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Richard posing with a shovel
🛤 New line taking shape ?>

🛤 New line taking shape

Some good progress was made on Sunday 19th August as two panels of track (complete with ballast) were laid from the new set of points towards the inspection pit next to the container. The rail is of a heavier section than the usual 35lb/yd found on the rest of the railway — it matches the track on the line towards the container — so putting a slight curve into the second section using the Jim Crow was quite challenging.

The next section of track to be laid will go straight through the current pile of ballast, but we should use most of it on this new section so hopefully not too much double-handling will be necessary.

NAMHO visitors 2018
🌞 Summer Update ?>

🌞 Summer Update

Due to the hot weather and volunteers taking time off for other activities, there has been no major progress to report during the months following the Spring Open Weekend.

The National Association of Mining History Organisations (NAMHO) Annual Conference was held in the Forest of Dean from 1st to 3rd June 2018. Delegates had the choice of attending a series of lectures or signing up for one or more trips to various mines around the Forest. On the Saturday and Sunday of the event, we welcomed two different groups for a rare underground visit into the mine. Our visitors were also able to watch a demonstration of rock drilling by Richard with his Holman Silver 3 rock drill which produced some loose rock to be shovelled up by the Eimco 12B.

A view looking into the mine
A view looking into the mine

Work has continued on ballasting the new track and points and at the time of writing this post was almost complete. There is more track to be laid onto the old mine tip to link up with the isolated track section where the Eimco 24 is parked. This will use up the remaining ballast pile.

Ballasting the track
Richard ballasting the track