Aln Valley Railway

Longhoughton Goods Yard - TS, DMS, MH, a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 165DE; a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 48DS; extension of siding 1 and start of siding 2; other tasks as required, A quiet day due to poor weather. Dave and Tom bared some of the loose rail into a safe position to ease access for the hi-ab next week. Road trailers were also moved to give some space for stacking more panels.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - IC, DMS, GS , the recovery (with permission) of track materials from a Network Rail renewal site, and transporting and unloading at Longhoughton. Note: Hi-Viz is essential., Ian, Graham and I jacked up the Ruston 48DS with the aim of repositioning the spring that was dislodged when this loco was “in-the-dirt” just before Christmas. It was discovered that this spring had a few “home made” bits in it anyway, and that one of the other springs was upside down, so it was then decided to jack and pack the whole loco and drop off all the springs, axle boxes, and radius rods for them to be stripped, cleaned, inspected, reassembled and refitted. This fits in with giving this loco a very through overhaul before use. A few parts will require fabrication before all the springs can be refitted. The drive chains have also been removed to be cleaned up and lubricated before refitting. While removing the chains it was noticed there is a crack in one of the gearbox mounting brackets; so it is planned to remove the gearbox so that this bracket can be cleaned up and repaired / welded before refitting – we wouldn’t want this failing in use.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, GS, KSW, TS, IC, MH, DT, KM, a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 165DE; a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 48DS; extension of siding 1 and start of siding 2; other tasks as required, Dave, Baz and Graham jacked the 165 up and released the two 15ft lengths of bullhead. When Tom arrived with bits for the David Brown, Dave and Graham set about fitting these, but it transpired that the fuel tank actually had more holes / leaks in it than has first been realised, so this is still removed pending a solution. The others were working on checking the 165 is safe and secure. The Northern Belle passed with EWS Skip 67004 at the head and later a MTU reengineered 43/HST power car passed on its was to Craigentinny.

Millerhill - BS, DMS, TS, KSW, a continuation of work to overhaul the tractor; a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 48DS; alteration of the fence line; movment of ballast, Due to the poor wether work at Longhoughton was put on hold thisweekend, and instead a few of us ventured up to Millerhill to inspect some track we may be able to recover.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, KSW, TS, RJ, MH, IC, J?, a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 165DE; a continuation of work to overhaul the brake rigging from the Ruston 48DS; laying out of sleepers for extension of siding 1 and start of siding 2, Baz started by getting a fire going in the brazier to dispose of waste wood. Dave started removing the old filters on the tractor to be replaced by new items sourced by Tom. Roland continued his work on the big rail crane. Kay, Mark and Tom made a start on repositioning the rail under the 165DE. Baz altered the fence. Dave and Ian refitted the recently repaired radiator to the tractor, but unfortunately the fuel tank also now requires attention. following this the opportunity is been taken to rewire some of the electrics to replaced life expired wiring and remove damaged components. A new volunteer, John IIRC?, introduced themselves and have acquired the task of preparing the Jones yard crane for overhaul. Various passing traffic, but freight seemed pretty thin. Network Rail also were about conducting an inspection of the ECML