During 2004/5, Derek spearheaded the search for both funding and a more secure location, where we would be able to enjoy our hobby without mindless interference. Sites at Ipplepen, Dawlish Warren and even Exeter were given serious consideration, but all were eliminated.  In the Spring of 2005, three members of the Committee had a meeting with the Chief Executive of Teignbridge Council in our pursuit of a new location for our track and the need for operational safety.  The search was stepped up and a few more possibilities were identified.

In mid-summer, though shrouded in secrecy, a site was identified, land which the Council was in the process of buying to allow access to a huge culvert required for highways maintenance.  Since this area is potentially liable to flooding, and part of a water storage scheme, it is unsuitable for housing but fine for a raised railway.  Importantly for us, it's away from close proximity to housing, playing fields and skateboards.

Members of the Committee were consulted, and following a survey, Ron worked up a provisional track plan based on the demanding site gradients. This more private site would allow for an increased length railway track and a central traction engine arena.  Planning consent (for the whole scheme) was granted in mid November, and Contractors moved in to create an access road for Council maintenance vehicles, which we can also use.

The intention is to build a raised track, from new materials, dual gauged for 3½" and 5" gauge locomotives.  Included in the brief were steaming bays, with a trailer off-loading spur, serviced by a turntable. Also it was deemed a Club house would be essential (something we had never had), which would initially be used as a site office and materials storage.  A future bridge could cross the track to allow traction engines to drive to the arena in the central area.

A lot of thought went into trying to make the track easy and quick to construct, and without the need to mix mountains of concrete for pillars.  In the end it was agreed to use scale secion steel rail, screwed down to purpose made plastic sleepers, supported on twin longitudinal timber beams, in turn bolted to galvanised steel posts pushed into the ground, set in concrete where required.  We our grateful to a number of members who have donated the bulk of materials for the track construction.

This is a brilliant opportunity for the Society, and co-incides with our highest ever membership level.  We have the potential for a fantastic track in a wonderful setting, which will serve for generations to come. The funding is pretty much in place, so now it's a case for pooling the enthusiasm that has been generated and getting stuck in !

Not a member yet ?  Still time to get involved and give us a hand - and get working on that new locomotive !

Our construction diary is in the next column . . .
Please hover your mouse over photos for a description.

In the midst of a glorious dry autumn, a perfect sunny Monday brought five members together to pour concrete for the top and bottom footing.  Dave, Ron, Colin, John Trott and David Brothwood soon had the bases finished and gently drying out.   Some of the soil previously dug out has been formed into an additional shrub bed behind the station.

Kicking off the autumn works programme, Tuesday saw the start of earth works for the new footbridge, to connect the top car park to the central area near the steam bays.  Working to Dave's surveyed marking out, John Trott and Graham Walker dug out the banks and foundations, distributing soil to dips around the site; meanwhile Ron sorted out some shuttering.

Quietly and without ceremony, the final outer rails forming the 7 1/4" track were laid by Dave & Ron on Wednesday.  They then proceded to resolve the timing problem on the ride-on mower, which is now running better than ever.    On Friday, Ted, Derek, Keith, and John U spent the morning laying a second series of large slabs in the steaming bays, though we are short of a dozen or so 3' x 2' slabs to finish it off properly.

Working to complete jobs ahead of the official track opening, the May boiler testing day was also the opportunity to do a little more work on the 2nd station.  On this sunny morning, concrete slabs were laid on the block wall to form the top, before joining in with the afternoon steam up.

Famously April, after two weeks of great weather, the time planned for some work brought a heavy hail shower.  After sweeping away the pooled hail and water, Geoff, Gordon and Rob got on with laying the block base for Riverside Halt - almost a river itself at one point - fortunately a drier evening followed.

Off site, Roger has nearly completed construction of the new traverser.  On site, at the top end of the circuit, a start has been made on the strip foundations for a station Halt; this will be a safe stopping point for passengers, and a good place to check the water and fire after the long climb.

The start of the year was fairly dormant, allowing members to concentrate on loco building.  However the last few weeks have seen the work programme pick up.  Rob has planted another 20 shrubs around the site, which is greening up nicely, and the fallout from winter storms has been tidied up.

Off site, all the additional rail has now been prepared, and delivered under the supervision of Ted.  On Wednesday Dave, Ron and John U. laid the first of the new 7 1/4" gauge outside rails, a rapid 44 m track length screwed down in just a long morning.

After the hectic summer activity, the Autumn schedule was lighter, but the whole track has been checked and re-levelled by Ron & Dave.  This gave the first chance for many years to enjoy a Boxing Day steam up, attended by three locos in steam and over 20 members and families.

After the August bank holiday, our Contractor (Courtier) returned for a day, bringing the remaining 100 tonnes of road stone themselves (using 4mm slate scrapings).  They made a great job of the 'middle' car parking area, so we should have a decent capacity now, but means a clockwise direction around the loop road.  The frequent summer rain has enabled the grass seed put down a few months back to take, and once Ron had spent a few hours on the mower, the site looked fantastic.

While the freshly deposited soil was still uncompacted, David and Maurice spent a couple of hours on Saturday morning turning the patch adjacent to our main station into a contoured area, which was later seeded.  When grassed this should provide an area for sitting, embarking, and perhaps popping up a temporary gazebo next to the station.

The tail end of July and first two weeks of August were wet most days, so apart from the dry July meeting at the track, everyone had a break.
Then our Contractor returned with heavy equipment and a three man team.  An important first task was to install a land drain from the station / tuntable area, to the brook.  Then between lorry loads of stone arriving, the digger enhanced and slightly extended the top car park area.

The lower parking area was rolled flat and edged with some more concrete sleepers previously recovered from the Sandringham track; and additional soil was placed in the tidied-up station area.  However third party deliveries of stone were very sparce, a few lorry drivers having difficulties accessing the site, and the top parking area could not be completed by the weekend, when the equipment was due to finish.

Two further afternoons supported by Gordon, Maurice and Rob, allowed Geoff to finish the concrete top of the station platform, despite the miserable weather in late June and the early part of July.  The remaining tops, slopes and step consumed a tonne bag of aggregate in the concrete mix.  Meanwhile Dave sorted out 2 irritating slow punctures on the mower, now in regular use.

In sharp contrast to May, the June meeting held at our new track was the first to have a loco in steam.  A good turnout, and many were able to ride the track for the first time as Pete steamed his pannier loco once again.  But no time for celebration yet, there is some work to do on correcting cambers and dips in the track; nevertheless this was deemed a succesful evening.

Having made fantastic progress with rail, fish-plates, countless sleepers, and even more screws - Dave & Ron completed laying our circuit of track, and the 'test spur' on 13th June, well over 1000 feet in just 5 part weeks - and it looks very good.

The May club meeting was the first in this year's calendar to be held at the track site.  In the 2 hours prior to the meeting, Newton Abbot saw some reasonably heavy rain, falling on saturated ground.  Those who ventured out to a sunny evening witnessed a sudden and unexpected flooding of the site's central area.  No track damage occurred, and we can now plan defences.

The 4M turntable, one of the jewels of the track is now complete and ready for service.  Ron has designed an interlock to the various 'roads', operated from a centrally placed lever accessible from either side.  The length allows a loco + trolley to be turned, reducing delays on the mail-line.

This week brought the worst thunder and lightning storm for many years locally, with torrential rain.  This took it's toll on our access road where cascading water carved many deep ruts.  But the additional rain on Friday night burst through from the adjacent field; a continuous flow of water entered and followed our top cutting, flooding over 1/3 of the sites.  A relief trench will be required urgently to divert this and future water away.

Clearly influenced by too many hours looking at Triang Hornby catalogues, Rob's station design capitalizes on the track height to include separate raised platforms.  Here Rob inched it closer to completion as the cut sloping ends were cemented onto the walls, and by adding the inner facing step base.  The voids now await filling with rubble before concrete tops can be poured.

As we enter the Society's 60th anniversary month, the last 2 weeks have seen much progress.  Ron & Dave have checked the whole length of the track base, straightening where required and tightening and fitting additional screws.  Between them Rob and Pete planted 5 more trees, and off site much of the rail has been prepared and drilled by Ted, Derek, Richard and Jack.

So far, 2008 has surprised us with kind weather, and again on this Saturday we were able to get on with important tasks.
A team of 4 spent several hours preparing ground at the top of the site, smoothing dips and bumps left by the bulldozer, while inside the club-house the turntable latches were being fitted.

With just a quick breather the next goal is a base for the traverser.  Roger has almost cleared the old track site and delivered about 2 tons of concrete blocks, and further old blocks were delivered by John T, to act as a rumble base for the concrete.

Meanwhile Alan has been preparing heavy shuttering for the base which is 9m x 2m with slots cast in for the rails, and tubes for electrics.  The area is already partly dug out and has now been pegged, and on Feb 16th a working party will finish digging, and erect the shuttering.

We could not have wished for a better day on January 26th - warm, dry and sunny (sorry Scotland), as a working party of 15 members tackled four different jobs.  The approach road was cleaned of mud, the small spoil heaps dug out from the turntable base were redistributed to fill in dips, and the big generator refurbished by Keith was returned to site and connected - and to much delight we now have working lights and power sockets in the clubhouse.

Keeping up the pace, Dave and Ron were on site on a dry 22nd December, along with one of our neighbours and his bulldozer.  Within the morining they had remodelled the parking area; extended the length, pushed back the spoil heap, and built up the edges.

Despite turning slowly to winter, there is still plenty of activity.
A third Sunday morning effort allowed more sleepers to be recovered from Sandringham track site, a total of 42 for re-use.  Much of the old rail from Sandringham has been taken away for scrap, but some site tidying and a tip run is still required.

Keith is doing a grand job refurbishing the large generator off site, whilst Ron has rebuilt the steering gear on the mower.

The previous weekend saw John T And Tony J remove the last of the soil mountain by hand, by all accounts enjoying the beneficial exercise !

Dave has repaired the electrics on the mower so hopefully it should now charge the battery.

The good pace has continued with the kind autumn, and using a hired mini-digger and dump truck the steaming area and traverser bay have been excavated.  Working for 7 days Dave & Ron also moved the bulk of the excess soil from the upper parking area to raise the level elsewhere; followed by members levelling the dumped spoil manually.

Ces completed welding of the steel turntable today, the impressive 4M structure now needs painting.   At the old track Graham and Roger have completed lifting of the rails; when various items have been moved to the new site we can terminate the old site lease.

The extended summer has meant warm days at the track site.  Today - Ron, Dave and Derek finished erecting all the raised trackbed and steaming bay spur line, including fitting all of the intermediate spacer blocks, and setting cambers.  Assembly of all the timber work has been achieved in a little over two months, and has emptied the club house of the stacks of planks and blocks.

The July Club meeting was held at the new track-site, and was the start of numerous regular working parties, as finally the weather settled down.  Within days, some raised track support was assembled, Dave & Ron's team working out the best way to do it, while a Friday evening group dug out floor of the top cutting and remodelled the walls of the lower cutting.  Meanwhile the cement mixer has arrived, and the pre-cut steel pieces to construct the turntable have been collected.

The Society has dug deep and re-employed the Contractor, who came back on 15th July and rolled in 90 tonnes more harcore to finish off the roadway, ensuring site access is safe in all weathers.

During the latter half of November 2005, Contractors created the new access road.  This is to allow Council vehicles to access the watercourses, and the culvert under the dual carriageway for maintenance.  During December the site was very waterlogged from heavy rain as indicated in the photo.

We are looking forward to working in this lovely setting, and foresee this as a fantastic amenity - worthy of the Society's energies.
Through this we can safeguard model engineering interests in our community for many years.