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.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage get any pics today. However, we have installed a few concrete sleepers into 4 siding and undertake a heavy crossbore/regauge at the toe of the double compound.

We’ve also give all the turnouts their regular clean, lubricate and adjustments as required.

We’re still without the little digger, nothing major, just taking longer than expected to reassemble after some maintenance work.

Tomorrow should see it back in action, if not then there us plenty of resleepering around the Yard away from the platform to do (the big digger isn’t well suited to working in tight confines, given its size).

We’ll be meeting at Castlemaine Depot from 8.15am.