Few recent visitors to Beamish can fail to have noticed the increasingly perilous state of the road through the Pit Village and into the Colliery Yard. Whilst actually very authentic, when wet it becomes deep mud and when dry it is a dust bowl. The pot holes have worked themselves into craters and this is uncomfortable to bus users, particularly the Access Bus. So, we decided to remedy the problem before the high season starts (this coming weekend!). The surface is being dug out and the material removed to make good some of the service roads on site. A layer of cambered crushed tarmac is then laid, spread and rolled. We will then be able to maintain this using the steam roller and barrows of spare crushed tarmac, to create an interesting performance throughout the coming season.

Work started this morning and is due to be completed by the middle of the week – here is a selection of views showing some very nice boys toys at work!

Below: A sequence of views showing stripping and removal of the old surface as well as newly laid crushed tarmac, rolled and compacted in place.