Surrey Iron Railway (MM’s Alderstead Amble) Traditional Cache
Surrey Iron Railway (MM’s Alderstead Amble)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Limeworks, Merstham
This is one of 50 caches which form a circular walk around Alderstead and other settlements surrounding the village of Merstham.
The CM & GIR (Croydon Merstham & Godstone Iron Railway) officially opened in July 1805. Much of the CM&GIR was single track although there is evidence that it was doubled at some point in its history. The track was to run from the Croydon Canal basin (now West Croydon Railway Station) through Old Town, parallel to the Brighton Road down through Purley and Coulsdon then on to the Merstham. From there the line was to have continued on to Godstone Green with a branch to Reigate. The latter parts were never completed, due to construction costs, and the line turned eastward near where the present day Vojan Indian restaurant, formerly the Jolliffe Arms Public House, stands.
From there the CM&GIR was taken only as far as the Merstham chalk and limestone quarries, ending at a house called Quarrydene or Quarry Dean. From this point on, the history of the CM&GIR and the Merstham stone quarries were bound together. This smooth iron road allowed a single horse to pull ten to twenty tons of material from Merstham to Wandsworth, at an easy-paced three to four miles per hour.
MM’s Alderstead Amble is a circular walk of about 11 miles, along which there are a number of traditional caches varying in size from micro to regular (no pencils). You will pass a variety of other caches on the way from simple traditional to puzzles to 5x5 extreme caches.
Parking is available in Rockshaw Road or Shepherds Hill, Merstham
Happy Caching!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
'Gbc' bs snyyra tngr cbfg, uvatr raq.
Cyrnfr uvqr pnershyyl.