Gareth has been pointing out for a while that a loading dock was a good idea. I had been resisting this on the grounds I didn't think one was needed what with two china clay dries on the layout. However, Gareth unfairly used both logic and prototype knowledge to undermine my case for glorious inactivity.

He noted that post WW1 sack traffic if moved by closed van (as was wont to happen in the BR period) couldn't be loaded as the dries platforms would be too high to allow the doors to on many closed vans to open. It was also pointed out that there was a great deal of photographic evidence for cask traffic to be loaded from a loading dock (although casks could also be loaded from some dries).

As can be seen in the picture of the Blackpool dries, casks are in the loading doors awaiting shipment.

If this wasn't enough, Gareth also pointed out a loading dock would also be useful for inwards stores for the China clay works - and maybe a lock-up for some description.

Clearly Gareth had been preparing well for his offensive. Clearly all I could do was give ground and try not to let the sulking be too obvious. Anyway, having granted Gareth permission to sing the 'I was right song'. We then had to decide how high the loading dock should be - the photographic evidence showing a large variation. In the end, after consulting many books (as a historian this is my default setting) the need for closed vans to be loaded or unloaded won out and we decided on sole bar height.

The area for the new dock was marked out and then carefully cut with a Stanley knife. After repeated attempts to get the Stanley knife through the scenery (God knows what we did to it when we put it down, the bloody stuff was almost bullet proof) we resorted to first a small chisel and gentle taps of the hammer, to a bigger chisel that was smote mightily with the hammer. Eventually we got down to bare baseboards and then started filling the whole back in with foam board to make the carcase of the new platform and ground contours.

Hopefully at the next work session we'll be able to finish roughing out the platform and get it fixed in place ready for painting and reinstating the scenery.