Aln Valley Railway

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, DT, TS, KSW, MH, tidying access road and yard; moving materials; laying out sidings; cleaning the Mk 1 roof; rubbing down Mk 1 sides; sweeping glass shards out the Mk 2s; covering window apatures on Mk 2s; check over rail crane, Baz and Dave had a quick look at the Atlas 1302 and checked oil levels, etc. Also had a look at the “”new”" Permaquip, removing the stowage panel parts from the rear. Tom (and Dave T, Kay and Mark) arrived and it was agreed to start the Atlas with Baz, as a certified plant operator and trainer in the hot seat. There were no problems and mark and dave s attached the scrap grab so it could be moved to storage. Kay and Dave T continued with work in the Mk 2s. The Atlas was parked up again so Dave S and Mark could clean out the cab, with redundant wiring being removed, and glass shards from the broken window swept out. Baz used 37.995 to begin moving earth from the line of road 2, while Tom moved the carriage spares. After dinner Mark and Dave had a look at the Permaquip connecting a set of batteries and tried cranking - the batteries were a bit low, so the charger/starter was used to give a boost and after a few coughs and spluuters to clear its throat the VW engine was running and idling without issue. 37.995 ran into problems with the front bucket (which has been iffy for a while) eventually giving up and the ram ripped through the mount. The Atlas was restarted and the larger bucket for this, and the associated ram were lifted over to storage. The permaquip was then lifted slightly to ensure it was sitting on rail. Not a great deal of progress on the trackwork of roads 1 & 2; which had been the plan, but at least we know the two new arrivals are in working order.