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The Industrial Heritage Group
Leader: Mike Stow - indhist@ashbyu3a.co.uk - phone 01530 469152
The Industrial Heritage Group is for members who have an interest in our industrial heritage of trains, cars, planes, bikes, early manufacturing etc. to visit museums, railways, factories and other places related to our industrial past. We occasionally take a quite broad view of what constitutes "Industrial Heritage" if it is of interest to us!
Travel arrangements vary depending on how far we have to travel, but generally we meet in Ashby to car-share.
Our trips are normally on Wednesdays unless otherwise stated.
All dates below are provisional until stated otherwise
Future programme | ||||
| Date | Time | Venue | Organiser | Details |
| Wed 22nd Jul | TBA | Macclesfield Silk Mill | Bill Wilson | A visit to the last surviving silk mill in Macclesfield dating back to 1862. Macclesfield was at one time the world's largest producer of finished silk. Museum and guided tour of unique working Jacquard looms |
| Wed 26th Aug | - | - | No outing this month. Summer break | |
| Wed 23rd Sep | TBA | Ironbridge Gorge museums | The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, including Blists Hill Victorian Town, is being transferred to National Trust ownership in March. Therefore entrance to all the museums and sites will be free to NT members. Prices for non NT members have yet to be confirmed | |
| Wed 28th Oct | TBA | Acme Whistles factory tour, Birmingham | Kurt Kovach | |
Wednesday 24th June. Churnet Valley Railway, Staffs
It was, up to then, the hottest day of the year when we gathered at Featherbed Lane to car-share out into the Staffordshire Moors to ride the steam trains of Churnet Valley Railway. On arrival, the car park was filling up and a coach had just arrived with what seemed like 100 5yo school children. The cafe and platform was teeming with people all looking for a bit of shade before boarding the train. We were half expecting the train to be cancelled or at least replaced by a diesel because of the danger of sparks causing lineside fires, but no, there was a steam engine coupled to the front of a rake of 8 coaches.
We left promptly at 10.30 from Froghall station heading north up the pretty Churnet Valley beside the R Churnet and the Caldon Canal stopping briefly at Consall. There are signs of early industrial activity such as forges, potteries and lime kilns on the way to Cheddleton where we could see the Boat Inn pub we would be heading for later. There are the remains of other now disused lines that lead to Stoke and Leek before we stopped at Ipstones where the engine ran round to the other end to bring us back. It wasn’t too hot on the train when it was moving, the air conditioning (open windows!) providing cooling. But it was quite a bit hotter when stopped.
At one point as we crossed a level crossing, the fireman had to get down from the engine to see us safely across the road as there are no gates on the crossing!
On the return the track is mostly uphill and the engine was struggling noticeably and twice it came to a halt whilst we waited for it to cool down. Eventually we made it back to Froghall Station 30 minutes late. We dashed out of the train and back to the cars to head off to the pub getting there just in time before our 2pm booking. Another party from the train had booked for 1.30 and they arrived after us. By now it was baking hot outside and pretty hot inside but the pub staff did a remarkable job of taking our orders and getting them served up in quick time. The food was very good, very tasty and remarkably cheap.
We were back in Ashby by 5pm after having a great day out despite the dire warnings of heat. Thank you to the drivers who got us there and back safely and cooly. Air conditioned cars are a great life-saver in this weather.