The McMullen Coal Company Light Railway

[APOLLO]

Bill Oddie was born in Rochdale and moved to Birmingham at an early age. Brilliant comedian & presenter.

 

Yes Wigan (council) are overboard and up their own ****s in their bouncy castle at Westwood these days, bring back the old local councils !! - (no chance).

 

Many years ago I went a couple of Friday nights to a folk music night at a pub in Westhoughton (the one on the corner opposite the church - can't remember the name - now gone). Not a particular fan of the music I only went along for the beer !!!

 

Brit15

[Owd Bob]

Think that pub has well gone now! Sure i remember a very young Bill Oddie in the original 'The Plank' film with Eric Sykes? I think he was in a pub and got pulled through a window? It's a blink and you've missed him moment! He's been seen in Leyth and at Pennington Flash many a time on his Bird watching trips.

[Owd Bob]

Destruction (or deconstruction?) has started today whilst it's still dry but just cool enough not to get too much of a sweat on, swmbo and i have started by taking all the lineside clutter, plants and some excess soil away from all along the full length back subsiding edge of the line nearest to the fence. Can't wait for the track lifting and then some sledge hammer swinging & smashing action tomoz' if the weather is still ok. 

 

[alastairq]

Is that a gate I spy lying on the roadbed? {I'd be snaffling that up for the spares box toot sweet       ]

[Owd Bob]

Is that a gate I spy lying on the roadbed? {I'd be snaffling that up for the spares box toot sweet        ]

Gates, Fences, Sheep Horses you name it! All have been chucked into an old plastic tub, anybody wants owt please let me know, there's a big clearout under way. 

[Owd Bob]

We managed to get the whole offending length of trackbed and the subsiding stretch of wall demolished yesterday, all the plants that were directly planted into the ground and all the rocks have been moved elsewhere and reused in a new rockery & bed formed on a recently vacated area after the departure of the Wifes Chickens. We managed to only break two blocks out of the two dozen we ripped up which we can now reuse at a later date.

The pit area will be sadly next to go as i'll need a lot more room to get any new curves into the same area in an effort to keep well away from the sinking corner area and to stay well away from the boundary fence. Most of the plants now left around the line and especially so in this area are planted in tubs and boxes and can be left stored at one side until a further use/place has been found for them on any new alignment. We need a few days to recover now before we can start on more deconstruction.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

A very prototypical deviation, caused by subsidence.  Hope it all goes well. 

 

I think I would prefer my garden if it had a railway in it, as it is it's just a source of hard work.

[77philg]

My sympathy mate take it easy don't go too mad and hurt yourself! phil

[Owd Bob]

Too late phil' cos' we just had another mad morning fettling along on the last metre we had left over to do from yesterday. Blame swmbo cos she was so keen this morn' to carry on with it  ..only cos she wants the mess tidying up asap!  We took the steps,rocks and plants out and started removing the soil, luckily having only troweled down a foot we found the old track bed that used to run to the canal basin which is all very solid & level and it's on the right alignment i needed for at least three metres before i need to curve it. So we've only got to re-lay the blocks along on top of it and put the plants, rocks and soil back in and built up against it this week according to 'Her' indoors.   You can see the old tunnel where it went into my old Greenhouse years ago! For now until the walls are back up we have left the old trackbed to re-use as future possible steps and a pathway.  

New alignment in White paint.

[Donw]

you have my sympathy for needig to do the work but you seem to be enjoying it so its not all bad and it looks like it will be very nice when done.

 

Don

[Owd Bob]

Cheers Don. Thankfully its still warm and dry so it helps a lot with the mind set and staying in a good positive mood so its all going ok and to plan for now, we are hoping to get a few bags of sand and cement today and then we can try and get some walls back up before the really bad weather comes again this Autumn/winter time, we are trying to get as much done as we  can before this weekend weather and health permitting.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Owd Bob

[alastairq]

 

2011-08-18 18.36.24.jpg

 

I sincerely hope you are going to be able to re-use that water tank??     [ A lovely bit of use-what's-there modelling]   

[Owd Bob]

I sincerely hope you are going to be able to re-use that water tank??     [ A lovely bit of use-what's-there modelling]   

Do you mean this Green one? If so i've no idea yet alastairq, it all depends how things work out as i go along.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Chin up Bob, fine work as always, garden railways are often subject to change as they're real railways but in miniature.

[Edwardian]

I wouldn't chuck owt out - I am sure it can and should be re-used on the re-configured line.

 

I am sorry that it has come to this, but I wish you all the best in the sure and certain hope that the line will be resurrected and achieve new glories.

[Owd Bob]

Thanks all for the support!  I'm sure we can get something done that looks like its actually going somewhere by the end of this week, as for all the buildings etc i'll see what happens when the track is in its new positions, i took a lot of pics' before i started the deconstruction just in case i broke some buildings. Some will need a repaint and a some will need repairing. Its been the coldest and warmest year since i started garden railway-ing about 12 years ago, and most buildings have survived very well. The old signs have started to fade and fall apart on the station buildings, ....like you say Martin...we have to continually battle the real probs' on our layouts.     

[PaulRhB]

I visited a line on Vancouver Island thanks to a friend over there and he had subsidence caused by the weight of his 'rockery mountain' !

His rendition of the Landwasser viaduct was two inches lower at the mountain end due the ground settling

Mind you bears and moose climbing over it didn't help either.

[Owd Bob]

Thats something worth me thinking about Paul, i'll go a lot easier with the heavy rocks along the fence and garden edge this time. Despite the wet start and the blustery drizzle yesterday we manged to get a full dry mix of concrete made and managed to lay a dozen blocks.  After removing more blocks Hoghton Chapel station is now left sitting completly and high and dry, we are planning to move and transplant the whole lot in one piece elsewhere on the line.   Just enough sand and cement left over to get the next row of blocks on top and this section finished today ......when it stops drizzling! 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Maybe more of a 'Chat Moss' approach would work?   You might need to refettle every now and then, but having the track 'floating' on a more flexible bed might ease the subsidence. 

 

It's been super dry where I am since May, but you can bet when it finally does rain again, boy will it rain!

[PaulRhB]

Or drive some deep piles into bedrock

[Owd Bob]

I don't think there is any bedrock around here its all be mined away A mornings mix has got me a bit further on , i'll be needing access into the far corner so i've left a gap and moved the bridge as it won't be needed in its original place anymore, its roughly set in its final position but chocked up level until the blocks have set. 

 

 

[Donw]

I visited a line on Vancouver Island thanks to a friend over there and he had subsidence caused by the weight of his 'rockery mountain' !

His rendition of the Landwasser viaduct was two inches lower at the mountain end due the ground settling

Mind you bears and moose climbing over it didn't help either.

 

not heard of any problems with moose or bears over here although a herd of cows that got through didn't do the the trackwork any good on John Wenlocks line. Neither did live 11Kv lines falling on to the track on David Meyrick's 0 gauge line. 

 

Don

[Owd Bob]

It's looking like a dry warm week O.R. and ideal for block laying and shed building, so hopefully we can both make some good progress this week. I'm just preparing a borrow full of  mortar to make another start.

[44690]

I thought your plan was to take it easy this week? Your progress certainly puts me to shame.

 

Ian

[Owd Bob]

I've had to do it that many times before Ian that i can now do it blindfolded,   the blocks and plants should be numbered and fitted with flippin' Skateboard wheels they get moved about that flaming much! Just come in for a brew and a break, one more barrow load of mortar mixed by 'Her indoors' later and i should have it nearly all joined back up into a connecting circle again by late this afternoon.... we seem to fly through it using the big blocks, they soon get you where you want to go ...