News and achievements 2016
Year 2016 was very fruitful and successful, we made a large step towards restoration of the museum railway, largely with the help of financial donation from Pindstrup Latvia Ltd. In that year we had possibilities to use construction machines in road repairs and larger rolling stock repair tasks were carried out by repair workshops.
- In spring we finished interior restoration tasks, and in the summer/autumn - full exterior restoration of the canteen carriage and repair of it's bogies. Of course the carriage also continued to serve as kitchen in our volunteering weekends! More information here: Restoration of canteen carriage completed
- Full overhaul of mainline tracks was made in a section of 56 meters, with full replacement of road bed, to repair a road bed slump by 0,8 m in depth
- Full overhaul of mainline curve was made in a section of 56 meters and in 28 meters straight stretch before the curve, with full replacement of road bed, cleaning of ditches, full reassembly of track sections, ballasting and lifting to a new height, to repair a road bed slump by 1,0 m in depth
- Full overhaul of mainline tracks was made in a section of 104 meters, with full replacement of damaged road bed, cleaning of ditches, full reassembly of track sections
- A special carriage was built for track and road bed repair jobs in no road access conditions. The carriage has legs which can be raised, which allow transportation of mini bucket loader and removed road material.
- Maintenance of depot tracks - sleeper change, tightening of joints, repair of carriage standing tracks was started, by dismantling damaged and partly stolen tracks, with works to be continued in upcoming years.
- Restoration of motor trolley's engine was done - replacement of ignition system, generator, voltage regulator, pistons and piston rings, as well as turning and honing of cylinders, general overhaul of gearbox and friction clutches bearing.
- Progress continued on restoration of locomotive TU6A-1885 - repairs in the running gear, all suspension and traction rod details are finished and ready for assembly, work continues of bogie frame repairs. Enormous amount of repairs were carried out on the body of the locomotive, with paying attention to every small and large dent the body had accumulated in the previous service life of the locomotive.
- Planned maintenance was carried out on the freight carriages
- In November 2016 the friction clutch of the locotractor's ESU1a-481 starting engine broke down. Removal and replacement of the broken clutch bearing turned out to be a task for a week non-stop, during which literary half of the locomotive had to be dismantled, thus also several planned maintenance tasks were carried out.
- On 21th of May the first public event for visitors was held on the Pigeon railway - on the national theme of International Museum Day - opening "doors" to the world of peat extraction. The event was not widely advertised, as the museum railway is still not finished, but nevertheless - it attracted around a thousand visitors! More info here: International Museum Day - first insight for visitors