Civil's Week 1998

Civil's Week '98 - One of the major activities was the fabrication of two new turnouts. Most of the fabrication had been completed over the weekends prior to Civil's Week (as per Journal 125).

The photo shows the finishing touches being made to one of the turnouts. The large radial-arm drill in the RED shed is being used to drill holes for the olver bolts.

Rick Beton

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Another major activity of Civil's Week '98 was the replacement of the rails in the run-around loop in Porthmadog station. The photo shows rails being stacked under the gantry crane at Gelert's Farm Works. This made them easy to load onto the rail bolsters for delivery to Porthmadog station.

Behind the workers is the boiler of the NG15 locomotive. Piece by piece, this loco is being stripped down to its parts, which are then being restored to a useful condition prior to reassembly.

Rick Beton

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Porthmadog station, before the main track re-laying began.

Materials are being delivered to site using the rail bolsters and flat wagons, propelled by Simplex No.4 Anne-Marie.

The p-way works train stands in the loop (on the left), although the track in the loop is to be replaced over the following days.

Rick Beton

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Several days later, and much progress has been made. In this quiet moment of rest with far fewer people around, it is possible to see the nearly-complete turnout in the foreground and the timbers for the second turnout further on. The ground for the backshunt (left) still requires levelling at this time.

Rick Beton

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At the end of the week, Gelert is tentatively driven across the new trackwork for the first time. The new track is complete except for a few finishing-off jobs (connecting the point lever, connecting the buffer stops, and generally tidying up.) Since this photo was taken, the remaining work has been completed.

Rick Beton

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