Easter Monday! Well, it's still a Monday so a gang of us wriggled out of our family commitments and laid some bricks. John O even signed in at 07.30, and out again at 08.30, after which we spotted him on a passing passenger train! I must say, the result is there, the first half of the long platform 2 wall is within 2-3 working days of coming to a conclusion, as far as brick laying is concerned.

John ' butters'  a brick

John laid a row of corbelling blues on the 80m section, and Tony backed him up. Enormous quantities of slushy brown ' muck'  were produced by Brian and splashed on the top layer, making it nice and smooth, ready to receive platform slabs. We now declare the 80m section finished!

John S is not happy with his ' muck'. Well, brick layers rarely are...

John S finished off the blockwork on the 100m section, another piece of work that swallows a lot of slushy 'muck' . In fact, to infill the gaps, the mortar has to be quite liquid, and with the lovely warm weather today, the mortar was going 'off' relatively quickly, leaving John S with a firm pile of it that he could no longer use. Back in the barrow it goes. Add water, stir it round, shovel it back out.

In the background we can see Bob busy on the 90m section. He laid two rows of blues there, and then moved on to the 100m section and laid a course of blue stretchers. The 90m section ended the day one course short of the corbelling course, so also nearing completion. Great!

Dinmore Manor trundles in to CRC

As today was an operating day with ' Easter Eggspresses' we got to see two train running, both steam. I'm afraid yours truly could not reist the temptation to wander off and take a few snaps, from positions not normally available (trackside, or on the platform 2 foundations).

I like the idea of an ' Eggspress', now how about a ' Brickspress' in honour of the brave gang from Broadway?

5542 also trundled in. Nice loco! John takes a moment to stretch his back, ahhhhhhh!

It's nice to see the trains (better than working alone, on a rainy day) but it does mean that once an hour we have to clear up and remove everything from the loop, so that the loco can get by while running round. They whistle as they approach, we stand up and acknowledge. It works well.
Here John S comes to the end of the blockwork course, after which he laid a row of red headers, and this last wall is now starting to rise.

This is what we do best! More tea, anyone?

At lunchtime, we got the chairs out and sat in the sun, watching the trains go by. When challenged, Dinmore Manor has quite a bark, as you can see here:
http://youtu.be/Vaemedj3Quo

' Working on the railway'

 I guess smaller engines have to work harder (no longer a Hall, but a Manor pulling the train) so the exhaust bark gets sharper. It was lovely to listen to.

Oi !!! Who did this?

 Things were going swimmingly, until Bob noticed that 'someone' had displaced one of his newly laid blues. A criminal offence, or should be. Hanging is too good for this individual, if we can find him. Ah - hum.

Dinmore Manor with its 7 coach train

At the end of the day, we had laid 700 bricks. A bit less than usual, but we were two brickies down, and one of our muck makers has gone off to Australia (no it's not the one that displaced Bob's brick, but it is a suitable fate for this individual). 80m section signed off, 90m section nearly up to corbelling, 100m section now above the blocks and rising.

Here is a picture of what we have achieved so far:

Taken near the end of the day (the work is covered up to prevent rain from getting in) it shows the 90m section in the foreground, and the completed 80m section, also covered up, in the middle distance. The remaining 70m stretch away into the distance. It looks really long now, doesn't it? The drain pipe placed last week is also just visible. One of the next jobs will be to cover this in pea gravel, then the back filling can start. We have located a source of suitable material, and are waiting for it to arrive.