A report from our Southern correspondent, the OS Mapman...........
Spring has arrived and a young P-way man’s thoughts turn
to lurve – the love of fish plate oiling that is! As the inspection teams set
off the oiling team dragged out a trolley, Cembre, oil applicator and other
tools and accoutrements associated with the task. Things got off to an
inauspicious start trying to get oil into the dispenser (school boy error) and
then trying to get it out as a smooth flow. Being a considerate bunch, we decided
not to upset the neighbours too much and started just outside the station
limits, planning to return at 10 for a cuppa and then work through the station.
Progress was good with the team quickly settling into an effective routine. There
were a couple of plates we couldn’t shift as they were under too much tension. We
returned to the station where Tony and Keith H set about stripping the
applicator and flushing it with some dodgy looking pink stuff.
In the meantime,
the other applicator was pressed into service. With the track inspection teams
returning and the arrival of Keith B and Martin W we had two teams to oil
through the station. Unfortunately, the Cembres started playing up. The casing
with the choke fell off one. Another kept losing power. The other kept shearing
pins as the socket was too worn. We muddled through completing the station and
after lunch headed back down Lymington Bottom to carry on where we left off. Again,
both teams worked well – power tools permitting - but by half three, with our
supply of pins spent, we called it a day.
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