenting with? Regards Ian

I picked up a second hand copy of the book Old Oak Engineman by Albert Spooner for a couple of quid. He worked his way through the links at Old Oak, including time on the ECS workings. It seems that the train engine was often left coupled to the ECS to save a path out to Old Oak. Regards Ian

I can't speak for other AGs, but the North Mercia Area Group draws people from an hour and more away by car. As the Sunday meet ups are only every 2 months or so, it doesn't get stale. Different AGs, different formats, but @Laurie2milgenerally organises someone to talk or demonstrate something, and then we repair to the railway room after refreshments. Each to their own, though. Regards Ian

Have you put his out on the VAG, you might get a bit more response as not all are on RMWeb. Also, something in the Mag? Regards Ian

Far too interesting for the Dull Mens Club. They are really quite stunning. Regards Ian

Please do. I would reciprocate by taking shots of all 8 roundabouts in the entire county of Rutland. Then again, I might try for all 4 sets of traffic lights. Regards Ian

Thanks, Jayne, It is good to hear a positive side to joining a volunteer run establishment. I hope that you go on, progressing in the direction you want to take, gaining the competencies that you want to take. All the very best, Ian

No error code on the screen. I have charged the battery on and off the bike. It seems to go to 100% either way. I have managed to get it booked in for tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully it is a quick fix. Thanks for the info. Regards Ian

My e-bike has no e 2 weeks of non use, followed by charging the battery when I got back from my Hols on Saturday to make sure that everything was Go for an 05.30 am start, after a few hundred yards, I discovered there was no e in my e-bike. I could have turned round and still made it to work on time, but, I thought, no, I'll manage. Sweating lump turned up at work at 05.20, and once I had recovered a bit, I checked the bike over. Normally on the 7.4 miles to work, the bike is down to 80% or so battery. This morning.....99% Not much assist in my electrically assisted bike! Took the battery off, charged it (5 min to full charge), put it back on the bike, fired it up and went for a 100 yard spin down the lane & back up. Seemed OK. No idea what I had done, but it worked. Set off after work on a 7 mile detour to deal with some business at Rocks by Rail. No e Sweating lump pulled up at the gates just in time to meet a serious contact who could do the Museum some great service. Not the best impression to give. Finally got away 3 hrs later, with a 7 mile run home, starting with a big hill. Nothing to you really fit types, it only rises about 120 feet in half a mile or so. No e Sweating lump finally got home at about 17.30, now showered, and changed etc, but it made today a hard day phoned Halfords. Got some English as a second language speaker in a call centre wherever he was. I was polite I was calm I came close to loosing it trying to put across that en e-bike needed e, electrically assisted meant having some electricity, and giving some assistance. Can't get it booked in til Weds, which is a shame as the next few days look quite pleasant. Rant over. Regards Ian

Fantastic array of models on display, both layouts and stock. Thanks to all for a superb show. Regards Ian

Driver responsible for securing load & supervising ? Regards Ian

I'll be there, with cake. Regards Ian

Steam-up Sunday tomorrow. No Thomas the Tank 'ere, you know. Posh in Rutland, we are, its SIR Tommy the tank engine out to play tomorrow. Weather looks fair, so should be a good day. Come and join us (for a run on the train & a look round, I'm not touting for volunteers, yet) Regards Ian

Where are you @rogerzilla? If you aren't close enough to Rocks by Rail, I am sure that another site would love to have you on board. Regards Ian

You know that you are getting old when...... Your old School Bus is in a Museum. And its bodywork and mechanicals are in better nick that yours!! Regards Ian

The clip is in the BBC link. Just hit the arrow in the photo at the top of the article. Regards Ian

Dunblane Footbridge At Bridge of Dun It must be good stuff, this. Walk up the footbridge at Bridge of Dun, and you are in Dunblane....., or is it the other way round.. Regards Ian

There is, of course, the Blues Singers' Epitaph "Ah didn't wake up one mornin'" Regards Ian