Second childrens' ecology activity session builds on the success of the first!

On Saturday October 31, Mountsorrel Railway Ecology Group volunteer Lesley Humphries ran the second of our hugely successful children's ecology activity sessions.



These sessions are aimed at opening up the ecology of the trackbed and its surroundings to our younger generation and their parents. The railway is blessed with a wealth of wildlife, which our ecology group strives to maintain and encourage.



Our latest event involved the children and their parents studying the wildlife that had taken up residence in wildlife habitats that the children helped to build at the first session in September. The children were able to take bark rubbings and learnt to identify the types of trees along the line and how to tell one from the other. They also examined some of the 17 species of wild flowers that are still flowering along the trackbed.



These sessions are aimed at children of all ages and are open to anyone who would like to bring their children along. The project makes no charge for taking part in these events. The next session will be early in the New Year; further details will follow nearer the time.

Second replica Mountsorrel wagon completed in record time

We are pleased to announce the completion of the second replica Mountsorrel Granite Company wagon!



Impressed by our work on the first wagon, RVP kindly allowed us to use space on their siding inside Rothley carriage shed for the second restoration. This meant that we were not restricted by the British weather as we were with the first wagon. This allowed our volunteers to really go to town and, coupled with our restoration knowledge obtained during the first restoration, we were able to push on at lightning speed with volunteer activity occurring almost daily over the last few weeks!



From start to finish the wagon took only five and a half weeks to restore! That's not to say that less work was required, far from it! A new floor had to be made and fitted together with full derusting and repainting of the metal frames both inside and out. End planks needed to be replaced as well meaning that the work required was almost on a par with the first wagon. As with the first wagon, even the bits you can't see have all been thoroughly restored as well.



Thanks must go to all our volunteers who have worked on the wagon over the last few weeks. Our volunteers have included people from all areas of the community from teenagers up to volunteers in their late 70s. Our wagon restoration project really seems to have caught the imagination of the community. We are also very grateful to East Midlands Airport for sponsoring the signwriting costs of all three wagons and to all our supporters who have donated funds to aid the wagon restoration project.



The wagons will form the core of historical recreations on the rebuilt branch line. These include a project we are undertaking with local primary schools to allow today's children to take part in a recreation of the Sunday school outings that used to run on the Mountsorrel Railway in the 1920s and 30s.

We are about to start work on the third and final wagon, so it's still not to late to help out with our wagon project, volunteers are always welcome (contact Steve Cramp). Alternatively you may wish to support our work with a financial donation. Thank you.

Childrens' ecology session this Saturday

This Saturday afternoon, 31 October, volunteer Lesley Humphries will be running her latest childrens' ecology activity session. The children will be investigating the wildlife habitats that have been built around the trackbed, and other activities. The event will have an autumn/Halloween theme!

Please let Lesley know if you'd like to attend this event.

If you'd rather take part in other volunteer activity this Saturday, between 9am and 4pm our volunteers will be clearing the trackbed around the Wood Lane bridge. Please e-mail Steve Cramp if you'd like to join in.

Your support with both of these initiatives would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

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.

Second Mountsorrel Granite wagon restoration progresses at a rapid pace

It is only three weeks since restoration on the second Mountsorrel Granite Company liveried wagon started, but progress has been nothing short of remarkable!




A combination of improved methods based on what we learnt from the first wagon, increased volunteer activity, and the luxury of being able to work on the wagon in the dry environment of the carriage shed opposed to outside in the rain, are the reasons for the improved pace of the restoration.

Although the second wagon is a three plank as opposed to the first which was a five plank, the work required on this wagon has been almost the same as the first. Again, we have had to replace the entire floor and some of the end planks. As with the first wagon, the decision was taken to replace the floor with hardwood planks because of their extended life span opposed to softwood. The intention to use the restored wagons in historical recreations involving local school children, means that the floors must be in excellent condition.

As with the first wagon the entire frames have had to be de-rusted and repainted. This can be a messy job as space between the frames is restricted.

The existing planks that can be reused have been carefully repaired to ensure extended life.

At present the painting of the frames is almost complete. The new end planks have been painted and fitted. The rest of the sides have been primered, undercoated and top coat glossing is almost complete. New timbers for the floor have been cut and painted and are almost ready for fitting.

It took five months to restore the first wagon but we expect the second to be ready for the signwriter's attention in around two weeks time! If you are coming to the Great Central Railway Gala on October 10th/11th, then as well as seeing the completed first wagon on display at Quorn, you should also be able to view the second wagon at Rothley shed. Please come and say hello.

If you would like to get involved with restoring the second wagon, or helping out with the third, then please get in touch with Steve Cramp. We have volunteer sessions on Saturdays, Tuesday evenings and occasional Sundays and weekdays, so we should be able to find a time to suit you. Funds are still required for the restoration of the third wagon so if you would like to donate, please download our donation form or contact George Overton.

Mountsorrel Railway first ecology activity session is a tremendous success!

Saturday September 26th was the launch date for a new initiative by the Mountsorrel Railway Project aimed at giving local children and their parents the chance to learn about and experience ecology.



Mountsorrel resident and project volunteer Lesley Humphries organised a series of activities aimed at helping children to develop a better understanding of the environment and, on this occasion, insect wildlife in particular. Lesley said:

The trackbed and surrounding area of the old Mountsorrel Railway is a wonderful haven for wildlife. We want to open up the educational opportunities of this ecological resource in a controlled manner that allows children to learn in a hands on fashion. Children can learn so much from an opportunity like this. It's great to allow the parents to share in the experience as well!

The children spent several hours exploring the areas around the trackbed and were shown how insects thrive in certain locations and not others. The children were able to see many different types of creatures first hand. The children then constructed their own mini wildlife habitats which were placed along the trackbed at various locations.



Volunteer project leader Steve Cramp commented:

Lesley has worked hard over the last few weeks planning, researching and sourcing materials and it was great to see so many local families come along to take part. My sincere thanks go to Lesley for creating this learning opportunity.

As a direct result of the success of the first activity session, Lesley hopes to run a further ecology session at the end of October. The project makes no charge for these activities. If you would like to take part in future sessions please contact Lesley or see the project website for further details.

And don't forget there's an opportunity to join guided tours of the Mountsorrel Railway on the weekend of Saturday 10th October! See here for more information.

See the Mountsorrel Railway for yourself!

Come and see the Mountsorrel Railway project for yourself on the weekend of Saturday 10 October!

All day on both the Saturday and Sunday of that weekend, ticket holders to the Great Central Railway's Steam Gala will be able to take a free hourly shuttle bus for a one hour guided walking tour of the trackbed.

You'll be shown round by our volunteers, who'll talk about the history of the line, our work with schools and the local community, and show you what's being done to imminently bring back this industrial branch of the Great Central!

For more information about the Steam Gala click here and see the video below.



More details, including bus times, will be posted on this website nearer the time. If you have any questions about the event, or the project in general, please contact us. Hope to see you there!

Learn about ecology at the Mountsorrel Railway

Local volunteer Lesley Humphries will be running a special ecology session aimed at younger children and their parents on the afternoon of Saturday September 26th.

The session will start at 2:00pm and last around 90 minutes to 2 hours. The meeting area is on the grassy area near to the bench at the top of Halstead Road, at its junction with Swithland Lane/Wood Lane.

During the session the children will have the opportunity to construct their own mini wildlife habitat which will be carefully positioned alongside the trackbed. The children can then return to these in future sessions to see what creatures have taken up residence there.

Lesley will also be conducting a wildlife hunt aimed at helping the children to seek out and discover the wildlife that lives alongside the trackbed.

The session is open to the general public and not just those who are currently involved with the project. The Mountsorrel Railway will be making no charge for anyone taking part in these activities. We simply seek to give our local children, and their parents, the rare and unique opportunity to get hands on with nature!

Lesley is putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into putting together this activity, so we really hope that the public will come along to support her. For health and safety reasons, children must be accompanied by their parents or guardians. If the session is a success we hope to run further sessions in the future.

Lesley is collecting various items to help with this activity, so please can you bring along at least one of the following:

• Blocks of wood
• Empty plastic drinks bottles
• Magnifying glasses
• Insect collecting containers/kits that you might have

Please e-mail Lesley if you intend to come, so that we can make sure we have enough materials for everyone. We very much hope to see you there!

A very special thanks goes to Lesley for running this session!

Our first replica Mountsorrel Granite Company wagon now restored!

The restoration of our first replica Mountsorrel Granite Company wagon has now been completed!



Project volunteers have spent the last five months restoring the wagon. Restoring the wagon really has been a community initiative involving volunteers of all ages and we even have a group of five teenage girls from Mountsorrel giving up their time to volunteer on Tuesday evenings! We would like to thank all of our volunteers who have worked on the first wagon, some of whom have devoted many hours to recreate our heritage. Such as young Jamie and Lenny, who have worked on the wagon under the guidance of Dave almost every day throughout the school summer holidays!

The Mountsorrel Granite Company once had over 750 of these wagons at various times. Sadly none of the originals survive but we were able to track down similar wagons which in themselves are 50-60 years old. These are ideal for recreating Mountsorrel's industrial railway history!

The wagons will be used for historical recreations on the restored Mountsorrel Railway. Most notable of these recreations is our intention to recreate the Sunday School outings of the 1920s and 30s when local children would have rode in the wagons. We are working with Mountsorrel, Quorn and Rothley primary schools to allow todays' children to recapture those those scenes of yesteryear. If you would like your school to be involved in this recreation please contact Steve Cramp.

We are very grateful to East Midlands Airport for sponsoring the signwriting costs of the three wagons, and also to professional signwriter John Robinson for doing such a good job of applying the lettering.

We hope to start work on the second wagon within the next couple of weeks. If you would like to recreate a piece of history by volunteering to restore the second wagon then please contact Steve. Funds are still required for the remaining two wagons so if you would like to donate to support our work please download and fill in our donation form.

Mountsorrel Railway needs more volunteers - can you help?

More and more families are coming along to volunteer on the Mountsorrel Railway project. Volunteering with the project is a good way of spending family time together in a constructive environment. At the end of the day you can look back and see what you have managed to achieve, and go home with the satisfaction that you have done something to help a community project! The project helps to encourage children to be constructive and creative whilst getting exercise and most importantly away from the computer games and TV!



The Mountsorrel Railway project welcomes volunteers of all ages. Whether you come as a family, with a friend, or as an individual, you'll be made very welcome indeed. We have tasks for everyone regardless of age or gender.

More volunteers are needed as the project approaches it's most exciting phase yet and continues to grow and expand! If you would like to come along and help a local community project, then please get in touch with Steve Cramp.