Saturday 3rd March

Despite the snowy weather in the preceding two days leading to the cancellation of the weekend's service trains, 9 members made it up to HQ for the usual 8am start. The main roads were mostly clear of the white stuff, with the trickiest part of people's journeys negotiating the Station Approach road, which was still covered in a compacted slippery layer.

The day started with five of the gang taking their biennial Personal Track Safety exam (all passed), while the others began refurbishing the supply of RNB6 track fastening components and making them up into sets, and Adrian N applied a coat of preservative to the replacement door for Northside View hut.

Following a break for breakfast in the Station Cafe at Alton, the return to base saw the refurbishment work continue, and also a general tidy up of the oil store and the adjacent stockpile of track materials. Corina, Keith H and Adrian N decided to build a snowman on the end of the trailer to the Wickham Trolley, or should I say a snow track-man who was dressed in a hi viz waistcoat and woolly hat, armed with a spanner and mug of tea, and dubbed as our new recruit Sid!

With the RNB fastenings refurbished, and the upper yard looking a lot tidier, the opportunity was also taken to move a pack of bricks which had long outstayed its welcome alongside the track materials area down to the lower yard, where the building groups materials are stored.