Today saw us begin the walking track inspection. Maldon to Muckleford was completed, with a number of faults found, no show stoppers, but things that we’ll need to get to over the coming month.

All going well, we’ll conclude the Walk from Castlemaine to Muckleford on Thursday, however it’s looking like the weather has other plans, so check back tomorrow night for details.

A busy day for today’s gang of 3, with the final 7 timbers spiked up, everything tamped, including removing a big dip in the turnout and everything boxed and tidied up.

A reasonable amount of gauging was required down by the crossing and as a result everything now runs through much more smoothly. Although nothing was out of tolerance before, it didn’t all sit in a nice straight line, however it does now.

Some of the timbers came out in reasonable condition, but a good number came out like this!

After a really thorough tidy up and lots of shovelling to fill the tamping voids, it has come up looking a treat.

And just I’m time too, as not half an hour after we finished, a Steam Loco from Maldon arrived, ready to haul a wedding special.

Check back on Monday for details of Tuesday’s workday.

A slight change of plans, due to our assistance being required at Castlemaine to help change a carriage generator. So we tackled point timbers.

A load of timber was brought down from Maldon, then destruction began removing the old timbers.

Before long it was pull out the old and stick in the new.

Where possible we used pandrol plates, to improve gauge holding.

Lots of gauge correction was required as it was starting to work wide.

And the reason for the train in the background, was the fitting of this replacement genset under the carriage Macedon.

Of the 13 timbers we changed today, 6 have been fastened up, leaving 7 for tomorrow’s gang. Meeting at Castlemaine from 8.15am

A massive tidy up effort around Castlemaine Yard kept us busy today.

We’ve shortened up the 3 siding extension, to ensure adequate clearance is always maintained to the workshop road. The pile of sleepers now the only remnants.

A lot of attention of paid to the ballast profile on B road, mainly to provide an adequate surface to allowing walking along, as the surrounding ground is quite boggy.

As part of our ongoing track inspections, signs of gauge working in this and the next turnout have now reached a point where we need to undertake some timber renewals before they’re a safety concern. Only 15 are required in turnout 43 and a further 5 in Turnout 28.

Thursday will see us making a start on the 6 monthly track walk, departing Maldon around 8.15am. However on Friday we’ll jump back into Castlemaine Yard where we’ll begin changing these turnout timbers.