Weston From The Air

Thanks to Les W here are a few recent shots from the air of Weston station.

We start looking south with the now complete track layout comprising from the left the run round loop, running line and sidings.

Looking north we see the running line heading towards Oswestry.

The next view shows the goods shed and platform.

Here we have an aerial view of the works train waiting at the platform.

Next we take a glimpse towards the level crossing on the A483. 

Finally a lovely view of Weston station from South of the road bridge.

 

Many thanks to Les for taking the time to fly the drone and share the pictures

Until next time.

Rain Never Stops Play

Even though the weather decided to moisten the ground it was business as normal on Tuesday as work proceeded on the refuge siding. The objective was to lengthen the siding by adding in extra track panels.

Photographers Andy G and Phil L share the honours this week for the pictures.

Phil starts us off by showing the places that the volunteers shelter from the rain. Andy and Martin are under the rear overhang of the excavator whilst Steve prefers the comfort of a plastic bag.

From his hiding place Andy shows us how the rain fell and fell.

Eventually it eased off enough to continue with tracklaying. Here the second rail is about to be moved into position.

As the siding extended south towards the equator the sun came out, the extra distance made all the difference. The rail is being keyed into place.

The team continued south moving the wooden sleepers and rails into position with the Road Rail Crane. A most useful piece of equipment.

The final rail of the day is fishplates up and it's time to head back to base.

All of the tools are loaded away in to the toolbox and the RRC heads back to Weston.

Ian and Steve have a look at what has been achieved during the day before the walk back to Weston and a warm and dry mess room.

Another good days work on the railway as we edge closer to reopening.

Thanks to all who braved the early storms and to photographers Andy and Phil.

Until next time.

Thursday's Arrival

The Thursday Gang were treated to a new arrival and continued with the assembly of the point. Andy G captured the goings on with his trusty camera.

First up was a trolley to go with the road rail crane. This is a new acquisition that can couple directly to the crane and adds an extra dimension to our capabilities. 

The trolley is carefully lowered to the rails, ready for action.

The crew take a look at the new mobile tea shelf and think it might also be right for resting the butties on as well.

Now the team are working out where to put the spring for the new jack-in-a-box novelty attraction... Noel is not that sure this is a good idea but has taken up position in the box. Actually this was our makeshift mobile toolbox and Noel is fishing out those small tools that were hard to reach.

Back to work on the point and the next piece of the jigsaw is assembled

Looking towards Weston you can see the point is now mostly in place.

By the end of the day the point looks complete but there is still plenty of work in lining up the parts and then screwing the chairs in their correct places.

Another good day of progress, thanks to all who helped and to Andy G for the pictures.

Until next time.

Four Seasons Tuesday

The weather has missed the volunteers so much during the closed months that in just one day it decided to show them every season. Sun, rain, wind and freezing temperatures. Despite all of this the team continued with the dressing of the line and assembly of the point for the refuge siding.

Andy G was on hand to take a few pictures.

We start at a previously unknown location but now thanks to the hard work of the restoration team we can confirm that this is at 19 1/4 milepost. The post now looks fantastic in it's new coat of paint.

Meanwhile the point timbers were placed in position and cut to the correct length. Pete doing the honours with the saw.

The point components are then placed in position and aligned using the ultimate setting out tool, the string line.

During one of the doses of liquid sunshine Ian and Phil swap tales of how it never rained when they were younger. A shame that the weather was not listening.

Just a handful of minutes later the sun was out again and the job continued.

The assembly of the point proceeded for the rest of the day with parts being lined up.

At the end of the day the point looks fairly complete but there is still lots to do before the parts are finally bolted in position.

Many thanks to all of the volunteers and to Andy G for the photos.

Until next time.

And The Point Of This Is...

The team was in action both on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Work is concentrating on the laying of the refuge siding and it's point on the running line. Two panels of very tired wooden sleepers have been removed and replaced by concrete sleepers and point timbers. 

Andy G was on hand with his camera and Phil B also took pictures. 

We start looking at the area that has been cleared for the point. This was the view on Tuesday as the old wooden sleepers were cleared away.

With the sleepers to the side and out of the way the area under the point has the ballast removed by the excavator. Some manual adjustment of the levels was required and the traditional shovel still has a place in this mechanised world.

With the trackbed prepared the concrete sleepers of plain track were placed in position.

By the end of Tuesday the sleepers were in place and the area visible to the right had been cleared and prepared to start assembly of the point.

On Thursday the point timbers started to be moved into position from where they had been stored alongside the line.

Phil B's picture shows the point components in place and being checked for correct position.

By the end of the day most of the timbers and major components of the point were in place. Time to put away the tools and return to base for a final mug of tea.

Thanks to Andy G and Phil B for the pictures. Another successful week. Now that things are returning to normal a working week is being planned to prepare the existing running line for a return to operation. Once details are available of the return of trains on CHR I will post an update.

Until next time.

Ballasting

One ongoing item has been the ballasting of the already revived sections of track between the cattle creep and Weston station.

Thanks to CHR Facebook here are a few photos of this work in progress.

The ballasting is being done using the Dogfish ballast hopper wagon. This is loaded using the excavator and then operated as a works train. The follow pictures show the process.

First the loaded wagon is brought to the required drop site. Then by carefull regulation of the handwheels the hopper doors are opened as the train moves slowly forwards.

The ballast flows from the hopper doors to either side of the rails.

The result is a covering of ballast which holds the track in place. The next step is fettling of the track to the correct alignment. This is done by jacking and packing so that the track is locked in the correct position and can then be used as the running line. Here we see a ballasted section awaiting the finishing operations.

Thanks to CHR for the pictures.

Until next time.