Aln Valley Railway

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, KSW, RJ, IC, continuation of laying out sidings; sorting out the spares, etc; cleaning the Mk 1 roof, Baz and Dave started by moving the remaining tools etc. out off the the “”mess & office”" part of the staff coach into the store & workshop”" part of the coach, and the floor was swept. Kay arrived and continued with the beutification of the Ruston 165DE. Roland arrived and he and Dave stripped, cleaned and refitted part of the gear mech on the crane. Baz continued with the fitting of the partition in the staff coach - please note this is not to the original BR design. While Roland was oiling and greasing various points on the crane, Dave undertook some electrics work on the tractor; changing the sarter back to a key switch, wiring in the alternator and chage indicator, and fitting a new horn. (This is just temporary, a full rewire will be untertaken at a later date). Ian arrived and after lunch the crane was slewed 180°, and the cover for the jib brake was removed. With the rain seeming set a coffee break was held and during a slight lapse the side panel were refitted to the 165.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, IC, contiuation of laying out sidings; sorting out the spares, etc; cleaning the Mk 1 roof, Baz and Dave plumbed a bilge pump up the Mk 1 to enable water to be pumped into the system. The crane jib was lifted and the crane slewed to keep it free. Weather got progresively worse so we took refuge in the Mk 1. Baz and Ian started installing the frame for the partition while Dave tidied the interior.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - no one, contiuation of laying out sidings; sorting out the spares, etc; cleaning the Mk 1 roof, Most people were tied up elsewhere.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, IC, KSW, TS, Continue siding layout, Baz and Dave made a start on tidying up the “”clean”" end of the staff coach. Ian arrived and he and Dave popped to station cottages to collect the scaffolding tower and some loco spare parts. On return the scaffolding was errected to enable Dave to clean out the gutters on the staff coach, while Ian and Baz set about installing fishplates on siding 3 to enable it to be slewed slightly. Baz also graded some land to enable better road access by low loaders. The crane has been moved back to the middle of the yard to give access to the South end of sidings 1 & 2 which are to be slewed in the near future to try and prevent fouling with siding 3. Tom was continuing the overhaul of the dumper and Kay was contiuing beutification of the 165DE.

The Link Spring 2007

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, KSW, IC, Recover last of materials from Chevington, As H&S had put a stop to the planned work to recover the last of the materials from Chevington, we instead went to Longhoughton to ensure siding 3 was fit for purpose. The scrap pile was moved and more sleepers collected and laid out. The short sections of BH were unclipped, turned out and moved up to the fence line. A 30ft panel was dismantled and the rail moved up to fill the gap where the shorter lenghts had been. All rail was turned in and clipped into place.