Aln Valley Railway

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, DT, TMS, KSW, MH, KM, NB, 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; , Dave and Baz unloaded some more “acquired” tools. 37.995, the tractor was then used to assist in pulling the Atlas out of the hole, and they were parked up to give working room. A start was made on fitting the new hoses for the bucket ram but for some reason these weren’t an exact match, joined by Tom and Mark one new hose was fitted (hopefully without irreparable damage to the threads in the ram) and the old hose was refitted. After realising the valve was still closed the ram works fine and gives a useable bucket. After dinner an attempt was made at lifting one of the track panels – with out success, it could just take the weight but would not lift, and the hoist arm was almost at full height. So instead it was driven back up the yard and used to dig out the course of road 2. Tom undertook some painting in Northumbria Rail’s Mark 1. Kenny did some more work on the van body. The others were working on the restoration on the Mark 2 TSO. No trains today with the ECML being in total possession between Heaton and Tweedmouth, no NwR bods as they were at Alnmouth taking down the OHL in the “coal yard”.