Thursday Gang, Track in Their Blood

The Thursday Gang seem to have been suffering from withdrawl symptoms with having to take a temporary break from the linking up of the two sections at the accommodation crossing. 

Not to worry a further cunning plan has been devised and the team were soon leaping in to action for the transformation of Oswestry station.  The target was to get on with preparations for the relaying of the middle road.  The middle road will allow a run round loop to be installed and is part of the plan to relay all three roads through the station.  Will that make us the only standard gauge, ex national network line to have a centre road in a station? Answers please.

Further in the future the relaying of the down platform road will bring back the characteristic station layout. Tracklaying on the third road will not be undertaken until the platform wall has been rebuilt, relaying the track now would hinder access for the bricklaying team.  If you want to contribute to the appeal for fund for this work the donation button is on the website, we even take cheques and cash if you visit to see progress.  There are plenty of opportunities to become involved with restoration or operations if you so desire.

Apart from the work on the Permanent Way there were many other jobs going on around Oswestry station.  John continued in the shed with the woodwork on the suburban coach.  Outside Andy G took the following pictures of work in progress.

We start with Alan and Keith and their continued quest to bring the tamper back to life.  It might look like Keith is relaxing and soaking up the sun but some serious fault finding was going on.

The universal adjustment tool has been brought in to play and progress has been made.  Alan and Keith after some head scratching are making progress.

Another check and test to see if everything is now as it should be. 

More work is needed but progress is being made, with all of the work going on the tamper will be a great addition to the working fleet.  Keep up the good work chaps!

In the station it was time to do a bit of shuffling.  These stored sleepers needed to be removed to allow access to the temporary track which was due to be updated as part of the centre road.  Dave, Tom and Ryan offload the sleepers to their short term storage location.  

The weather kept us on our toes and between showers Tom and Dave take a break to review progress.

It's back to work moving sleepers up into the platform road (from where they will be moved across to the centre road as relaying continues).  Dave R observes the station speed limits as he pushes the trolley whilst in the background Tom, John and Dave D prepare another load

Dave and Tom unload the sleepers and to the right of the track is the space that will soon be occupied by the centre road.  If you look closely you will see the rainbow which appeared after every passing shower.

Once the sleepers were out of the way it was time to remove this piece of track, Whoever laid that needs shooting said someone... Guilty as charged as that is a bit of my handy work... Although it was only ever meant as a temporary siding for sleeper storage it's good to see it now being relayed as part of the new Oswestry track layout. Here the team of Tom, Colin, Noel, Glynn and Ryan in the front and Dave R, John W and Dave J behind decide who should pull the trigger.

With no Steve for the fishplates it was down to the two Daves and Colin to do the honours, here the first fishplate of the centre road is installed.

With the  correct number of sleepers now in position it was time to install the rails with the help of the long arm of the truck.  Once in place the rails and sleepers were adjusted in to position. The next picture from Glynn shows the team in action working as one.  A true team effort. 

 

Back to Andy's pictures for  a view along the first panel.  Now doesn't that look a lot better!

The final picture is the team heading back to a well earned cup of tea.

A very big thank you to all who turned up and it's so good to see another piece of the jigsaw coming together.  Thanks to Andy and Glynn for the pictures.

Until next time.