At Brechin, the Princes Trust
project has been completed, and the lamp room is now usable (below left). We
also have a new garden alongside platform 1, (below right) which is a vast
improvement on the untamed brambles previously gracing the bank.
01/03/2004 Below left; Blair Winton begins to sand down the side of new arrival 25072 in preparation for a quick cosmetic coat of paint. By the end of the day one side of it was in primer and ready for undercoating. Below right, a view over the Strathmore Sidings at sunset, with the main line to Brechin curving off to the right. Note the warflat wagon (behind the crane) loaded with recently refurbished track panels, ready to be laid at the Arrat Crossing track relay.
Click here for this week's shot of Nairn
Goods shed.
27/02/2004
More inclement weather at Brechin today
24/02/2004
New arrivals (below)- 25072 arrives for restoration under the auspices of the CRDG. More information on their website.
18/02/2004
Nairn Goods shed foundations taking place today -
click for photo.
17/02/2004 Spring cleaning: Brechin station has been receiving attention recently, taking advantage of the unseasonably good February weather! The doors of the 1848 wing have been sanded, filled and painted (right) by the work parties from HMP Noranside. Below, volunteers from the Princes Trust are seen carrying out renovation work today (Tuesday) on the long-disused lamp room, a brick built bothy situated on platform 1 at Brechin. The plan is to transform it into a second retail outlet for use at busy times such as "Thomas" weekends.
Elsewhere on the line, the Caledonian Railway Diesel Group are making good
progress with their fleet, as Blair Winton reports on their
website.
25083: "This
week we replaced various pipes and banjos around the governor, after painting
them in the appropriate colours. We had to anneal several copper washers to make
sure they would seal. A new flexible oil hose with crimped-on ends was
manufactured by RHS 'If its not metric, it should be' Hydraulic
components ltd, which meant that two new unions had to be made to accommodate
the metric pipe ends."
37097:
"This week seen the engine being de-seized, after someone had the courage to
attempt to work in the cramped hell-hole which was the water pump area. One of
the water pumps had found to be extremely seized, which meant that the whole
engine had been locked solid. the suspect water pump was dismantled and
violently struck with a piece of wood several times whilst the engine was being
barred over. After the engine was free, we put on the lubricating pump and
turned it several rotations, by which time it was very free.
"
09/02/2004
A good volunteer turnout on Saturday saw us lift Peckett #2084 from its
wheelsets (left), and an illustrated report of this activity can be found
here. Down at Dun, CPMS have poured the
concrete foundations for Nairn goods shed (see below) and are now off site for a
week while the concrete sets. A delivery of 300+ brand new sleepers on Saturday
meant the pway gang have been able to set about the Arrat re-lay in earnest.
I have begun to add
anecdotal histories of the steam locos to the stocklist.
If anyone can help out with further details, please do email.
03/02/2004
Work on Nairn Goods Shed started yesterday, with the site marked out and the
foundations dug. The building's footprint can now be seen from the road Bridge
at Dun (left). Meanwhile, The track gang have been busy refurbishing panels at
Bridge of Dun, ready to lay them at the site of the latest track relay at Arrat
crossing (below).
The
Caledonian Railway Diesel Group Website is now updated weekly with technical
reports on progress with diesel restoration.
29/01/2004 A selection of pictures taken today following yesterday's
snowstorms. Clockwise from left; D5314 in platform 3 at Bridge of Dun with an
engineer's train, another view of D5314 from track level, Brechin station under
a thick carpet of snow and azure skies and the entrance to platforms 2 & 3 at
Bridge of Dun.
28/01/2004
Under a layer of snow, the 1848 wing is now completely empty and Angus College
are now ready to start on the transformation of its interior.
At
Bridge of Dun, the pway gang have begun to refurbish the latest 18 panels of track lifted from
the line at Arrat (more help welcome, 10am on Sundays!) and in Brechin shed Mike
Thompson's Peckett "F.C.Tingey" (Or 'Percy'!) has had its inside motion
dismantled ready for lifting. New lights have been installed in the shed over
the last few weeks, vastly improving the working conditions.
Above: Brechin station pilot 12093 outside the engine shed
in the midst of a blizzard, and the 1848 wing awaiting restoration.
22/01/2004
Lots of interesting developments on the railway over the last week or so. We
have finally gained planning permission to start on the restoration of the 1848
wing of Brechin station. This building is the original part of the station from
the line's opening (the facade facing Park Road was added 1898 for the opening
of the Forfar and Edzell lines) but has remained an empty shell, devoid even of
a floor, for the best part of 20 years. The building has now been cleared of 30+
years of accumulated tat, and Angus College's Construction Department students
are to begin works on the building as the practical part of their studies. This
is great news, and will see the formation of a cafe, kitchen, toilets and
caretaker's flat in the buildings.
Elsewhere, the track has been lifted from Magdalen Chapel to Arrat Crossing ready for the next re-lay. The scavenging department have been very busy of late and have managed to acquire a substantial amount of mild steel railings for use around the railway. These came from the Mid-Links park at Montrose, and we reckon there is approximately half a kilometre of them - if anyone is looking for railings then send an email and we might be able to spare some!
12/01/2004
Your webmaster has been AWOL from the railway over recent weekends so there are
no new photos to display. However, the website is now fully up to date for 2004
(see timetable and fares) and now has its own
jigsaw! Jed Scott's impressive
fotopic site has been
updated with pictures of some diesel restoration action from the weekend just
gone.
04/01/2004 Over the Christmas holiday the pway gang have been busy relaying the shed road points at Brechin with fresh crossing timbers. CR Diesel Group volunteer Jed Scott has created a new webpage for his photographs, including many taken at Brechin recently. Click here for a link.
This picture (left) taken by Jed shows Mike Watson, Steve Pegg and David Crabb hard at work.