Another very productive weekend at Apedale has seen significant progress on two fronts. Firstly, an elite team has been working on finishing off the station building interior; it is most important to us that this looks as good as possible. This will be, both figuratively and literally, our shop window - the first point of contact the public has with the Trust. Secondly, a slightly less elite team has been working on the pit project. This has included using skip wagons and locos to move fill material from elsewhere on site. As you can see, the track layout includes another Point to Certain Oblivion - these have been something of a feature of the Apedale track layout over the years - but they are always there for good reasons. The photos show some of the Civil Engineering gang, who gave their names as Raymond Throat-Wobbler Mangrove and Jethro Q. Walrustitty. Or at least that's what I wrote down. Using these wagons as God intended has given us a bit of an idea for the September Gala. Keep watching this space. Get in touch here.

It's been a very productive weekend at Apedale. Rather cynically, it was decided that the unseasonally warm weather is unlikely to last much longer, so everything with untreated water in it was drained.This has probably raised the local water table level by a about a foot, which may provoke complaints from our mining colleagues at the Heritage Centre. The first track was laid on the made-up land which leads to the site of the inspection pit, and a loco was duly parked thereon. The voices of doom expected the loco to sink into the mire, never to be seen again. However, the mire seemed rather unresponsive today, and precisely nothing happened. If there's one thing we're good at it's making sure that nothing happens. The more well-informed may wish to note which locomotive was used for this little piece of exploration. I'll tell you more about that when I get another moment. Get in touch here.