Progress Thursday 30th September 2010

Dear all

 

As September draws to a close we can reflect on the great strides made at Duffield with the new platform. The footings for the north end wall were installed today and more blocks positioned to raise the height of the existing wall. An order has been placed for the remaining 100 blocks to complete the job. The whole installation reflects great credit on those involved. By way of explanation a wall will finish the Duffield Platform for the time being rather than a ramp to enable further extension norhwards when funds permit. It is likely the Platform will need to be extended by around 120 feet in the next few years for the benefit of loco hauled trains.

 

The PWT dealt with some snagging at Duffield which encompassed grinding off a weld that had surplus metal on the flangeway and the drilling of two fishplate holes. The team then headed north to collect a wagon of logs and gather up a few garden quality sleepers. The Logging Department now has enough material for a few weeks and the sleepers are already spoken for.

 

The Komatsu was in action in Duffield Tunnel returning recovered ballast to the newly laid track, clearing the Tunnel floor on the Down side.

 

VCT were operating in the area of milepost 135 3/4 clearing on both sides of the line. The fencing on the UP side in this area was largely rotten and replacement has commenced. The usual mega fire consumed the brash. The VCT team totalled seven today enabling great progress to be achieved.

 

We welcomed our regular customer for a short visit to conduct brake and reliability trials and John Allsop put the finishing touches to dmu car 50599.

 

A most pleasant and sunny day.

 

Martin

Progress, Tuesday 28th September

Evenin' all,

Another busy day with activity over the whole network, although it was a dull grey day, everyone had a good glow on!

Starting with the assorted Carriage depts, Painting continued on 50599 with Solebars Buffer beams and exhausts being painted. In the LMS dept, more work was carried out on the internal partitions, and prepping on some of the veneer panels ready for varnishing.

The DST had the boiler sandblasted on Henry Ellison. Once cleaned it was painted with its heat paint, and the main frame was made ready for sand blasting next week.

More sleepers arrived and the works train was assembled. The sleepers were dropped off at various locations for spot resleepering as part of routine maintenance. About 200 old rotters were collected from the relay site and transported to 'storage'. Meanwhile the rest of the per way team changed a lift plate and other bits at Duffield. Two 1000 ltr containers were also transported to Duffield, to provide a temporary water supply.

The Duffield platform team completed squaring off the North end footings of the platform, they also laid out 160 concrete blocks, and filled in the hollows of ones laid last week.

The VCT managed another 40 yards of clearance around mp 135 3/4, and managed two fires, they have started clearing the east side at the same location.

The camera and electrics dept, tidied up the weighbridge, and sourced some electrons for another camera location.

Tomorrow sees all per way staff reporting to Duffield, The Komatsu will be heading out of Duffield first to go flailing.

Phil

Progress Monday 27th September 2010

Dear all

 

A dull and wet day challenged today's test customer with a less than successful first outing of their prototype machine. Nonetheless, this is what testing in a quiet, private environment is all about and I am sure the information gathered will enable them to progress their machine into service.

 

We welcomed a second delegation from the Korea Railroad Research Institute who were exploring the particular style of testing we undertake and the economics attached. A useful exchange of views ensued and I am sure there will be some as yet unknown benefit.

 

 

The dmu team were busy "winterising" the fleet as antifreeze was added to the various coolant systems reminding us we are entering the dark days of the year. 16 tonnes of crushed concrete was delivered and nearly all of it landed in the Rudd for transfer to Duffield tomorrow.

 

Martin

Progress, Sunday 26th September

Evening all,

Another bitterly cold day which saw fairly light loadings in comparison to yesterday, which is unusual. Nevertheless, the Day with a Driver guest thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Today the deep cleaning of Iris continued, including a thorough wipe down of the heater ducting and Formica, a hoover out, a further mop out and the cleaning of the bogies on one side.

Elsewhere, work continued on the newly arrived brake van, odd droppings of coal were collected up and the maintenance pit got cleared out with a brush and spade.

At the close of play the Rudd was delivered to the dock.

Many thanks,

Graham Walker via Leigh

Progress, Saturday 25th September

Evening all,
A hectic sort of a day, with the passenger service doing well for a very cold September day and good progress being made. Today's Day with a Driver guest thoroughly enjoyed himself too.

Attention today was turned towards Iris. The vehicle received a full exterior wash, the windows were painstakingly cleaned properly, the floor was mopped and the stepboards were given a coat of paint. The bogies are the next area to be cleaned.

Elsewhere, some storage bowsers in the yard were organised and the LMSCA continued working in their coach.

Mike Evans via Leigh

Progress Friday 24th September 2010

Dear all

 

Quite a day for our Group Drive a Diesel Day customers who came from Scotland, Wales, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. The morning was spend with L J Breeze and the Stanier Third Open was returned to its normal resting place after the ministrations of the sand blaster. After lunch they took to the Class 20 on a shunting expedition that embraced Duffield now that the track is safe to carry D8001 at a modest speed. The empty Dogfish were transferred from Duffield to Shottle together with the empty Rudd. The Rudd, Lowmac and Flatrol were then tripped to Wirksworth ready to receive more sleepers and stone next week. They all felt they had full value for money and were honoured to be the first of these groups to venture over the whole line.

 

At base the mystery fault on Iris was remedied and the vehicle readied for washing over the weekend in preparation for its short break at the Severn Valley Railway. Diesel Car 50599 had its east side varnished and there only remains a few small tasks before its exterior restoration is complete.

 

General dmu maintenance was undertaken in what turned out to be a wintery day. Catering looked after our guests and their hosts, Richards' Buckby and Preedy together with Tom Tait - all needed because of the tasks set today.

 

Martin

Progress Thursday 24th September 2010

Dear all

 

Starting in the south the Duffield platform project strode forward today with 50 blocks placed on the wall, some 40 ft of wall concreted ready to receive blocks, removal of the old S&T location box, all old troughing removed and the north ramp dismantled. No content with all this the footings for the new north end platform wall were dug out. Truly a project coming on in leaps and bounds.

 

The PWT were working on the recently resleepered section to catch up with fishplate greasing achieving a commendable 22 pairs. The Works Train wagons were deposited at Duffield and LJB returned light engine to Wirksworth.

 

A little further north the VCT carried on their war against the hawthorn growth opening up around 25 yards in the area of milepost 135 1/2 and enjoyed the benefit of two large fires.

 

The Logging Dept were in action at Wirksworth and a meter was fitted to measure the electricity consumed by the EVRA shop. John Hastings-Thomson again single handedly tended to the cleaning out Ferrybridge No3 and emptied the ash pit.

 

Another productive day.

 

Martin

Progress Monday 20th September 2010

Dear all

 

After a week's sojourn in Latvia it was a pleasant autumn welcome back to the managerial desk enabling time to wade through the inevitable quantity of emails and a welter of invoices requiring payment. On the plus side it was warming to see the banking from the festival and home fleet gala weekends enabling the blood pressure to remain stable.

 

Amongst the paperwork was a request to host a return visit from the Korean Railroad Research Institute and a tentative enquiry for a small film job.

 

We welcomed our regular customer for a few hours who completed brake testing of the latest vehicle off the production line prior to being passed over to Network Rail.

 

Visitors to the Booking Hall were sparse.

 

Martin

Progress Report Sunday the 19th of September 2010

Dear all,

I speak to you now from the parlour bar of the Whore and Trumpet (A
Marston's House), where some of your weary but happy staff are applying,
er, lubrication to their sore parts. Now, we have had a very good day,
with passenger numbers keeping up the recent trend of being better than
last year for this weekend's event, the Home Fleet Gala, where our
entire and utter fleet has been in operation. An early start was
necessarily made with a selection of platform enders banging on the
front door to gather round the class 31 and take large numbers of
photographs. This process continued with the class 20 and (the specially
cleaned) Ferrybridge No 3 and just about anything else that moved and
several things that didn't. The Day with a Driver guest having arrived
from Merseyside also stayed the entire day and was very cheerful about
it. A departing lady visitor remarked that we had a very wonderful "old
station". A word of thanks is due to everyone who has been involved in
any way with the huge effort of this season, whether that is in relation
to events, train and track maintenance, admin, projects or anywhere
around the railway in any way whatsoever. That's a huge THANK YOU.

Around the railway today many other things were taking place. At
Duffield the Sunday gang dealt with 14 welds, clipped up 42 sleepers and
re-arranged their lift plates and generally fettled and re-organised a
multitude of things at Duffield, Mr Tarry presiding. At Wirksworth, the
conscripts were engaged in gardening and in the shed drain work, which
mainly involved breaking rocks. The steam team have begun primer
painting the tank of Henry Ellison and associated tasks. The LMSCA
carried on with their carriages and the recently arrived LMS brakevan
also received some hard work towards its rebuild. In the Gat Ex, further
changing of the FO and TSO armrests proceeded and the gutters were
evacuated. This was followed by window cleaning and New Zealand Egg and
Bacon Pie ("strange but nice")...

That's it for today,
All the best,
Anton

Progress Sat 18th Sept 2010

Evening all,

Day 1 of our Home Fleet Gala weekend saw many of our locomotives and railcars in service, with surprisingly more people coming to sample our railway than expected.

With so many people concentrating on running the gala, little else was achieved. A battery cell was changed on 51188 to allow that to return to traffic and the embankment was weeded.

Many thanks to all involved, it really does take a lot of effort to put on gala days so if you are available come and have a ride tomorrow!

Mike Evans via Leigh

Progress, Friday 17th September

Evenin' all,

A busy day of shunting at Wirksworth Yard, with everything prepared and positioned for this weekend's event.

The car park is at last empty having seen the removal of the Chipper machine first thing and the afternoon taken up with the removal of the very large Vac machine.

More painting of the DMU car in the shed - a reminder to those wishing to sandblast in the area next week, keep well clear of newly painted vehicles - work in progress!

No IMT this week as all hands were involved with stock movements.

Phil

Progress, Thursday, 16th September

Evenin' all,

All of today's activity took place at the southern end of the line.

The Platform gang laid 90 concrete blocks and 30 Tactiles at Duffield, they had a good gang and progress was swift.

The VCT continued tidying up where they have been working during the last few weeks, and restarted one fire . They also cleared up a bit after yesterdays demonstration. They also carried out temporary repairs to the very recently installed gateway at Postern Lodge, which has been knocked down - with big tyre marks over it!

The Per way team changed a further 14 sleepers as part of routine maintenance, and started work on clearing two cross drains south of Hazlewood. The works train also carried out much shunting at Duffield yard and have left two wagons in the headshunt inside the tunnel.

Some feckless ne'er-do-well, chopped the security chains at Duffield overnight and made off with some scrap S&T cable, the cost of the cable was negligible as it was very old rubber covered low voltage Track circuit cable with very little metal in. However, if local members can make an occasional check at the Chapel St entrance.

Phil

Progress, Tuesday 14th September

Evenin' all,

Firstly a slight oversight, the 80 sleepers laid last Thursday was helped greatly by the Wednesday gang digging out most of them ready for a rapid insertion - great teamwork!

As for today, the Duffield Platform team shunted the yard at Duffield and managed to offload all of the materials brought by train, they also managed to clear the left over materials from the first phase of construction, once again, the Komatsu proved a winner.

The Per way team planted 36 sleepers in the ground, leaving only 36 to complete the present phase to Hazlewood, these will be completed this week. There then remains the insertion of drains and some more sleepers to be inserted at various points.

The VCT had a blazing day with 4 fires, they have completed the clearance of the field that they were working alongside, they were joined by a chainsaw gang who were setting up an area for some demonstration work tomorrow.

The vehicle that was on test for the demonstration was again working in Wirksworth yard, and being used for crew training. Tomorrow will be a hectic day whilst it is being demonstrated to the end user.

The DST, worked in the shed and removed the axle boxes from their project, the sand blasting of the frames should take place tomorrow.

The Carriage team completed the fitting of the ceiling panels, and started worrying about the fitting of the steam heating. Only a few weeks ago they were complaining that it was too hot.

Meanwhile all of the defective windows in the First Open of the Gatex stock have now been replaced, our small team who have tackled this are quite proficient at this task.

The Mess room had its traditional heavy duty clean, and the Booking Hall was ticking over.

Quite a busy day!

Phil

Progress Saturday 11th September 2010

Evening all,

Day one of the Wirksworth Festival saw great numbers of people engulf our car park, using this great facility of ours to visit the town and paying for the privilege. Unfortunately, there were not quite so many through the booking hall with the car park busier than the trains - but this is often the case with Festival weekend and it will be interesting to compare last years figures. The Buffet Car still did reasonably well considering there was a packed refreshments stand inconveniently placed on the grass verge next to our car park entrance.

Elsewhere, repairs continued on 55006 and it is now fit to run again. The LMSCA continued chopping wood to produce seat frames for their TO coach.

Mike Evans via Leigh

Progress Friday 10th September 2010

Dear all

 

Another frenetic day with activity on many fronts. Fitness to Run examinations were being undertaken by Brian Smith on the Bubble Car and Iris. This was to ensure they behave themselves when they are shipped to the Severn Valley Railway for a gala in early October. A cardan shaft was renewed on the Bubble Car together with a few minor repairs.

 

Today's Drive a Diesel Day guest was from Beverley and he and his guest were, again, very ably looked after by Lewis and Richard. During the morning they shunted the Rudd to Wash Green dock to receive a load of crushed stone for the Duffield platform project. This is a slightly cheaper option that the Type 1 limestone we have used in the past. The Shell/BP tank was also shunted top be topped up with water for next weekend. Fuel was also received for the Class 20 and tank.

 

Chris managed to get the web cam overlooking the car park up and running again and 50599 received undercoat to its east side. Two more windows were replaced in the Gatwick Express and work has started to remedy defective arm rests.

 

IMT dealt with 7 pairs of dipped joints on the Idridgehay section which is a most essential and useful task. They also turned their attention to a particularly bad joint south of bridge DJW6 (Derby Road 4) where trains had experiences a nasty "lurch". Some progress was made but there appears to be something amiss with the track geometry there which will be remedied when we get a tamper in.

 

A very productive day.

 

Martin

Progress Thursday 9th September 2010

Dear all

 

Another catalogue of events that speed us forward to the conclusion of the main project. A very modest, in attitude, permanent way team achieved yet another new record with 80 new sleepers put into our main line. Even though some earlier preparation had been accomplished this is truly a spectacular example of determination.

 

The Duffield platform was progressed with the aid of a mini digger and four joints were welded in the station area leaving eight to be completed over the next two days. The logging department were in action as demand climbs for winter warmth and the quadrangle garden at Wirksworth received some attention.

 

One of our regular customers returned for some vehicle brake testing and there was vital IT work undertaken.

 

The VCT opened up further views with a two fire day and much flailing of the area between Shottle and Hazelwood took place with particular attention paid to the dense hawthorn adjacent to the erosion site.

 

LMSCA were in action on the Third Open tending to general tidying up and freeing door runners. The works train returned to Wirksworth with the Rudd, a steel bodied wagon, that will receive crushed stone tomorrow for the Duffield platform project.

 

Martin

 

PS - We featured on Channel 4 last night in the Derren Brown programme. The star was the "Bubble Car" with our team of Mike Evans, Neil and Phil undertaking the work on the Saturday of the last Bank Holiday. Their ten hour day boiled down to around two minutes on film and Shottle featured for the first time. Not widely advertised in advance at the request of our customer but provided some much needed additional income.

Evenin' all,

This week has been a difficult one for the Per way team, waiting for sleepers that should have arrived on Monday, and thus being without a train with its luxurious rest and catering facilities. The team have had to handball all tools around the track. Not something to be undertaken lightly - especially when the Tool Van was 1 1/2 miles from the work site. However the team have carried on regardless, and have dug out 80 rotters ready for changing during the two days, they installed 34 yesterday before running out. The new delivery finally arrived after lunch today, and were rushed to site. They were unloaded and laid out ready for insertion. The other part of the train has delivered building materials for the Duffield platform project. Whilst waiting for the sleepers, some cleaning of No3 took place.

A visitor came for a run down the line planning an event to be held here next week, which will demonstrate a new vehicle to Network Rail staff, Paul (head forester) joined us, and pointed out areas that would benefit the full and proper testing of this machine. This will (hopefully) be of help to the VCT next week.

Some gardening was carried out in front of the Booking Hall, and vehicles were moved from the Car Park in readiness for the massive influx of people for the Festival this weekend.

Meanwhile steps were taken to order the remaining sleepers - we shall see what delays can be thought up this time!The big chief welder appeared at Duffield and will commence to weld the alternate joints on the platform line starting tomorrow, and completing the work on Saturday.

Much shunting was carried out at Duffield to get the wagons in the right place for platform work and to get the new consist of the works train.

The Works train will depart from Duffield tomorrow morning, but needs to be back at Wirksworth by close of play with the Rudd in the ballast loading dock. A mini digger will be on site at Duffield tomorrow to assist the platform team.

All that and not an ice cream in sight!

Phil

Progress Tuesday 7th September 2010

Dear all

 

Something of a novel today with so many areas of activity.

 

During the late afternoon yesterday and into the evening our wagon fleet increased by five comprising a Brakevan requiring much tlc and very useful engineers vehicles including a Lowmac, Plate wagon and two Grampus courtesy of Tim Oakes. The Lowmac and Plate were seized by DRE for loading with building materials for Duffield platform and will be tripped there tomorrow.

 

The DST reported the fitting of a "petticoat" to No3, (I am advised that this is a device to aid steaming - remember I am a clerk), the lifting of the chimney of Henry Ellison from its water tank and the raising of the frame from the wheels by 4 ft or so. As the team seemed to be drinking a lot of tea it would appear that Mary Birch did most of this work.

 

A visit to the Stanier Third Open revealed further amazing progress with the ceiling in around 50% of the vehicle being fitted together with a sliding door at the north end. The first of the newly created seats was fastened in position and very comfortable it is too.

 

The PWT battled against the odds today with ever increasing delays in the supply of new supplies. Without the benefit of any supporting works train the last of our existing stock, 34, were inserted and the remainder of the day spent digging out to prepare for the eventual arrival of new supplies.

 

VCT opened out a further 30 yards of lineside consisting of very nasty hawthorn, burning the wretched end product with one large fire.

 

The flail was in action, after its chimney lifting, and dealt with the Ken Rowlands to Barnsley Lane section. This was after fitters attention by Milltech across the road who also applied some rather tasteful "MyTestTrack.com" branding to the Multicar.

 

John Allsop made further progress with 50599 by sanding down the east side and completing the first pass with filler. Duffield platform enjoyed the attention of John Sylvester who pointed up a further 30 feet of platform wall. He would have been embarrassed by the lassitude of the Duffield platform team who seemed to be lolling about for most of the day at Wirksworth. I am sure they will make the time up.

 

I was most impressed by the Passenger Dept who managed to change a "blown" window in the second open of the Gatwick Express. Only five more to go!

 

The Passenger Dept also held a briefing meeting to begin to outline where we might be in 2011

 

The Sealink Port of Hazelwood is now largely complete and the fishing club will now commence fencing the area.

 

Not bad for a quiet day in September.

 

Martin

Progress Monday 6th September 2010

Dear all

 

A pleasant day until the very end when the rain arrived. Today's Group Drive a Diesel Day were fulsome in their praise for the Railway and their hosts, Richard and Robin. These "experiences" are very valuable to our enterprise and I am immensely grateful to everyone who makes the participants so welcome.

 

During the morning we welcomed Hongsin Kim back again from Birmingham University, together with her tutor, to continue to assist with her dissertation on economic modern signalling for heritage and rural railways. The Landrover was commandeered to test signal strengths along the line and after this trip our rolling stock was assessed to determine where antennae may be fixed. This is cutting edge stuff and it is satisfying that we are in at the ground floor.

 

In the late afternoon a fleet of 5 wagons began to arrive that will provide a selection of engineering vehicles to assist with our immediate objectives and assist with future maintenance requirements.

 

The Booking Hall welcomed a few visitors and the Buffet Car fed our Drive a Diesel Day guests.

 

Martin

Progress Sunday the 5th of September 2010

Dear all,

A pleasant and rather enjoyable day, dry weather and lots of small
groups of volunteers beavering away at their respective tasks. Between
events, we expected the passenger service to be fairly quiet, but in the
end it did quite well, as did Lorna in the bookshop. We also entertained
another Day with a Driver guest, to his evident satisfaction.

In the engineerium, the steam team proceeded with work on Henry Ellison
and its many respective parts, including the removal of the sandboxes,
this being the stage of taking the locomotive to pieces prior to
refurbishment and eventual re-assembly. The DMU team repaired the
deadman's isolation bar of class 108 50599 and the guards compartment of
that vehicle had its newly repaired roof sanded and given the first of
two coats of paint. The class 31 received routine maintenance.

At Hazelwood, the Bance Bandits (a small sub-team of our world famous
p-way gang) excellently dug out a further 21 sleepers ready for changing
during the coming week and took the number of a random sheep on the line.

Around the yard at Wirksworth, a magistrate of conscripts astonishingly
attempted to give themselves hernias in the process of stoning the up
shed drain, a task begun last week. The Rod and Mary show ran the narrow
gauge and tided the wood store and have requested that "deposits" are
left carefully. The Friends of Ashbourne erected a fence next to the
beer store by way of tidying it up and this was then stained. Its gate
has been given a notice "Danger Electrical Room" which was considered
more of a deterrent to the feckless than "Welcome to the Beer Store". On
the high embankment overlooking the east side of the station, the
guerilla gardeners of Wirksworth began clearance and planning to
potentially turn this area into a garden, from where the General Manager
can oversee the empire whilst calling for a modest glass of Speyside
Pimms in the summer sunshine.

All the best,
Anton

Progress Saturday 4th September 2010

Evening all,

Another glorious September day saw the passenger service bobbling up and down all day and another delighted "Day with a Driver" guest. The Booking Hall, EVRA shop and buffet car were all open too. The narrow gauge was in operation and saw reasonable passenger numbers.

Down the yard, the morning firstly consisted of moving the water tanker from the incline so that the passenger service could begin, followed by shunting the shed to enable the exterior painting of 50599 to continue. After this, the small DMU team of two continued the internal restoration work of same by way of screwing up the ceiling panels in the guards area, along with some associated trim and light fittings. This can now be sanded and painted.

The LMSCA were also hard at work inside their Third Open.

Mike Evans via Leigh

Progress Friday 3rd September 2010

Dear all

 

A fairly gentle day in the pleasant sunshine as we hosted another Group Drive a Diesel Day with appreciative guests very ably hosted by Hylton and David. Rod and Mary spent the day reorganising "their" container so that 50% is now devoted to the day to day necessities of our steam locomotive and the other 50% caters for a number of activities they look after including the narrow gauge and Santa plus any timber solutions needed throughout the fleet.

 

Within the Maintenance Facility the west side of 50599 was varnished giving an indication that this vehicle will sparkle when it emerges from the "works". 51505 received attention to its underframe with further application of paint contributing to the overall presentation of our dmu fleet.

 

A convoy arrived from Salisbury & Wood Building Supplies delivering concrete blocks and building materials to advance the Duffield platform project which were placed to ground to await onward transport. The Shell/BP tank was shunted to the Incline to fill overnight for steam operations the weekend after next.

 

The IMT were involved in a whole line weed treatment paying extra attention to the most heavily affected areas. The Buffet Car tended to the needs of our Drive a Diesel guests and the Booking Hall provided the initial welcome and dealt with the visitors that were encouraged by the unusual weather to see what we were up to. One of our regular customers accomplished some satisfactory brake testing on the Gorsey Bank line.

 

Another productive day.

 

Martin

Progress Thursday 2nd September 2010

Dear all

 

Blessed again with super weather, today marked the end of the summer season with the last of the weekday passenger trains. These trains together with the Booking Hall have proved difficult to staff this year and I fear there will have to be further thinning out next year. Nonetheless with the aid of our Bluebell volunteer, more used to the pace of Sheffield Park Booking Office, the show remained on the road.

 

Much other activity continued throughout our empire with the Very Large Machine having further tests in the Car Park and sufficient fuel was delivered by Landrover to enable LJB to return home. Contractors working at the erosion site north of Hazelwood are making good progress with sheet piling the area and the end product should remedy this problem for good. We hope to open the rail served Sealink Port of Hazelwood in the near future.

 

The PWT had a varied day with 14 sleepers laid, a wagon of logs loaded for the Logging Dept and a little light shunting at Duffield before returning north. The team then unloaded the logs at Wirksworth leaving the two flat wagons available to receive further sleepers next week.

 

The Multicar was prepared for a weed treatment run tomorrow and further pointing up of the Duffield platform wall was undertaken. A delegation travelled by rail to Barnsley Lane to express our concerns to the planning authorities over the proposed heavy goods vehicles that would pass over Barnsley Lane bridge in connection with a pig farm planning application.

 

The VCT worked north of Footpath F5 near the erosion site to clear more lineside growth and reported another two good fires. Trials of a new large logging and chipping machine requested for the week after next will bring a warm glow of appreciation from the team.

 

The Buffet Car and EVRA shop were open to receive our modest number of visitors.

 

Martin

 

PS There was shocking news of that young tearaway, Hylton (63),  being barred from his local - what is the world coming to?

 

 

Progress, Wednesday 1st September

Evenin' all,

Another day of an Indian summer, with a cold clear start followed by bright sunshine. This meant that the Per Way team managed to get a further 30 sleepers in the ground and are now nearly at 134 1/2.

The Platform department have compacted the MOT (Type 1) and have laid the first 50 or so tactiles on Duffield platform.

The Komatsu made good progress at 49 steps, Ken Rowlands crossing, and Barnsley Lane crossing, all of which had started to disappear, as well as giving a quick trim to other places including some wayward twigs and branches.

The 'monstrous piece of equipage' finally went out on test. Our loading gauge is W6A, whilst the test vehicle was W12 (for you technical persons - in plain language, it was too big, and failed to get beyond Wash Green, however, it managed its tests on the Incline, and braking tests (It spent the first couple of hours having all sorts of bits taken off so that it would fit through the platforms. More testing will be carried out tomorrow.

The Incline service ran, again for the handful of passengers who turned up.

Phil