Further progress in the last few days, and indeed this afternoon, before the rain started.
Most of the back straight of the new loop has now been excavated and graded. It’s quite tricky, being right up against the house, and interspersed with plants that I don’t want to lose – but at least the ground is soft.
Breakthrough took place when the embankment to Castle Bryan was breached where the new track passes underneath. It’s going to be quite a squeeze, and I’m mulling over the best way of restoring the border over the top of the cut-and-cover. Potentially, the tunnel could be about six feet long, which could be tempting fate rather.
The following pictures show progress, and also some provisional track positioning at Minffordd.
The new loop line drops away from the line to CB.
The new cut and cover section
The breached embankment.
This will be the position of the branch point to Castle Bryan, with the old line diverging to the right. Inconveniently, this turnout is right underneath a rosemary bush, so a rodding/lever system is going to be needed.
Track positioned at Minffordd
Trains and Trad 