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Four engines in a row - Betty, Graham, Jean and Sir Thomas Royden.
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Discover the living ironstone museum in the heart of Rutland.

Our 2024 operating season starts on Sunday March 31st.
This year we showcase Sundew’s Great Walk – more on our Facebook pages.

  • Steam Enthusiast Update!

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    We are closing in on the largest gathering of operational steam locomotives at Cottesmore since our relaunch! Phone calls and emails have been bouncing around the internet as we start to coordinate the moves required to get the locomotives to Rutland in time for the event. With SIR THOMAS ROYDEN returning around 350 miles from…

  • Autumn Steam Gala Event

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    More details regarding the 2-day steam event to be held later in the month.

  • Runners & Riders for Diggers & Dumpers

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    The organiser was extremely pleased to receive a phone call for a late entry of classic plant for the Diggers & Dumpers event on Sunday, when local owner of a TRACK MARSHALL blade dozer offered the operational machine for the event. Of even greater significance than having an operational bulldozer to level the ‘Digger Playpen’,…

  • NCS – National Citizen Service to the Rescue

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    Many young people see the summer holidays as an endless boring series of days with nothing to do! In this area things are different! An enterprising group of 16 young people from Oakham, Stamford and Uppingham chose to spend 30 hours of their vacation making a significant improvement to our Museum under the National Citizen…

  • BODY BLOW TO MUSEUM

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    Our blog updates are usually tales of success and completion of projects at the Museum as the Charity makes progress with its development. Imagine the disappointment when volunteers arrived at the site to find that intruders had tried to gain access to our main gates, failed and then drove cross country across our boundary before…

  • Newest Exhibit is the Oldest Exhibit!

    The Museum was extremely pleased to receive its latest exhibit yesterday – the Ashbury & Company four wheel passenger coach body, built for the Great Eastern Railway as their No.514 in 1869. The coach will become our dedicated visitor passenger vehicle when its running and brake gear are restored and the coach is restored to…

  • MAROONED!

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    In the build-up to our forthcoming EXTON PARK REVIVAL event on 27th May 2013 which commemorates the 40th anniversary of the closure of ironstone quarrying in Rutland, the engineering team have undertaken to repaint DE5, the Janus locomotive which once worked over the quarry system. When the development team began work on the locomotive yard…

  • Development update –

    The project to rebuild the loco yard is on the point of starting to replace track onto the site. This week the last load bearing beam had its shuttering removed to reveal the rows of level and aligned retained bolt studs that will secure the bed rails. Work to level the inert fill over the…

  • Visit by the Branch Line Society

    The Charity was extremely pleased to welcome a large and enthusiastic group from the Branch Line Society last Saturday 21st May to explore the Cottesmore Branch. The last visit to the Cottesmore Branch by a rail tour took place in the mid-1960’s when the line was a busy place, serving Exton Park, Burley and Cottesmore…

  • 2013 Development Blog – Day 17

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    Despite the weather, progress on construction of our locomotive servicing pit has been rapid with the arrival of our building team. Out have come the blocks, concrete mixer and Keith our ever hard-working expert, such that not only have we laid the three courses of double skin blocks that will form the walls of the…

  • Mini-Gala (March ’13)

    The long awaited steaming of our two Barclay locomotives in the same shift – SIR THOMAS ROYDEN and 1931 – took place at our March operating day. Reminiscent of an early morning quarry loco shed scene, the day started with a fantastic sunrise as the two veteran locos gently started to raise steam even before…

  • Day 9 – Redevelopment

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    Last weekend saw more activity in the loco yard as the final clay material was removed from under the track beds and sub-base fill materials were brought in to replace them. The area was originally laid on a clay base with insufficient fill material suitable for storage and maintenance of locomotives. Following leading practice, we…

  • Day 8 – Redevelopment 2013

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    It seems barely credible but the day saw concrete poured to form the base of the inspection pit. In a well scripted series of operations, the initial site works included the crucial drainage pipes from the inspection pit to the main drains with provision for an oil interceptor. In addition the team were able to…

  • Day 5 – Redevelopment Day

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    Progress continues to be rapid as Day 5 saw the end of site stripping, ditch clearance and tree felling to allow the site excavations to start in earnest. The eastern boundary of the site includes an open drainage ditch and the original railway company fence but both had been overtaken by years of undergrowth. The…

  • Wickham–in-Rutland

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    The enthusiast following for the small railcars produced by the Wickham company who were based in Ware in Hertfordshire comprises a knowledgeable group who have started to document the whereabouts of those which have survived this far. Prompted by their research, our track teams have been assessing the practical need for rail cars and trolleys…

  • 2013 Development Blog – Day 1

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    Many thought that the major Rocks by Rail rebuild and relaunch in 2013 would have seen the end of heavy rebuilding at the Museum but this has just inspired the volunteers to press ahead with completing the remaining jobs. Attention has therefore turned to rebuilding the locomotive yard approaches and will see not only completion…

  • Christmas at Rocks by Rails …

    On Sunday 16th and 23rd December Ride the North Pole Express! Full details below, look forward to seeing you there.

  • Not the end of the line for Quarry Loco

    The future of the last remaining quarry train at the CEMEX Barrington Cement works has been secured following the company’s decision to donate the locomotive and two remaining wagons to Rocks by Rail. In February 2005 the last working standard gauge quarry railway in the UK finally succumbed to the pressures of modernisation at the…

  • The Train now arriving ..

    After such hard work to get the Rocks by Rail Museum ready for its opening on 16th September, there remained two important aspects unresolved and unknown – the weather and the number of visitors! To much relief, the day dawned bright and from a chilly Autumn morning developed into a warm and sunny day which…

  • Ready for Business!

    With the landscaping team still in full action, it was with real pleasure that we welcomed the first trial passenger train into the new platform yesterday afternoon. Overseen by our external Independent Competent Persons (ICP’s), and after the finishing touches to the facing point lock mechanisms, the technical adjustment of the vacuum braking systems, and…

  • OMG – Three days to GO!

    As you can imagine, your hard working Secretary/General Manager/gopher(!) is starting to get slightly worked up about the remaining jobs needed to deliver the Museum as a presentable and complete visitor experience! With three days to go, we have been contacting a whole range of supporters, local businesses, experts and volunteers in a week which…

  • An Oriental Intrigue?

    One of the rewarding and unexpected bonuses of rebuilding an industrial Museum comes when the clearance process reveals an exhibit that appears in the collection records and archives but which has not been seen for many years. In recent weeks the curatorial team came across an interesting collection of cast iron sections which were understood…

  • All cleaned out!

    As part of the recent rebuilding of the Museum, the team of volunteers have taken great care to make sure that the storage of operational materials are handled away from those areas in which visitors want to focus on the heritage aspects of their tour. After a great deal of hard work, the team succeeded…

  • Barclay Steam Locomotive

    Our resident Barclay steam locomotive AB1931 returns to the Museum from its loan to the Royal Deeside Railway earlier in the year to assist with their steam locomotive shortage. As a special event we hope to offer both of our operational 14” Andrew Barclay locomotives in service over the weekend, this being the first time…

  • IRON AGE SPEAR HEADS???

    At first glance it might seem that the archaeologists and historians at Rocks by Rail have unearthed some very fine examples of prehistoric archaeology in the form of iron age spear heads! Fearsome stuff for those unweary travellers in these parts 3,000 years ago! In reality, our curatorial team have put on display some of…

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