The Lockdown Winter
We lost a couple of maintenance days to the weather from December to March, but the real issue of this winter was the Covid pandemic.
2020 was the year the Covid virus started. From March through June the law did not allow us to meet. Older people were said to be especially
vulnerable and several of us are elderly. Fortunately, none of the team became ill.
It was thus a shorter maintenance season; we finally met to prepare the railway for summer running in July!
Winter events are outlined below.
Tree Felling
The Spinney has many large trees, some very tall, elderly and unsafe. The dangerous trees were felled in the spring.
An unfortunate effect of the loss of tree cover was to expose the rails to the hot sun with the result that you can see on the left. Until the trees were removed this part of the railway, between Bay Tree and Dingly, was happily in the shade. Another tree close to Old Oak was also felled.
This more open aspect is quite like the garden when the railway was first built; See this picture from an early visitor.
Clan Line Returns
It is two years since Clan Line was active.
In 2018 the locomotive went away for a general refurbishment and came back positively gleaming.
Unfortunately, the de-scaled boiler (part of the refurbishment) was found to leak so it was another year out of service for the engine awaiting a new boiler.
The picture shows Cliff admiring Clan Line when she returned to Spinney, complete with new boiler. This was sneak visit in June just to deliver the loco as Cliff had no place to keep the loco after it was returned to him.
The Carriage Shed Project 2015 - 2020
We have just about got there! Top left shows the carriage shed filled with stock for the first time at the
beginning of the winter.
Retaining Wall : Much of the shed stands on 'new' ground, built up to make a level area. To retain
this material a retaining wall of concrete boards now surrounds the back two sides of the building.
Front Doors : Whilst the team were prevented from attending Alan A completed the wooden front doors.
And Finally : We see Peter mounting an appropriate weather vane on the front apex of the roof.
It was in the winter of 2015 - 2016 that the project started, some five years ago. The pictures below are a reminder of that November 2015 start.
Water at Old Oak
A bonus from the carriage shed project is the water we can collect from its roof.
The collecting tank, shown in the picture and installed this winter, is just behind the new shed.
Placing this tank is as far as we got; it remains to connect a pump and pipework to take the water to locos in the station.
Odds and Ends
Cleaning the bridges
On a freezing November day a serious session of bridge cleaning was the order of the day.
Downside was turning on the frozen garden tap caused its washer to fail. Thank you Alan A for doing the repair.
Alan also improved some of the edging to the track and, of course,
there was also endless leaf clearing and the inevitable odd repair.
And finally
On the left is a picture of Cliff's model railway to which Adrian and Dave MB were invited on a Spinney day when weather made working at Spinney impossible.
On the right is Tim's embryo 9F which he brought to try. Hopefully, in few years we will see the completed loco.