Civil Saturday

A very successful Civil Saturday on the 2nd November, with a record number of attendees!

While the rain teemed down outside, attention was turned to the very overdue task of lubricating the interlocking (the bit that actually does the magic and ensures non-conflicting operations) in the Signalbox. Here Ian methodically lubricates the entire interlocking thoroughly.

The interlocking (series of troughs, bars and locks) runs the full length of the levers and although we don’t use all the levers, there are components of the interlocking that still run the full length. Therefore it is important to ensure everything gets lubricated.

The troughs are all covered by plates, which are accessed from the mezzanine level, seldom used except for this task. The plates were taken off to allow the lubrication and returned promptly to prevent foreign matter gumming up the works.

The all important lunch ceremony (not just restricted to the weekday gangs!). Norm (with his back to the camera), Julie, Stuart (hidden behind a lever), Rolf, Graeme, Trevor, Ian (just his had this time) and Steve (picture taker) joined in the team for Saturday’s efforts.

After lunch and after the worst of the rain had passed, the gang moved to cleaning up the old compound up the north end of the yard.

The fence was taken down to improve access to the various hidden treasures (or rubbish) within the overgrowth. This compound now serves no purpose, with it just getting in the way as we progress with construction works.

The chain mesh was even nicely rolled into bundles! The various items hidden within the grass included; fish plates, junction plates, point levers, steel sleepers and lots of scrap! Its nice to be able to finally attend to some of these eyesores around the railway. The items are now sorted into their types ready for transport to more appropriate homes.

Rolf even found the time somehow to repair the landing timbers on one of the signal masts – an important job to ensure safe access when lubricating the signal arms.

Sunday saw a small crew grab the fire fighting unit and burn a stockpile of scrap timber that had built up in the compound over the years. A big improvement!

Check back soon for details of the next Civil Saturday!