Work in Progress: 14th January

posted by Nigel Thompson on Sun, 24/01/2016 - 00:43

Business as usual and no rain!

This week's report is compiled by Roger Bye with additional photos by Nigel Thompson:

1. This was the sight that greeted the Thursday Gang this week. L&B General Manager Martyn Budd had been busy clearing ballast and soil from the down platform road. AXE was in service in anticipation of heavy works trains carrying the excavated spoil. And remarkably ... no rain!

2. Whilst Martyn continued clearing spoil and loading it into wagons...

3. ...the gang set to excavating compacted clay and shale from under the point rodding - an area that the excavator could not reach. Although a Kango hammer helped, it was still backbreaking work. To improve the drainage of the platform roads a new 150mm (6 inch in old money) drain is to be laid alongside the signal rodding for the full length of the platform. This ridge of clay and shale had to be removed as it would prevent water flowing from the down road ballast into the new drain.

4. & 5. At the Lynton end of the platform road another job was to excavate the ballast and clay under the up road to cut a trench for a drainage pipe to connect to the new drain which will hopefully eliminate the puddle seen at the end of the platform.

6. 7. & 8. At the Barnstaple end of the platform, yet another task was the formation of an inspection chamber in which the new drain will connect with the existing storm water drains.

9. & 10. The huge amount of spoil resulting from all of this work, is loaded on to the wagons and transferred to Killington Lane by the works trains.

11. Nigel Spencer was hard at work renovating the station benches. The marquee heating was essential to ensure the paint and filler cured - well that was his story!

12. The electrical Daves (well two of them!) were working on cabling for the improved shed lighting.

13. Also in the shed, progress has been made on the rebuilding of PILTON. A new radiator has been fitted and new cooling water piping installed.

14. The front panel of the engine housing has been cut down as part of the project to reduce the height of the locomotive.

15. A generous donor has recently given a restored Edmondson's ticket cabinet to the railway. This was originally from Bow Station on the Exeter Okehampton line. Click here to read more about Bow Station. The cabinet can hold vertical stacks of the old cardboard tickets in rows, the destinations being chalked on the black strips above each stack in each row. The tickets were flicked out a with finger under the bottom of the relevant stack.