Castlemaine

The updates have a bit quiet this week, partly due to the reduction in workforce due to Covid and partly because it was just one of those weeks where little things seemed to go wrong, nothing major but enough to slow down progress.

After a couple of attempts we finally managed to get the long 41m 94lb rails delivered to Castlemaine Yard for the new workshop, lots of other bits and were moved around also, getting ready for upcoming jobs.

These rails are from Rowe Street crossing, replaced during the rebuild. They aren’t good enough to reuse in the track, but they’re ideal in a location like this.

Today’s job was locating the rails over a pre-poured slab in the new workshop, ready for the top slab pour.

We’ve used a very highly technical method of installing concrete screws beside the rail, much like dog screws in timber. Unfortunately due to a slight mistake in the setting out, the steel reinforcement in the concrete was exactly below where the screws needed to go! So they had to stick up a few inches which doesn’t matter in the slightest as all of this will be held in place by concrete, the screws are just locators to prevent rail movement during the pour.

We’ll be back at Castlemaine tomorrow, we’ve got a few jobs to do there and then depending on how we go, we’ve got a couple of jobs left to do out near Pyrenees Hwy Bridge which we might tend to. Meeting Castlemaine Yard 8.15am.