Showing posts with label media coverage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media coverage. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Mountsorrel Railway excellent feature in Railway Magazine
The April issue of The Railway Magazine was published recently and contains a full feature article on the project, which explores the progress made over the last four and a half years.
The magazine is available at all good newsagents. A shorter version of the article, minus superb photos and diagrams, is here, but we'd really recommend you buy the magazine!
Friday, 27 May 2011
Recent press coverage
The recent track laying, and first train on the Mountsorrel Railway, has attracted some good press coverage of the project:
- Heritage Railway magazine "Great Central now has a branch!"
- Leicester Mercury "First train runs on restored track"
The project also featured in last week's Loughborough Echo.
The support is much appreciated.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
BBC Radio Leicester coverage
Earlier this week BBC Radio Leicester DJ Ben Jackson came to the trackbed to interview Mountsorrel Railway volunteer John Mace.
The interview was broadcast yesterday morning and is available on the BBC website for the coming week. Please click below and fast forward to 1 hour 33 minutes into the programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00ghncr
The interview was broadcast yesterday morning and is available on the BBC website for the coming week. Please click below and fast forward to 1 hour 33 minutes into the programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00ghncr
Monday, 25 October 2010
October update
We had another cracking day on Saturday with over 25 volunteers attending the work party, including three Loughborough University students. Work was done to clear the line of sight to the signal at the Great Central Railway junction, as locos will approach the junction around a curve. As well as the clearance work a survey team of volunteers was also plotting a new curve alignment.
Watercolour prints to go on sale
Below is a low resolution version of a superb watercolour painted for the project by local artist John Cramp.
Appropriately entitled The Way Forward, the painting indicates what we are working towards, and also signifies that the painting's creation might hopefully help us to raise the funds to get there!
The painting shows Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank engine Elizabeth, bringing her rake of Mountsorrel granite wagons through the Wood Lane bridge on their way to the Great Central Railway.
Elizabeth is the only steam loco to have worked on the Mountsorrel Railway that still survives. Currently under restoration at the Rutland Railway Museum by its owner, a local resident, we hope that Elizabeth will visit the restored branch line to recreate this scene.
We don't currently have a firm price for the prints as we are investigating what costs we will incur in creating them.
However, to give you some idea, we hope to offer the prints in up to three sizes, and priced appropriately so they are affordable by everyone.
Each print will be signed by the artist, and will be numbered as part of a limited edition run of 100 or less.
Each print would come with a mount and in a cellophane sleeve. If buyers want their print sent by post we can do this at an added cost. In addition to this we may also look at providing frames for an additional cost if people want this.
To register your interest for a print please e-mail George Overton.
Media coverage
The project featured on the BBC Radio Leicester breakfast show this morning and our third anniversary was mentioned in several news bulletins.
The four minute interview between DJ Ben Jackson and project coordinator Steve Cramp can be heard by going to the following page of the BBC iPlayer; the interview is just after the 41 minute mark.
Additionally the Loughborough Echo kindly continues to give the project excellent coverage most weeks.
Short survey online until 1st November
We'd like to know your thoughts about a handful of things to do with the Mountsorrel Railway project. It shouldn't take more than a minute for you to fill in this online survey. The survey closes Monday 1st November midnight GMT.
Please remember that at any time we're grateful for your thoughts and opinions about the work. To get in touch please e-mail George Overton.
Your support is much appreciated. Thank you
Watercolour prints to go on sale
Below is a low resolution version of a superb watercolour painted for the project by local artist John Cramp.
Appropriately entitled The Way Forward, the painting indicates what we are working towards, and also signifies that the painting's creation might hopefully help us to raise the funds to get there!
The painting shows Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank engine Elizabeth, bringing her rake of Mountsorrel granite wagons through the Wood Lane bridge on their way to the Great Central Railway.
Elizabeth is the only steam loco to have worked on the Mountsorrel Railway that still survives. Currently under restoration at the Rutland Railway Museum by its owner, a local resident, we hope that Elizabeth will visit the restored branch line to recreate this scene.
We don't currently have a firm price for the prints as we are investigating what costs we will incur in creating them.
However, to give you some idea, we hope to offer the prints in up to three sizes, and priced appropriately so they are affordable by everyone.
Each print will be signed by the artist, and will be numbered as part of a limited edition run of 100 or less.
Each print would come with a mount and in a cellophane sleeve. If buyers want their print sent by post we can do this at an added cost. In addition to this we may also look at providing frames for an additional cost if people want this.
To register your interest for a print please e-mail George Overton.
Media coverage
The project featured on the BBC Radio Leicester breakfast show this morning and our third anniversary was mentioned in several news bulletins.
The four minute interview between DJ Ben Jackson and project coordinator Steve Cramp can be heard by going to the following page of the BBC iPlayer; the interview is just after the 41 minute mark.
Additionally the Loughborough Echo kindly continues to give the project excellent coverage most weeks.
Short survey online until 1st November
We'd like to know your thoughts about a handful of things to do with the Mountsorrel Railway project. It shouldn't take more than a minute for you to fill in this online survey. The survey closes Monday 1st November midnight GMT.
Please remember that at any time we're grateful for your thoughts and opinions about the work. To get in touch please e-mail George Overton.
Your support is much appreciated. Thank you
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Recent press coverage
News of the ballast link up to the Great Central Railway, and progress with the wagon restoration, has really caught the public's imagination!
Over the last few weeks we've had some great exposure in the press:
We're very grateful to these publications for their support.
And, even with Christmas coming, volunteers will still be working hard on the project. There will be work ongoing on the trackbed in the coming weeks, restoration of the third wagon, and behind the scenes work securing track and fundraising. If you would like to offer your help, either with volunteering or fundraising, please let us know.
Over the last few weeks we've had some great exposure in the press:
- A further piece in the Quorndon Magazine. The article is reproduced, with permission, here and here. The Quorndon is the quarterly magazine for the village of Quorn. © 2008 The Quorndon. Further reproduction prohibited without written permission.
- Pieces in the Mountsorrel Post and The Forest.
- Two articles in the latest Steam Railway magazine, the world's biggest selling steam magazine.
We're very grateful to these publications for their support.
And, even with Christmas coming, volunteers will still be working hard on the project. There will be work ongoing on the trackbed in the coming weeks, restoration of the third wagon, and behind the scenes work securing track and fundraising. If you would like to offer your help, either with volunteering or fundraising, please let us know.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Radio 5 coverage
If any of you were up early, or late, depending on how you look at it, on Sunday morning, you may have heard the BBC Radio 5 Live "Up All Night" interview with Steve Cramp (the volunteer who coordinates the Mountsorrel Railway website).
The interview ran for 22 minutes which almost makes it a programme in its own right about the project! Normally TV and radio interviews rarely last longer than a couple of minutes, so this is really good coverage.
You can catch the interview on the BBC website by clicking here.
The interview ran for 22 minutes which almost makes it a programme in its own right about the project! Normally TV and radio interviews rarely last longer than a couple of minutes, so this is really good coverage.
You can catch the interview on the BBC website by clicking here.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Mountsorrel Railway featured on Radio Leicester
This morning BBC Radio Leicester broadcast an interview with project coordinator Steve Cramp, which was recorded last week. Subsequently the BBC website featured a news article here about the Mountsorrel Railway, along with a recording of the interview. A transcript of the interview is below; we're very grateful to the BBC, and to DJ Ben Jackson, for their interest in the project.
It's been a busy and exciting week for the Mountsorrel Railway: work to repair the Wood Lane bridge and the wagons continues, schools and community groups have been visiting, and we ran guided tours for over 120 visitors (from as far away as Paignton in Devon!) from the Great Central Railway gala at the weekend. Of course work also carries on to prepare the trackbed for ballast and rail.
Transcript follows:
BBC Radio Leicester, Ben Jackson breakfast show, 11 May 2009 transcription of interview with Steve Cramp re Mountsorrel Railway:
Ben: “I went to find out what was happening about the long forgotten Mountsorrel Railway. Well it turned out that work was underway to restore it and eventually run trains along it. That work's continued at lightning pace. But even more importantly, perhaps, it's turned out to be an amazing community project concentrating on ecology just as much as industrial archaeology. Steve Cramp is the project manager. I went out to see him last week.”
Steve: “We're walking on the trackbed of the old Mountsorrel Railway, and we've moved the leaf mulch and mud off the top now. It's revealed the original Mountsorrel ballast that lay underneath and that's what you can hear that we're walking on now. It's hundred year old ballast that's just crying out for a new railway. This area where we are at the moment, Ben, the trees and the bushes at the side had almost formed an archway above the railway which had just, basically, left a tunnel. And what'd happened underneath was very little wildlife, as far as grasses and wild flowers, could actually come through. Whereas originally, during the original life of the railway, you would've had grasses and wild flowers along the cutting sides. It would've looked beautiful and of course they all encourage insects and butterflies to come back, of which we've just seen one.”
Ben: “It's beautiful. Just for people who don't know, this is the old railway. It was never a passenger railway, it was an industrial railway that ran from Great Central Railway, which is behind us, through into Mountsorrel to serve the quarry. That was all it was here for, and for decades it would've been all but forgotten except by a handful of local historians.”
Steve: “Yes that's right. It fell out of use in the mid 1950s, and was lifted around the end of the 50s. And from then it was just left and abandoned and it disappeared from view, from the roadside and the surrounding area. It just looked like a hedgerow. But inside there was the railway waiting to be reborn.”
Ben: “The thing is, since I last came down, which is a few months ago now, the whole project's grown. And it started off as you wanting to get this railway back up and running, in some form, and actually it's become an ecology project that happens to have a railway in it. And even more than that it happens to be a youth ecology project, because you've got all all these local schools. My son's local school has been down here on a school trip, digging up metal with metal detectors and all that kind of thing and, as you say, planting wild flowers. What is it that's made this such a community project?”
Steve: “I think really it's perhaps people can see that we're bringing something good to the area, something that people can get behind, and we can create that community spirit that seems to be lacking from society in so many areas now. We're not just a little shutaway group doing something with a specific interest. We have children in the junior ecology group as young as four, and they go up to 13, and then beyond that we have young people, and middle aged people, and older people. All sorts of people helping us with the railway rebuilding. I think our oldest volunteer's 77 and as I just said our youngest is four. So it's something for everybody. And we have men, and ladies as well; we have entire families that are involved with the project. The vast majority of our volunteers are from the local villages: Mountsorrel, Rothley and Quorn, although we have some that come every week from Birmingham. The project really does seem to reach out. But it differs from a typical heritage railway restoration project in that we do have so many local people involved. It really is a community project.”
Ben: “On a day like today it's actually achingly beautiful down here. We're surrounded still by the last of the bluebells and all sorts of other local small plants. I'm being divebombed by butterflies and flies of all various descriptions. This is just beautiful.”
Steve: “Yes there's buzzards down here, and kestrels, and owls, and we developed a program of putting birdboxes up. In fact just behind us here you can see there's a blue tit box on the tree, which is now inhabited. The boxes have only been up a couple of months and already a large number of them are inhabited by birds. The boxes have been well built, they've even got slate roofs! There's a pride and a passion in what the volunteers are doing.”
Ben: “I have to say I've done a lot of those sort of projects in the past but I think that's one of the most fantastic. It's really inspirational there. I think it's because the community have got so heavily involved. If you want to find out some more information, if you go into a search engine on the internet and just put in “Mountsorrel Railway” you'll find a great website there. Really well worth having a look at, and maybe you'll want to give them a hand.”
It's been a busy and exciting week for the Mountsorrel Railway: work to repair the Wood Lane bridge and the wagons continues, schools and community groups have been visiting, and we ran guided tours for over 120 visitors (from as far away as Paignton in Devon!) from the Great Central Railway gala at the weekend. Of course work also carries on to prepare the trackbed for ballast and rail.
Transcript follows:
BBC Radio Leicester, Ben Jackson breakfast show, 11 May 2009 transcription of interview with Steve Cramp re Mountsorrel Railway:
Ben: “I went to find out what was happening about the long forgotten Mountsorrel Railway. Well it turned out that work was underway to restore it and eventually run trains along it. That work's continued at lightning pace. But even more importantly, perhaps, it's turned out to be an amazing community project concentrating on ecology just as much as industrial archaeology. Steve Cramp is the project manager. I went out to see him last week.”
Steve: “We're walking on the trackbed of the old Mountsorrel Railway, and we've moved the leaf mulch and mud off the top now. It's revealed the original Mountsorrel ballast that lay underneath and that's what you can hear that we're walking on now. It's hundred year old ballast that's just crying out for a new railway. This area where we are at the moment, Ben, the trees and the bushes at the side had almost formed an archway above the railway which had just, basically, left a tunnel. And what'd happened underneath was very little wildlife, as far as grasses and wild flowers, could actually come through. Whereas originally, during the original life of the railway, you would've had grasses and wild flowers along the cutting sides. It would've looked beautiful and of course they all encourage insects and butterflies to come back, of which we've just seen one.”
Ben: “It's beautiful. Just for people who don't know, this is the old railway. It was never a passenger railway, it was an industrial railway that ran from Great Central Railway, which is behind us, through into Mountsorrel to serve the quarry. That was all it was here for, and for decades it would've been all but forgotten except by a handful of local historians.”
Steve: “Yes that's right. It fell out of use in the mid 1950s, and was lifted around the end of the 50s. And from then it was just left and abandoned and it disappeared from view, from the roadside and the surrounding area. It just looked like a hedgerow. But inside there was the railway waiting to be reborn.”
Ben: “The thing is, since I last came down, which is a few months ago now, the whole project's grown. And it started off as you wanting to get this railway back up and running, in some form, and actually it's become an ecology project that happens to have a railway in it. And even more than that it happens to be a youth ecology project, because you've got all all these local schools. My son's local school has been down here on a school trip, digging up metal with metal detectors and all that kind of thing and, as you say, planting wild flowers. What is it that's made this such a community project?”
Steve: “I think really it's perhaps people can see that we're bringing something good to the area, something that people can get behind, and we can create that community spirit that seems to be lacking from society in so many areas now. We're not just a little shutaway group doing something with a specific interest. We have children in the junior ecology group as young as four, and they go up to 13, and then beyond that we have young people, and middle aged people, and older people. All sorts of people helping us with the railway rebuilding. I think our oldest volunteer's 77 and as I just said our youngest is four. So it's something for everybody. And we have men, and ladies as well; we have entire families that are involved with the project. The vast majority of our volunteers are from the local villages: Mountsorrel, Rothley and Quorn, although we have some that come every week from Birmingham. The project really does seem to reach out. But it differs from a typical heritage railway restoration project in that we do have so many local people involved. It really is a community project.”
Ben: “On a day like today it's actually achingly beautiful down here. We're surrounded still by the last of the bluebells and all sorts of other local small plants. I'm being divebombed by butterflies and flies of all various descriptions. This is just beautiful.”
Steve: “Yes there's buzzards down here, and kestrels, and owls, and we developed a program of putting birdboxes up. In fact just behind us here you can see there's a blue tit box on the tree, which is now inhabited. The boxes have only been up a couple of months and already a large number of them are inhabited by birds. The boxes have been well built, they've even got slate roofs! There's a pride and a passion in what the volunteers are doing.”
Ben: “I have to say I've done a lot of those sort of projects in the past but I think that's one of the most fantastic. It's really inspirational there. I think it's because the community have got so heavily involved. If you want to find out some more information, if you go into a search engine on the internet and just put in “Mountsorrel Railway” you'll find a great website there. Really well worth having a look at, and maybe you'll want to give them a hand.”
Saturday, 18 April 2009
New Quorn magazine article
The latest edition of The Quorndon village magazine has again just run a very supportive article about the Mountsorrel Railway here.
The Quorndon is the quarterly magazine for the village of Quorn. The article is reproduced, with permission. © 2008 The Quorndon. Further reproduction prohibited without written permission.
The Quorndon is the quarterly magazine for the village of Quorn. The article is reproduced, with permission. © 2008 The Quorndon. Further reproduction prohibited without written permission.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Main Line magazine article available for download
The Mountsorrel Railway was recently featured in the Spring 2009 edition of Main Line magazine. The editor of the magazine has kindly created a downloadable version of the article and has given us copyright permission to put it up on our website. Please take a look to see all the latest news about the project.
Main Line is the quarterly magazine sent to the Friends of the Great Central Main Line supporters group (FOGCML), which you can find out more about here. Please join FOGCML if you want to play a part in preserving and operating the remarkable Great Central Railway. By joining, you’re entitled to benefits like the award winning Main Line magazine, exclusive offers and ticket discounts.
Many thanks to Dennis Wilcock for allowing us to use the article.
Main Line is the quarterly magazine sent to the Friends of the Great Central Main Line supporters group (FOGCML), which you can find out more about here. Please join FOGCML if you want to play a part in preserving and operating the remarkable Great Central Railway. By joining, you’re entitled to benefits like the award winning Main Line magazine, exclusive offers and ticket discounts.
Many thanks to Dennis Wilcock for allowing us to use the article.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Quorn village magazine article
We are pleased to announce that The Quorndon village magazine has just run a four page article on the project!
page 1 (lo res)
page 2 (lo res)
page 3 (lo res)
page 4 (lo res)
The Quorndon is the quarterly magazine for the village of Quorn. It's an A4 size glossy, very well respected and read publication. We think that this is one of the best written and presented articles that's been printed about the project so far and are very grateful to The Quorndon for running the article.
The Quorndon has kindly allowed us to reproduce the article for our website readers.
The article is reproduced, with permission, from the Winter 2008 edition of The Quorndon. © 2008 The Quorndon. Further reproduction prohibited without written permission.
page 1 (lo res)
page 2 (lo res)
page 3 (lo res)
page 4 (lo res)
The Quorndon is the quarterly magazine for the village of Quorn. It's an A4 size glossy, very well respected and read publication. We think that this is one of the best written and presented articles that's been printed about the project so far and are very grateful to The Quorndon for running the article.
The Quorndon has kindly allowed us to reproduce the article for our website readers.
The article is reproduced, with permission, from the Winter 2008 edition of The Quorndon. © 2008 The Quorndon. Further reproduction prohibited without written permission.
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