5 siding

Well, it’s not quite the prettiest thing yet, but it is quite usable as a length of track to access the carriage shed.

By mid morning the gang had clipped up the rest of the concrete sleepers and ballast begun to be applied.

Just after lunch, with a layer of ballast, a good tamp and the removal of any track twist and severe dips/ bumps, a test engine was run over the siding to ensure we had achieved sufficient compaction of the dry gravel ballast we had available – worked perfectly.

The first vehicles to grace 5 siding, as the gang sat in the shade admiring their efforts.

5 siding was even used for a shunting maneuver, immediatly following the ballast being scraped into a rough profile. The J class coupled up the Y stabled in 5 siding and headed off to Maldon from there.

It’s a very nice feeling to see all the hard work undertaken over the past few weeks actually being put to use.

We’re not finished here just yet, 5 siding still needs more ballast applied, a good lift and final tamp before we deem it complete. However it is now available to traffic to allow rolling stock to be stored securely in the west road of the Carriage Shed.

Tuesday will be a workday catching up on preparation for Bendigo Road Crossing, meeting Maldon at 8am.