Saturday 28th March

The recent series of very productive Saturday's continued......A gang of 10 assembled at M&FM, with the previous week's padding team of Eddie, Martin W, and Ian R (joined by Keith H) showing much enthusiasm (or should that be insanity!) for the planned tasks that lay ahead. The first of these was to prepare a good supply of refurbished RNB fastenings, and they were left beavering away at this by the departing line walkers of Neil, Paul D, and Adrian (Alresford bound), and Ian J, Mike, and Pete (Alton bound).

Neil and Paul return from the completion of their line
inspection at Alresford head shunt back to the Station
for much needed refreshments

Having stockpiled enough fastenings, their second task was to go down to Soak cutting to replace the ten or so fastenings that had given them so much grief the previous Saturday, in the final panel of track to be re-padded. With this completed, they returned to base for a break and in time to be briefly re-united with the returning line walkers. They were certainly on a mission, and soon headed off back down the line towards Wanders Curve, where the third and final task of the day was to begin checking the RNB fastenings on the section of flat bottom railed track down to the fir trees on the long straight into Ropley, replacing any that were found to be loose or with broken top plates.

The other team, by now reduced to three (Ian J, Neil, and Adrian), went down to the Chawton Heights Pway Hut site, where Ian and Neil proceeded to lay and fix the plywood sheeting on the roof, and Adrian set about completing the timber boarded infill panel in the wall behind the chimney. After taking lunch, they were joined by Martin R, who brought with him further refreshments in the form of a flask of tea and box of mini blueberry muffins (good man). Their final task of the afternoon was to fit the door frame, before being re-united again with RNB team back at base, who had surprisingly completed the maintenance task on the whole section of flat bottom track (they say that one volunteer is as good as ten pressed men, which is certainly the case here!)

Ian trims the edge of the plywood
sheeting laid on the Pway hut roof

Adrian completing the timber
boarded infill panel, fitted in the wall
behind the chimney

Ian and Neil in the throes of fitting the door frame
(with both being 'Western' men, a large amount
of supervision was required by Martin and Adrian
to ensure that the high standards of the
'Southern were maintained!)

The frame in place. An infill panel of short lengths of timber
is to be fitted above

.........................On Sunday your Editor decided, despite the atrocious weather, to spend an extra few hours at the hut, fitting cover battens across the vertical joints in the walls either side of the fireplace, completing the fascia board on the same wall, and beginning to fit the door hinges.

The cover battens and fascia boards in place. The shorter
third and fourth battens from the left are to allow for the huts
name plaque, currently being manufactured by Neil

The cast name plaque