Before heading down to Hotchley Hill this week, we took a couple of small diversions to help out at Ruddington. First, to clear-up the carpet of soggy leaves deposited on platform 1 by overhanging trees. With the substantial area to sweep, this is definitely a job for many hands.
Then, we freed up a good deal of space in the metalworking bay by wheeling out our new signal-post onto the platform. This will carry a position-light signal to control movements out of the platform headshunt. While it might be more conventional to put it on the ground, we realised that doing so would make it impossible to see from the cabs of some larger locomotives! A few of our number stayed at Ruddington in the afternoon to dig out a hole for the concrete base to which the post will bolted-down.
Then, after an early lunch, we headed down to Hotchley Hill in the van. Last time, we finished the laborious task of restoring the drainage channel away from the building. There has been a lot of rain over the last fortnight, so we were anxious to see whether the ditch had held up and done its job. Thankfully, we found all was well, apart from one small mudslip, where a rabbit had decided to dig a hole in the bank.
Now, you might think that rectifying that would be the work of a few moments with a shovel, and it was, but guess what? While putting the ditch to rights, we found even more bottles! Three of them, and two jars, to be precise. Two of the bottles look suspiciously like they contained spirits. Surely no railway employee would have been drinking on duty?
Next, we had another go at unscrewing the valences which cover the rails for the operating floor's sliding windows. Despite being armed with freshly-ground screwdrivers that fit the machine-screws exactly, we found that the screw-heads deformed before they turned! We shall have to return prepared to drill them out.
After that, we spent some time working on the possibility of displaying some of our finds in the cabin at Rushcliffe Halt. We have been generously given a small glass-fronted display case, but that leaves the question of what to put in it. Three-dozen milk bottles wouldn't, in themselves, make a very interesting museum exhibit! We selected a few of the (hopefully) more interesting and representative items, and took them away for cleaning somewhere with plumbed water. (Pictured, but it isn't all tableware!)
We shall be a bit thin on the ground next week, so effort is likely to be concentrated at Ruddington, on the above-mentioned signal post.
