Garden Railway Forum

Community protests have delayed the actual Official Closing, but Management have decided to press ahead with some siding track removal anyhow!
So much for listening to community concerns. Luckily some residents were on hand to record the unauthorised work.


Here Mr Chainsaw starts to clear a fallen log, while the first track panel is readied for lifting.
The crane swings the first panel up and away.

The second panel is swung onto the wagon, while Mr Chainsaw clears the next track panel.

It looks fun to be doing the job properly.

Don

I love the second photo with the view down the platform; very atmospheric.

Great little story Greg.

Love the photos of the crane.

FWLR wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:41 am Great little story Greg.
Love the photos of the crane.

Thanks Rod. The crane is just an Aldi cheapie with a few mods. I wondered about painting the yellow but then decided it shows up better in pics.

Sad time, Greg, but sounds like it had reached its use-by date.
I'm sure your fertile imagination will find some way of compensating for the loss of the branch.

Rik

gregh wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:26 pm

FWLR wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:41 am Great little story Greg.
Love the photos of the crane.

Thanks Rod. The crane is just an Aldi cheapie with a few mods. I wondered about painting the yellow but then decided it shows up better in pics.

That tells me so much. Thanks Greg....Now I am going to a local Aldi in due course...

FWLR wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:38 am That tells me so much. Thanks Greg....Now I am going to a local Aldi in due course...

Good luck! Like most Aldi specials they come and go and are never seen again. You can find similar ones on web - look under tower cranes.
Here's a pic of it before I modified it and mounted on a 4-wheel wagon.
Here's a shot of it...

Thanks Greg, those photos will be useful.

The last time we visited Ti-tree, the track lifting Contractor had illegally started work. Unfortunately the community Protests were to no avail, and the track lifting contractor is slowing working his way from Ti-tree towards Maple Jn.
The station building, engine shed and goods shed have been flattened. A workmen’s van and the water supply is all that’s left And the bridges are being demolished. Here’s the old girder bridges
I now have about 80m of spare track piled up, though a lot of it is useless as the sleepers have rotted.

Those are very sad photos Greg.

It reminds me of closures in my area of Lancashire. In particular the Southport to Lytham-St-Annes line that used to run via Preston.

If I recall both the Southport and the Blackpool South via Lytham and St Annes line though met in Preston (where I did my train spotting in the 1960s) were not a "line" as you would need to change at Preston - has been a few years and I could wrong.

Sad times, Greg. Hopefully, services will be as buoyant as ever on the rest of the system.

Rik

FWLR wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:45 am Those are very sad photos Greg.

Yes, sad. But in a way I feel a whole lot better having made the decision and gone so far that there is no going back. I was agonizing for months on whether to do it, or not to do it.
I am taking the demolition slowly, sort of savouring the work. It's funny that while dismembering the bridges I start to remember the difficulties I had building them.

Those memories won't go away Greg will they. It's great though to look back and remember all the good times you had running your trains along it.

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:50 am If I recall both the Southport and the Blackpool South via Lytham and St Annes line though met in Preston (where I did my train spotting in the 1960s) were not a "line" as you would need to change at Preston - has been a few years and I could wrong.

I used to travel on the line from Churchtown, a Suburb of Southport, to (Lytham St Annes) to visit Fairhaven Lake. Fairhaven, another Suburb of Lytham St Annes, when I was a very young lad. Coming from Southport, born and bred for 19 and then living on the Fylde Coast for 33 years, before moving to Longton near Preston for the last 15 years, so you could call me local to the area......

FWLR wrote: ↑Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:46 am

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:50 am If I recall both the Southport and the Blackpool South via Lytham and St Annes line though met in Preston (where I did my train spotting in the 1960s) were not a "line" as you would need to change at Preston - has been a few years and I could wrong.

I used to travel on the line from Churchtown, a Suburb of Southport, to (Lytham St Annes) to visit Fairhaven Lake. Fairhaven, another Suburb of Lytham St Annes, when I was a very young lad. Coming from Southport, born and bred for 19 and then living on the Fylde Coast for 33 years, before moving to Longton near Preston for the last 15 years, so you could call me local to the area......

Born in Blackpool, Kirkham for a couple of years, and Preston till i joined the forces, all my Mum's family in Lytham and St Annes

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:39 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:46 am

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:50 am If I recall both the Southport and the Blackpool South via Lytham and St Annes line though met in Preston (where I did my train spotting in the 1960s) were not a "line" as you would need to change at Preston - has been a few years and I could wrong.

I used to travel on the line from Churchtown, a Suburb of Southport, to (Lytham St Annes) to visit Fairhaven Lake. Fairhaven, another Suburb of Lytham St Annes, when I was a very young lad. Coming from Southport, born and bred for 19 and then living on the Fylde Coast for 33 years, before moving to Longton near Preston for the last 15 years, so you could call me local to the area......

Born in Blackpool, Kirkham for a couple of years, and Preston till i joined the forces, all my Mum's family in Lytham and St Annes

Brilliant... What you doing down in Weston-super-Mare...

FWLR wrote: ↑Sat Nov 30, 2019 11:54 am Brilliant... What you doing down in Weston-super-Mare...

Ex service, finished in Stafford, and then moved with the work, ready to retire near the coast, but a little warmer than Blackpool

Sorry for Hi-Jacking your thread Greg. Please forgive us.