ALL NEW Competition Thread...Last Post WINS ;-)

[naughty.tortie]

Well..... it couldnt be lost forever could it !

So its back... all singing, all dancing... no farting allowed...

May the dirtiest player win 😄




I am first... I WILL BE LAST

[cke786]

Lea Road would be Preston Council, I've Tweeted them and hopefully will get a reply!

If the weather does improve for Sunday, maybe I'll be able to get down into the chamber, as I'll definitely be using my longer spade, plus I seemed to be pulling out more brick than dirt, also I'll begin hiding the hole with some type of covering and wooden board.

[peteryola]

Oh, you're talking about the other station...!!

[cke786]

Well, I got my reply.... it's going to take them a really long time for some reason, but Lea Road Railway Station will be reopened sometime 2024!

[peteryola]

Is this definite that the re-opening is proceeding?  I mean - it's been talked about on and off for the best part of a decade now hasn't it...?

[cke786]

As far as I can tell, yes! I'll ask the council and authorities mentioned in their tweet if I can come down to document the site, next time they are doing their surveys, which will give me a far better look at the station area!

[peteryola]

Good idea - and it'll also save you a lot of effort.

[cke786]

Lol, actually it'll probably be a lot of effort for me to get their permission to tag along!

Anyway, as you saw from my tweet, I spent Saturday down Platt Bridge where I walk the line, came away with a few souvenirs, but also thanks to a local, I know where a chunk of the old track was dumped down the embankment. Also from the same local, he told me of an old accident on the colliery line, where a driver who shunted the coal carts down the line, the No7 shaft of the old colliery gave way and took him and the loco to their doom, apparently the exact location had been lost along with the memorial plaque... very embarrassingly, it took me over an hour and a half to find the location, the pic I posted on Twitter I managed to confirm that it was the site after I posted it, so I'll be back there sometime soon to try locate everything on the ground!

[peteryola]

Now, I think I've heard about that particular incident and I don't think it's the only case of a locomotive vanishing into the ground in the olden days.

On Saturday I did a bit of a walk along a disused line myself on a day out with the wife; albeit in a different part of the country from you.  Rougly half the route from Sudbury to Melford in Suffolk.

[cke786]

Yeah, I had a look at that line, lots of buildings needing to be demolished now! When I become a billionaire, I'll buy the line and demolish everything that has been built on to it and relay the line!

[peteryola]

Returning to your ventures, the weather would appear to be more co-operative for you this weekend.  Plus there's a bonus day available as it's a bank holiday...

[cke786]

Found the place OK on Saturday, a bit overgrown, but nothing I haven't trecked through before!

As I was down there, I decided to check on the colliery line that the train went down on... sadly not much to see, only a few features remained, but I spent a good 6 hours walking around, met some ducks, pretty uneventful!

Problem after that though, so hot, couldn't get to sleep, so was awake rest of the night, went to the Sunday carboot sale for a few hours, then off to the parents for a trip around a few locations around Morecambe Bay! Visited the site of Sandside Railway Station, only footbridge at the far end ramains, the site has been pretty much redeveloped! Was so tired at the end after about 38 hours of being awake, got back and almost crashed instantly, but was still rather hot, so took a short while to get to sleep, thankfully not too long, hough had to wake up early for the Bank Holiday Monday carboot sale, so I'm still exhausted even now!

[peteryola]

Goodness - you have been busy!

In sharp contrast I had a very lazy day today; off work this week and not going out today and wife's carer not booked until late afternoon so didn't set the alarm clock on purpose.

We woke up at around 11.00...

Oops.

I'd expected a lie-in, but not one that long!

No such luck tomorrow or Thursday, though.  I'm off chasing trains again...

Having said that, we were fairly active at the weekend; on Saturday we walked from Herne Bay to Birchington - I think I mentioned the plan to do that a few days ago?  Here's a picture from the half way point, Reculver Towers.

[cke786]

Not as long a weekend for me this time, Saturday did a little shopping for art supplies and stuff, but yesterday on Sunday, went to the carboot sale in the morning as usual, though after that, I spent about 5 hours exploring the old line through Pennington Flash, so about 7km of walking, possibly more, as I spent a lot of time going back and forth all aound..... sadly, I found nothing 😞

[peteryola]

That's a bit less walking than we did, but not a huge difference... my GPS measured our walk at just under 8 miles, so about 12km.  We went a bit further than planned because we reached our target a bit earlier than we expected - instead of Bishop's Stortford to Sawbridgeworth, we carried on as far as the next station, Harlow MIll.

Actually... you'll already know that won't you?  Because I tweeted it...

[cke786]

Yes, hadn't I hit the like heart on your post? I know I did for something!

Anyway, car in for service this Saturday, so no far off station explorations, then off to Gorton for the Sunday, I just need to decide what I am going to do there though! Do I keep digging down into the room, or do I make the entranceway to my previous dig safe? Last time I went, some of the bricks that were situated above the entrance had fallen down, slightly blocking the way in a bit again, but I think the wet and dry weather we've been experiencing has weathered away the mud holding them up, so I would need to clear it completely above the entrance.... I can then board it up, protect it from the weather and such! Though I still want to get down into the other chamber, so I can then camouflage the hole!

[peteryola]

I think you might have done - the problem is I get so many notifications that it's not easy to remember them afterwards once I've scrolled down the list of new ones on the notifications page... and it's probably too far down to scroll back to now to check!

For this weekend... I would play safe and shore it up before digging any further; the forecast is increasingly warm and dry  ( they're now saying 26°C to 29°C for this weekend for most of England ) so that will have an adverse effect on the surrounds, especially where they are exposed to the air.

[cke786]

I'll see about doing both, plus I need to find where I can source materials to shore up my first dig anyway, also I really do need to get on with digging the new pit, as I don't know how long I can keep going without attracting too much attention.

[peteryola]

Well, if in doubt just wear a hi-vis jacket and look all official...

[cke786]

I was going to buy a camo net, prop it up facing the road 😉

[peteryola]

Wouldn't that, ironically, be more likely to attract attention as people passing by might wonder why there's a camouflage net up?