15 Mar - Shifted BQ van body. The crane huffed and puffed (as did the volunteers) but it has been installed in its new home well away from the running line (and 2nd track bed) so we can have a brew without stepping out the door into the path of a works train! This now leaves the previous location ready for the curve realignment - presuming we can get someone from Network Rail on the cheap (free if possible with an all day breakfast chucked in!)

12 Mar - Since last update, no further essential trackwork to prepare for running has been possible due in part to lack of funds for minidigger and ballast and a vacuum of decision making from the 'management'. The volunteers have continued to do all they can to achieve our goals, with production of 'not to be moved signs' handrail renewal on Drewry locos, and finally finishing the job of stripping track from concretes for the WHR - lots of cutting discs and bancing, blood sweat and tears! Today we almost finished palleting up bullhead chairs dumped trackside from the Betteshanger job (yes its taken that long!) and failed despite best efforts to resurrect a poorly fork lift truck to lift them with...we are also preparing for moving the BQ van body from current location across the other side of the track, doing all we can to clear access to the piece of land that we are to reclaim from Network Rail (when we finally get permission sorted) to ease the severe bend (in one place down to 4 chains radius!) due mainly to the track not running straight into the bay platform it was designed to.

19 Feb - Rain all day...anyway, continued extending the platform footings, using a kango to chop through the clay, and this was then barrowed away. By the end of day, three old concrete sleepers laid end to end had been entombed in cement to allow for brick laying of a significant extension. Work continues...

15 Feb - Platform footings extended. Angle grinding spikes and cleats from flat bottom rail attached to light duty sleepers for WHR started - Managed to do one and a half panels, and roll the rail off onto the ground. It is a painstaking job, even with an 8 inch cutter - the petrol generator is up to the job (rated 1.5 KW) but it kills your wrists after half a panel, so taking turns on the job. Fortunately the weather was nice today - blue sky and some currant bun.

12 Feb - Sadly, as predicted we have hit a job stopped situation again, with trackwork and many other essential tasks to get passenger services running through not having a mini digger for the 1001 tasks we need it for. In the meantime, we are doing all the other tasks possible, such as tidying up site of scrap and rubbish, preparing light duty rail sold to the WHR, and clearing a 6ft safety zone along running lines by moving the BQ (van body used for stores by Oak Tree siding) and scrapping the metal 30ft container by the trams. Hopefully when these tasks are exhausted in the near future we will have our mini digger and the large quantity of ballast we need to do the job...also appalling weather (constant rain) didn't help.

25 Jan - Cumulative update - Trackwork continues, significantly it is now possible to run round a train as the middle road is now reconnected and the platform road has had all 91lb replaced with 95. A lot of shunting took place using out trusty Matisa diesel-electric on 24 Jan, putting stock into place for restoration and utilising the track capacity now available. Ongoing work is to install levers and rodding to all our new pointwork, install some missing point chairs, and check that all track fittings are present and correct. A lot of jacking and packing and top up ballasting still needs to be done, but the trackwork has been completely overhauled as far as the loading pad. We are in danger of becoming job stopped again though, due to a shortage of ballast, and the desperate need for a m

Mr January is Chris. We are doing volunteer profiles in the Phoenix magazine so I thought this might be a refreshing change to the trackwork pictures.

inidigger permanently on site, with many jobs pending...