Tomorrow’s workday will again be at Castlemaine, this time replacing point timbers. Meeting at the depot around 8am then out in the yard by 8.15am ish.

Friday’s workday was a success, with a good number of failed sleepers replaced in 3, 4 & 5 sidings, actually removing all the failed sleepers there, there will be a few more due every year, however we’re much better keeping a stagger going rather than replacing large quantities in one go, lessens the risk of dramatic failure greatly.

A few of Friday’s were in very awkward locations, none the less we managed without causing any damage to the rodding or wires.

We spent a good amount of time Friday tidying up the ballast and it has certainly improved the appearance of the yard dramatically!

Hopefully, tomorrow’s work will be interesting, it’s always fiddly in a turnout, but we like a challenge.

Another glorious winters day, after a very cold start!

We’ve now completed all the replacements we’re going to in 3 and 4 roads, just a bit of tidy up needed tomorrow.

We’ve replaced a few sleepers in 5 siding and prepared tomorrow’s sections by pulling spikes in 3 siding and the turntable road.

Given the cold start that tomorrow will undoubtedly be, we’ll make the start time 8.30am at Castlemaine, as it takes until about then for the machines to warm up!

It started out cold, however it turned into a glorious day.

We managed to install another 26 sleepers into 3 road, all tamped and boxed up etc.. while a further 4 were installed into 4 road, but finishing off them will be a Thursday Job.

We spent quite a lot of time replacing sleepers at the point rodding, this was a fairly slow and delicate process so as not to damage any rodding or wires – we managed to get all replaced without incident! However we did spend a fair amount of that time pinning things out of the way.

A box up and a few runs with the wire brush to expose the fastenings and it’s come up looking pretty ok – certainly better than before. A pass or 2 with the blower Thursday and it’ll come up looking very nice.

Thursday’s gang will focus on 4 road, which should easily be knocked over. Meeting at the depot at 8am or out by the station from 8.15am.

We’re all set for a week of resleepering at Castlemaine, starting tomorrow at Castlemaine Depot at 8am.