It’s done!

It was a busy morning of tidying up, followed by a lot of sitting around and getting all the gear back to it’s correct homes.

There was a slight delay in getting the asphalt, however the council were quick to find a different supply and the job proceeded without a hiccup.

It’s come up looking a real treat. It’ll certainly be nice if, in a future budget, we can find enough money to asphalt a few metres outside of the rails also – keep those fingers crossed.

A big thankyou to all involved, Mount Alexander Shire Council for their assistance with the road closure, gravel and asphalting. RTHV for their assistance in procuring the concrete sleepers and to all our hard-working volunteers for doing the grunt work bringing it all together.

For the time being, the speed restriction will remain. However, we’ve improved the road/rail visibility sufficiently to lift it slightly in the coming weeks once everything has bedded in.

Tuesday’s crew will probably be out doing some resleepering activities near the old tip crossing, however check back closer to time for the details.

Lots of pictures today, now that our Thursday photographer is back on hand.

It all went very much like clockwork today, with pictures telling the story perfectly.

There is always something strangely satisfying about the destruction portion of the job… gentle is probably not a word to describe us when we’re in this mode.

The roadway was actually in excellent condition, most timber was still good and the road-base was bone dry, clean as clean and a rock hard base to match – ideal.

We did give it a thorough roll with a nice small roller this time, certainly not the ground shaking excitement of a 8tonner, but it was more than adequate to compact the tiny layer of loose stuff we created.

Well ahead of any anticipated schedule, we had the rails more or less in place.

A quick bit of cutting and bolting up marked the very final end to the mainline 60lb rail and the re-railing program (there’s plenty of little bits we’ll do here and there, but no more 60lb to remove).

Some fine tuning of the line was made before the big ballast effort begun.

We have installed a drain on the north side of the crossing should water ever find its way in, however it’s probably a massive overkill.

All jacking was done using the laser method – once the grade is set, it all happens so easily.

We didn’t manage any action shots, however the crib ballast (between sleepers) was compacted with the jumping jack and nicely levelled, twice, to ensure a very firm base exists for the asphalt.

We’ve also replaced a few timber sleepers either side of crossing, with the being the final clip installed as part of the rerailing project.

The council has done an excellent job helping out with this project, at this stage the asphalt will be between the rails only, however they’re supplied crushed rock for outside the rails, for easy removal later on to continue the asphalt outwards.

The team helped to compact the first layer of this before calling it a day, we feel like we’ve set a new all time best for quickest and least hassle crossing renewal, all that planning has paid off!

We’ll go into a few more details of just how significant this crossing rebuilt is in relation to the rerailing project tomorrow night. Today’s is big enough on its own!

The asphalt arrives at 9.30am tomorrow and we’ve still got a bit to do before hand, meeting on site, Sawmill Road, from 7.30am

The last movement over the old Sawmill Road Crossing this afternoon.

And once the train was out of the way, it was into destruction mode – we’re good at that bit. We’ve lifted the rails on the UP side of the crossing, and got those on the Down side holding on by just one bolt to allow easy digger access in the morning, then we’ll be ripping it all up!

We’ll be on site from 7am in the morning. However, the man power will be really needed after lunch, so please feel free to have a bit of a later start. Parking, if possible, please keep well away from the crossing to keep our machinery and access. There is plenty of room down by the Bridge, and it’s only a short stroll.

Today began with a thorough benching.

The Maldon Men’s Shed built and donated some hardwood timber benches for use at Muckleford Station.

The VGR installation crew and the Maldon Men’s Shed on hand to test out the seats.

The hard part for us was digging the holes deep enough for these weighty beasts! They’ve been concreted in and had termite treatment installed to ensure they’re a Muckleford Fixture for many years to come. We spent a long time choosing the height, correct distance from wall for comfort and future building painting, and then choosing a location – it turns out the door is not central, so that changed things a little.

They came up a treat however, Thanks Heaps Maldon Men’s Shed!

Out at Sawmill Road we got to check out the exciting signs warning of Thursday’s road closure!

We then unloaded the last of the materials needed there before we installed new crossing signs, as the old ones were well past their best before date – mainly the posts, we’ve reused any signage that was still good.

We’re still set to replace the crossing at Sawmill Road on Thursday, history has shown we need people from lunchtime onwards, as up till then it’s all digger work.  We’ll be on site from 7.30am however for any too eager to miss out on the action.