Another very successful day! 26 rails (plus the one left over from the UP) were brought up from Muckleford and dropped out along the very last part of Tangent 20-21.

We ended up having two lengths of 80lb too many, how’s that for cutting it fine over the whole 8Km between Maldon and Muckleford, only 2 rails left over! (lots of short fairly useless stuff left over too but it’ll likely be used in sidings)

Once dropped out the shuffling began, getting the lengths into their approximate final positions.

This was followed closely by the joint cleaning and lubricating crew, which in turn was followed by the bolting up crew. The 25 rails required are now bolted into strings of 4.

To round out the afternoon we broke up the very last of the 60lb still in strings and removed about half of the dog screws in preparation.

As next week is a short week, we wont attempt it then, however in a fornight and the big day will arrive and we’ll finally have this section complete.

Don’t forget tomorrow’s civil Saturday at Muckleford from 8.30am

Today sees us yet another step closer to having the re-railing done.

This morning started by dragging the digger away from trenching at Castlemaine for a quick tamp of last weeks work, followed by lots of drilling and spiking to complete the job.

Steel sleepers were also attended to, as were anchors.

We used a combination of the drill pack and the hand drills today, this gave a very quick production rate, with everything spiked and jewellery collected by 11am.

The gang sorting the jewellery.

No rest for the wicked however, we’ve dropped out all the sleeper plates ready for the next leg.

We even found time to duck away to Muckleford and cut the remaining rails as required as well as loaded them ready for drop out tomorrow.

Afternoon tea was quite a relaxed affair today, as the gang are all back on deck, taking the time to catch up once again. It was also extremely well deserved as with the speed and effort they put in, means we exceeded all expectations and even broke up all the old 60lb rail from the previous efforts here – a very hard and tiring job.

Our gang in action, it’s a pleasure to just stand back and watch occasionally, as things happen at a great rate before your eyes!

We’ll be out here again tomorrow, preparing the other leg.

And don’t forget about Civil Saturday, this coming Saturday at Muckleford from 8.30am.

Another exciting day of hole digging! We’re getting there though, with around half the north trench now dug and a significant start has been made heading south to the carriage shed.

Well today was very momentous… With one leg of the re-railing between Maldon and Muckleford now more or less complete!!

The day began with some rail straightening. With Bruce on the BUDA and John’s careful eye of the rail the kinks were skillfully removed. Unfortunately we’re down to the dregs of the rail supply, which are often ones were rejected earlier for these reasons.

The joining of the new and the existing 80lb, the last time for this leg! The old 60 to 80 lbs junction plates can be seen in the background, these won’t be needed again in this section now. Today saw 16 x 80lb rails installed, some shorter than usual but still better than what it’s replacing.

John ceremoniously drills the last hole.

And inserted was the GOLDEN Spike (in this case pink as we didn’t have any gold paint!).

Driven in, fittingly by machine to mark our development in progress.

Job done… Almost. Due to the lack of before hand preparation and the fact the digger is busy in Castlemaine, all of this work was done by hand – an astounding effort. As such only every third spike is installed, which is more than sufficient for the next week until the gang can return to finish off.

This marks a very very long commitment from our tireless gangs. And a massive step forwards in our overall track upgrade. This is truly a time for celebration as the end is now very literally in sight.

We can’t thank our volunteers enough, it’s entirely down to their hard work and dedication that we’ve reached this amazing achievement.

And on some other less glamorous news, the digger wasn’t available today as it was busy digging! (the one thing it never normally does).

The trenching has begun for the services (power, water & NBN) coming in from Walker St. to the new development.

We’ll be here for about a week digging, sanding, helping install then back filling.

There won’t be a regular Friday gang this week, however you would be welcome to assist at Castlemaine, as there are plenty of odd jobs that need an extra pair of hands at times. From 8am at Castlemaine.