The biannual track walk continued today, with the section Maldon to Muckleford walked.

A few minor things were found (really very minor in comparison to a few years back) but things worth knowing about all the same. Loose bolts were the main item found, with all of those tightened as we went.

We had all of that comfortably under control by lunch so the afternoon was spent attending to some attending to a Turnout in Maldon Yard (the last genuine original one from 1884) – the reality is after 141 years it has finally worn out. We’ve undertaken a crossbore and re-adjust to keep it safe and firm but we won’t be forgetting about the need to replace, particularly the blades and stockrails, before too much longer.

No Workday tomorrow, we will be working but it’s all digger type work, mowing etc… however Thursday will be a workday, down at Castlemaine, however, meeting at Maldon at 8am first.

We made a good start on our track inspections today, with both Maldon and Muckleford yards having been thoroughly walked, measured and written up.

We had a driver experience train operating today so we worked around that by not going out on the running line.

We spent a very long time going over Maldon Turntable, lubricating every moving part, test every possible position for alignment etc… it passed with flying colours, however we found a slight rumble in its operation as the wing wheel had to contend with a bit of detritus at the abutments, so a thorough shovelling off they got.

It’s now very well overdue a paint but hopefully all being well that won’t be too far away.

Between showers, we spent some time playing with a new tool we recently acquired, a metal bandsaw. We’ve been needing something to cut steel for a while now, generally using the rail saw, but that is not overly practical. A deal and opportunity too good to pass up came out way, so we’ve now got a decent bandsaw.

One of its many jobs will be trimming fishplates. It’ll no doubt be used for allsorts, however. We’re still getting the hang of it. It will comfortably cut a fishplate in under 2 mins – without the noise, sparks and back-breaking labour of the rail saw. That’s 6 fishplates down, only 394 to go!

Tomorrow’s crew is back onto track inspection duties, leaving Maldon 8am.

Lots of odd jobs took place this past week  with some new grab plates for the little digger installed – to replace the original and extremely worn out set.

Unfortunately, they look too nice to use.

Timber sleepers were bundled, strapped and stacked at Maldon, as we had ended up with quite a few half packs that needed combining.

A bit more tidy up, and we even got a rare glimpse of the partly painted F class while we were moving other items in and out of the shed.

Other jobs completed included the Big Digger receiving some maintenance, a full track weedspray was completed on the only day that was suitably dry and still. Lots of little tidy up and odd jobs occurred and that theme will continue this coming week, however due to other obligations, there will be no workday on Monday, however from Tuesday it’ll be back to usual, meeting Maldon from 8am.

Well, after a big effort, we’ve now completed the installing component of our resleepering program for 2026.

As with the last section of fastclips we did, we’re yet to come back and clip ever single sleeper up, however the hard yards are complete and once the bits are on hand it’s only a day or two to knock that over.

Today was all about tidying up and getting the gear back home.

We’ve bundled up all the loose sleepers and loaded them onto a wagon at Muckleford.

We even recovered a concrete sleeper that found its way a little too far down the embankment!

Next week will be a maintenance week primarily, centred around Maldon, meeting there each day from 8am. The roses at Maldon are looking very impressive. Well, worth a look if you’re passing by.