 The
lineside apparatus equipment at the Nene Valley Railway
is on loan from the Locomotive Club of Great Britain
(LCGB) and is seen on the left in storage at Wansford
before overhaul was undertaken by the TPO team. In the
centre are the two uprights that support the arms, the
single arm is seen on the right and the double arm is on
the left hand side. The two ladders are lying on the
floor at the back. Each of the uprights takes a minimum
of two people to move - they are HEAVY.The TPO Group
also have about ten pouches on loan from the LCGB,
although these need quite a considerable amount of work
to restore the leather. These are being worked upon as
time permits.
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 The holes
for the uprights had been dug a few days before hand by a
JCB, so this had saved us many hours of hard work.Saturday
12th August 2000 was the date set to start installing the
lineside apparatus at "Sutton Cross", this
turned out to be a very warm day. Before the first train
of the day a trolley loaded with all the materials
required (mainly sleepers, shovels, etc.) was taken to
the site and unloaded.
The first two uprights to be put into position were
the ones that support the gate, these are shown here
before all the earth is packed in.
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 The third upright in position (rightmost
upright) with most of the earth packed into the hole. |
 With all
the uprights in position the structure soon became
nicknamed "Woodhenge"! The decking was then
installed ready for the gate to be bolted down.The
decking for the standards was also installed on this
Saturday and can be seen in the next two pictures.
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 During the early evening of Wednesday 23rd
August 2000 the lineside standard was erected, although
the wooden platform was not ready to be fitted.The
gate is also shown in position.
The gate for the lineside was loaned for the event by
the Didcot TPO Group, one has since been built from
scratch.
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 Another view of the lineside, clearly
showing that the support bars and netting are still
required as is the platform on the standard. These would
be installed on Tuesday 5th September 2000 just 5 days
before the event. Work was completed at 2pm on that day
and three trial runs were performed at 7pm that night. |
 After months of planning and many a time
when it was thought that the lineside would not be ready
in time for the event the lineside was used on both days
of the event with no problems.This picture shows the
apparatus in use, note the net area is in the shape of a
rectangle compared to the alternative 'V' shape used on
the Great Central Railway.
The rope and support bars were removed after the event
so that the rope can be properly preserved and the steel
work can be painted. This has now been completed.
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