Well, another New Year has begun and best wishes to all and to the Watercress Line for another exciting year of events.
At the end of last year, the Building Department teams were engaged with several behind the scenes task in setting up for the successful Steam Illuminations and Father Christmas Express events. The cabins at Alresford were erected again (and disassembled after the event) and many maintenance jobs were carried out along the line to ensure that the buildings and their services were in top form to provide an enjoyable visit over the festive period.
The Department also created a new sign for the Father Christmas event in the new format whereby the Beer Junction at Ropley was transformed into the Present Junction. The building was the point where visitors could collect their Christmas presents after travelling from Alresford on the Father Christmas Express during the stop-over at Ropley. Many visitors also rode on the Christmas themed miniature railway and saw the other attractions at the station before riding back to Alresford. The sell-out event was well received and many happy children and parents/grandparents had a very enjoyable festive visit.
Also, at Ropley we have now installed the new fencing panels in front of the T Junction that were mentioned being fabricated in a previous blog. Steel poles were driven into the ground over which the fence posts were placed. This method gave a firm support to the fence in this busy area of the station when visitors are being served at the refreshment cabin. The panels are also a great improvement on the crowd barriers previously temporarily in place following the remodelling of the picnic area and made the space more attractive for visitors viewing the event trains from this vantage point.
The New Year has seen work commenced on replacing the boarding on the footbridge at Alresford. Some boards were replaced quite a few years ago but a more comprehensive job was required now to give an extended life to the structure, which is currently also in process of being repainted by the station ASSET maintenance team. Treated Douglas Fir timbers have been used this time which will give a very long lifespan to the walkway and were covered with a non-slip surface material in the workshop before the job commenced. The timbers were transferred to site by the RRV with assistance from the PWay teams. Scaffolding was erected by contractors to provide a safe working platform and a Building Department expeditionary team followed to remove the old boards and to start laying in the new. Fortunately, we manged to avoid the worst of the winter storm pattern and started the job in half reasonable conditions, with a tight deadline to complete the project before Footplate Experience train started running.
Bob Brooks
