2016 March - Long Outdoor Weekend Working Party

11th - 14th March progress report


Friday
First thing saw the gang gather at Pendre to collect up all the tools for re-sleepering the loco servicing road turnout at Wharf. Bars, spanners, drills, impact wrenches, hammers large and small, wires, transformers, fixings, gaps, fishplate bolts etc.

The mini digger had previously had a dig in the hole created by the removal of the turnout. After squaring up the sides and removing the loose material from the bottom of the hole it was quickly established with the aid of a string line and a tape measure that the hole needed to be 4” deeper. Martin Turner kindly set too straight away and removed the required amount of material. The arisings were tipped with the aid of the bobcat into the hole leading to the ballast dock. We again squared the corners and cleaned up all the loose material, then used the string line and tape measure to confirm that the hole was now deep enough.

The bottom of the hole was lined with a layer of geotextile to help stop any clay contaminating the ballast. By the close of play we had placed the new sleepers in the hole on top of a thin layer of ballast and laid on the stock rails. The sleepers needed careful selection because they had been cut for a larger turnout and we did not want to cut any if we did not need to. During the day we also assisted in the loading of 80 redundant Jarrah sleepers into a suitable covered hire van/lorry.

Saturday
The day dawned not so bright with a little drizzle at times. The stock rails were fishplated first then each sleeper was lifted up and shovel packed into position. The rest of the day was spent fixing the rails with clips and screws.

Others worked on placing more ballast and getting TR wagon 13 ready for electric wire brushing. This work included cutting the bolts that held the iron body onto the under frame. By the close of play part of the outside of the wagon was wire brushed, all the rails placed in the pit and about 50% of them fixed with clips and screws.

Sunday
On the gloriously sunny Sunday we finished fixing the rails with clips and screws, however one of the switch rails needed attention from the workshops at Pendre so we were unable to fully complete the installation.

The wire brushing of the wagon made good progress and was declared complete by the end of the day. The ballasting was progressed to the point that we could start tamping on the Monday. Before calling it a day we returned a lot of the tools to Pendre.

Monday
Monday was tamping and tidying up day. Once the tamping was completed we ballasted the whole area, tidied up the old sleepers and returned the tools to Pendre and Quarry Siding. On the way back we carried the new under frame for TR wagon 13 to Wharf. It had been stored in the Guest House for a while. Earlier in the day we had moved the iron body for wagon 13 to outside the Gunpowder shed and sheeted it down. The weather was again stunning all day.

Many thanks to all the new and regular gang members for their time and effort its much appreciated, over the four days we achieved a lot and enjoyed ourselves in the process.

Article by Keith Theobald

Photos by Keith Theobald and Karen Willans