A frozen foggy morning, and an excellent turn-out from the massed forces of the Loughborough and Ruddington S&T departments. The collaboration is very much welcomed by both groups, as well as being essential to greater unification down the line.
Our mission: To thread five hundred yards of optic-fibre cable through the network of ducts and chambers under the Ruddington Fields site. This will allow a substantially improved system of CCTV cameras to be commissioned, guarding more of the site against intruders.
We started out well, pulling cable through from the gatehouse, through one chamber and the next to the childrens' play area, and then into No.1 shed, to be connected to the comms room.
After an early lunch, we made a start on the longer run, all the way along platform 1 to the signalbox. We found this rather more challenging, as the chambers get progressively deeper along the run, and the duct is relatively small. Still, after extracting a few errant roots, making use of the rodding set, and applying a little blunt force, we succeeded. As night fell the last few metres of cable were coiled-up in the new brick chamber outside Ruddington Fields signalbox.
This leaves the little job of bringing it in on cable tray to the racks at each end. To be continued!
