Photos and web preparation Accredited to Gemma Barclay

Wednesday 30 Jun

Ballasting top up along track / Brakevan restoration.

Sunday 27 Jun

Ballasting top up along track / Brakevan restoration.  Slewed track in platform area to clear coach running boards!

Brakevan restoration

Moving the coach from platform.

Wednesday 23 Jun

Ballasting top up along track / Brakevan restoration.

Sunday 20th Jun

RVRSA board meeting in afternoon.  Top up ballasting continues.  Jerry M bonnet nearly done!  Measuring done for proposed bridge structures near Northbridge Street.

Wednesday 16th Jun

Ballasting finished at buffers.  Ballasting continues back  along track to top up,  however at 3 dumper loads a day, due  to heat and physical  endurance this will take some time to  complete.

Restoration continues on 3 plank and Jerry M.  Plus some  pesky critters have snacked on the RVR allotment!

Sunday 13th Jun

Ballasting at buffer stops.  Continuation of work on 'No.3  box', Jerry M and 3 plank restoration.

Saturday 12th Jun

Survey of paths from Robertsbridge to Bodiam for purposes of waymarking the Rother Valley Walk completed.  RVR flower display in Salehurst (St Mary's) Church.  Nice cup of coffee at Bodiam  courtesy of KESR...

RVR display in Salehurst (St Mary's) Church.

Surveying - with my trusty assistant - Liz Costa!

Wednesday 9th Jun

Started repainting/repairing the 'tug' Jerry M.

Sunday 6th Jun

Some Jacking/packing at buffer stops.

Wednesday 2 Jun

Some ballasting done near buffer stops.

Monday 31 May

Burnt knotweed and other junk at Oaktree sidings.  Some ballasting at buffer stops.  Cleared railings from first bridge in anticipation of BRB decision.  Progress on Robertsbridge 'No.3 Box'

Ballasting near buffer stops

Much clearer access at first bridge (reverse shot)

Progress on 'No.3 box'

As above.

Sunday 30 May

Cleared a big patch of knotweed from embankment.  Mark Yonge completed spraying top of embankment from Northbridge  St to 1st bridge.  Dismantled and laid to one side all of kick back siding from point onwards for Southern Water access to embankment.  They should be test drilling on Tuesday 2 June.

Unrelated mainline work - but the equipment would  be handy for our project...

Wednesday 26 May

Restoration work on 3 plank wagon continuing.  Limited clearance  to help Mark Yonge gain access for spraying - although he had to abandon attempt today.

3 plank stripped down to chassis.

Sunday 23 May

Construction of No.3 continues...

 

'Robertsbridge No.3 Box' taking shape! at the  Clappers/Northbridge Street.

It looks lovely...even better with ballast and rails!

Sunday 16th May

Pictures of changes around the site while webmaster away.

Some Info Signs publicising website placed around  near footpaths

Southern Water rapidly approacing embankment

from valley - embankment in distance

Dennis giving the tug an overhaul

 

Not again!

Saturday & Sunday 24th & 25th April - Exhibition Weekend

 Two great days, supported by members, family and the general public.  Slightly less successful than last year, but a good time had by all with fantastic weather...

Pictures From An Exhibition...

Collectors Coach

The Main Exhibition Venue

Roy's Trams

Jamie

Helens Layout

Mike Turner

Wednesday 21 April

 Continued preparation for exhibition.

Derek On The Mow...

Wednesday 14th April

Clearance work round bridge sections and more work tidying station area.  Web address painted onto bridge section, so hopefully the mainline commuters will become interested!  Level crossing  gate in undergrowth at bridge sections photographed and measured  for rebuild with new wood, as original falling to pieces.  The gate will be used for North Bridge Street or access from car park  at loading pad.

Ken's 'Graffiti!'

Looking across from atop bridge sections.

Poor condition of crossing gate.

Monday 12th April

General tidying at station for the model railway exhibition.

Sunday 11th April

Fencing renewed at station platform.  Mowing and general  tidying at station for the model railway exhibition.

Thursday 8th April

 I have added a number of pictures to the Miscellaneous section of the pictures.

Wednesday 7th April

Webmaster not on site - I will let you know what the 'usual suspects' got up to on Sunday!  Weather was April mixed bag of sunshine and  rain.

Sunday 4 April

Tried again to remove grafitti from water tower, and first bridge  abutements, this time with an electric cordless drill with a rotary wire brush attachment - better, but still far from satisfactory.  It is now time to try blow torching the paint, or last resort, spraying over in white.  We do not have much of an ongoing  graffiti problem, but it is unsightly, and adds an air of menace and dereliction to the village that cannot be tolerated.  On  a more positive note, commenced clearance of footpath route between  first and second bridges.  We will need to construct a bridge  over the stream, but we have the materials in the shape of sleepers and old bridge girders - it is a 6m gap.

Dennis and Ken - Transport to the buffet.

Cleared section of new path.

Part of the cleared wood section that will need  fencing.

Wednesday 31st March

Glorious weather.  Repaired noticeboard at  North Bridge Street after damage from someone who tried to kick it loose.  Also tried to scrub graffiti off water tower with limited success.  This kind of thing is an upsetting waste  of our precious and limited voluntary time.  Took lots of structural pictures of first bridge, as it is possible that the whole lot could  come crashing down around Southern Water's ears if they try running construction vehicles for the pipeline underneath...as apparently all the plans for reconstruction are back up in the air again.  However,  had very successful clearance and bonfire in afternoon.

Graffiti at first bridge.

!

First bridge structural damage.

As above.

Sunday 28th March

A much better day.  The weather was very pleasant, warm and sunny,  The local ramblers group stopped by and are now  aware of the waymarking plans for the Rother Valley Walk.  Clearance recommenced and now is mostly raking and bonfires, as little remains to be cut, unfortunately we upset a resident with the smoke, but we try to be good neighbours!  I have added a few pictures  below to show how beautiful the valley is and more pictures at the  station end as our celarance team have not been working up that  part now for a couple of months.  The webmaster stayed till  7pm (BST) doing clearance making the most of the 'extra' hour.

Al fresco power meeting at lunchtime...

Tug interior.  Needs a bit of Kurust!

Valley from embankment at second bridge.

Towards village from 1st bridge.  Footpath  on right.  We will establish a shortcut footpath across the  stream in the middle of the picture enabling walkers to shortcut between first and second bridge.

Wednesday 24th March

Webmaster not on site, but Edith Cavell carriage was transported to Wittersham Road (K&ESR).  Apparently this  did not happen till late evening, so was completed in the dark!

Sunday 21st March

A run of bad weather.  Small amount of clearance done  in morning, including clearing the rest of the ivy from the water  tower by North Bridge St.  Rained constantly in afternoon so had to sit in the buffet then give up...

Wednesday 17th March

In contrast to Sunday, this was a great day.  Mark Yonge brought some surplus sleepers in from Essex, on a Unimog - a road rail/maintenance vehicle (See pictures below).  We will start reconstruction of 5th bridge imminently, although the clearance work has revealed serious erosion of the bank between the mill and the railway embankment  between 4th and 5th bridge (see pictures below), this will need  to be rectified before trains can run, although hopefully the environment  agency should pick up the tab, this damage has been masked by the overgrowth of so many years.  Chris and Gemma (webmaster) also surveyed another bridge that had not previously been thought accesible,  it is on a landowners property who is not yet 'on side', however  my trusty OS Explorer map revealed a public footpath that runs by  it, the pictures of this and where trains used to run into the mill have been added to the 'down the line' page, under photos.

Area of scour marked (looking towards North Bridge St)

Reverse shot, from water tower.  4th bridge fence just visible top left.

Looking at damage from Robertsbridge Mill side.

Avondale Unimog (pity we couldn't keep it!)

More sleepers.  Thanks to Mark.

Of course we had to test the rail capabilities...

'driving' the Unimog.

Sunday 14 March

Washout!  A small amount of clearance performed around 4th  bridge, weather was constant drizzle, so had to give up after lunch.

Tuesday 9 & Wednesday 10 March

Huge blitz on clearance to North Bridge St.  Now reached  4th bridge.  Cleared a massive knot of ivy encrusted overgrowth around a downed tree at third bridge.  It took most of Tuesday  to cut, and Wednesday to burn!  Latest total is a dozen cricket balls and a couple of golf balls which have been lost from the adjacent  cricket pitch, some of unknown vintage.

Recovered from the overgrowth

Now you Don't See It...

Wednesday 3 March & Sunday 7 March

Clearance.

Clearance On North Side Of Track, From The Road  To Nowhere!

Clear South Side Embankments.

Sunday 29 Feb

Clearance/bonfires.  Progression now between second and third bridges.  Cleared a stile on footpath immediately adjacent to bottom of embankment.  The clearance is raising the profile  of the RVR with lots of support and encouragement from most people using the footpaths.

Clearance work - looking back from across third  bridge to second.

A pleasant afternoon stroll along the embankment!

Wednesday 25 Feb

Clearance/bonfires.  Hoist erected in Station area.

Down by a clear fenceline.  Looking towards first bridge.

From 1st bridge back - clearance.

On embankment - tree devouring a spike!

A lovely sunny day on the clear embankment from  1st bridge looking towards North Bridge Street.

Hoist erected in station area.

Sunday 22 Feb

Clearance, around B&Q and past first bridge.  Bonfires  to burn some of the large amount of felled material.

New Storage Facilities - At Oak Tree.  Signal Box levers in right shed.

Looking towards North Bridge Street.  You can now see all the way to the bypass!  A few volunteers have achieved this in a very short period of time.  It can only get better...

Wednesday 18th Feb

Clearance.  Contractors left site, as due to possibility  of Badger Setts, cannot clear anymore until June, however they made a big difference, clearing many big trees and a lot of fenceline.

Clearance After Contractors Left Site.

Sunday 15th Feb

Buffer now connected to track again and lowered into temporary new position.  Some limited track lifting to enable this.  Clearance  continues,  much cut wood still needs to be burnt, but  not much remains to be cut on the embankment before 1st bridge.   We are also clearing beyond 1st bridge now.  A hoist has been donated for moderate lifting work, courtesy of the tramway group.

Looking back at on going clearance from across 1st bridge.

One of many bonfires.  View across 1st bridge.

Reconnecting and dropping buffers into place.

Wednesday 11th Feb

Sleepers moved off from lomac to the station area.  Pointwork moved onto matting for repair, and to avoid being lost in the undergrowth yet again.  Clearance continues on embankments.  Volunteers  smell of diesel and woodsmoke!

Retrieving broken pointwork for rebuild.

Sunday 8th Feb

You guessed it...more clearance!  The embankments from Oak  Tree sidings through to 1st bridge are rapidly being cleared now.  Lots of fires necessary to clear the brush.  Much damage  inflicted on volunteers by rogue brambles!

A clearer view across valley now.

Wheels (for TRC) and pointwork reclaimed from  the undergrowth.

Tug At Oak Tree.

Time for a cuppa at the 'B&Q'

The wheels fell off the trolley!

Wed 4th Feb

Brushcutting

Embankment Clearance continues...

Sunday 1 Feb

Buffer Relocation, using Titan, and a  good sized track gang...

All kickback siding keys and fishplates removed, so track between  new buffer stop position and first bridge plus kickback siding can  be lifted to enable access for Southern Water.  A lot of progress  today.

Titan at Oak Tree sidings on way to shift buffer stop.

Getting Ready To Pull...

Here It Goes...

 

Almost In Place.

Kickback Ready For Lifting.

Wed 28 January

More Trackside Clearance.  Now at stage where what is left  should mostly be cleared by Southern Water.  

Rather cold Day!

Sunday 25 January

More Trackside Clearance. 

Wednesday 21 January 2004

More clearance.