A welcome sunny day brought out a very large gang. After the usual catch ups, Bill and Brian Hi walked up line on the track inspection to Alton, whilst Ian J and Pete walked down the line to Alresford, primarily so that Ian could check which banks that needed to be strimmed (he later went back in the afternoon to start the process).
A fishplate oiling gang departed for Ropley (see the following report), and Richard Bentley picked up John, Keith H and Adrian N (who were later by Keith B) in the Class 33 diesel, and coupled to the Atlas Crane wagon dropped them off just outside Alresford. This was to re-instate a section of lineside fencing (16 posts and wire) that were removed earlier in the week to allow some filming work to be done by the BBC.
Adrian C and Corina went up to Alton to replenish the reserves of oil for the points, with Adrian then staying in Alton to wait for Neil and Paul to arrive by South West Trains. Corina went down to North side crossing to do some marshalling, as the Alresford Rotary Club were doing a 10 mile fun run, the route of which crossed the track at this point. After 36 mad runners had crossed the line safely, she made her way back to Medstead to paint the 5 point oiling equipment cabinet doors which where brought down from Newbury the previous Saturday.
Adrian C, Neil and Paul went down to The Grosvenor Hut to start rebuilding the chimney.
where 8 courses of brickwork were laid during the course of the afternoon.
The fencing team made steady progress, but unfortunately due to the original post holes having been filled in and with a mixture of different sizes of fence post, the task took longer than planned.
They managed to plant all of the posts, but ran out of time to thread the wire through, as they had to catch the last service train back to M&FM; which very kindly stopped for them enroute from Alresford. This caused some amusement to fare paying passengers, when the loco took off with great gusto to get up the gradient. The re-wiring of the fence will be undertaken by the mid-week Pway gang on Monday/Tuesday.
Secondly a report from our Southern correspondent, the OS Mapman on the activities of the fishplate oiling gang........
The fish plate oilers (Eddie, Martin W, Brian Ha and I) loaded their cars with all the gubbins they needed and set off for Ropley. At the station, they were met by Jamie and his dad, Derek. From there they pushed the trolley out past MP 56, into a cold head wind, to pick up where the gang finished.
Typically, the first plate of the day proved the most stubborn, taking a great deal of hammering and prising to loosen it enough to get oil behind it. Thing got easier after that although the oil dispenser was temperamental. Achieving a nice, steady flow was difficult – a problem a lot of gentlemen of a certain age have (so I’m told) – with more oil going over boots than plates. The team persevered and by lunchtime passed Bighton bridge, working on the running line and the yard line, rolling stock permitting. We had to scrape ballast and crud away from the plates to get at them. They were treated to the sight of the shunter bringing the crane into the yard for coaling. All the while the 4MT, gleaming in the sun, smoked away, occasionally belching out clouds of filth which blew over the gang. They reached just inside the platform edge when the oil ran out. The challenge next week is to get through the station before traffic starts.
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