Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th April

On Monday,  a gang of 12 assembled at M&FM for the days activities, including your Editor on a rare day off work. A severe deluge whilst in the safety of the Mess did not exactly raise everyone's spirits, with visions of having a wet, miserable, and possibly shortened working day. The Gods were however obviously in a good mood and the rain stopped, not to be seen again until around 4pm when all of the allotted tasks had been completed.

The main gang comprising of Bernie, Norman, Keith B, John B, Chris B, Dave J, Colin,Tony, and Geoff boarded the Wickham Trolley and their cars, and headed off to Alresford where they changed five pointwork timbers. Chris C and John W meanwhile (the Pway Technical Department) travelled to Ropley with the Atlas crane hauled by the Class 37 diesel, to assist the Building Group with the erection of the roof structure to the new waiting shelter. They were also joined by Adrian, who was looking forward to see one of his building designs take a further step towards completion.

By the end of the day the shelters main roof trusses, and the ridge and edge beams were in place, making a very impressive sight. Further work by the Building Group on Tuesday and Wednesday should see the lower inter-truss beams and all of the rafters fixed in place, and the hip end structures beginning to take shape.

Tuesday was spent undertaking a range of tasks. Keith B and John B assisted  a hired in flail and driver on the Alton section, where the banks were flailed on the upside between the Butts and the Alton Station, while others collected tree debris resulting from continued felling work by outside contractors, depositing it on the bonfire pile at Brick Kiln Lane. John Br and Richard M departed in the van to collect a supply of scrap metal from a local airfield (a few trips are needed), and outside contractors appeared to give the track its annual, and much needed dose of weedkiller.