Work in Progress: Ist September

posted by Roger Bye on Sat, 03/09/2016 - 12:22

A day of variety!

Our thanks to Roger Bye for this week's report.

We have had an excellent season with the August 2016 passenger numbers exceeding last year's record-breaking passenger numbers - all credit to the Woody Bay staff.

The blue skies and bright sunshine this Thursday were very welcome for both visitors and staff alike after the wet and fog of last week.

1. Here ISAAC returns to Woody Bay with the early “Coach Tour Special” under a glorious Devon sky.

2. Jim Price was preparing to fit the new doors he had made to the Southern concrete equipment cabinet. During the week Graham Varney had carefully dismantled the cabinet, renovated the internal metalwork, and reassembled it all with new fastenings.

3. Nigel Spencer pauses in his fence painting to watch ISAAC arrive at Woody Bay with an early afternoon train.

4. Resplendent in its new grey paint (apart from the vacuum brake cylinder) is the South African Y hopper.

5. The engineering staff, John Uphill and Nick Slade, shunt the wagon into the shed to complete the installation of the linkage between the vacuum cylinders and the brake mechanism.

6. Today’s loco crew, Pete Williams and John Heys coal and water ISAAC...

7. ...then take a brief rest watching Guard Bob Ayres checking tickets before...

8. ...setting off to Killington Lane with an afternoon train.

9. Meanwhile, down the track, Manager Martyn Budd had been busy with his yellow spray paint, identifying sleepers for replacement.

10. More marked sleepers in the foreground, with replacement sleepers to the left of the track, and in the distance today’s track gang continue the essential work.

11. Once the screws fixing the plates to the sleeper and the Pandrol clips securing the rail to the plates have been removed, each sleeper has to be slid out (with some persuasion) and a new one slid in. The plates are refitted, holes drilled in the sleeper for the fixing screws, which are then tightened down and the Pandrol clips replaced. This process requires a range of tools, expertise, and not an inconsiderable amount of muscle. Such is the dedication of the track team that they missed out on the delicious afternoon tea and cakes provided for staff at Woody Bay...