Who moved the station?

Unfortunately, no trains could have run anyway as Red Bridge was impassible.

One of the biggest problems was lack of power due to the lines being pulled down by the weight of snow!

Power lines down at Lavender Hill

Luckily the old water tower which last year was caught by high winds, managed to withstand the heavy snowfall.

And what about the birds on the reserve, we hear you ask?  Well, you don’t need to worry about them, Mr Bill Goodie the Reserve Manager has valiantly gone out in thick snow to fill up the bird feeders!

Starling having his fill of fat balls!

Considering how long it had been there it was in remarkably good condition as you can see.

Stan is very impressed!

It will need a bit of tlc and a good bit of greasing up etc but it all seems to be there.  Even Sooty the cat took to it!

We expect to see it out and about the MPLR this summer and if you want to know more about its discovery, you will be pleased to know that Pits Productions have got it all on film!

Pits Productions wanted us to tell you a little about it before you watch.   Firstly, it is in black and white and it is a silent movie, there is nothing wrong with your set!  Secondly it has totally original music which was written and performed by Mr Dave ‘Dancing  Fingers’ Mapp and a great job he did of it too, nothing gives a film atmosphere better than music that fits the film.  Thirdly, in case you’re worried no trains were injured in the making of this film, promise!

So, now all that is left is for us to wish all of you a Merry Christmas from everyone here at the Moreton Pit Light Railway.   Happy Watching……..

February…… the race was on to build the new watertower, after all you can’t keep using buckets to fill a loco!

At least the sun's come out for a while! Eh, Hamish!

March saw the building really starting to take shape and spring was obviously on its way!

"Hello, anyone about?"

A lovely gentle month is April and spring had finally sprung as can be seen from this lovely view of Mr Bill Goodie’s garden at Railway Sidings.

On May Day the MPLR was treated to a visit by the Adderbolt Morris Men who spent the whole day dancing at all the stops on the railway!

In June the MPLR held yet another successful Open Day, this year raising money for Guide Dogs.

What could be nicer but a July wedding!

Holiday time, it’s August and the PW crew and ‘Noel’ visit another railway, the Point Clear Tramway.

September blew in and Pits Productions found themselves at the movies, literally!  They were very proud and pleased to be asked to show their latest film at the First Page Film Festival, you can read more about it and the film in the Video Shop.  Watch out next month for the public release!

October……. the Essex Potholing club make a wonderful discovery……….

And to know what that was you will have to wait until next year!  Not long now……

As the MPLR was so quiet today, they were obviously arranging with Stan (Station Master of the day) for railbus ‘Wynne’ to stop at the EPC’s carriage-shed.

Having been dropped off at the EPC’s clubhouse, Trev and Slim waved ‘Wynne’ off to  spend a happy day exploring the potholes of the MPLR.

Soon they were ascending into the first part of the system, down through Adders Hole and into Cripsey Flood Swallet.

Unfortunately we haven’t any photos to show you inside the cave system at this point but Trev and Slim were very excited to inform us that the EPC have finally got through the Ruggles Cave boulder ruckle and have explored an estimated 300m of walking sized streamway. A sizeable inlet enters part way down the extension, which worried them a bit!  They believe that this water is probably part of Cripsey Stream.  They had to negotiate a very nasty choke but the rewards were great when it opened out into a huge chamber with a fairly flat floor so far.  They have had to stop their explorations at that point as they came across a lot of small boulders which they will have to clear another day!  A great day for the Essex Potholing Club we are sure you will agree!

And is that Mario’s Ices in the background there?  He made record sales of that lovely homemade ice-cream!

There was plenty of visitors to Moreton Mill, but looks like the heat was a little too much for these two ladies!  Perhaps they were just train spotting?

Meanwhile back at the station, you didn’t have to wait long before yet another visiting loco appeared…..

And at Lavender Hill Halt yet another visitor….

The most exciting find was a very quick glimpse of a diesel that has recently joined the MPLR stable, this ‘new’ loco has got quite a story to its arrival.  All will be revealed another time!

Finally, Queen was brought out for the day and took a majestic few turns round the reserve, full of passengers of course!

Pits Productions are very proud to announce that they have had their first Film Festival viewing of one of their films!  On Tuesday night, the Pits Productions, team along with the composer of the music for the soundtrack, were at the showing of the silent movie ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the fringe event ‘Sound and Vision’ of the First Page Film Festival in Chelmsford, Essex.  It is a new film festival and is part of Altogether Now.

The film seemed to be very much appreciated by the audience and the Pits Productions team were pleased with how well the evening went.  They are trying very hard not to let it go to their heads!  Anyhow, the film ‘A Christmas Carol’ is not due for release yet to the general public but meanwhile you can have a little taster by watching the trailer for it here on the MPLR website!  Enjoy……

‘…..I would like to thank my mother for giving me the opportunity………………’

The boys toured round the railway and visited various places the first being the Point Clear Wood Yard.

The wood yard was very impressive and the boys had a good chat to the men there.

Then it was back onto Noel and off to Mutely Standing.

Where Terry was amazed to see that they still deliver the milk by horse and cart!,  Well it is out in deepest Essex!

Being Bank holiday the railway was very busy but we managed to get a few photos for you.

Soon it was time for the boys to wet their whistles and a quick visit to the ‘Grapes’ at Mutely Standing seemed to be the order of the day.

We think that Job must have visited the general stores in the High Street as he couldn’t be seen anywhere!

The Main Station had a few passengers waiting for the next train.  we think that it must have arrived earlier than expected as one passenger seems to have been caught short!

Shortly, the one of the Point Clear Tramway’s own trams flashed through the station!

All too soon it was time to be getting back and the crew were saying their goodbyes at Lower Standing.

Then it was a quick look at the sea and homeward bound again.

Is that the MPLR’s Fat controller on the beach?

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Of course, there could be only be one loco that was up for this job and that was ‘Queen’.  So here she is all dressed up for the occasion.  The couple had a quiet ceremony in a nearby church but they decided that they wanted to share their day with all the staff of the MPLR so they had a blessing at the station.  Wynne’s engine shed seemed to be the favourite if the weather had been inclement.

The crowd was so big they couldn’t fit everyone in so being such a lovely day they had it on the platform of Moreton Pit Station instead!

And of course the photographer from Pits Productions just had to be there.  “Say ‘cheese’ everyone!”

After the blessing the happy couple wanted to tour the MPLR by train and ‘Queen’ was all ready for them.  But, first the Adderbolt Morris Men had been invited along to send them on their way with a Guard of Honour with the morris sticks.

Miss Pugh, sorry Mrs Scrooge, wanted to thank the driver of Queen before setting off.  Shame someone hadn’t swept the platform first!

Soon they were on their way as husband and wife.

Meanwhile, the Adderbolt Morris Men entertained the guest on the platform.

The PW workers Terry Towlin and Job S Worth had sooned changed into their Morris gear, they love a good dance!  Mr and Mrs Scrooge had a lovely tour of the MPLR with fine views across Chafford Gorge.

But, all too soon they were back into the station, where those Morris Men where still dancing!

Doesn’t Queen look lovely all dressed up for the day!

We hope you’ve enjoyed the day as much as we did and will want to wish the happy couple a long and happy marriage on behalf of all the staff and friends of the Moreton Pit Light Railway.

As the nightjar tends to call while in flight it was not easy to say where it was going to be seen so it was decided the ‘Wynne’ was going to drop off the group of birdwatchers at each stop and wait for them.  It was going to be a long night!

Wynne arriving at Lavender Hill Halt

The MPLR is eerily quiet at night and Moreton Mill seemed to have a ghostly glow about it……

The small enthusiastic party of birders alighted again at Bill Oddie Halt where they had to leave the safety of the paths to go into the reserve, passing by the entrance to the gravel pits.

Was this going to be a fruitless search?  Were they ever going to find what they were looking for?  The flood lighting from the Pit itself made a very scary scene from Bill Oddie Halt.

Soon it was time to return to Moreton Pit Station……where all was quiet.

Apart from Pete Periwinkle still on duty as always!

Soon, Wynne was safely back on shed.

So, did the MPLR’s night excursion find anything at all?  Was it all for nothing?  Or was it just a different view of the MPLR?  Well, how about this photo, what do you think this was that was captured on camera?