Saturday 29th July: 'Flying Bedstead' or 'Yellow Peril'? Either way, the tamper borrowed from the Talyllyn Railway and regauged to 600mm (from 2'3") would prove to be a vital - but infuriating - machine, as you'll see in the following photos.

Rick Beton

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The works train was marshalled alongside Gelert's Farm signalbox with an unusual collection of locomotives, necessary because of the need to have sufficient power and also to split the train when at the work site. From right to left, the train consists of Simplex No.9 Jonathan, Motor Rail No.36 Cnicht, Simplex No.4 Anne-Marie, R&H No.3, the tools van and the generator van, the Mines Rescue mess van, and Barclay No. 554.

Rick Beton

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The work site is the Traeth Mawr loop, at the far end of the extension. Soon after arriving, work gets under way to complete the second-stage ballasting.

On the left is Motor Rail No.36 Cnicht.

Rick Beton

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With one end removed for the time being, the two Hudson four-wheel wagons prove ideal for ballasting - shovelling the stone is far easier and quicker this way.

Rick Beton

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The Hudson bogie wagons are also useful for ballasting. The sides drop down and the ends have been temporarily removed for the job in hand. This one is nearly emptied now. Underneath is the facing point at the southern end of Traeth Mawr loop.

Rick Beton

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Inside the mess van, conditions are a bit cramped but no one is complaining about the chance to sit down for a few minutes, enjoy some food and a good mug of tea. Is Nigel (left) really going to eat two whole packs of biscuits for his lunch?

Rick Beton

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Later in the day, we can see the extent of the work ahead of us in this long-focal-length view along the line. In the foreground, the rails are neither straight nor level yet - our task will be to put that right.

In the distance, the buffers at the end of Traeth Mawr loop can be seen. The loop itself shows a considerable hump which will need smoothing.

Rick Beton

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At the end of the day, we returned to Pen-y-Mount station and met up with the two visiting locos, Chaloner and Rishra.

Rick Beton

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What a sight! Two unusual steam locomotives and four diesels, all different. The train is now ready to return to Porthmadog.

Rick Beton

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As we set off, Pen-y-Mount is diminishing away on the right.

Rick Beton

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Sunday 30th: The north end of Traeth Mawr: the tamper is ready to be started up, and later there is just one remaining panel of track left to lay - this was generously left unfinished by the main tracklaying gang so that those who had to wait until July could at least have a small part to play in the major tracklaying effort of the preceding months.

Rick Beton

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Up at the buffer stop, Pete and Nick cleared a small additional area so that another stub panel could be added and extend the length of the headshunt to accomodate larger locos.

Away into the distance, the old trackbed goes straight across the field ahead, but has been totally erased in the decades since the old railway closed (1937).

Rick Beton

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The tamper was essentially not hard to learn to use except for learning how to get both rails even and in the process not wreck the machine - after all, it's shaking so much that seems exactly what it's trying its hardest to become! Nigel is at the controls for the first time.

Rick Beton

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The process of tamping is more important than operating the machine itself. This photo shows the dozen or so small jacks used to adjust the rail heights, after which the tamper packs the ballast and so keeps the rails in the chosen position. Actually, it's never that simple because a certain amount of settling happens over time, so the process usually has to be repeated in a process of continual improvement.

Rick Beton

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Monday 31st: The track-laying gang had been working hard through the winter and spring laying all the track this far. As we saw earlier, they'd kindly left one panel for the annual Civil's Week workers to finish off.

The assembly process involves drilling the sleepers, screwing the baseplates on, using rollers to move out a rail, then clipping on the rail to the baseplates.

Rick Beton

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Here comes the second rail into place, suspended from the yellow "Roland's Rail Movers" and propelled towards us by the locomotive.

Rick Beton

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Tuesday 1st August: more ballasting work. The location is part-way up the bank leading south from Traeth Mawr.

Rick Beton

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Wednesday 2nd: shall we have a day off or do some more work? Well, seeing the state of the track panels leading out of Gelert's Farm yard, and sensing another opportunity to drive an excavator for a few hours, the work choice won. Hard to understand I know, but...

Rick Beton

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Whilst a couple of chaps were elsewhere drilling sleepers and preparing the baseplates, the four of us here (including me) disassembled two panels, put the rails to one side, dug out the bed using the excavator, and re-laid the track on new sleepers and ballast.

Rick Beton

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Thursday 3rd: Guess what - more ballasting work! On the left is R&H No.3 with the two four-wheel wagons. On the right is Barclay No. 554 with the tool van, generator van and Mines Rescue van.

Rick Beton

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Hard work except when the sun shines. Ballast can be suprisingly comfy!

Rick Beton

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Friday 4th: this is the grass-filled "Harbour Branch" siding at Pen-y-Mount north. R&H No.3 and "Chaloner" propel two nearly-empty ballast bogie wagons up the branch to the stone refilling point.

Rick Beton

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Another view shows Chaloner, along with its water tank (normally our weedkiller wagon) and No.3 with the two four-wheel wagons. The empty bogie wagons are visible on the harbour branch beyond the four-wheelers.

Rick Beton

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Chaloner provides unusual motive power for the rake of ballast wagons. Mark is wearing the classic 1920s outfit as normally worn by our operating crews on the railway.

The location is alongside Penmount farm (out of sight on the right), with Pen-y-Mount station away in the distance.

Rick Beton

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Lunch break at Traeth Mawr: from left to right, Dave, Bob, Nigel, Andy, Pete, Chris, and John. Sitting on the right: Mark and Tony.

Rick Beton

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A wider view of the lunchtime scene includes Simplex No.9 Jonathan, the tamper and other wagons.

Rick Beton

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At the end of the day, we can see a lot had been achieved but a lot remained to be finished. It would not be until the following March before the tamping was complete, all the snagging jobs were ticked off and Traeth Mawr could be finally opened to the public.

Rick Beton

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