There’s an old saying, “Wondrous Night, Farmers Delight, Wondrous Morning, Farmers Warning” implying a weather chance is coming later that day….Well this morning was very wondrous and believe it or not, at the time of writing this, the rain has finally arrived.A partly laid out turnout awaited the gang this morning, however the day did not stay glorious, rather very hot, sunny and windy, so the progress today was really extremely impressive!Before long the tweaking had begun, lots of adjusting and checking and then re-checking to get the straight stock rail exactly straight and square. This saves a power of work later and gives a much better end result.Once happy, fastening down begun.Just as per our last turnout, it’s a largely screwed down job, with pandrol plates between the heel and crossing, nice to work with and very robust.But a bit more checking and tweaking never goes astray, because a turnout looking good is just as important as it being good (at least we think so).Once happy, the whole straight leg was fastened (we’ve got a couple of spikes to finish driving tomorrow, but other wise all done).Slowly more bits appeared, making it look more and more turnout like.Once everything was bolted together and the rails roughly aligned (to check the timber locations – as this isn’t a stock standard turnout, rather a 2nd hand bitsa, the standard timbering plan locations can give rise to strange spacings).A bit of pushing to ensure it would curve just as expected (and it did, thankfully).We had a great number join us today, which was a great thing given the rather horrid weather we endured.By packup time, with only the left rail really fastened down and rest sitting there, it was very obvious it’s all looking the part and more importantly, all the bits point exactly where they should.Certainly something to be proud of!We even managed to get the centreline peg in the centre!With the white blob here representing the predicted new centreline of the track towards the turntable, which does line up very nicely with the turnout (the picture gives a strange perspective, but it does line up).This is the set out plan for the very turnout we are building, it has curved blades, rather than typical straight blades, with the result being an overall smaller turnout (1.5m roughly) or about two timbers worth.If anyone happens to have a diagram for this particular turnout type, we would appreciate a copy, it’s not critical as we can calculate and determine all the relevant rail data from the above plan, more just out interested to see if one still exists (we haven’t found one in our records/archives yet).After a very big day and all very happy with their efforts (and rightly so) the gang headed for home. Leaving a nice (and hopefully very straight forward) kit for tomorrow’s crew to finish putting together. Meeting at Castlemaine from 8.30am.

Today saw the turnout timbers spaced out and straight stock rail set on top ready for final straightening and fastening down tomorrow.

The forecast is for reasonably warm weather, but hopefully we can get a bit achieved before the sun gets too hot. Meeting Maldon 8am or Castlemaine from 8.30am.

Today was actually very successful, with lots of little preparation jobs now completed ready to get the new turnout and trackwork in later this week / next week.

The short section of 5 siding inside the shed has been laid and since filled to rail height, ready to lifted and tamped when we get the adjoining track connected up.

Lots of other tidying jobs are now complete between the carriage shed and the platform, with the turnout area now dug to depth with Rolf on site putting in the survey pegs for it’s location as we left tonight.

All the old sleepers have been bundled or disposed of, old panels of track we just piled up last year have been broken up so we can re-use the rail. All those sorts of things, nothing amazing in itself but all important.

Tomorrow will be a quieter day, however Thursday and Friday should be a hive of activity as the turnout construction begins (we may knock it over, but more likely we’ll get about half way through the job this week)

Meeting on Thursday, 8am at Maldon or 8.30 at Castlemaine.

The finishing touches to Winters Flat Bridge works were completed today.

Amongst the works was a bit of jacking and packing the track at the abutment, which we’d managed to move slightly while jacking the bridge.

Some precision engineering of an angle iron was undertaken to make everything fit.

A small amount of jacking and packing is almost always required, timber is rarely straight and square after many years in the elements.

The final holes through the beams were drilled and bolts installed.

One pile required it’s shoulder packing to be renewed and to make life easier we hired an elevated work platform.

The final task for this year on this bridge was installing this weird looking piece of steel strap…

By first turning it into this

And finally around a pile which was starting to spilt, this action should increase the life of the pile by many many years as it prevents any further splitting and subsequent failure.

While all that was happening, another crew in Castlemaine were busy preparing for the new 5 siding turnout.

The rails and sleepers where the turnout is to be built have been unfastened and lifted.

This turnout will be built in situ, given the turntable road is not needed during the diesel running period it’ll save a lot of work and allows us a bit more flexibility time wise.

This turnout will connect the third shed road, which means moving all the stockpiled material (mainly old sleepers), around 15 packs worth were sorted today, strapped and piled for re-use or disposal. It’ll still take us a good portion of next week to get the site ready to begin turnout and track construction however.

Tomorrow’s weather is again looking like a washout, so no planned workday. But next week we’ll have gangs running Monday and Tuesday in Castlemaine Yard preparing for turnout building later in the week, meeting at Castlemaine from 8.30am.