By lunch time it became evident that we stood a real chance of sledding and dragging everything still remaining over Fryers Rd. The pic above shows the very last rail making it’s way over Fryers Rd.

That’s another major leap forward, with the task now that bit easier with another level crossing behind us.

Still lots of cleaning up to do, but we’ve certainly broken the back of the job now.

Approx 45 rails were towed over Fryers Rd today, with 12 of those still in the track before lunch. We’ve got the operation down pat now.

Next week is a short week due to Melbourne Cup, however in essence Monday will be rail towing, Wednesday we’ll tow over Stephen St, Thursday over Moscript St. and Friday will either be a tidy up day or starting to prepare rail for loading onto trains.

Another lot of rails (approx 50) were transferred over Moscript St. today. It all went very well, finishing before the arrival of the rain.

We also sent Bruce out to whipper snip around Wintersflat Bridge, which now looks much more presentable.

A keen eye might note in the lower right hand corner of the second pic a sizable drain.

It’s not very obvious but the drain now has a couple of interesting tyre marks….

After being pleasantly pleased with his grass trimming work and obviously admiring it a little too much, Bruce managed to gently place his trusty ute nose first into this drain.

Thankfully no damage or injury but well stuck! The trusty crew at Parsons Towing right next door saw the event unfold and were there to tow him out in no time. It certainly gave the gang a good laugh over lunch! And we should note we now carry an extra tow rope in our gear as this isn’t his first successful attempt at getting the ute into a tricky spot.

Tomorrow we’ll be towing over Fryers Rd from 8.15am

This week has so far seen a group of rails towed up to the junction, another lot brought across Stephen St. and the balance brought forward up to Stephen St, that’s a lot of rail moved a good distance.

Today saw some more lineside flail mowing undertaken between Maclise St. and Rowe St, it’ll be interesting to see if well need to get it done once, twice or three times this season, it’s certainly the best growth year we’ve experienced in decades.

Tomorrow, will see another lot of rails taken over Moscript Street, meeting there from 8.15am.

Unfortunately they’re a bit blurry, but these pics do show the first two rails to make it to all the way to Maldon Junction (well as far as the rails allow anyway).

It’s been a massive couple of days, first preparing Moscript Street then towing everything stored between it and Stephen Street over today.

Given Moscript Street is a far bigger gap, we’re using a slightly different approach where we place a clamp on the rail that allows us to project the rail much further in front of the digger – it worked very well but did slow us down a bit.

Next week we’ll tow today’s rails up to the junction, then repeat the process as we move the next lot through from Stephen Street. It won’t be long before we start to load the rails onto trains for relocation to their final homes.