Midweek Oiling 25th June 2014

Back to routine maintenance today, all be it slowly, as a bit too warm!

Roddy in foreground Craig almost shimmering in the heat or possibly just out of focus. Reached 90 and a half milepost for the record.

 

 

Time for a quick snap of passing traffic, Fishermans Crossing and River Spey in background.



Mixed Tasks 21st 22nd June 2014

 

Following on from the previous Blog, temporary rails now removed from bridge

 

 

 

 

and steel has now been ordered to fill in the gaps either end of the bridge. 

 

Saturday saw a small squad, so fishplate oiling continued from Boat of Garten and Lackgie Level Crossing has now been reached which is about the halfway mark.

 

 

 

 

I think a further 290 tonnes of ballast was strategically dropped over the length of the extension using the modified Dogfish and Catfish Ballast wagons mentioned/photographed in Keith's Blog http://restoringcoachesataviemore.blogspot.co.uk/ and on the Sunday we used the Jacker Packer to pack it, unfortunately after a couple of lengths a bit of metal broke off one of the rail clamps making it inoperable. (hope to get it welded back on)

 

 

   

The afternoon was spent removing the metal surveying stakes, which was easier said than done! above Norman who has been a PWay stalwart since his student days does battle, hopefully they will be re used in the not too distant future on the other side of the River Dulnain.



Bridge work 11th June

Our 12 tonne self propelled Rail Crane was used for removing the temporary rails off the Dunlnain bridge and installing the last diagonal beam, the mounting holes need re-drilling at one end and still to do by the local Blacksmith are the diagonal braces to fill in the gaps on the bridge.

 

 

 

After lunch fishplate oiling continued from 89 1/4 mile post progressing towards Broomhill but you have seen plenty of photos of that of recent times!

 

(photos and information courtesy of John Wood)



Tamping and Slewing 7&8 June 2014

 

This weekend in warm sunny weather, saw the last 400yds or so "tamped" all the way from the bridge to almost the 93 milepost, as per above.

 

 

On the Sunday afternoon we used the "Muscle man" to slew the remaining horizontal alignment wobbles out over the extension and Georgie was pleased with the progress over the weekend, with only "a few holes" to fill in, with a further ballast drop proposed, when ballast becomes available.

 

 

The next job is to remove the temporary rails and sleepers off the bridge.....

Midweek oiling towards Broomhill

 

Having now completed the Aviemore section, today a start was made on fish-plate oiling from Boat of Garten to Broomhill. In the background two things can be seen firstly, the fenced off area is going to be a temporary storage compound for the company Laing O'Rourke, who are going to be doing Sewerage works in the Boat of Garten area. In exchange for this we will get 200 tonnes of ballast.   Secondly, just to the left of Mike's felt  hat (father's Burma WWII hat ), has very recently appeared the shiny, new sign below

 

which certainly brightens up the Mobile Plant Shed ("Morley's Mansion") but its a pity the Fire Station closed more than a year ago!

 

Royal Scotsman awaits departure this morning, notice the cleared, old coal loading area.  The recent weed killing has definitely taken effect. 

Mixed Traffic end of May 2014

 

 

 

 Class 37516/685 warming up to depart Boat of Garten with the Royal Scotsman 29/05/14 Class 37s likely to be hauling it for the foreseeable future since Network Rail have altered the route availability of the Inverness - Kyle line, therefore restricted the use of class 47/57s

 

 

 

 

and the same day, our currently multi-coloured Rail Crane preparing to lift 

 carriage bogies at Aviemore, saving the cost of the hire of a crane. Soon to be taken to the other end of the line for PWay work on the Dulnain Bridge. (both photos and info M.Tough)

 

 

 

 

On the 31st May an extra PWay day was organised to make up for lost time when the Jacker Packer burst a hydraulic hose. We hope to be able to source some spare parts for future inevitable such failures, as it is turning out to be an invaluable asset. I think 13 panels were completed on the rather warm day.(rest assured the high viz vest was replaced just after this shot was taken by J.Wood) pity the shorts weren't !