Saturday 28th November

The second Saturday of line occupation was upon us (the last one before the Santa Special trains begin), and the gang were honoured by the appearance of our Northern member, Lord Bynam of Shrewsbury, following several long weeks of exile in his words, 'up north, back of beyond'.

Taking full advantage of the freedom of the line, the day started as the previous Saturday with a materials drop off at The Grosvenor hut site, where Corina, Adrian C, Graham, Keith B, and Keith H (later joined by Adrian N and Neil) were left to continue with the construction works. John, Martin W, Pete, Tony, and Ian R then headed up the line in the Wickham Trolley to commence their task for the day, that of lubricating and testing rail chair nuts in readiness for chair replacement work early in the New Year.

By the close of play, the hut had a felt finish on its roof, the wall cover battens and feather edge boarding above the chimney breast were complete and partially creocoted, and a foundation had been cast for the door threshold brickwork. 

The chair gang had managed to go through the line from to Alton to Ropley, where they had to stop due to the Ropley to Alresford section being under a separate occupation.