The Echills Wood Railway Observer | Reporting Every Monday

E. W. R.

OBSERVER

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WEEKLY REPORT! 51

TUESDAY 26th AUG 2008.

TUNNEL WORK DELAY!

We were hoping to have all the roof slabs in place this week, but we were unable to get the hyab crane lorry, so it was a matter of off loading the trailer with the Parks tractor, to off load the remaining slabs. These have been placed on top and around the tunnel ready for when the lorry arrives, hopefully this coming Wednesday. However, more work has been done on the tunnel roof and this involved setting in some some ties and concreting them in place.

The first Articulated Coach Set has received its second top coat of paint and soon, the body panels will be secured to their chassis. Jeff Cogan & Ken Bull have been putting in a lot of work on the 16mm garden Railway, just recently and it is looking more like a railway now, There is still quite a lot to do yet, but it is certainly taking shape, since Jeff & Ken got involved with it.

The remaining tunnel roof slabs that were delivered last Wed.

This load of ballast was also brought in last Wed, ready for laying through the tunnel, before track laying.

The gap between the first two roof slabs has been filled with concrete, after inserting a tie bar in place first.

The first gap to be filled and to the right, one of the long tie bars, that are inserted in the gap for the full width of the tunnel. These tie bars are fixed into all three tunnel walls, before the concrete is put in. The gap is shored up from underneath with a plank and accrow props, until the concrete has set.

Unloading bags of concrete mix fro the trailer. These will be used to concrete the tie bars in place.

Another view from the top, showing the first two gaps to be concreted.

Here you can see one of the tie bars in position, before concreting in.

Note the plank in the bottom of the gap. This is held in position from underneath, using accro props.

Getting ready for another concreting session.

The empty trailer after all the remaining slabs had been lifted off with the Park tractor.

Not all of these slabs will be needed to finish off the tunnel. The rest will be used for platforms at Far Leys, another platform at Picnic Green and others for a concrete bridge further up on the extension.

These slabs placed on the roof, will be used to finnish off the tunnel roof.

Those on the ground, will be used for platforms and bridges.

Ballasting has now reached the tunnel entrance.

This shows the concreting from underneath, after the planks had been removed.

The area yet to be coverd, with the slabs which will be used, stacked further along the roof.

Another view from inside the tunnel, of one of the gaps that have been filled.

Some of the slabs which have been stacked at Picnic Green, for the second platform.

These steps will form part of a footbridge, inside the Garden Railway, to gain access to the steaming bay area, which has yet to be errected.

Track edging strips have been put in place all along the edges of the baseboards. Here Jeff & Ken are painting them. Note the uncompleted footbridge in the background, which will allow access to Harvesters Station.

WEEKLY REPORT! 50

MONDAY 18th AUG 2008.

Only a short report this week, as it was hoped to have finnished the tunnel roof, but unfortunately, the lorry was not available. So the rest of the slabs should arrive this coming week. Some of the body panels for the articulated coaches have received their top coat of paint and will look good if used for the Santa Specials.

These sleepers have been laid, to allow the hyab lorry to get close enough to crane over the remaining slabs to finnish off the tunnel roof.

Unfortunately, we were unable to book the lorry for this week, so it will be the B/H weekend, before the roof gets finished. We hope!

Meanwhile the Minnie was taken up to the tunnel site, to do some more trackbed preparation.

The trackbed between the crossing and the tunnel was finished off and laid with tram ready for ballasting.

A view looking towards the tunnel.

Looking towards Picnic Junction.

Unloading Minnie off the trailer, in Old Oak Yard after finishing the trackbed preparation.

Some of the articulated coach sets have had the top coat applied to the body panels.

Ideal for the Santa trains.

It is hoped to have one set in this bright red and the other set in chocolate, so that Bretts guardsvan Jack, can be used with them.

These two sets of coaches are being fitted with air brakes and I think, vacuum as well, so that they can be used with almost any loco.

A few of the body panels that will be painted in Chocolate Brown

Next Report will be on Tuesday 26th Aug.

WEEKLY REPORT! 49

MONDAY 11th AUGUST 2008

ADDING THE TUNNEL ROOF

The tunnel roof panels arrived on Friday and on Saturday morning, during wet weather six of us arrived on site, to get the panels in place. A back acting hyab did the heavy work, whilst we made sure that each pannel was carefully put in place. Unfortunately, due to the weight load, the delivery lorry was on its limit at 38 tons, so we are actuall six panels short to complete the job. The remaining i6 panels that we ordered, will be coming soon, so we can finish the roof off. The rest of the panels will be used for other jobs in hand. This week, Brett's two locos, Peggy & Douglas were steamed double headed, during the Wed school holiday service, a first for these two locos.

WEDNESDAY

Douglas heads Peggy on the first train of the day.

The pair coming through Old Oak Yard

Another shot taken in the Yard

The cab of Douglas

Passing Crocodile Creek

Ian gets a drive of Douglas, with Brett on Peggy and young Tom riding the tender.

The above seven photos were taken by Jeff Cogan & Ken Bull

The photo below was taken by the Editor

These sleepers were removed from alongside the Far Leys road, where they had been used to allow lorry's to tip spoil for the extension.

They were loaded on the trailer then brought to the tunnel site for storage.

FRIDAY

The tunnel roof slabs arrived today and were left on the trailer.

24 panels, each weighing half a ton.

These panels will be lifted off the trailer onto the back of the lorry with the back acting hyab on Saturday morning

The roofless tunnel structure with the slabs on the trailer.

A few more trees were cleared out of the way, ready for when we start laying track

The boss tells the tree surgeon, which trees need removing.

Two trees were felled, which will give us more room to lay double track.

SATURDAY MORNING

Transfering the first eight panels from the trailer, onto the crane lorry.

Slab No 8, last of the first lot of slabs to be transfered, before the job gets under way.

The first slab being lifted with the crane

Gently does it

Just lining up the first slab

The first slab in place

Slab No 2 being lowered into position.

The first two slabs in place

Slab No 5 going into position

Half way, the first twelve slabs in place.

The last of the 24 slabs to be lifted off the trailer

By this stage, it was raining pretty heavy, so we all reverted to waterproofs.

The 24th & last slab to be laid.

A shot looking over the roof

View looking through the two bores.

Looking through the left hand bore, towards Baldwins Bridge

Looking through both bores from the Bridge end.

The other bore looking towards Picnic Junct.

Next Report Monday 18th Aug 2008

WEEKLY REPORT! 48.

MONDAY 4th AUGUST 2008.

TRACKBED PREPARATION

This week's report is not as long as those of late, as we only had Wed as a work day. Friday was the start of our first ever Standard Gauge Weekend, which was a great success. As usual when anything special happens, I will be putting up a separate page, which will cover this event.

Most of the work which took place last week, was some trackbed preparation between the tunnel foot crossing and the tunnel mouth. The Minnie and Dumpy were use for this and the earth removed, was tipped against the outer (roadside) tunnel wall. So far the roofing slabs have not arrived, but as soon as they do, work will continue to get them in place, so that covering of the tunnel with soil can begin.

WEDNESDAY

With the School Holidays, trains run on Wed & Fridays. Here Douglas makes its debute at the EWR. This is almost identical to Peggy, except Douglas is a 2-6-2 against Peggy's 2-4-2 wheel arangement.

Douglas at Harvesters.

We also had a visitor with this nice little loco. Not sure what it actualy is, but it is a replica of one of Kerrr Stuart's small tank engines.

Another view of the little Kerr Stuart.

Digging out the trackbed between the foot crossing and the tunnel mouth.

Terry & Mel working on the digging .

Just the top six inches of soil needs to be removed, which will form the bed for the ballast to be laid.

Much better than doing it by hand.

The soil is taken to the far end of the tunnel outer wall.

Once enough has been tipped, Minie will be used to buldoze it towards the wall.

Er!! Can I have my tree back please. This branch got caught on the jib, whilst Terry was pushing the soil through the trees, to fill in the void behind them.