To coincide with the 50th Anniversary Open Day at Alan Keef Ltd. we will be opening the site at Lea Bailey for visitors between 10am and 5pm on Saturday 24th September. Our resident Simplex 21282 will be operational on the day, with other locomotives and items of interest on static display. Our volunteers will be on-hand to answer queries, and to give information about the history of the site and our heritage activities.
Whilst the rest of the country was in lockdown, members of the Lea Bailey Light Railway Society were working behind the scenes on ambitious plans to extract and process a rare mineral from the Bailey Level mine. During a routine mine inspection, a rich deposit of Coprolite was discovered in a partially-collapsed side working just off the main level. After work to stabilise the collapse, a partnership was soon formed with a local manufacturer of garden fertiliser to process the…
During the lockdown, individual volunteers have been visiting the railway for regular site checks, and so far no problems have been found. Travel restrictions are being eased in Wales from Monday 6th July, and as some of our core group of volunteers travel to us from over the border, the Chairman is considering re-starting volunteer working parties from Sunday 12 July 2020. We are currently consulting Government guidelines and drawing up a risk assessment and a set of guidelines for…
Sunday 22nd September 2019 This year our Autumn Open Day will be a low-key affair as we only have one locomotive in operation and no working compressor to run the Eimco 12B and 24 rocker shovels and 401 air locomotive. Motor Rail “Simplex” 21282 will be available for demonstration trains and our volunteers will be on hand to give progress updates on our work at the mine. Please aim to visit us between 11:00am and 3:00pm.
? Update (as of 4th July 2019): Money raised so far is £690.00 with thanks to everyone who donated (including a very generous donation from a local business owner). Please keep donating if you are able to do so. Further funds will be used to purchase new traction batteries for the WR8 battery-electric locomotive We have now had a quote from a supplier for parts required to get our Motor Rail diesel locomotive back into working order following the theft…
Originally published on our Facebook Page on 7th April 2019 Following an inspection of our shed at Lea Bailey, here’s a list of all the items that were stolen during the recent break-in Rockers, rocker covers and air filter from Deutz engine. Battery & leads, coupling pins & chains, several D-shackles from Simplex locomotive. Rockers, rocker covers, exhaust manifold, crankcase covers from Lister JK6 engine. Head bolts undone in an attempt to steal heads. Large bench vice Metal bucket containing…
Originally published on our Facebook Page on 26th March 2019 Volunteers at a heritage mine railway on the Gloucestershire-Herefordshire border have been left without motive power after thieves broke in and stole parts from two diesel engines. Lea Bailey Light Railway Society operates the mine and associated railway system at Bailey Level in the Forest of Dean which is also home to several small independent iron and coal mines known as Freemines, operated under an ancient right granted by King…
Due to recent unforseen events the Open Weekend has been postponed — watch this space for details… We are in the early stages of planning for our next Open Weekend which will be on 18th & 19th May 2019. This event will focus on mining, with displays and demonstrations of heritage mining equipment and techniques. Mining has had a great impact on shaping the social history of the Forest of Dean, its people and culture.
We recently received an e-mail from a new member who has expressed an interest in modelling the wagon at Clearwell Caves which was featured at the end of our previous post. As our Chairman’s day job is at Milkwall just half a mile or so up the road from Clearwell, it was easy to pop down and get some measurements and extra photos. The wagon is roughly rectangular in shape with slightly rounded corners. The body has straight sides at…
Since the early days of Lea Bailey Light Railway, our site has been home to a variety of wagons, some of which are more useful than others. Unfortunately as with many of the items preserved here, we don’t know the history of these two wagons — they appear to have been fitted with side hoppers which had subsequently been welded up. One of the pair had been modified by our volunteers by grinding off the weld and freeing off the…