With the weather being both warm and dry, two of us headed down to Hotchley Hill, with the primary aim of clearing-out the old relay room, and removing the last of the electrical installation.
The first job was to remove the length of 1" steel conduit that ran just above head-height, carrying power wires from the box to the pole adjacent. We suspect this was being used as a way to climb up onto the terrace area above, so as well as tidying up that side of the box, removing it should discourage vandals a little.
Outside, a hacksaw made reasonably short work of the rusted conduit, and some wire snips tidied up the phone wires that were raggedly flapping around the pole. Inside, the conduit was still in excellent condition, and could be simply unscrewed from the wall. Referring to the photo, note how the original installers ran it down to the board at a skewed angle!
After shifting a few stored items out of the relay room, we proceeded to remove the old wooden boards that once held ceramic fuses and links. These were taken back to Ruddington, where cleaning and repainting them can be added to the queue of 'rainy day' jobs. Removing some of the redundant batons from the wall, we found patches of LNER pale green paint from the building's original colour scheme. On the exposed parts of the wall, this had all been overpainted in white or cream by BR, only for both layers to flake-off with age.
Looking upwards, we finished-off removing the old ceiling by pulling out all the nails that held up fibreboard panels. The panels had been completely sodden, but the batons that they were attached to seem remarkably good, except for one corner, where rainwater has been directed into the room. There, the wood has the same consistency as a kitchen sponge!
Outside, one of us ran a shovel along the ditch, to clear-out debris that had accumulated in recent storms, and the other attached a "Caution CCTV" sign to the gate protecting the locking room. While, for the moment, the only CCTV is that installed by British Gypsum across the line, staff there do keep an eye on the signalbox, and have alerted the railway to nocturnal visitors on multiple occasions. For this we are very grateful. Of course, the sign is mainly there as a deterrent, so if you do happen to be friends with any of the little angels in East Leake, please don't tell them there's no CCTV in the signalbox. I know I can rely on the internet to keep a secret!
We didn't find any old glass milk bottles today. Don't worry, though - while cleaning out the ditch, a flash of green caught our attention, buried deep in the weeds. On further inspection, this turned out to be nothing less than a plastic milk bottle, presumably rather more recent. We let it be, for the moment, as there was a mystery iron bar holding it in place.
Having worked until sunset, we packed up and returned to Ruddington, where we admired work on the north door of the operating room. Now that we know it fits the frame, this has been rubbed-down, and primed, ready for a coat of Eastern Region blue. We hope to keep up steady progress on refurbishing the steel doors and windows, with an eye to glazing in the spring.
Next Saturday will be the second of the month, so is pencilled-in as a tidying-up day at Ruddington. We'll be moving things that are less immediately useful to us into long-term storage, freeing up space for delicate electrical equipment under cover.
