With the weather becoming drier, we thought today would be a good opportunity to cut our way along the foot of the embankment, and investigate the culvert into which water from the signalbox should eventually drain. This is meant to be a three-way confluence directing flow under the field, away from the railway. While you can often hear the water running, it has long been hidden behind a mass of vegetation. Happily, this was much less bad than it could have been, as we found at least two small trees' worth of logs and dead branches piled up in the ditch from clearance efforts a few years ago. These were pulled out of the way, and should soon be disposed of.
After hacking a path through the jungle, we found a robust GCR blue-brick arch, where drains from the gypsum works emerge from under the railway. This was predictably caked in gypsum residue - so Matt, our latest recruit, enthusiastically set about breaking it away. This released small torrent of muddy water that had backed-up inside the culvert.
Meanwhile, the railings on the north end of the box received a second coat of Oxford Blue paint, and we continued to dig away at the concrete channel that would run from the back of the building into the culvert, were it not buried under two foot of ballast and ash.
One of our number also began chipping away at the rails set into the concrete pan at the front of the box. These are meant to support timbers, onto which cranks and pulleys were bolted. The rails are quoted as "old" on the 1946 plans, so it is hardly surprising that they are a bit rusty. Before we can replace the timbers (making the place a bit safer in the process) all the loose rust needs to be chipped off, and a protective coating applied.
With all that digging, we turned up the usual assortment of historical artefacts (Do I mean 'worthless junk'?) that were thrown away in the last century, including a large portion of the kitchen sink, and half a china teacup.
In between all that, we spent some more time scratching our heads over the best way to get mains electricity to the box, and trying to work out where the water supply comes in, having recieved a tip-off eariler in the week.
My thanks again to Matt, who made himself exceptionally useful throughout the day.
