Last week, we fetched a load of 9" concrete cable troughs from storage at Fifty Steps. These are now in!
While digging ballast is our second-favourite activity, persuading these troughs to lie straight is a surprisingly cerebral task. For one thing, the concrete castings are never exactly square. Neither are the ends of sleepers, and in this case we had to negotiate the extended timbers supporting the grey "power pack" drives for two hydraulic points.
We discovered the remains of some MOD poured concrete below the ballast, and what looked like the water-table! Luckily both are deep enough not to be a problem. We finished the job by dusk, except for the last piece, which will have to wait until the chamber it leads into has been cleared. Overall, a good day's work.
Next week, there are a few more jobs in the same vein, although less neatly defined. It's slow, but will make life much easier when it comes to wiring everything up.