Aln Valley Railway

Baz, Dave & Ian stacked some more sleepers, and tidied up a bit. Kay continued with beautification of the 165 DE. After a tea break the second Geismar-Stumec rail saw was given a quick check over, with the starter cord being removed and retensioned, A mix of WD40 and diesel was squirted into the cylinder and the saw crank was disconnected and the engine barred over a few times, the plug was cleaned up and reinserted, and after a few false fire, the engine started and ran okay. The saw crank was refitted and the whole unit seems to work okay – we now just need to check how to clamp it too rail and then we will perform a test cut

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another good day: site tidy-up continued with Ian using his New Holland levelling out the fines to give a better working surface and hopefully assisting drainage so parts of the site don’t become a quagmire at the first hint of rain. Sleepers stacked. The remainder of the new tools given a quick check over and then put in the parcels compartment of the MK 2 BFK (as we are running out of space in the Mk 1 BSK (time to get another stores van?…). Kay painted the roof of the 165DE and seems to be following EWS’s example and has gone for white!

Some new tools were delivered. The wooden sleepers from the latest stack to be dismantled were stockpiled. Some F27s were moved to be more accessible – it was after this that this went downhill – literally…

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Baz was up and had used the Atlas to grade off the South end of the site. Temporary fencing has been erected along the original fence line; this is to help appease safety fears and will be taken down again when a method of recovering the remaining concrete sleepers is agreed with Network Rail. Various small P-Way material have been recovered from the old pile and moved down to the new stocking out area – they will still require sorting. The Ruston 48DS has been moved to the far south of road 1. Various other bits of site beautification were carried out.

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Attended by MH, AH, KSW, DT, TS and KM. KSW worked on the flooring of the coach. MH, AH started looking at the OTP. Assumed KM continued to work on his van. Some strange Western thingy trundled past northbound packed full also.

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Baz, Dave, Tom, Kay, Dave T, Ken, Neil

Baz and Dave finished off the plant maintenance. The Atlas has had its engine oil dropped and new oil put in. It had been greased overall on Tuesday. Brake fluid reservoirs were topped up too.

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Longhoughton Goods Yard - , recovering track components from panel stacks and preparing space for arrival of more materials,

Longhoughton Goods Yard - DMS, RJ, MH, TBA, Dave used the Atlas to move the remaining sleepers from the stripped panels to a rough stockpile. Roland was then shown the basic of the Atlas. Mark arrived and we picked up some benches that had been saved from the skip by Roland. Roland then used the Atlas to level of the land near the dogleg in the yard boundary, thus giving a bit more level space for materials.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, MH, AH, a tidy up. I have un-keyed a few more rails on the stacks so these can be lifted down. There are still some small track components at the south end to bag up. If the wind is light as suggested it may be an idea to modify the sheets for the Mk 2 BFK., Baz and Dave S arrived and made a start on picking up rubbish from around the site. The Atlas was then fired up and used to lift the out of profile rail out from road 1. The other lengths were also lifted out and moved to stockpile. The sleepers were then moved out the way, to give access to a pile of spoil that has been dropped in this area during earlier (Easter?) earthworks and landscaping. This was re-graded, and a number of rail chairs that had been left here were recovered. A start was then made on dismantling the panels in the back stack (the one that was trapped behind the ballast wagon before we moved this), and this continued throughout the day, with the assistance of Mark and Alistair.

Longhoughton Goods Yard - BS, DMS, KM, TS, DT, IC, NB, recovering track components from panel stacks and inserting rails into road 1, Baz & Dave S arrived and started by firing up the Atlas and moving the sheets for use later in the day. Baz then lifted the rail out of the top panel on stack 1 and moved these to the stockpile. The sleepers were then lifted down and laid out in the gap in Road #1. The next set of rails from stack 1 were then lifted down and dropped into the gap on Road #1. It transpired that one rail was too long so an alternative rail was sourced from another panel. The rails were then turned in and keyed up. The small gap on one side was bridged, and the ballast wagon was then moved over onto road 1 ext to DX98702. This brought us up to the lunch break. After lunch Dave measured up some more panels. Baz, Ian, Tom & Dave T prepared the sheets to go over the Mark 2s. Kay continued work inside the TSO. Kenny delivered some more materials for the GVB. The 110v genny was fired up in the late afternoon to provide some light – and a minor tidy up was undertaken too.