As hoped, we will be out inserting sleeper plates from Curve 10 towards Sawmill Road tomorrow.

Meeting at Maldon from 8am or on site from 8.30am (site is best accessed from Sawmill Rd end).

We had a change of pace day today, renewing the derail blocks in Maldon Yard and lifting a Turnout which had settled a little in this big wet.

All three scotch blocks (2, 3 & 4 rds) were renewed with all steel derails, mainly to help reduce ongoing maintenance required, instead of being specially crafted blocks that are individually fitted in each case, these are an off the shelf item that requires nothing any more complex than screwing or spiking to the sleepers.

As part of the job, the supporting sleepers in 2 and 3 roads were renewed also.

The turnout at the UP end of Maldon Yard had settled a little at the toe, likely due to the ground getting wet for the first time in many decades. Unfortunately to tamp it up properly requires the removal of a good number of rods and bars, so it’s quite a time consuming task, however one that’s now completed.

While there, we set about ensuring all bolts were tight and every moving part was moving with ease and adequately lubricated, we were pleasantly surprised at how easily the pins came out of the rods, indicating the lubrication which is applied regularly is effective in both lubricating and preventing corrosion.

Check back tomorrow for details of Thursday’s works, as we’re slightly dependant of a number of pieces of equipment being available and working that currently need a little TLC, hopefully achievable tomorrow.

Although we had hoped to be back out doing more sleeper plates this week, tomorrow will be spent attending to a small list of jobs around Maldon Yard.

We’ll be meeting there from 8am.

Today was a fun filled day of spike driving! Using one of our new tools, another trolley mounted spiking hammer, this one’s electric start, which generally works well, there are a few little issues in the electrics that need tending to, but once we sort them out it’ll be a very useful asset. We’ve spiked up several hundred metres today as well as drilling the remained of the straight up to Curve 10.

Once the weather clears up and we aren’t littered with public holidays, we’ll be back into the swing of things and should get this knocked over in no time.

Tomorrow’s weather is looking very wet, so once again no workday. Next week will only see a gang Tuesday, as Thurs and Fri are public holidays. Tuesday gang will meet at Maldon at 7.45am or out near Gas Pipeline from 8.30am.