The Mid Norfolk Railway are about to give 37003 new home, they are currently looking to extend their line to Hoe, please read the message below, and help them give us a longer line to run 003 on :-)
The C37LG gets most of it's money from Donations and Sales, but there are a few other groups and organisations which support us in other ways, and this is were we would just like to say thanks and also give them an opportunity for some advertising and / or to let you know about their own appeals
The Mid Norfolk Railway are about to give 37003 new home, they are currently looking to extend their line to Hoe, please read the message below, and help them give us a longer line to run 003 on :-)
Mid Norfolk Railway "Sponsor a Sleeper Appeal" Reopening to Hoe
It has always been the intention of the Mid Norfolk Railway to run passenger trains north of Dereham, very few trains have ventured on to the MNR's northern section since the last BR freight trains in 1989. Up until now there has been the clearance of the trackbed volunteers have begun the task of changing some of the many rotten sleepers. However just recently there has been a lot of activity north of Dereham, a volunteer crew took an engineers' train up to Hoe crossing on the 4th May, to assist in the road widening scheme. This was the first time a train had worked this far on the section since 1989!
Then on the weekend of 19th July, further engineer's trains were taken to Hoe crossing to carry out the work, breaking up the road surface, replacing the sleepers, renewing the ballast and fitting longer lengths of check rail in readiness for the council to resurface the crossing. The work is now completed and an excellent job it is too! (With new crossing gates). There has also been broken rail chairs replaced and a weed killer train used on the section, along with a flail, to clear the track bed to prepare for the bigger job of changing more rotten sleepers in the section.
So now it is one of projects on the top of the MNR's priority list to re-open north of Dereham. This is to open in stages, firstly to the small hamlet of Hoe, North Elmham and then to County School, which the MNR owns the track bed. It would take considerable time; effort and money to open the section in one go so has to be done in this way. The ambitious long term plan is to open to Fakenham. In the short term it has been proposed to construct a platform at Hoe, as there was never originally a station there, this would use components rescued from the former St Ives branch in Cambridgeshire, donated by Cambridgeshire CC and Edmund Nuttall Ltd., due to a guided bus way project.
The first stage of opening to Hoe could be reality in the next couple of years, but the biggest cost of all is the need to replace rotten sleepers. This is where you can help with the "Sponsor A Sleeper Appeal." If you share our ambitions and would love to see trains running north of Dereham, we are inviting members of the public to sponsor a sleeper on the section. There are approx 500 sleepers that need replacing to bring the track up to passenger carrying standard, 200 of which have been sponsored already. We are almost half way there, but need to hit that target of 500 sleepers to have a chance of re-opening in the near future.
Sleepers cost £25 each, and a certificate is issued showing the allocation of the sleeper/s you have sponsored. This would be an excellent way to show your contribution to the reopening of the line, or would make a great gift for a friend/family member/railway enthusiast. Cheques can be made payable to 'Mid Norfolk Railway' and to be sent in an envelope headed "Sponsor A Sleeper Appeal" Mid Norfolk Railway, The Railway Station, Station Road, Dereham, Norfolk. NR19 1DF. Benefits are set up for multi donors, ranging from a free ride to Hoe on the first day of opening to a loco driver experience, depending on the amount of sleepers you sponsor. For more information see www.mnr.org.uk/help/sleeper/ a sponsorship form can be downloaded here.
Of course the MNR is also looking for volunteers to assist in the reopening of the line with track work and lineside vegetation management and a group meets regally to carry the work out. This is a good way to meet new people and have an enjoyable day out in the countryside and depending on how hard you want to work this can also be relaxing or save on the cost of Gym membership (or somewhere in between!).
Spitfire Railtours have kindy allowed us to take our sales stock on their class 37 based tours and to run the on train raffle, many thanks, and if any one fancy popping along for a chat, please do.
The next tour we plan to do the sales stand on will be the Cotton Mill Circuit on Saturday 3rd October 2009 from Manchester Vic to Manchester Vic.
Click the link and come any buy some DVDs, badges, etc from us.
Visions have generously donated a number of DVDs and Books to the group, either to sell or as raffle prize on spitfire tours. If you want to buy a Visions DVD, you can get it from our shop or if we haven't got it in stock at the monment, then directly from Visions International
© The Class 37 Locomotive Group 1997 - 2008