Tomorrow’s workday will be based at Maldon. We’ve got a few things happening around the depot. If all that ends up being out of the way by lunchtime, we’ll probably spend the afternoon out beginning the 6 monthly detailed track walk.

Well after setting a record this week for the most rerailing achieved in one day, we’ve almost set its opposite equivalent today with the least amount manageable… 36m of rail was rerailed today, with a closure cut in just prior to getting onto Rifle Range Bridge. We’ll be installing rails over the bridge that are long enough to get the joints off the bridge.

Anyway, we’re now well placed to knock a significant amount over when we return to rerailing in a couple of weeks.

This afternoon was spent doing a variety of tasks around Muckleford, including loading up a truck of our old 60lb rail for the Puffing Billy Railway, for use in various stabling sidings and in the museum there. We’ve had a bit of a general tidy up of Muckleford, burning a pile of scrap timber offcuts and trimmings we’d amassed.

We event spent an hour or so fishing more sleeper plates out of the pile! As yet not on pallets, but out of the dirt before the winter rains set in and turn it to mud.

Tuesday’s workday is still to be confirmed, as we’re potentially required at Maldon to unload a delivery, however we’ll confirm location on here Monday afternoon.

Another extremely successful day today, with the whole of Curve 8 now rerailed and almost all of the UP leg to Rifle Range Bridge.

We didn’t quite keep up the pace of Tuesday’s crew, however that was almost solely due to being down a couple of our regulars today.

However even just travelling over in the gang truck, the ride difference is quite incredible, very smooth and comfortable!

By day’s end, which was brought on prematurely by the rain, we’re within spitting distance of Rifle Range Bridge.

We still actually need to conform exactly how many rails we installed today, however we’re fairly confident it was 14 x 40m lengths and 1 x 18m length, a total length of 575m, which is very very close to Tuesday’s effort!

Tomorrow’s crew, depending on numbers, will either install the last length towards the bridge or just cut in the closure and then move onto a few other jobs in the afternoon. We’ll be meeting at Rifle Range Bridge, entry along Martin Street Castlemaine, around 8.30am.

Time’s running out quickly for anyone who would like to experience the existing 60lb while it’s still in the mainline, we’d recommend not leaving it until the end of June, or the majority of it will be gone!

Well, we’ve managed to fix the issue of not being able to upload photos, however it turns out that that feature is pretty useless if you forget to take photos in the first place!

Which is unfortunate, because it is possible, without going through the records in detail, that today was actually an all-time record setter for length rerailed…. we’ll check the records to confirm that one.

600m of 80lb rail was installed today, a total of 15 lengths of 40m rail.

9 of those lengths went into the straight on the up side of Boundary Track, with the other 6 going into the high leg of Curve 8, leaving only one length to go until we’re out of the curve (obviously the whole low leg still needs to be done also).

It’s all about the preparation, and we could speed up the process even more if we didn’t need to accommodate trains!

Anyhow, given today’s progress and amount of preparation already undertaken down towards Rifle Range Bridge, there is a very high chance we’ll reach there, at least on one leg, by Friday.

Now given the rather awkward access into the area we’re currently working in, Thursday’s crew will meet up at Boundary Track at 8.15 (Maldon at 7.45am), where we’ll load our stuff onto the gang truck and back down to the site.