whatlep
Registered
After nearly three months of silence from Ruritania while our nation struggled to defend itself from storm and flood, signs of life were to be found on Ruritanian Railways today.
"Kaiser Otto" was rolled out at Zenda station with a short inspection and engineers train. Signs of storm tossed leaves and landslips were abundant. The platforms will need attention from the Cleaning Section too.
The Kaiser was operating on battery power, but the electricians were immediately at work monitoring Ruritania's DCC control system. Panic almost ensued when it was found that all points were electrically dead. However, some careful checking of plans by the supervising engineer showed that various connections had become compromised. Workers at once attended to the first problem on Pootank Pass, installing special rail clamps. This action was repeated at several other locations, restoring all power to the pointwork.
Power systems having been confirmed operative, Ruritania's rail grinding train was put to good use. Despite several weeks of disuse, most trackwork was in reasonable condition in upper Ruritania. Connoisseurs of the Ruritanian scene will notice that Zenda station's platform railings and some habitual passengers and staff are missing, pending reinstallation after the station area is given a spring clean.
Lower Ruritania was under water twice in late 2012, but, remarkably, all point motors worked at once after debris was cleared away. Unusually, so did all the reed switches for automatic point operation: normally at least one of those gives up the ghost each winter. There is still time for a hard frost of course. A shot of the engineers' train at the Border station shows that the site still has a fair amount of silt around. This too will need a good clean before the (portable) buildings can be brought back from store. Doubtless our Customs officers will soon reappear too!
The two trains crossed at the border. The section beyond always requires manual attention due to the quantity of tree cover locally. However, with a little effort service across the border was restored. Work is still required to clear debris, but through running was achieved thanks to the courageous efforts of the workers of Ruritanian Railways. Three cheers for the peasants!
Ruritanian Railways MD took the time to make a tour of the system and presented all those who laboured today with a gift from our benevolent ruler, HSH Prince Rudolf: a sumptuous meal of our national dish of black pudding and pork scratchings in a curry sauce, washed down with lashings of ginger beer.
Although a little later than usual, the management, staff and small furry animals of Ruritanian Railways wish all our friends
[font="arial black,avant garde"]Happy New Year![/font]
"Kaiser Otto" was rolled out at Zenda station with a short inspection and engineers train. Signs of storm tossed leaves and landslips were abundant. The platforms will need attention from the Cleaning Section too.
The Kaiser was operating on battery power, but the electricians were immediately at work monitoring Ruritania's DCC control system. Panic almost ensued when it was found that all points were electrically dead. However, some careful checking of plans by the supervising engineer showed that various connections had become compromised. Workers at once attended to the first problem on Pootank Pass, installing special rail clamps. This action was repeated at several other locations, restoring all power to the pointwork.
Power systems having been confirmed operative, Ruritania's rail grinding train was put to good use. Despite several weeks of disuse, most trackwork was in reasonable condition in upper Ruritania. Connoisseurs of the Ruritanian scene will notice that Zenda station's platform railings and some habitual passengers and staff are missing, pending reinstallation after the station area is given a spring clean.
Lower Ruritania was under water twice in late 2012, but, remarkably, all point motors worked at once after debris was cleared away. Unusually, so did all the reed switches for automatic point operation: normally at least one of those gives up the ghost each winter. There is still time for a hard frost of course. A shot of the engineers' train at the Border station shows that the site still has a fair amount of silt around. This too will need a good clean before the (portable) buildings can be brought back from store. Doubtless our Customs officers will soon reappear too!
The two trains crossed at the border. The section beyond always requires manual attention due to the quantity of tree cover locally. However, with a little effort service across the border was restored. Work is still required to clear debris, but through running was achieved thanks to the courageous efforts of the workers of Ruritanian Railways. Three cheers for the peasants!
Ruritanian Railways MD took the time to make a tour of the system and presented all those who laboured today with a gift from our benevolent ruler, HSH Prince Rudolf: a sumptuous meal of our national dish of black pudding and pork scratchings in a curry sauce, washed down with lashings of ginger beer.
Although a little later than usual, the management, staff and small furry animals of Ruritanian Railways wish all our friends
[font="arial black,avant garde"]Happy New Year![/font]
