To the average punter, the dumping of 20 tons of granite track ballast on a rail line would appear to be bad news – not so at Cottesmore!

Volunteers were surprised and cheered to see that through the kind support of aggregate and haulage firm Dickersons, a further load of ballast arrived to assist the levelling and packing of the new running lines at the Museum ready for the first passenger services on our opening day.

The first of the required ballast arrived in one of the companies large tipper lorries and was tipped and ready for a willing volunteer workforce before they arrived for duty.

The Museum track manager has introduced strict quality standards for the operational track at the museum and to achieve the required ‘line, level and cant’ readings, means that a great deal of fresh ballast is required.

The track length at the Museum is around a mile and each section has to be physically surveyed, checked and where required, jacked to level and packed with ballast. It is heavy work but the volunteer group have found that by sharing the effort and working as a cooperative team, much progress can be made without too much personal harm! Needless to say, the heap was moved and applied very quickly ready for the next load to arrive!

We thank the assistance of our kind sponsors and supporters for this kind of assistance.