The more eagle-eyed reader of Puffing Billy’s in-house magazine, ‘Narrow Gauge’, might have noticed a dramatically photo-shopped representation of Belgrave yard plateau lurking in the centre spread of last September’s edition. The photo gave the impression of a clean, dry and level yard!
Sadly, at the time, this didn’t reflect reality; the mud, the dirt, the hastily dug drainage channels to empty the puddles of oily water.
However, things can change in a short time, particularly with planning and the right allocation of resources, and thanks to some hard work by Jason Bell and the W&W boys, we now have a nice new concrete hard standing, covering all 3 workshop roads. This includes grid covered surface drains, designed to control run off and ensure a much more pleasant working environment for workshop staff, loco crews, or anyone simply trying to cross from one side of the yard to the other.
Not only that, but the Belgrave locomotive running shed has had new front doors manufactured and fitted. Not before time too…the old ones must have virtually fallen off!