First MRT loco returned to operation at Apedale
MOSELEY Railway Trust (MRT) has returned 20in gauge 20DL Ruston diesel 354013/1953 to operation and now intends to add a 20in gauge line at Apedale (where the Apedale Valley Light Railway system is nominal 2ft gauge) for it to run on. Although there are more than 100 locomotives in its collection at Apedale, 354013/1953 has a special place in MRT’s history, having been the first loco to run at the collection’s original site at Cheadle School, in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, back in 1971. The 20in gauge loco was built for a brickworks at Crowle, near Scunthorpe. In 1970 it was bought for preservation, overhauled at Cheadle, and commenced running on the 20in gauge line that had been built to suit it. As the school railway developed, the limitations of the unusual 20in gauge became apparent and it was sold to The Chemical and Insulating Company Ltd of Darlington, which needed a loco for its 20in gauge system, the loco leaving Cheadle in February 1977. In due time, the company ceased using its railway and 354013/1953 re-entered preservation with the Darlington Railway Preservation Society (DRPS). In August 2019, the loco arrived at Apedale on loan from the DRPS and was cosmetically restored to appear at MRT’s 50th anniversary celebration at Apedale in September 2019 (RM, November 2019).