Hello to you all and I hope you are all staying safe and avoiding the worst of this terrible virus.
I am having to go to work still which is very strange and slightly disturbing at the same time. I have a very uneasy feeling every time I drive to London and while I am there. I tend to isolate myself on my train in my driving cab while in Paddington and only start to relax a bit when I begin the journey home to Devon. My wife is in one of the 'at risk' groups so she is isolating at home and leaving her and potentially bringing something nasty home from work is worrying. The arrival home involves stripping off my uniform and dashing off to the shower without touching anything. Probably too much information for some and I hope that doesn't give you nightmares.
I do have the benefit of not being out of work all of a sudden so every cloud and all that. My thoughts are with you all at this difficult time.
I have had a week off and with the fine weather I have been able to make a start on getting some ballast down. Progress is slow but satisfying. I am zooming along at a yard an hour with putting the ballast down, tamping it, shaping the ballast shoulder, wetting the ballast with a spray and then applying the glue. The glue in my case is SBR.
I am pleased with the results so far and the intention is to add some dark aquarium sand alongside to represent the cess. As if I didn't have enough to do.
Despite the frequent incursions into the flower beds made by the Chief Engineer the plants under the line seem to be doing well. The Yew has put on about 8" of growth in the first year and I hope for similar if not better this coming season. I have added Lonicera nitida and privet to other parts of the garden and hope that this will also do well.
The bridge over the path to the centre of the garden is now a proper lift out job and saves having to limbo under the line all of the time, much to the relief of the planning department and the Chief Treasurer. She's very grateful for me doing this and no longer minds that it took me nearly a year to get round to it.
The line has done two winters now and so far seems to be holding up well. There is some degredation to the edges of some of the boards so maybe painting them was not as beneficial as I had hoped. That said, the one and only running session this year back at the start of March was a great success with no problems with the running of trains. All in all things are going as well as I could hope.
Stay safe and keep well.
Keith
. I reckon we've used about 90 kg already, with about 1/3 left to do.
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