2019 and 2020 have been A Lot, here at the Little Henbury Railway, and maintenance has been sidelined in favour of the more urgent business of survival. COVID-19 is a global crisis, anxiety sucks, Black Lives Matter, trans rights are human rights - and the bathroom roof keeps leaking.
I am trying harder to be anti-racist: engineering, geo-sciences, fandom and fan-studies are - like all mainstream UK and UK habits and institutions - founded on the assumption of white supremacy.
I’m also proud to celebrate (and, as a genderqueer person, low-key represent) the TRANS in TRAINS.
Here are some Greater Manchester based charities you can support if you want to help make a difference:
Suffice to say the poor railway hasn’t been a priority over the last 18 months. Still, it’s sunny now and I’m gradually getting back into treating the track with the love it deserves. The housemate and I have taken the whole track up this summer, with the goal of relaying it in a form that works for us and is easier to maintain. Turns out the little shoes that link sections of track together are called fishplates, just like they are in full scale railways!
A lot of the existing route was concreted in, but most of the sections have now been prized free of their cement-y prisons. The largest loop has been planned out, around an area that could become a patio, or a fire pit, or a flower bed, or a hot-tub (not the latter, seriously - more maintenance, ugh). I have the materials for cement to repoint the raised beds and shape the track - and the two viaducts need some SERIOUS surface repair.
I shall post progress photos here as we go!
For now, enjoy the chaotic pictures to the left and I hope you’re all staying safe and well.
Ta-ra.