Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th November

Monday was spent transferring the waste ballast from the work at Alresford to the Ropley to M&FM section, where it was deposited between the fir trees and the site of the former farmers crossing. This included a trip back up to M&FM to repair the Atlas crane, which it was discovered, had several loose wires in its control box. After lunch, new ballast, chippings, and the components for a catch pit were taken out to Boyneswood bridge for drainage works the following day, and waste bricks and detritus from the platform edge repairs were removed from the Station site and disposed of. 

Baaa! On Tuesday the woolly creatures in the fields on the south side of the line near Chawton had formed an Escape Committee, and managed to find several weaknesses in the lineside fencing, so there was a diversion from the planned activities for the majority of the gang to attend to fence repairs. This took some time, with undergrowth having to be cleared first before the damaged strands of wire could be reached and replaced.

Bernie and Keith H remained at Medstead and Four Marks where a 'road railer' had been hired to help with drainage work. The work is required to deal with the run off from the road above, which has been a problem in recent years. A channel was excavated from the bridge back towards the Station on the upside, with two lengths of perforated pipe laid and backfilled with chipping. A catch pit was also formed at the start of the run, approx. 5 feet away from the bridge pier, where the pipe from the road reached the bottom of the cutting side.