Project Work July 2004

An important maintenance task is re-greasing the fishplates. If this is neglected, they can seize up, possibly leading to buckled rails or worse. The Royal Suffolk Fishplate Grenadiers set about this with diligence, completing 229 sets of fishplates in four days. Yes, the odd number is odd, but one of the points has a set of three. Here are Nick, Pete, Chris and Steve hard at work during an engineering possession of the line.

Rick Beton

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Pete Jones would no doubt tell you how much he detests fishplate grease - it's about the messiest urkum durkum stuff in existence - yet he does seem happily covered in the stuff. The rail here is 75lb per yard, using a standard size bolt on the fishplates. Further north, the older 50lb per yard rails have assorted bolts, making it much harder work because of finding the right spanner for each and every nut and bolt.

Rick Beton

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Vandals have recently caused rather a headache at Gelert's Farm. One trick they played was pushing a loaded wagon down the gradient from the coaling wharf into the locomotive shed doors, destroying the doors and endangering the people working there. This was despite the brakes and padlocks fitted to the wagons, which were removed or broken.

A solution to this gambit is a stop bar, seen here laid out prior to being installed. Two vertical rails will be buried in concrete either side of the wharf road. A horizontal rail will prevent stock movements until its padlocks have been removed and the bar lifted out of the way. Guards for the two padlocks should make them harder to subvert.

Rick Beton

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Here is Nigel Hanwell augering out a hole for the anti-vandal stop bar. In the distance, in front of the grey Hudson bogie wagon, are two conventional rail stops. The rail between them was removed for several weeks, providing a temporary solution to the vandalism prior to the new stop bar being fitted.

Looks like a nice lawn at this angle, don't you think?!

Rick Beton

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The anti-vandal stop bar is nearly complete, just needing the new padlocks. The coaling and ashing-out area is just beyond (jocularly called 'Fortmadoc'). Gelert's Farm nestles in the near distance.

Rick Beton

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The next project was undertaken at the Farm itself: a point lever for the new-ish No.9 Road. The point had been fitted with a clip all year, and the time had come to finish the job properly. Here, Pete Jones glances round, having started gathering some of the materials needed.

The locomotive on No.8 Road in the centre is Simplex No.9; in front is the gantry crane, and under it are parts for one of the points being built for Traeth Mawr loop. On the left is the black corrugated loco shed, once a barn full of hay.

Rick Beton

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Steve, Pete, and Nick get stuck into digging out for the point lever timbers.

Rick Beton

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Meanwhile, Ben the Builder (yes he can!) puts a few more course on the new pillar in the Civil's Shed. This old shed is an original farm building, timber framed with crinkly tin cladding. However, the timbers are not good in parts. The solution chosen for the worst pillar (and the one next to it, later) is to encase it in blockwork, support the roof, remove the wooden pillar and then fill the new column with concrete.

Behind Ben, hiding under tarpaulins, is the 50hp Hunslet in a partially-restored condition. It is stored on No.5 Road.

An idea for the future may be to complete both pillars and use them as the basis for a new solid end wall, shortening the building to three quarters of its current area. Although covered space is valuable, this reduction would fully open up access to the wagon display area via No.5 Road, allow for a new stock storage siding to be built, and also free up space to pave the way for a possible extension of the Big Shed.

Rick Beton

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