Much of the club's O gauge lines were originally built on top of purpose built brick walls. Many of these walls have not lasted very well. In particular, the walls at Minford were in a very poor state as the bricks at the bottom of the wall had completely disappeared, leaving the track-bed in danger of complete collapse.
There were also some capacity problems with the track layout at the station. This was limiting the amount of trains that could be run round the circuit.
The previous station layout can be seen below. The top of the crumbling brick wall can just be seen on the left.
During 2004 the track was lifted. The original brick-work and track-base was then demolished and removed. The wall was then rebuilt using concrete blocks. Since the site can only be reached by means of a steep footpath, there was a considerable amount of work involved in transporting the materials to the site, in addition to building the wall itself.
Once the base was constructed, track laying could begin. In the station area the track was laid on plywood wrapped in roofing felt; this is the method normally used for stations.
A new method was used for the straight track between Minford and Newton. Instead of using the conventional wooden planks wrapped in roofing felt, PVC "planks" were used. This material had been kindly donated by a local firm. The PVC was wrapped in roofing felt, partly to give it a similar look to the rest of the track-base, and partly to protect the PVC from sunlight. The photo below shows track-laying in progress.
The new station is wider than the previous layout. This meant that the new layout can have seven roads compared with the original five, solving the previous capacity problem. Track-laying was completed just in time to use the station during our April 2005 open day. The photo below shows the finished station.
