1. Working in the Goosefield area slewing and moving various point work and track, relaying the missing sections and linking up the C&W workshop. This will be the preferred option should all the paperwork and problem solving be completed.
2. A start made on relaying the next section of rail from the bottom of the long curve back towards Woodhouse crossing. We have about 12 length's of ex Eastleigh rail left to go in and, as in previous years, the rails will be cropped at both ends to get rid of the battered ends. Existing joints will need to move and sleepers re-spaced and replaced as necessary. We have got the rails on the Britannia wagon ready to move and some have been prepared with cropping and drilling done but many others will need to be done on site.
3. Not very likely but if neither of the two above can be progressed we will turn our attention to re-sleepering. Many sleepers have been identified for replacement and we need to get as many in before the visit of the Tamper in late February early March 2004 as possible.

October Working Weekend Sat 4th / Sun 5th

The idea is to pick up last month's plan and use the Britannia wagons to move this Winter's 60 foot rails to their new home and load up the redundant 45 footers left from the re-railing scheme earlier this year. Passenger trains, though only the "green" timetable, are running so we shouldn't upset the Havenstreet signalman too much if we are back in the loop a minute or two late.

Once the rails are in position the rest of the weekend will be spent putting some of our new pile of sleepers in, in place of the life expired ones. They are easy to find, as on all the best treasure maps "X marks the spot". If the train operating positions are oversubscribed, then a few "volunteers" may care to start early on the sleeper changing. It may be by this time that some of the trackwork involved with the C&W Project will require to be done so this may be an option too.

Hope to see as many of you as possible and please don't forget to mention, if you haven't already done so, either on your slip or over the weekend, if you have any problem with moving November's bash to the 8th/9th.

What's been going on?

September Working Weekend - Site Clearance at Havenstreet
Cancellation compels commencement of Cutting, Clearing and Champion Conflagration

Due to the unfortunate loss of the rail train it was necessary to fall back on Plan B for the weekend. Careful readers will remember that this involved the sorting and disposal of various piles of things (to put it politely) that had gathered in and around Griffin's field. Mostly the late tree from Wootton. After moving to a safe position the local pyromaniac, Loewinter O'Brien, got to work while the rest of the gang went off in search of more fuel. A handy store was found in the barn field and was moved too, but not into, the fire by vintage tractor. By this time there was a cloud of smoke rising over the back of the Works large enough to out outshine, or should that be outgloom?, anything produced from a locomotive's chimney.

The Fordson Major moves the remains of the Wootton tree to the fire.

The less fire retardant gang members retreated to the safety of the bank to the east of bridge nine to continue the cutting and clearing exercise. Small fires were lit from time to time, but on seeing the size of the Griffin's field one, they proceeded to extinguish themselves in embarrassment; or was it just the damp wood?

Meanwhile back in Griffins field the inferno had grown to such a size that it must have been visible on Mars, especially it was at its closest point to the Earth for 60,000 years (no rude suggestions about which gang members can remember the last time please.) Seasoned fire experts said it was probably the biggest fire in the area since the time Ashey Down erupted in 85AD, the lava flow stretching down through Smallbrook to enter the sea just to the right of Ryde Pier. They had to use heat resistant skirts on the hovercrafts you know. By about three o'clock, with all the fuel gone the fire started to cool down a bit. By four-thirty all that was left were a few lumps of charcoal and a burnt area the size of a football pitch, well maybe a six-a-side one. Several brave souls attempted fire walking, to pile the charcoal neatly in the centre to burn through, though aren't you supposed to take your boots off? The cutting gang, who I nearly forgot in all the excitement, had by this time reached the Up Advance starting signal on the Northside, and the fire having died down, were able to come back. On Sunday, with all the burnable material now gone, it was the turn of the various metallic heaps to receive attention. (We were thinking of burning this too but the local firm RentaFurnace were closed for the weekend)

Tony O'Brien and Ian Corney move a life-expired sleeper towards the fire.

Most of this was the balance of material acquired for the sidings project, keys, screws etc. and some was loaded by hand or wheelbarrow onto close boarded wooded pallets. The rest was lifted in their sacks, hoping they would hold (which they did), and straight onto pallets using the Manitou, skilfully driven by Andrew Summers. All the pallets were then moved to a sheltered corner of the field. First of all though the vintage tractor, with it's box on the back, collected the assorted piles of unwanted material and relocated them to a central handling point ready for future disposal. After this and relocating the track materials the day was rounded off with a bit of rail dragging. For those who have not played this game it involves attaching one end of a hawser to a rail end, the longer the better, and the other to a vintage tractor. After taking the strain, expert driving, not quite to the usual Wickham standard though, guides the rail with a Queen Mary sized turning circle from one side of the field to a point adjacent to the hedge. Here it is de-coupled and a willing volunteer has the time it takes to bring another one over to roll the rail as close to the hedge as possible. Although it was not always possible to get the rails parallel to the hedge, they were able to be stacked in a neat pile by application of a J.I.T.T.E.R.S. (Julia Invented Tool To Ensure Rails are Square). Please send an SAE for full construction and operating details. To make things go with a swing the forecast heavy showers now arrived and the tractor driver's face looked a picture of contentment as he battled through the squalls. After about twenty rails the day was drawing to close, just the time to find another great pile, so at least we have got a job for another day and a chance to perfect the technique. Many thanks to everyone who turned out and worked so hard, even though it wasn't what you thought you would be doing. The field certainly looks a lot tidier for everyone's efforts which, as it can be seen by the public from the station platform, is quite important.

The quality of our kindling was fairly poor!

What else has been going on?

With the daily train service still in operation most work recently has been concentrated in areas around, rather than on, the track. The bank between Bridges 7 and 9 has received another dose of "Brushcutt", that well known, easy (?) to apply foliage controller. Considering this, on the north sides at least, was only cleared in the New Year it would seem Nature is particularly active in this area. Less resistance was offered by "Bob's Bank" at Wootton, which has now reached the stage where a visit with the lawnmower suffices. It is still a bit tricky to get even stripes cut though. The two heritage crossings on the Wootton section have received attention. The cattle grids at Woodhouse got a fresh coat of preservative whilst the south side hanging post at Packsfield was restored to a vertical plane by application of a large, hand crafted wedge made in our workshop. The early birds continue to spend their Monday mornings, not only catching the worm, they don't taste too bad actually, but also attending to any track faults in the time available between dawn and the first train.

On the S&T front, the ambition to paint the bottom of every thing black, to a regulation 4'3" above rail level of course, and the rest white continues at pace: Wootton's home signal being the latest to fall victim to the "Marauding Magpie". With winter on the way, so as to prevent them getting a chill, the two sets of batteries for the train approaching treadles were moved from their draughty barracks by Briddlesford and Rowlands Bridges to the relative comfort of Havenstreet Signalbox. As an added bonus calculations by Professor Orchard reveal that the higher ambient temperature results in an increase in battery efficiency of 0.0027%.

A start has been made on the task of curve measurement and checking in readiness for the visit of the Plasser tamper next year. Anybody got a spare super computer? The last hurrah of the Wednesday evening sleeper gang resulted in another half dozen being put in on the bank up to Rowlands. Many thanks to everyone who turned out; the final grand total for the summer was 67 so it was well worth doing and continuing with next summer. The Friday and Saturday gang continue their excellent efforts. With the coming of Autumn they have made their annual migration back along the ancient route to where it all started, Packsfield Crossing.

Tony O'Brien (Left) and Jim Loe discuss fire raising techniques.

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August 2003

Chris (Andy) Anderton

It is with great sadness that Trackpack reports the untimely passing of Chris Anderton always known to us as "Andy".

Andy was known to most of us on the Civil Engineering side being an engine driver and regularly driving works or ballast trains. Latterly with his growing collection of tractors and farm equipment he had leant a hand on all sorts of jobs from moving rails to helping clear sites of debris. One of the last jobs that "Andy" helped this department with was the clearance of the Pine tree struck by lightening at Wootton recently. It was typical of "Andy" to offer his services at a time of crisis and, although he had come to the railway that morning to do another job, he readily offered his assistance and use of his tractor and trailer to help in the clear up operation. Such helpfulness was not uncommon with "Andy", and he will be sadly missed by us all.

Our thoughts are with his wife "Nella" and family. The railway has lost a true friend and colleague and he will live on in our memories forever.

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Howdy doody partners and welcome to another gun slinging rootin tootin issue of Trackpack. Us cowboys here at the Last Brass Farthing Ranch have been out rounding up cattle these last few days as them critters seem to think the railroad line is a better place to stand than the Ashey plains. They don't seem to want to stay put and a problem with a fence alongside Rowlands Wood (not ours for a change) and a lack of fencing alongside the railroad track in Rowlands Wood have allowed them to wander up on to the line. We have told the owner of the ranch that own the cattle and hopefully we have seen the last of them for now, otherwise it's lasso training next month and 10 dollars to the first one that ropes one of them doggone steer's.

The Wednesday night nocturnal sleeper changing gang has been in evidence and a magnificent 28 sleepers have been changed in the last 4 weeks. Many thanks.