Work in Progress: 18th February

Half-term trains and the return of Graham Bendell. GM almost faints!

Graham, who has been away from our railway since the end of October, finally made it back to Woody Bay this Thursday. Our General Manager Martyn Budd almost "fainted" whilst several colleagues wished him a "Happy New Year"! However, we owe Graham our thanks for this report of the work carried out at Woody Bay this Thursday.

With a good turnout of volunteers, several jobs were tackled. The weather ranged from bright and sunny, with stunning views over the Bristol Channel, to bitingly cold winds, with rain and sleet thrown in for good measure.

Tasks undertaken included the ongoing retouching of the paintwork of Carriage No. 7, some TLC for a carriage door, the repositioning of the cab on PILTON, sleeper replacement, and platform surfacing.

PILTON's progress

1. Nick Slade removes the lifting strop from PILTON's cab after it was repositioned on the frames.

2. The new look PILTON, with John Uphill and Martyn Budd looking pleased while Nick appears to take "40 winks"!

3. PILTON is propelled back to the shed on the first run through the station in its modified form.

4. Nick operates an angle grinder while John carries out some welding in the cab (hence the blue light above Nick's head)

5. This rear view of PILTON gives an idea of how far forward the cab has been moved to give the necessary headroom in the lower profiled cab.

6. Jim Price, Dave Bloomfield and Dave Evans work on a carriage door. Whilst this was going on, Jim Pounds was in the paint shop checking out the carriage roof,

7. The train is ready to move to the up platform for the first trip of the day.

8. Meanwhile, at Killington Lane, the weather was starting to turn ugly but sleeper replacement carried on between service trains. Fred, the dog, supervises.

9. The train approaches as the rain falls. Time to head for the platform shelter.

10. AXE takes a sunny lunch break on Woody Bay shed.

11. Today's train crew of Fireman Andy Foster, Driver Pete Williams and Guard Bob Ayres at Killington Lane.

12. Guard Bob chats to a passenger in the First Class Coupe of Carriage No.17

13. In improving weather conditions, Martyn Budd and Trevor Buck spread road planings on the surface of Killington Lane platform. Trevor is treading-in the planings to help compact them.

14. Sleeper replacement continues in the more pleasant conditions.

15. The gang stand back as AXE approaches Killington Lane.

16. With everybody back at Woody Bay, the afternoon tea-break was taken in the marquee. Apologies to my colleagues for the snatched, candid shot!

The end of another good day at Woody Bay. It was great to see the trains in action and passengers enjoying our line once again.

Words and Photos: Graham Bendell, except for photos 1,2,3 & 7 which were taken by Roger Bye.