After a bit of a setback first thing this morning, we managed to insert 75 concrete sleepers, finishing the replacements down to Rifle Range Bridge.

Unfortunately, when the digger had the leak fixed, a couple of hoses managed to get swapped over, resulting in some surprising things operating from buttons and toggles that usual don’t! Unfortunately, it also meant the hitch couldn’t be opened or closed. Once we’d nutted out exactly which hoses had been confused, it all worked perfectly. And got a good test out in the field immediately after.

It was relatively slow going in the cutting. However, once we were clear of that, it was happening at a great rate. There’s only around 170 to go down to Brown Street now!!

Tomorrow will be a change of pace again, with another sleeper train and a few odds that need tending to around Maldon.

Meeting at Maldon from 8am

We’d had a successful week so far, a further few hundred concrete sleepers have been dropped off trackside and distributed.

We’ve now got the little digger back on action and from tomorrow we’ll be back into replacing failed timber sleepers near Rifle Range Bridge.

There isn’t a great need to meet at Maldon, so if we meet out at Rifle Range Bridge from 8.30am we should hopefully get a hundred or so sleepers in tomorrow.

Today saw another few hundred sleepers drop out in piles beside the track up past the old tip crossing. Tomorrow’s gang will meet at Maldon at 8am or out on site from 8.15am where those sleepers will be distributed trackside and a few more fishplates will be trimmed from 6 home down to 4 hole.

Today was a big day of moving and stacking concrete sleepers.

Approximately 300 low profiles were taken out to near Rifle Range Bridge.

A good number were then distributed trackside, ready for insertion later next week, hopefully when the little digger is back in action, just waiting on a couple of hydraulic fittings now.

The afternoon, between showers, was spent loading full profiles at Maldon onto the civil wagons, which have now been placed in 3 road at Maldon to keep them handy, while out of the way.

Tuesday’s workday is likely to involve distributing these sleepers trackside out past Bendigo Road again, however check back Monday for confirmation.