What's been going on?

Snow Stopping Sloppers of Salubrious Substances on Sunday Stint.
April Working Weekend

Another excellent turnout for our second weekends greasing extravaganza saw us start where we left off last month at Ashey. The weather was excellent for Saturday's greasing and we cracked on at a very decent pace. The gang sorted out into the various jobs quickly and we were soon making our way up to the summit. The rigorous checking of every other joint was time consuming but it proved its worth with several fishplates being change when minor cracks were found. The lunch break was taken near Long Arch Bridge and the afternoon's work carried on much as before. John Crang did a great job of fettling along the section between Whitefield and Calloways crossings as all the plum jobs had gone on the fishplate gang when he arrived.

Pete Corby removes the fishplate.

The final plates of the day were greased at Smallbrook at the end of the single line and we could bask in the knowledge that all the single line was done. With a sort out of iron-men and trolley's we got our trusty Wickham to take us back to Havenstreet at about 5.30pm.

Captions on a postcard to Dave Walker at Havenstreet.

The plan for Sunday was to split into two gangs and do the two station areas of Havenstreet and Smallbrook. The plan was somewhat thwarted however when on reaching the railway at 8.30am the sky turned a wonderful black and snow started to fall. With amazement our little gang watched as the flakes got bigger and bigger and the ground started to get a covering. In a little over half and hour we had got an inch of wet snow dumped on the railway and it looked as pretty as a picture. The snow eased off and stopped soon after 9.30am and we had to then decide what to do.

The decision was to carry on regardless but to do one station at a time with the full team. So we got all the tools and grease on board the first train and had the most wonderful trip to Smallbrook in the snowy scene that was our lineside and surrounding countryside. The Ashey Scurry was due to be held on this Sunday and the train duly stopped at the halt and staff with assorted items of furniture and goodies got off to ready themselves for the crowds. The meeting was later cancelled so goodies and staff had to return to Havenstreet without seeing the race-goers.

Our small team arrived at Smallbrook and with the snow laying round about, deep and crisp and even (hold on, I slipped into Christmas mode there!) we started our fishplate greasing task about the platform road and loop. We cracked this by lunchtime and got ourselves back to Havenstreet for some nosh. By then all the snow had melted away and it was just in the odd place that it lingered. The afternoon shift was centred on Havenstreet with both loops and the pointwork having the fishplates sorted.

Tools back to the hut for a clean off and wipe down and all was completed for another year.

Thanks to all those who came out and assisted in the weekend's endeavours, we are very grateful for all your help.

What else has been going on?

The vast majority of work over the last month has been centred around Havenstreet. Pete has been steadily working away on the power supply to the signalling at Havenstreet. We had to put this job on hold whilst we got the work done at Wootton but since then we have been working hard to complete the signal lighting and change over to the 110v system.

"Waggoner" waiting at the new Wootton stop board on the first day of operations over the new layout.

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Fireman Dave Smart is the first train crew member to use the Groundframe at Wootton.

I have been out and about with some machines to collect our wonderful collection of leaves.

We have over the years managed to cut most of the undergrowth from our banks on the lineside. The good work has made a real difference to the look of the railway and even the Inspecting Officer commented on the tidy lineside. The down side to all this wonderful work, and you wouldn't think there was one is that every year when Autumn arrives the trees drop their leaves and with nothing to stop them on the banks they find the lowest point out of the wind. Where is that? Well would you believe it, in the cess and on the track at any point where the line is in a cutting. The problem has always been there but recently it seems to have got out of hand and sadly this is the down side of the lineside management we have been doing. To counter this we have bought a couple of blower machines which can either blow the leaves into heaps or with a quick change can suck them up, mash them and put them in a big hoover type bag. This has at least made it possible to pick them up but it still remains a long job. I along with several volunteers have been out on the worst effected places and have managed to clear a lot of the track. Long Arch Bridge was particularly bad with leaves coming up to the top of the rails in some places. We continue this work and we have plenty more to do yet!

The pre-running inspection and maintenance went very well and although there are quite a lot of track faults in line and level most of the railway's infrastructure is in good shape for the season.

The Friday gang carry on the good work with several areas in their sights at the moment. The section being done at the moment is close to Irongates Crossing. A complete re-wire on the north side fence will be undertaken by them shortly when the fence line undergrowth is cleared. A new bank cutter has been purchased and delivered. This looks similar to an Allen scythe for those of you old enough to remember those beasts. It is a modern version and looks a very powerful machine. Training is to be carried out soon and after that look out if you are about the lineside as you may see a big blue beast chugging along the lineside chomping the brambles dragging a member of the Friday gang along behind.

Finally we have had a trip to the Bluebell Railway recently to look at some pointwork for Griffins sidings. We have an option to buy several lots of crossings and switches. The material was in pretty good nick and I have written a report for the board to look at with a view to purchase.

That's it then folks, hope to see you soon.
Dave Pete and Phil.