A remarkably dry and sunny Saturday down at Apedale saw a good turnout of the Moseley Railway Trust's finest for a serious unglamourous job. There's no way to dress this up. The Drains. Specifically, the drains which will ultimately take water from the roof of the museum and into a storage tank, thence to replenish the steam locos. This is obviously a bit pointless, because the steam locos will then boil it, make it into water vapour and chuck it back into the atmosphere, from where it will land on the roof of the museum. One of the many advantages of diesel traction. But we digress. The drains are a critical part of the museum project. The race is now on to prepare the site for the Tracks to the Trenches event - September 12,13 & 14. The museum base needs to be concreted to provide valuable siding space, and the area to the north of the museum will become the fan of track from which the New Field Railway will head off into the wild blue yonder. The drains are Important and Urgent and Critical Path and lots of other things with capital letters. So, many of us spent the day shovelling, barrowing, sawing, levelling and the like. The fleet of wheelbarrows was augmented by two Visiting Wheelbarrows, making for a veritable Wheelbarrow Gala. Next time we do something like this, we really must advertise it in advance. So, after getting 20 tons of gravel shifted during the course of the day using three wheelbarrows, many went home for a Radox Bath. If Network Rail are reading this, we are open to invitations to come and have a go at Dawlish sea wall. Finish the job a week on Tuesday, if that's OK? Network Rail (and everyone else) can get in touch here
