Barry Marshall our acting volunteer co-ordinator organised what was originally intended as a tentative examination of the formation at Snapper but developed into an impressive track-bash, thanks to the hard work of several volunteers.
Chris Lane and Barry had manned the E.A. stand at the L&B’s Spring Gala and were lucky to recruit two willing potential volunteers in tree surgeon Lee Murray and landscape gardener Andrew Hearn.
On Saturday morning Barry met up with Rob Sadd and Andrew, Rob had brought his brush-cutter, and Andrew his cutter with strimmer attachment, so they transferred down to the trackbed at the southern end where they started cutting from the foot of the descent from the lay-by. Rob concentrated on the brush and Andrew the long grass which their equipment tackled with surprising ease, despite the wet and windy conditions. By mid afternoon the light was starting to fade and the track-bed was reasonably clear as far as the station platform.
On Sunday Bob Palmer arrived and he and Barry went to Snapper in the morning to be joined by David Cameron, Rob and Andrew increasing the work party to five.
In spite of the adverse weather Barry and Bob continued with work on Tuesday clearing the sump drain to the south of the station, which had completely blocked up with grey silt, probably with run-off from the road, with a huge amount of water cascading onto the track-bed. Bob continued brush-cutting further northwards, and sideways up to the side-fence, widening the cleared area and also ventured across Bridge 15 and beyond.
Our thanks to Barry, Rob, Andrew, Bob and David for their help over those three days, and we hope to hear back from them and any other volunteers so that Barry can arrange another work-party very soon. If we can get all of the brush-cutting and strimming done before the start of the growing season next year then we stand a good chance of carrying-out a successful weed-kill early next year.
You can see more photos from the trackbash on our Facebook page.