The Museum will be open on Sunday and Monday for the next two weekends –

April 30th and May 1st, and May 7th and 8th 2023

144 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces – From Chasewater News December 1991 – Part 3

General News from the Line

Bric a Brac Stall – The stall is still running and making money for the railway.  Suitable items are always needed to maintain the stock, so if you can help please bring your donations to Brownhills West Station.

Station Buffet – The new buffet is still a great success, to the extent that Walsall Council would now like us to apply for planning permission for it.  The CLR Company will no doubt point out that this is a temporary building which we intend to dismantle as soon as we have made a fortune out of feeding the construction workers on the new M6 Toll motorway which will be built around it at some time in the future!Advertising – This year the railway has benefited from a bit of extra advertising.  The photos show the electronic scoreboard at Walsall FC’s Bescot Stadium.  One of our members, Dave Bathurst, has access to the control panel of this machine and regularly manages to advertise our events on the day before they happen.  Ours could well be the only preserved railway in the country to benefit in this way!!

Steve Organ has also been busy publicising the railway by being interviewed on local radio just before the October Transport Rally.  With this sort of coverage, our events can only become better attended, with the resultant upturn in CLR finances.

The New Platform – Arthur Edwards

The delivery of the new platform has been on the books at Chasewater since January, but through illness and the like had to be put off until September 28^th, which was a Saturday.

So there I was going towards Frank Harvey’s house at 5.30 in the morning to be at the SVR at around 7.15am.  Frank picked me up at 5.40am and off we went towards Guymer’s to pick up a trailer and two drivers, Bullet and Ken.

After a cup of coffee we set off.  Bullet and Ken took the two trailers which had been loaded the previous day back to the CLR, whilst Frank and I waited for the SVR crane driver to appear.  We also had Frank’s son Francis and daughter Ruth with us, and while we waited, Flying Scotsman rolled in.  Frank and Francis got on the footplate to have a gander while Scotsman watered up and saw City of Truro which was also there.

The SVR crane driver was a policeman on night shift, so it was only fair that he had some sleep before he came.  It took some 2½ hours to load up, and in the meantime down came the rain.  By the time we were loaded we were both soaked to the skin.

We finally arrived back on CLR territory at 6.55pm to the welcome sight of the mobile crane waiting for us.

I though it wise to include a credit list of those who helped us, so here goes:  Paul Whittaker, his son Kane, and brother-in-law Barry, who was the instigator in us getting a Hy-Ab.  Credit must also go to our own lorry driver, Frank Harvey, who borrowed the original Hy-Ab from a workmate.

Thanks must go to Guymer’s Transport, especially their manager, Mr.S.Ashton, for whose help we are most indebted.

Finally to everyone who helped, even in the pouring rain and to Dave Borthwick for a lift home.

After following the ‘New Platform Saga’ for a number of magazines, and searching for pictures of it, sadly I found that it was never erected at Chasewater.  I am not sure what happened to it but one theory is that it ended up at Titley Junction.