It started out cold, however it turned into a glorious day.

We managed to install another 26 sleepers into 3 road, all tamped and boxed up etc.. while a further 4 were installed into 4 road, but finishing off them will be a Thursday Job.

We spent quite a lot of time replacing sleepers at the point rodding, this was a fairly slow and delicate process so as not to damage any rodding or wires – we managed to get all replaced without incident! However we did spend a fair amount of that time pinning things out of the way.

A box up and a few runs with the wire brush to expose the fastenings and it’s come up looking pretty ok – certainly better than before. A pass or 2 with the blower Thursday and it’ll come up looking very nice.

Thursday’s gang will focus on 4 road, which should easily be knocked over. Meeting at the depot at 8am or out by the station from 8.15am.

We’re all set for a week of resleepering at Castlemaine, starting tomorrow at Castlemaine Depot at 8am.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage get any pics today. However, we have installed a few concrete sleepers into 4 siding and undertake a heavy crossbore/regauge at the toe of the double compound.

We’ve also give all the turnouts their regular clean, lubricate and adjustments as required.

We’re still without the little digger, nothing major, just taking longer than expected to reassemble after some maintenance work.

Tomorrow should see it back in action, if not then there us plenty of resleepering around the Yard away from the platform to do (the big digger isn’t well suited to working in tight confines, given its size).

We’ll be meeting at Castlemaine Depot from 8.15am.

We had quite a different pace today. The main focus was finishing off and tidying up a very large mess around the Yard, especially in relation to the point rodding, which had been partly disassembled some time ago for a communication conduit and then just left for someone else to tidy up, anyhow the someone else’s stepped up to the mark today and returned everything to how it should be, it does actually make the area look quite a bit neater too.

We’ve prepared the next section of 3 road for resleepering later in the week, by unspiking the required sleepers, removing plates etc..  there’s been a bit of a hold up getting the Takeuchi going again, so we may not have that until later on Thursday, however we can start making a mess with the big digger if need be.

One job we’ve been putting off until we had an opportunity like this was to bring down the water cranes, for the purpose of a heavy clean and repaint. We had enough time this arvo to do that so we did! They’re actually quite light things, but awkward, anyhow it’s down and up by the compressed air and water in the depot for the crew to begin the task of re-painting. We look forward to putting a nice shiny one back up! These column were only installed about 20 years, as part of the nearby mainline upgrades, so the bolts etc… were very easy to undo, the recent oiling also helped.

Thursday’s gang will meet at the depot at 8am then out by the platform thereafter.