Work in Progress: 16th January

 Another grey day at Woody Bay

Another good volunteer turnout, and time to complete the car park entrance alterations. It was a similar project to last week's, which had seen adjustments to the left hand entrance. In the shed, the engineering, signalling, and carpentry teams were also busy on a variety of projects...

1. Dick Gunn works on the lathe machining pins for the restored lever frame.

2. Don Newnham fitting the newly-machined pins to the frame levers.

3. The upturned frame from ex-MOD flat wagon No.51 which will form the basis for AXE's new tender. The engineering team are busy adapting this frame and brake gear before wheelsets are fitted.

4. Carpenters Dave Evans and Jim Price have been tasked with constructing wood panels for PILTON's sides. Dave and Jim measure up the areas needed for this.

5. Don Askew busy strimming away the undergrowth from the woodland paths behind the down platform

6. Martyn Budd in the excavator begins to cut away the topsoil and hardcore from the right hand edge of the car park entrance.

7. The old 'countrytype' kerb stones were saved for reuse at the new site

8. The line dug out and ready for the limestone scrapings and repositioned kerb stones.

9. Lots of orange-clad volunteers about today to make light work of this project. .

10. The concrete mixing area, ready to supply the kerbstone layers.

11. Nigel Spencer and John Heys were tasked with laying the stones on this curve.

12. John Villers takes his turn on barrowing the mixed concrete to the site ...

13. ...passing a smiling Graham Bendell during this manual task.

14. Another project today was to lay another drain to take storm water from the car park - alongside the transhipment siding - under the track and away from the site.

15. The pipe trench was back-filled with chippings.

16. The other side of the entrance was also altered with a redesigned kerb edge.

17. The new entrance edge. This new layout will permit larger vehicles such as coaches and delivery/waste collection lorries an easier reverse manoeuvre past the parked cars along the driveway to the station.

Words and pictures by Nigel Thompson