Rare moment waiting for dumper. Bucket will pick up enough to easily lift a track when over the side and will tip it over the front if it’s a really big scoop of clay , so guessing 1500 kg of material plus bucket? Maybe a little more. Can get 3.5-4 in the 6t dumper.
Burning some diesel across the 3 machines

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Getting 15-20 loads an hour so between 600-900 tons shifted today. Starting to enjoy it till we had a smattering of rain and the clay starting sticking to my boots.
Found a few trenches showing up when stripping yesterday. One there that dad didn’t recognise. Dug it out to have a look and it’s a very early stone/rubble drain. Lots of quartz in it so imported stone. 18th or 19th century (that’s what mother reckons from agri history pages) Given the fill stone not looking immediately local
I would guess mid to late Victorian earliest as that’s when the railway came through - old station only a mile done the hill. Strange to think about the lads that hand dug that, and hauled it with horses. They would marvel at todays machines for sure.