Back to CRC2, and a big gang today, with up to 10 people laying bricks and shutteling around with mortar and supplies. And the weather was great - warm and dry. Just like our sense of humour :-)

To start with today, a little warm up exercise at the beginning of the day to get us going - lift 20 sacks of cement @ 25Kg each and carry them into the container. Brian can do it running !

Next job - tote that bale, shift those pipes. Our supply of 100mm drain pipes lay in the way of the next bit of platform wall extension, so had to be moved one by one to behind the 110m section. We can't lay them out yet, because they would get in the way of the bricklayers' feet. And we had five bricklayers today. In the foreground of the picture above you can see the upright blues weighing down a line of corbelling just achieved on the 120m section.

Then - mix that mortar! Problem - the mixer was on strike. The electric motor went round OK, but the drum wouldn't. John O gives up in frustration; Brian and Keith decide to investigate.

A few minutes later John O comes to explain that the problem is fixed. Something to do with the cambelt. Fixed it with a stocking did you? Keith can't believe his ears. It's much too warm for stockings.

Then, some serious work. With the 5 brick layers on site, John O was under pressure to keep them supplied. We keep patting ourselves on the back how much shorter the distance is for the wheelbarrows, but it's still 100yds to push every time. On this picture, you can see pretty well what has been achieved over the last week, esp. after Bob and John had another secret session mid week. The 130m section looks pretty high here. In fact it ended the day ready for corbelling. So fast...

Here is Bob laying the last plain brick on the 130m section. In the background we've got Tony and Peter Q backing up the run of corbelling Bob did earlier.

Yes, the brick laying was so efficient today that we were asked to bring down some more bricks from above. I counted the remaining piles first thing, and there were 26 of them. Down from something like 60 (or 80, I have forgotten just how many we started with) and that includes the second hand bricks that we brought down from Broadway and manipulated on to the site. We shifted two pallets worth down to the next section of wall that will be built, about 1000 bricks in all.
We break open a pallet of reds, bring them to the edge of the embankment, hand them down to Brian, he puts them on the PWay trolley (which holds exactly one pallet full) and then we roll the trolley along to the site where they are most needed. Your scribe prefers to handle bricks by armfuls; Brian and Keith decided on throwing them, but an instant of inattention, and you get a brick in your ear. Just warning you, Keith ! That happy smile could quickly turn upside down.

Luckily it was Monday (for the trolley going up and down the loop) and there were no trains. Wrong! So wrong... Mid afternoon Dinmore Manor coasted in with a 4 coach special with photographers on board.

This has the (I presume) unintended effect of stopping all work while we gape in awe. But not everybody is so impressed.

Here John S calmly carries on unperturbed, pointing his recently laid brickwork, as the Manor rumbles around the station. Handy, those milk crates. You can stack them, and enjoy a stress free bit of pointing. Notice that we point behind the platform as well, in the bit that will be back filled. Very proud of our work, we are.

At the end of the afternoon, Dinmore Manor left again with its short train. Quite noisy too, for such a modestly sized engine. We carry on with our bricks.

We have now almost completed the 110 - 130m sections. 110m is signed off, 120m has two courses of corbelling laid, and 130m is up to corbelling. Sounds like a lot of corbelling to do next time then.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, a small team will be pegging out the next 2 - 3 sections, and will lay a few corbelling bricks. Next Monday we can lay more corbels, and start on sections 140m and 150m with a first row of blues and some concrete to even out the foundations.

Good progress today, well done chaps !