Part of the SRPS's Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway
Work continued on the display area for the last remaining Clay Mine Hutch. Sleepers where levelled and the spare track section cut and secured to the sleepers using original nails found while cutting back the vegetation on the incline a couple of years ago. Once the track had been fitted an outer timber frame was secured to the sleepers and then infilled with ballast.
Work restarted on one of the group’s projects for 2020 – Birkhill Clay Mine Hutch Display. Having identified a suitable spot before the Covid-19 lockdown, work commenced on clearing away plants (many of which were our trusted friends the ‘weeds’) and moving tonnes of soil to enable a level bed to place the small sections of sleepers down and ultimately some original track from the incline (spare section found under the bridge!). Weather permitting it is hoped to get these part of the project completed in a couple of weeks, so that we can look at rebuilding the hutch and putting onto the track.
Its been a while since the last post, but work has been continuing over the last month once the Covid-19 Recovery Plan had been implemented for the station. The work on the main blue station sign reframing restarted, the sink area in the side room to the exhibition room has been given a fresh look and work has started on the Clay Mine Hutch display area on the platform embankment has commenced.
However, on the evening of Tuesday 11th and in the early hours of Wednesday 12th August, much of Scotland was battered by severe thunderstorms. During a subsequent inspection of the Bo’ness Kinneil Railway, the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) Civil Engineer identified multiple landslips along approximately a mile-long stretch of the railway. The line was declared unfit for traffic and the railway closed to passenger trains. Please note that engineering trains will still operate to facilitate repairs: do not trespass on the railway. The worst of the landslips has occurred on a steep embankment near ‘High Bridge’. A geo-structural engineer has inspected the site and we have since estimated that this damage may cost £100,000 to repair.
The significant damage to our railway line could not have come at worse time: we had planned a limited reopening of the Bo’ness Kinneil Railway in mid-September, after a lengthy closure due to the Coronavirus pandemic that has left our income at a record low.
Until the embankment is repaired, we cannot operate any trains meaning that we cannot generate any income. Once again, we are reaching out to our generous supporters: we need your help to raise £100,000 to fix the storm damage on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. Any donation large or small will help secure the future of our railway. Soif you can help in any way please donate here;
Weekly movements from the main line down to Bo’ness are becoming a regular occurrence these days! Today was the turn of a very rare view of three class 37’s and two class 20’s Direct Rail Services loco’s which arrived at the Manuel Link Line under the identifier 014Y 08:20 Carlisle Kingsmoor SDG (DRS), a tad later than published but the wait was worth it!
Due to the weight restrictions over the viaduct the lead class 37 brought the two class 20’s into Birkhill first before being recoupled to the trailing 37’s.
Class 37’s – 37038, 37558 ‘Avro Vulcan XH558’ & 37403 ‘Isle of Mull’
Class 20’s – 20302 & 20305
Once recoupled they set off for Bo’ness for planned maintenance works
The latest movements at Birkhill today 8th July saw two ex LNER HST Mark 3 coaches (42205 & 42210) being brought down from Manuel to Bo’ness, where they will be further moved by road to there new home.
The coaches arrived on the link line at Manuel from Craigentinny under the Identifier 5Z43 and moved down to Bo’ness by Class37 37067.
Thursday had a couple of DRS class 57s and a DBSO that had travelled up from Carlisle for survey work in the MMPD at Bo’ness. The work is scheduled for a couple of weeks, here are 57003 & 57311 ‘Thunderbird’ with DBSO 9710 at the rear passing through Birkhill heading down to Bo’ness on the morning of 2nd July 2020.
Normally the posts we share talk about progress at the station, but because we cannot visit site, we thought we could look at our archives of pictures and create a video of the recladding of the grounded North British coach, hope you enjoy.
Watch this space for further updates like this, keep well & safe, best wishes Birkhill Group!
After inspecting the paint put down last weekend on the toilet area floor, first impressions are that it has taken very well and has helped with the whole transformation of the room creating a clean looking environment. A little time was spent removing the masking tape before going outside for a change and working on the embankment garden which still had several piles of leaves that had been raked down over the Christmas period that needed removing. Once these had been cleared, work started on clearing the gardens of all the remaining dead wood, leaves and die backs, this will be the challenge for a while before getting out the spade & hoe to turnover the soil and make everything presentable again.
The daffodils are now starting to ‘trumpet’ out, there always appears to be more each year, hopefully this is because of the leaf clearing done every winter! The primroses recovered from around the new signal-box area last year are also doing very well the picture is under the large conifer to the side of the station.
The grounded coach plastic hanging baskets have served there purpose and have been replaced with new rattan pyramid baskets which hopefully will provide a much more authentic look. 
Going back inside for a short while (filling up the coffee cup really) two new prints where positioned against the newly painted walls once a final position has been found they will hopefully provide a little more interest to future visitors.
Finally, when you are on your own and stand back and look down the platform you begin to realise how big a job it is to help maintain a station like Birkhill doing just volunteering hours, the enormity of the challenge is immense, however it is nothing compared to Covid-19 and what that might bring to us all in the coming weeks and months…so keep well, keep safe and remember to think of your neighbours at this time and all the NHS & Essential Workers who we rely on during national events we all need to do our thing and think of others less fortunate to us.
Finally the first signs of Spring, actual sunshine was witnessed at Birkhill!! The final section of new anti-slip floor paint was applied to the toilet area of the station building, the refreshing of this room has taken a while but the light is at the end of the tunnel now so to speak. We also took delivery of the baby changing unit and will be fitted next weekend along with a general tidy up & finishing touches.
The first bench to get a make over has also been completed and work re started on the embankment gardens which will be the main activity for the next few weeks, once the station cleaning has been completed. 
Working has continued on the refurbishment of the toilet area of the station building, all walls and woodwork has been repainted to give a fresh clean look. Floor painting has been the hard part similar to laying carpets – moving things around, but one more shift should hopefully see this finished and the whole of the main station floor will have been coated in a warehouse floor anti-slip paint which proved to be very hardwearing last running season.
Along with sanding down the first of the platform benches, the blue Birkhill sign is having a make over too. The wooden frame was basically being held together with the many layers of paint so a new back frame and surrounds have been made and is currently being primed. The two posts will also need to be sanded down and repainted before it is put back in place.
