Permanent Way Reports

By Matt Goodrum, Owen Stratford and Trevor Brackpool.

Saturday 4th June: Point Maintenance

We spent the day inserting Vortok coils into some of the sleepers in the turnout leading to platform 1 in Dereham. These are aluminium coils that dig into the wood and provide extra support for the chair screws.

Roland at work on the Wymondham run-round loop.
Photo: Matt Goodrum

Sunday 5th June: Shovelling Ballast at Wymondham

With the rest of the P.way crew either taking a day off or busy with other projects, Roland still made the 200+ miles round trip from home to fork ballast from the sleepers and tidy the shoulders at Wymondham loop.

Saturday 11th June: Odd Jobs

It was AGM day and so the PW team spent the morning doing a few little odd jobs at Dereham.

Sunday 12th June: Bending Check Rails

We had arranged to borrow a 'Jim Crow' today to bend the check rails at Wymondham for the south end points. We completed the check rail bending by lunchtime and also drilled the holes in the rails in order to fit the distance blocks as soon as we have the bolts in stock. We then took the opportunity to use the few hours until the return train home to trim out some of the branches that were overhanging the boundary fence on the approach to W37 signal using the ladder and saws that we had brought with us.

Saturday 18th June: Point Maintenance

It was a blisteringly hot day today, and so we didn't relish the thought of digging out the ballast on the 1:8 point into the yard. We had to remove and swap or pull through many of the timbers as the chairs on the diverging road were beginning to shuffle, which elongates the holes and widens the gauge. By early afternoon, we had completed just over half of the sleepers and had dug out the remainder. It was too hot to carry on and so we adjourned for the day.

Sunday 19th June: Point Maintenance

Sunday started off like the day before, and it was already very hot by the time that we started work. We pulled through and re-drilled the remaining timbers on the point that were outstanding from Saturday. We also fitted some gauge stops to three of the timbers as a preventative measure. After lunch, we set about preparing a replacement check rail for the running line. This was cut to size, drilled and bent at the ends. After the last train had departed, we then removed the worn one and reinserted the replacement, overhauling the bolts and fittings at the same time.

Saturday 25th June: Mowing and Shovelling Ballast

We went off to Toller's Lane at Whinburgh today with two tasks to attend to. We had four strimmers working for most of the day and managed to cut the embankment sides from Toller's Lane half way to the Trout Farm bridge (1687). Already there were small Elder bushes and tiny saplings starting to re-grow amongst the weeds and so everything was taken back down to ground level. In between taking turns on the strimmers, the remainder boxed off ballast behind where the tamper had been. This involved pulling the disturbed ballast off the sleepers and back into the beds and then topping up any low spots from the spare ballast on the second formation.

Sunday 26th June: Vegetation Clearance

A small group set out from County School to start clearing the track bed between County School and North Elmham. We removed a clump of trees growing adjacent to bridge 1707 to prevent damage to the footings of the bridge. A large pile of tree limbs have appeared on the end of the track from County School.

Sunday 26th June: Mending Level Crossing

We were training some new section walkers today and so there was only a small group. We attended to a loose sleeper in the roadway at Garvestone Level Crossing. The old one was removed and a replacement inserted and spiked down.