At Ruddington some of the team have been working on greasing fishplates in the station throat, something that while unpleasant for those doing it, is essential for running of the railway. Some may wonder why you need to grease fishplates as they seem static and fixed. However, when rail heats and cools it expands and contracts and must have somewhere to go, hence the fishplates requiring grease.
Now for the second part of the title, in Ruddington station we have repainted one of our Locs, as it was looking rather tatty even though it sits in full view of the public. Several months ago, we received a luminaire for Hotchley Hill’s sign, it has now received two coats of blue paint and is looking fit to be installed when we are ready.
Also at H.H., we're eyeing-up the lever frame, or what remains of it. As mentioned before, the base of the frame is in good condition, having only been used for around 20 years since installation. It needs cleaning and painting. We have an extremely similar set of parts with which to build a usable frame, but the first step was to remove the old standards, that once rose to floor level. These were smashed by BR in the 70s, and we really cannot think of a use for them. Suggestions on the back of a postcard please!
Finally, the pulling part of the title. Some of our team, with assistance from the GCR at Loughborough’s S&T team have been pulling in cables in the Rushcliffe Halt area and at Fifty Steps. This will allow us to get internal communication and Signalling information between Ruddington and Rushcliffe Halt, a vital part of our plans.
