The shorter siding with the new route under to the new soakaway seen alongside the wheelbarrow
Hi , despite the rubbish cold, very, and wet weather last Saturday, we managed to get quite a lot done. John, Ben, Peter and Richard did some gardening ‘tidying up’ and with the help of a mechanical digger, (well driven by Ben) extended and backfilled the new soakaway from the storage shed water tank out into the tree belt. (Previously we had shortened and straightened the track coming out of the back of the loco shed, so its just long enough for a loco to stand alongside the water tank.)
Meanwhile, Keith, Kevin and Brian did some more work on the Shay, forming an aperture (posh word for hole !) in the boiler top under the rear dome, that will enable us better access to fit the exhaust, and worked out a method of running the exhaust back into the boiler to the silencer enabling the exhaust to be emitted out of the chimney as before. We also established that the belt drive from the hydrostatic unit under the Loncin can be the same as the original so a new one can be obtained.
