We’re getting pretty good at odd jobs, today’s being the swapping of 9 E clip full depths for Fastclips near Midland Hwy, we’d already replaced a good few when we rerailed so a few of the additional ones we swapped out, all in aid of getting enough of the correct sleepers to complete the works near Muckleford Creek Bridge.

It ended up being a very easy job, taking more time to get there and back.

On the return trip, we tended to some odd jobs, one being the restanding of a whistle post for Brown Street Ped Xing, it had previously got in the way but we never quite got back to fixing it up.

While there, we cleared out a few drains and picked up a few odds and end as we passed through.

Some pics of yesterday’s work at Muckleford, installing some temporary fencing for the coming weekend (Tractor Pull and T Class diesel driving).

We’ve had Bill out on the mower around Muckleford, with the area now looking incredibly tidy after its trim.

This afternoon, we replaced another 6 hole fishplate near Muckleford Creek Bridges, dropped out the E clip sleepers recovered earlier, and made sure they were padded, etc…

A bit of gravel was topped up in Maldon Yard at our roadway and compacted which rounded out the day nicely.

Given tomorrow’s predictions of very high winds, there won’t be a workday. However, given there may be some clean up, we’ll definitely be out and about Thursday checking for any fallen trees, etc… meeting Maldon 8am 

It’s been a while since the last update, sorry.

Thursday’s crew completed tamping works at all the recent renewals at Muckleford as well as lots of little odd jobs in the region, including bolt tightening, signal and turnout maintenance.

A driver experience train was operating, which saw us confined to yard limits for the day, which given the rather hot and uncomfortable weather wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. The digger unfortunately failed again, with an old repair letting go – after many years of service we should add, unfortunately that’s still under repair but hopefully it’ll be back with us later this week.

Today’s crew did manage some odd jobs at Muckleford, which saw a range of actions, including resurfacing the pedestrian crossing at the UP end ready for some use this weekend for some short T Class driver experiences we have on offer, coinciding with the local Tractor Pull.

This week’s work is a little up in the air until the digger is fixed, we are going to attempt a job down at Midland Hwy with the big digger, however we might not get there until late in the morning, therefore tomorrow’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am and head out when we get ready.

We’ve been continuing with the Muckleford works of late with this week seeing some point timbers installed around the Yard. Nothing too drastic, just routine maintenance.

We’ve also made use of the slightly cooler weather to burn a very large quantity of debris around Muckleford, with the area now looking much tidier.

Last week’s efforts at Muckleford continued with some track lining through the platform, unfortunately all of these are due to rail cripples (permanent kinks) and even in the few days since doing the big one visible here is starting to reappear.

The lining, although far from perfect, did improve the appearance of the yard significantly.

A resleepering cycle in 2 road was completed also, not a massive number were replaced but enough to keep it in a very safe condition for another few years.

We’re nearing to a close of our intensive works at Muckleford, however we’ve still got some tamping and tidying up on Thursday.

Due to other commitments, there will be no workday tomorrow (Wednesday) however Thursday’s gang will operate as usual – 8am Maldon, 8.30am Muckleford.

We’ve had a very successful couple of days at Muckleford. We’ve done a run-through of 1 Road and inserted concrete sleepers in a 1 in 4 / 1 in 5 pattern to suit fishplates etc…

This section hasn’t seen any resleepering since relaying in the mid 1990s, so it’s stood up quite well all considered.

This is part of a bigger project here to rerail 1 road and remove some very crippled rail. However, it’s much easier to change rail when you’ve got something secure to fasten them to.

57 concretes were installed over the past 2 days.

We also gave everything a bit of a tidy ip ready for tamping on Thursday. We spent some time removing the mountains of extra ballast that had migrated against the platform face, mainly to make the rerailing effort easier.

We’ve begun replacing failed timber sleepers in 2 roads, cascading any good timber from this work and from the recent works in the area. It’s not a high use track by any means. However, it does get enough use to be kept in good, serviceable condition.

There won’t be any workday tomorrow. However, we’ll be back at Muckleford on Thursday, resleepering in 2 road and tidying up loose ends in the area. Meeting Maldon 8am or Muckleford from 8.30am