Monday’s crew will start at Castlemaine Depot from 8.30am – a few odd jobs to do there before back out onto the track.

Donkey Farm Track is getting closer and closer, a further 120 sleepers were installed this week.

We got all the toys out to play with today, just to remind them that they’re still useful.

It was all very regular stuff, just a bit quicker with 2 diggers. We’re well into the straight now.

After getting everything squeezed up, we headed into Castlemaine to help the mechanical boys out with a few odd jobs.

As such, our diggers are still at Castlemaine, so Monday’s crew will probably have some elements of Castlemaine involved, we’ll shoot a blog out over weekend to explain where the workday will start – once we’ve worked out the plan.

A bit of a cold start today, with a decent frost covering the countryside.

Despite the old morning, the day proved quite pleasant and so far this week 60 sleepers have been installed and clipped, leaving only 60 to be installed tomorrow.

We’re now comfortably into the straight towards Donkey Farm Track, with about 850 sleepers still required to reach the crossing.

In our ongoing quest to continue the resleepering program, our fundraising appeal is still plugging along quite well – with $76,500 raised since the 1st April 2024. Our target still remains at $250,000.

With the end of the financial year approaching, it’s not too late to make a tax deductible donation. All donations over $2 are tax deductible, and we would be appreciative of any extra assistance towards our appeal.

https://www.vgr.com.au/donate

Tomorrow’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am then out on site around 8.30am.

We ended up outperforming our expectations this week, with 128 concretes installed in total this week.

Today saw an additional 40 sleepers added to the sights – which took us to the end of Curve 16.

The spot pictured here marks the half way point between Pipeline Crossing and Donkey Farm Track – seems like we’ve been going forever to get here, however now that Donkey Farm Track is well within sight, it doesn’t seem anywhere near as daunting.

The usual jacking and packing parade followed the insertions, and it’s nowhere near perfect. However, it is significantly better than it was before we started this work.

It’s just here to Muckleford to go now… at least Donkey Farm Track for this year and at the rate were going it’s extremely achievable.

Next week might be a bit less resleepering and a bit more preparation as we’ve pretty much used up the ready sleepers. All gangs next week (Monday to Thursday) meeting Maldon at 8am or out on site – probably best to come in via Donkey Farm Track now from about 8.30am.