An icy start today - the water butt had frozen over! First time this winter. This meant that we could not lay bricks immediately, as we wanted to wait until the sun had come out and warmed the site up a bit.

Our activities on site were intermingled with those of the PWay dept, who were reinstalling the level crossing. With all the rain and to-ings and fro-ings of the JCB, the area outside the container was one huge glutinous mess. Not to mention the challenge of a JCB parked outside the container, with a flat battery.

Mud, we don't care, we 'plough' on.

While waiting for the sun to dry the site, we decided to mix up some loads of concrete to launch the last of the current three sections in work, the 160m stretch. With the distance to the coal face getting ever shorter, we managed this in a relatively short time. Very pleasing to see that concrete going in.

In charge of the barrows were Tony and Brian, while John S was on hand with the trowel and the level to smoooooth things out. The front of the pour was secured by a line of blues laid by Bob last time, while the rear is a temporary row of blocks.

Next week then the block laying starts again. We are hoping for Peter Q to come down and help. Are you reading this, Peter? We need you ! You do it so well....

 As is now plain, the level crossing had been stripped out, and this left Fairview chomping at the bit with 5tons of sand, and no way of getting across the tracks to dump it. We secured another entrance for him, off the main road and across the field. Have sand, will deliver, is Fairview's motto.

 Then John C reversed his truck up to the container, to deliver a pallet of quick drying cement. A bit like the 7 dwarfs in their mine, a line of volunteers quickly formed to carry the bags, shoulder high, from truck to cabin.
We got through a vast quantity of paper bags from the cement, which your scribe was eventually requested to incinerate. By inserting a couple of broken bits of pallet into the fire and it being a very damp day, a considerable cloud of white smoke ensued, which enveloped the brave 3 building the level crossing. Bad idea! A bucket of water, well aimed, cured that problem, and happiness soon returned.

Here is an overview of the current state of play. Bob is putting a row of blues on the 150m section, while the others are putting down a lot of reds on the 140m and 150m section, to keep up with him. In the distance we can see John C on corbelling - the second row on the 130m section. One more, and we can tick this one off - see the end of this report for a handy tool for our readers!

Elsewhere at CRC, the diggers were still working on the cutting side. They have now removed a considerable quantity of clay, and eased the slope. That work appears to have been completed.

During your scribe's site inspection, they were digging a drainage channel along the bottom of the slope, to relieve the pressure on the slagstone wall at the foot. Amusing was how the mini digger, working on an extremely slippery slope, was attached to the arm of one of the large diggers on the platform at the top of the slope via a strap, rather like a young dog on a leash. With hand signals, the mini digger was then hoisted up, down and along as the ditch progressed. Neat !

Due to a minor finger injury (one should not play throw the stick with Cerberus without thick gloves) your scribe is now somewhat hampered for a couple of weeks, which accounts for the larger than average number of pictures on this posting - my camera finger is one of the ones still working fine, thank you. So here is a shot of the works, in the full mid-day sun, showing John C corbelling on the 130m section, Tony and John S laying reds on the next two sections, and Bob running a row of blue facers down the 150m section. Behind him, the concrete is drying on the 160m section, and in the distance we can see work progressing on the new level crossing.

Here is a shot of Steve Warren lowering a new concrete element into the centre of the trackbed. At the end of the day, they had laid about three quarters of these elements, with the rubber inlays still to follow. Pretty good progress, with only 3 men on site. Does the signal box remind you of the one in the wooden Brio set, or is it my imagination?

Looking the other way, the coal face looks rather distant.... is that really all we've done? The barrow is standing next to the end of the 160m section, so that is just 50m to go (or 60m, depending on who you ask). Two lots of three, and we are there! Then back for drain laying, the infill, ducting, lamp posts et al.

One final look at the end of the work site, with John S filling in with reds, and Brian in charge of a barrow of mortar. We sure got through a load of that today!

And then here is the promised gadget for our readers who want to follow our progress. Bob very kindly made up this chart, which shows all the different sections involved in 220m of new platform wall, and the dates that we have completed each one so far. Now you too, dear reader, can follow us, and fill in each section. With only one more row of corbelling to go on the next, 130m section, you may be able to fill the next line in by this time next week, if the weather plays ball. Enjoy!