If there is one lesson which I for one have learnt from building the Apedale Valley Light Railway, it is to not under-estimate that amount of ballast which needs to be deployed. We have recently completed a rather elegant series of sweeping curves, and it was apparent that we needed to ballast this as soon as possible such that the railway will hold its form. We have been employing the centre-discharge ballast wagon loaned to the Moseley Railway Trust by the Golden Valley Light Railway, and this does a fine job at dropping stone between the running rails. However, forming the shoulders on each side of the rails is equally, if not more, important. Until recently, this has been a slightly fraught process using two small side-tipping skip wagons. However, we now have another ballast wagon on load - this time a specialist side discharge wagon. This one has been loaned to the Trust by Graham Lee and his team at the Statfold Barn Railway - a big public thank you to Graham. The ballast trains have been shuttling back and forth along the railway, dropping tons of stone. It's beginning to look like a mighty fine railway - all that remains now is to tamp it all into place. So, if you fancy a bit of a tamp, get in touch here. And don't forget, you will get a chance to come along to the Open Days in 2009 - see here - and see all we have done.
