Works Train

We ran a works train today, for the purpose of getting all the gear we need up to Maldon for our next small project.

We’ll be renewing both turnouts and the headshunt at Maldon. Everything in this area has only ever seen minimal maintenance and its fair to see its condition highly reflects that. Almost ever rail you can see in this picture has signs of heavy corrosion of cracking, so before it does let us down, we’re going to replace it!

We’ve begun by remove some excess soil from beside the track, it was some of the most glorious garden soil you’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t ideal for building railways on, so we’ve reused it to landscape the edge of the loading ramp to make the task of mowing much easier.

We’ll be lifting everything from the compound gates to the end of the headshunt, levelling the gravel and starting again – as what’s there will be excellent road-base, it’s just not high enough these days to permit drainage needed (things tend to settle as the centuries roll on!)

We’ll begin this exciting task on Thursday, unless the rain is torrential, but we’ll leave just enough to run around trains until next Monday, when it’ll all come up.

Thursday’s gang, weather permitting, meeting at Maldon from 8am