Another successful start to the week, with 26 sleepers in and clipped up in the 1 in 4 pattern – it could have been more easily, however for now, that’s all the sleepers we have distributed.

Tomorrow’s crew only has 78 to get under and clip up, then we can get onto distributing the next 1800 sleepers towards Donkey Farm Trk!

Tomorrow’s crew will meet Maldon 8am or on site from 8.30am.

Today was all about finishing off the section of concretes we’ve been working on this week – a total of 144 were installed this week, not a record, but still a solid start given we’re easing back into it.

Lots of jacking and packing to tidy up a few dips – most of which were there well before we installed the concretes – this process is improving our overall geometry quite significantly.

A little bit of preparation work was undertaken for next week, however once we’d knocked over the concrete sleepers, it was onto other things.

We corrected a few notable geometry issues out between Muckleford and Castlemaine, nothing major but much easy to attend to them before they worsen.

The approaches to Rifle Range had settled a little, this was a nice easy fix.

A small amount of settlement had occurred near Walmer Road Crossing, nothing too exciting, but while we had the tamper on, it was an obvious one to tend to.

At the end of another week we’re edging ever closer to Muckleford on our quest to replace the very aged timber sleepers, we’re getting there.

Next week will be a carbon copy of this week, except we’ll be working a little further down the track, hopefully getting well into the curve. Meeting at Maldon at 8am on Monday, on site from 8.30am.

The last 2 days have been quite productive, with around  56 concrete sleepers now under and clipped up beyond the crossing, with around 125 still to be installed.

Unfortunately for reasons that we can’t remember, when we rerailed through here many years ago, we set the joints at odd locations, meaning using concrete sleepers was near impossible as fishplates were in the way, so we’ve reset the joint stagger to a half rail length to overcome this issue.

It ended up being a very easy process, much easier than we anticipated, meaning we were able to spend the afternoon working on even more resleepering.

It’s a little hard to see, however a keen eye will note that we’re not too far off the curve now. All being well we’ll have most of the sleepers under and clipped up tomorrow. 

We’ll be meeting on site from 8am, no need to head to Maldon first.

We had a very spectacular sunrise today, however the wonderous morning did herald the onset of rain, while writing this it is bucketing down! A very welcome thing too.

Ahead of this rain, the opportunity was taken to clear the many culverts that exist near Pipeline Crossing, most of our culverts are quite large structures that don’t silt up overly, however these are tiny little tackers that need regular checking.

The crossing and ramp down to the existing timber track has come up a treat, we’re very happy with this. The rain will nicely settle the fresh gravel.

However the rain did come at many times today, making a good run at the track work pretty impractical, so instead a detailed patrol was undertaken as was a good clean and check over of Muckleford Yard turnouts and signals – these will probably see a little more use in coming months, so best to be prepared.

There will be no workday tomorrow, however Monday’s crew will meet at Maldon from 8am or on site (Pipeline) from 8.30am.

In other news, the VGR is hosting a special event this Saturday – to celebrate 20 years of the official opening to Castlemaine – it’ll be a tremendous day with the details available on the VGR website – members can book at no cost and it would be great to catch up with anyone who can make it.

https://www.vgr.com.au/reopening-castlemaine-20-year-anniversary