31st December 2009

We now have all 3 West side doors on the CCT hung from their runners. A lot of the metal strengthening plates have been attached, as have the handrails. All the precast concrete base sections of the BR hut have been moved (dragged across the snow) to the corner of the paddock where they will be sited. More type 1 aggregate has been moved also ready for the new hut to be re-erected on. The snow is still melting but new flurries are now appearing so who knows what will happen overnight.
May I finish by wishing you all a Happy New Year.

26th December 2009

Well I made it out for Christmas and now we are back. Further snow has come down between my visits but it is now melting. Everything is still very pretty but the roads are poor. If you want to see the station and the Moors covered in a blanket of snow, visit us by train this week.
I hope you all had a Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

20th December 2009

Not much done this weekend except dealing with snow – lots and lots of it. Saturday morning there was 6” to clear off the station, plus the points at each end ready for the train services. After this we managed to get the three doors top-coated plus some works in the cottage (it was warmer inside). Temperatures did not get above -5º C all day. Saturday evening we were meant to go to Goathland for the railways’ Christmas Dinner but we gave up at the Hole of Horcum as the road was too bad. We got back to Lockton where we were kindly put up for the night by Ken and Jennifer as the road to Levisham was impassable. This morning it was shank’s pony back to Levisham for an 8.30 sign on in the signal box. Over night a further 6” of snow had fallen which made walking back ‘interesting’. Both platforms and points also needed cleaning again. I am now stuck here for the night as the car cannot get up the hill. I am covering the first and last part of tomorrows signalling shift to save another person coming down and getting stuck (he will come up on the train). Hopefully I will be able to get the car out during the day.

14th December 2009

Well it has been a delivery week at the station. We now have 20 tonnes of stone in the yard for the paddock base, plywood for the CCT doors, cement and sand for winter work and roofing felt for the shed! The hole we dug in the paddock has now been mostly filled with gravel, separated from the clay with a membrane. We even remembered to provide a duct for the power supply in the hut.
Our CCT doors are now structurally complete and we have begun fitting the steel handles and strengthening plates. A lot more steelwork has been cleaned down and painted ready for installing back on these doors.
We have spent Monday down in Pickering moving the final section of the archives, together with all the heavy cupboards over into the Train of Thought building. A lot of the material is delicate and we were fortunate in completing the job just 15 minutes before the rain arrived.

6th December weekend update

After Repton graced our yard last weekend it was the turn of 76079 this week. It hadn’t failed though, it was just stabled until 45212 had run round its Santa train.
This did involve pushing a wagon up the headshunt and back again!
The excavation for the hut in the paddock has now been completed and what a wet, muddy job it has been. All we need now is 20 tonnes of stone to provide a level base!
The remaining three CCT doors are now complete and await their final coats and adjustments. Once they are in place then we can begin attaching all the steelwork which doubles their weight.
The Christmas lights have appeared again, including our big ‘W’ and very pretty they look in the dark.