Work on the access path for our proposed platform at Bond Lane has been completed for now. The path will be left to settle for a few months before the handrails and top surface is added. Also at Bond Lane volunteers have cleared and strimmed the roadside grass verges around the bridge and alongside the road to Cuffins Pit Lane some 70 metres away. This was done to tidy the area and to create a safe walkway for users of the Leicestershire Round footpath, which passes along Bond Lane at this point. Walkers can now walk along the grass verge instead of having to walk along the road itself.
Work is also underway at Bond Lane, courtesy of Mountsorrel quarry, to repair the drainage problem which is delaying the ballast laying along the final section of the trackbed. We hope to have this problem resolved within the next few weeks.
We are in discussion with Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate with a view to gaining their approval for the design and location of the halt at Bond Lane. We hope to have some good news to report very soon.
Volunteers have also made a start on the annual program of strimming the trackbed shoulders and trimming back the hedgerows. Good progress has been made over the last two Saturdays with over 600m of trackbed trimmed and cleared. This work will continue throughout the autumn.
Our small team of volunteer surveyors have been at work plotting out the exact route of the track near to the junction with the Great Central Railway. This is in preparation for the next phase of track laying which will extend our length of track by an additional 100-200m depending on funds and availability of materials. Please donate to our track appeal! We hope that track laying will proceed towards the end of this year or early next.
Railbus work continues to make progress with the construction of a temporary frame which will allow the chassis to be wheeled out from under the body of the vehicle. The chassis will then be rolled into a near by work shop allowing work to progress on the mechanics overall of the vehicle. The railbus team are on the look out for volunteers with both welding and mechanical skills to help with the restoration work. If you have these skills and can spare a few hours of your time, please get in touch with the railbus project leader Stephen Mellor.
The Mountsorrel Railway project is pleased to be teaming up with Loughborough University to allow their students the chance to undertake a whole raft of different voluntary work with the project. These tasks could include the repair and repointing of the bridge at Bond Lane, vegetation maintenance, lineside fencing repairs, surveying and plotting out, platform construction, railbus restoration and various aspects of ecological work, including possibly the continuation of our junior ecology sessions with local children.
This coming weekend September 25th/26th, our volunteers will be taking the project stand to the annual Soar Valley Model Railway Club exhibition in Loughborough. If you are visiting the exhibition please drop by our stand to say hello.
We round the update off with an appeal for both additional volunteers and donations to the project. Our work can only continue with your support so please come and lend a hand or donate, all amounts large and small will be gratefully received and put to very good use. For further details please contact George Overton.
