The last 2 days have been quite productive, with around  56 concrete sleepers now under and clipped up beyond the crossing, with around 125 still to be installed.

Unfortunately for reasons that we can’t remember, when we rerailed through here many years ago, we set the joints at odd locations, meaning using concrete sleepers was near impossible as fishplates were in the way, so we’ve reset the joint stagger to a half rail length to overcome this issue.

It ended up being a very easy process, much easier than we anticipated, meaning we were able to spend the afternoon working on even more resleepering.

It’s a little hard to see, however a keen eye will note that we’re not too far off the curve now. All being well we’ll have most of the sleepers under and clipped up tomorrow. 

We’ll be meeting on site from 8am, no need to head to Maldon first.

We had a very spectacular sunrise today, however the wonderous morning did herald the onset of rain, while writing this it is bucketing down! A very welcome thing too.

Ahead of this rain, the opportunity was taken to clear the many culverts that exist near Pipeline Crossing, most of our culverts are quite large structures that don’t silt up overly, however these are tiny little tackers that need regular checking.

The crossing and ramp down to the existing timber track has come up a treat, we’re very happy with this. The rain will nicely settle the fresh gravel.

However the rain did come at many times today, making a good run at the track work pretty impractical, so instead a detailed patrol was undertaken as was a good clean and check over of Muckleford Yard turnouts and signals – these will probably see a little more use in coming months, so best to be prepared.

There will be no workday tomorrow, however Monday’s crew will meet at Maldon from 8am or on site (Pipeline) from 8.30am.

In other news, the VGR is hosting a special event this Saturday – to celebrate 20 years of the official opening to Castlemaine – it’ll be a tremendous day with the details available on the VGR website – members can book at no cost and it would be great to catch up with anyone who can make it.

https://www.vgr.com.au/reopening-castlemaine-20-year-anniversary

A very successful day today, with the crew getting the crossing relaid, tamped and roadway gravel reinstated.

It does visually look much better now that there isn’t a great dip down to the crossing. 

A considerable effort was placed into getting the crossing section in its final location, as yesterday’s crew will attest, digging out a crossing isn’t something to take on lightly.

A few additional sleepers were installed beyond the crossing, all in aid of the resleepering project, hopefully all being well, an additional 20 or so will be installed tomorrow with Thursday being used a big preparation day for the following week.

A small amount of tidy up is still needed. However, the crossing is looking a treat and after a few rains it’ll be rock solid. It’s hard to tell in the pics, but we didn’t need to disturb the layer of ballast underneath, which we renewed previously – so we’re pretty confident this won’t settle much, if any.

Tomorrow’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am or on site from 8.30am.

On what has probably been the most pleasant day of the year so far, the resleepering program for 2025 has commenced.

The task is to pick up where things left off last year, which was Pipeline Crossing.

Although the crossing had been relayed in concrete sleepers some time back, at the time we were unsure what sleepers were coming, so we hedged out bets and put in low profiles. Unfortunately this was the wrong choice as we’re installing full depth almost exclusively between Maldon and Muckleford so it was a case of do we live with the oddity or simply replace the 35 low profiles will fulls and do the job properly – we chose to do the job properly.

So it was dug out, unfastened and the replacements have begun to have been installed. It’s always a bit slow going, and it’s a little slower going as we return to getting the systems in place once again.

Some have even been clipped up. However, tomorrow’s crew will be busy finishing that off.

Tomorrow’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am or out on site from 8.30 where hopefully the job will be close to completed, all being well, some additional sleepers may be replaced beyond the crossing also.