Well today was significant in that it marked the last of the curves between Maldon and Muckleford to be re-railed.

By lunch time the job was done and tamped. Some clean up still to happen next week but from now on in this section it’s all straights, which are somewhat easier.

After lunch we broke up some more 60lb rail, with this to be collected and stockpiled in the near future.

Well as promised curve 16 was our victim today!

With a reduced gang and trialling a few new techniques we have only attempted 21 lengths rather than our usual 26, but actually we have done extremely well.

By laying the rails in the 5 foot we were able to speed up the removal of the old 60lb, which is often a hindrance. We also pre-tamped all sleepers, which greatly reduced the need to bar up the sleepers for drilling.

By the close of business we’d removed all the 60lb and rolled all 21 lengths of 80lb into place. We even managed to get all 21 lengths fastened down on every third sleeper and around 6 lengths completely spiked down.

These pics shown Clive on the drill and Rolf on the gauger, setting the gauge and drilling holes for spikes. This setup although slightly slower than the old manual method, is overall greatly quicker as it isn’t hard work and you can keep up a consistent pace all day.

As always a few of the gang and our trusty truck.

After tomorrow’s crew finish fasten down and join up to the old 60lb at the end of the curve, we will have completed all the curves on the Maldon to Muckleford section!

With the straights from here towards Muckleford the next in our sights.

VicTrack contractors have almost completed their works on the Shunters Shed in Castlemaine Yard.

The shed had seen much better days. Being on the historic register VicTrack has funded a structural and cosmetic restoration of the building, which is looking very impressive!

With only a few more days work the job will be completed and the building will now be available for VGR. It will become a real asset once we begin operations from Castlemaine.

The new pile in Muckleford Creek Bridge is in.

The pile in and back filled. John is seen here lining up the angle iron for bolt hole drilling.

Lots of onlooking while holes are marked and drilled.

This will likely complete the pile replacement bridge work for this year as we expect the weather will begin to get a bit wetter.

Next week we will be re-railing and we’re a few hands down so any help on Thursday or Friday would be greatly appreciated.