Lakeshore Railroad

 As a yearly operation, we try to clear the leaves gathered round the track mid shed as to prevent wheel slip and any build up in locomotive wheel sets. This year, we took a far more serious and heavy approach to the leaf problem. Rather than a one man band with an engine and a tipper taking on the job, Ryan, Rhys and Matt did it whilst Liam ran the service. Not having Rockclimber at the railway (engine change) meant that Adiela was employed to ferry the leaves back and forth. Boathouse was the first section cleared, normally being one of the worst for leaves, using a tipper for the leaves plus the one plank wagon and the new temporary flat bed as tool carriers/man riders. Walkie talkies were used to communicate between the service and the PWay train, letting the PWay train know when the service was leaving and the service know when they had cleared the section.

The leaves were initially tipped into the bushes beside the point for No 1 and 2 roads but this eventually filled up to the extent that we had to stop and push them further into the bushes. Rhys found an old length of track in the left hand shed and, using this and the temporary turntable, we layed a temporary track into the bushes, along which we could run a tipper to dump the leaves. This was aprehended for doing the High Curve section, which we managed to clear before closing time, by which time it was very dark. The temporary track (nominal Road No 9) has been left in place for clearing Tadpole Cutting on Friday.