Wet Wet Wet - that's a pop group, isn't it? No it's not, it was what the CRC2 gang got today! The forecast was dire, but in fact we didn't do too badly, with steady drizzle for most of the morning, and more persistent rain only after lunch. 9 men attended.

So what did we do?

To start with, an opening shot from the other end. John O asked me to do this, so that people could see what we have done, and how far the coal face is now, from the point from which we started.
Can you see the little matchstick men in the distance?

We also had to dispose of a pile of surplus ballast on the Race Course side of the fence, in readiness for work to be done on the LC approach road.

Now that the heavy lorry traffic here has finished, the road and verges can be repaired.

Then the opening shot for the day. Because of the forecast of steady rain, we couldn't lay any blues, so John S and Tony concentrated on laying the blocks for the 170m section. Here you can see them, starting from opposite ends. Apparently, they would stop when their bottoms met in the middle... Derrick has brought down two barrows of muck, one for each.

That mortar...

I apologise for the lack of focus of this action picture... but John O had just filled the barrow nearest to the camera, when I pointed out, advice freely given, that it had a puncture. This is not what John wanted to hear! After much muttering, the second barrow in the picture received all the mortar poured into the first. The laying of blocks always requires a lot of brown.

Only a good hour or so later, John S and Tony had done it. Brilliant! The whole section now has its row of concrete blocks, and here you can see them start to fill them in with liquid mush, a job completed by lunch time.

We've had a request from the Race Course to shift our stock of back fill, piled high behind the signal box in their field. This means we have to start back filling, rather earlier than otherwise intended. To do this, we need to lay some drains, at least part way, so instead of laying facing bricks, JC and Bob put in about 30yds of pipe and boxed it in. This meant we had to start the 'Pea Gravel Train' again, and yours truly and Brian ran it up and down so that it could be bucketed into the boxed in section.

Here we can see the section already done, and Brian handing JC another bucketful. Meanwhile, Pete and Derrick were up on the old platform clearing it of rubble, which was thrown into the gap behind the wall. The site looks rather tidier now, leaving only the old platform slabs still to be removed or reutilised. The idea is to get the 1T dumpers back in with a mini digger, and back fill this area, possibly as early as next Monday.

Notwithstanding this non-brick laying day, Fairview came with a vast quantity of building supplies, which were unloaded in the drizzle and wind. Cold and wet for those standing on top of the lorry! We took a fresh supply of concrete blocks (trolleyed down to the 180m section, ready for use), two pallets of corbelling blues, two dumpy bags of ballast for concrete, and a pallet of cement. That will keep us quiet for a moment.

 Lunch time, and, oh joy, a kind spouse has passed on a large box of delicious Ferrero Rochers.

What to do with them?

The last job of the day was to move half a pallet of corbelling bricks away from their previous resting place next to the signal box, and lay them out in ready piles next to the section to be corbelled next.

This involved a chain of volunteers, moving the bricks from the pallet and on to the Pway trolley. Some say the job would have been done quicker if one volunteer hadn't kept stopping to take pictures ! Sorry, chaps.

But no pictures, no blog, so what do you want. Here are the piles ready for use, the next time we get a dry (-ish) day.

Now, the interesting subject of mice in our cabin.

Those of a delicate disposition, look away now....
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You looked, didn't you !

Yes, the trusty Little Nipper has caught two of them this time. High five! Peanut butter was the magic bait, works every time.
Bob has now brought a more modern rat trap (and I thought you couldn't invent a better mouse trap!) and we have set this too. Now awaiting developments with great interest. We will keep you informed. And the loose bars of soap (eaten up by said mice) have been replaced by liquid soap from a dispenser. Clever stuff.