Joined the Old Kiln Light Railway permanent way work gang yesterday to do some closed-season maintenance up at our Mills Wood loop. Two of our wagons (ex-RAF C104 and C50) that we used to haul the ballast up from the other end of the line: empty here, standing ready to be hauled back down to the yard. There’s another flat bed wagon behind them.

I got my first (supervised) experience of driving a train (as opposed to just a loco) after lunch, using Hunslet no. 36 Champion to propel these wagons up with a load of ballast, and then haul them back down to the yard after we’d packed up for the day. Couldn’t take any photos of that myself, naturally.

Besides the driving I learned how to grease fishplates, replace sleepers, pack ballast, check and adjust track alignment, gauge and camber (level), and secure rails to the sleepers with dog spikes. Oh, and the important difference between a spade and a shovel! Hard work but most rewarding.

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