Part of the SRPS's Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway
Work continued on the weeding and tidying up of the side garden, which should help the many geraniums the work has also opened up areas to plant and seed to hopefully supress future weed growth. The hedging along the top of the embankment got a tidy up opening up views from the meadow walk path back down onto the platform.
Work has commenced on the construction of Birkhill’s second platform it is the hope of the Civils team to have at least 50% of the foundations concreted before the 7 day running season. A new web page is underway dedicated to the project to track (pardon the pun) the progress over the coming months so please keep an eye out
The recent winds and rain provided the first job of the day of sweeping the length of the platform, the tidy up theme continued to the side of the station building where the weeds had sneakily reappeared over the last few weeks of good weather, its looking this will be the focus of the next few weekends of activity leading up to the next DOWT weekend. For the ‘eagle eyed’ you may just see plastic sheeting next to the loop line, see next post for further info!
General maintenance work was undertaken on the embankment & the area of the future signal box. The recent good growing weather has seen a significant spurt in growth making an already big challenge even bigger…
It was great to see the lady’s from the Strathkelvin Ramblers Group who stopped off for a bite to eat at Birkhill, they had walked from Linlithgow, and had the chance to get there picture taken with the steam train during there picnic at the station.
We look forward to seeing you again soon. Happy walking!
Work continued on and around the former fireclay mine picnic area and the top of the mine haulage ramp. The strimmer was also used to clear the vegetation around the picnic tables and fence ready for painting.
Before
After
Today sees the start of the Annual Volunteers Week so why not come make that jump into the volunteering world where the SRPS will be more than happy to see you. Please contact our Volunteer Liaison Officer volunteers@srps.org.uk for more information on how you can help bring Scotland’s railway heritage to life.
Work continued at the top end of the Fireclay Mine Haulage system to give visitors to the station a sense of what it looked like when in operation. There are a few bits left to do to tidy from the top fence to the footbridge which will be tackled next weekend. This work is the first of many mini projects to provide points of interest along the meadow walk.
View before the slope was tackled. Due to the old sleeper bed foundations most of the bramble & nettle roots had matted together 4 – 6″ below the surface which made it hard going in between and underneath the rails.
Below are views after the clearance – the cable used to pull the hutches is still present along with the roller guides. These will be cleaned up in time and close up images of the makers name taken.
While clearing the vegetation some old nails and large drill bit was discovered. These will be cleaned up and will be eventually exhibited at the station.
Meadow Walk Picnic Area
Work commenced on the tidy up of the Meadow Walk picnic area on Saturday, one of the first tasks was to remove years of grime from the picnic tables and after plenty of elbow grease. The weather was poor but three out four tables where cleaned and are now ready for a coat of paint. The next task is to cut the grass area and a general tidy up
Mine Haulage System
Work also commenced on the clearing of the mass of brambles & nettles overgrowth at the top section of the old Birkhill Fireclay Mine Haulage system, once cleared it will provide a good view of the track & pulley system used to move the ‘Hutches’ up from the mine entrance.
One of the last tasks for the Birkhill team before the Thomas Weekend (13th & 14th May) is to put up the buntin, banners, posters and a general clean up. As it has been for a few weeks the weather was once again kind to allow some grass strimming to be done too!
