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

It was an eventful week, beginning with maintenance on the little grabs, replacing the wear plates – the hardest part was getting the old plates off!

Later in the week saw 50 concrete sleepers inserted into Curve 13 – just on the up side of Muckleford. This little section missed out on the 1 in 3 treatment for reasons we now can’t remember, but it has effectively had this now so we can rest fairly assured it’ll hold gauge excellently.

Another bonfire at Muckleford was taken care of ahead of the fire season. The date for this starting hasn’t been announced yet, but there have been whispers it’ll be soon.

Late in the week, work has begun on fixing up an old Derrick Crane. This one isn’t original and came from a stonemason many years ago. However, it was probably ex railways before that.

Maldon had a Derek up until the early 1970s, with this classic shot from Neville Gee (26/11/1969) which was chosen as the Front Cover on the Train Hobby Publications “Country Branch Lines Victoria – Part 7” showing the Maldon Crane in all its glory.

The Crane under repair is probably destined for Muckleford as its a lot smaller than the original Maldon one, however it’ll be a good test for ‘how to’ for when we do do the Maldon one. This project is being funded by a couple of donors and we could always use any extra assistance in this area as things are relatively costly.

We won’t be going for usable, rather an aesthetically pleasing addition to the areas.

Anyhow, this week the focus will be back on sleepers in the Muckleford area, Monday will likely be a little different / more preparation like, as we do have a train running but from Tuesday onwards we’ll be into it! Meeting each day at Maldon from 8am.

We’ve had a productive week so far, although most of it has been taken up with digger maintenance.

As a result of lots of people being away this week, there won’t be a workday tomorrow. However, Monday will be a workday, meeting at Maldon at 8am.