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Latest News: Archive
December 2006
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Latest News: Archive
December 2006
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By Owen Stratford, Trevor Brackpool and Matt Goodrum.
We dropped ballast from the hoppers today on the points in the siding. This concentrated on the shoulders. The diverging belly rail on the south point that will eventually form a second siding was cut, drilled, aligned and fishplated, although the second siding will not be constructed for some time yet. Four new check rails were cut to length from rail off-cuts. One was also bent to form the flares at the end and installed in place of an old one that was temporarily fitted.
Heavy rain caused everybody to take a well earned rest. The rain did however stop by mid morning, so the opportunity was taken to paint the catch handles for another batch of levers in the signal box.
With the recent flurry of track building coming towards a temporary end (for this phase) in Dereham, work has recommenced on the northern section with all the vegetation being cut between Neatherd Road and Norwich Road. Small jobs like this can make a big difference in tidying up the lineside in this high profile location. Unfortunately this has uncovered all the rubbish dumped on our site which will have to be cleared up.
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Point timbers laid out ready to complete the run-round at Dereham. 9th December 2006. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
Today saw us turn our attention to the track at the north end of Dereham Station, with a digger on site to assist us. This new track is on the north end of platform 1 that will complete the run round. The loading spur was dismantled. The rails were moved clear and then the sleepers removed into two stacks: one for siding quality and the other for use on the run round. The formation was then dug down to level and a cross-fall applied towards the 6ft drain from the north end of the MOD road up to Norwich Road level crossing. Finally, recycled ballast was placed onto the formation up to sleeper level. Once the ballast had been installed, the point timbers were moved into position and laid out. The chaired sleepers for the run round were then moved back into position, spaced and aligned. In the yard, a small group spent the morning profiling the new ballast shoulders that were dropped onto the yard points.
A respectable sized Sunday gang turned our attention back to the minor outstanding works on the new points in the yard. We gauged, drilled and screwed down the rails on the diverging route on the southern point, which at the moment goes nowhere. We sourced the required check rail chairs and fitted these too, before bending 3 further check rails. One was installed on the point and the other two were kept in stock for completion of the Dereham run round.
We also took the opportunity to tidy up around the yard. Some old wooden boards and various off-cuts from trees were gathered up onto the bonfire and burned.
The PW Dept were taking a well earned day off today, and so two of us spent the day preparing signalling parts. We were working on the components that are to be fitted to the new signal post at the north end of Platform 2 at Norwich Road Level Crossing. This comprised of three bearing plates, a lamp bracket, a balance weight assembly, a double crank assembly, a backlight blinder and two circuit controller brackets. Each part was stripped down into its components and then stripped back to bare metal as far as practical. (Some of the castings are quite complicated which restricts access to clean them.) The prepared components were then pained with Hammerite ready for fitting on to the post. Meanwhile, we also got the bolts and collars ready along with some parts which will be used to connect up a ground signal to the south of the station. Unfortunately, we ran out of day light so had to stop!
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Newly-installed signal arm at the north end of Platform 2 at Dereham. 17th December 2006. Photo: Mark Hallett |
The PW team were working on the signalling again today. We were fitting out the new Down Starter at Norwich Road Level Crossing. Firstly the lamp bracket, bearing plate and circuit controller bracket were fitted to the post in the top position. Once fitted, the spindle and spectacle plate were inserted and the back blinder fitted. We then put on a brand new home arm. Having completed this, we moved down the post, fitting the clamp-on bearing that will take the fixed distant arm. With all going well, we just had to fit the bottom bearing plate, the balance weight and the cranks at the foot of the post. For some inexplicable reason, the bearing would not fit onto the post correctly. After taking it down again, we realised that the hole in the casting was drilled on the wrong alignment and off-centre. This puzzled us as we had removed it from the signal previously! After a load of filing and two further attempts to fit it we eventually persuaded it to seat on the post properly. Then we came to fit the balance weight. This too caused problems as the holes in the post were a different spacing to the balance weight. We will have to drill further holes. At this stage, we decided to call it a day as it was once more getting dark.
Meanwhile, a couple of others were starting to put together the switches for the new point at the north end of the run round. The broken chairs were removed and replaced along with the switch anchor. The right hand switch was also given a tweak with the jim-crow to remove a kink. This switch was then positioned and fishplated to the level crossing rails. The cess rail will require trimming to length before it too can be fitted.
Two intrepid volunteers (Paul and Vic) braved the freezing weather to move five rails, which are to form part of the point, from their winter slumbers down in Dereham yard. The task was made a little more difficult as the rails were frozen to the ground and didn't want to move but brute force won though and the rails were brought up to Norwich road end ready for final positioning and cutting to their correct lengths.
Two of us set about adding further pieces of equipment to the new signal at the north end of Platform 2 at Dereham. During the week, a further two lamp brackets and a spectacle plate were cleaned up and painted. We started by fitting the spectacle plate to the spindle on the lower bearing. To this was bolted a distant arm before we fitted a yellow spectacle. The lamp bracket for this signal was also fitted to the post. After fitting the arm, it had a pronounced droop and so the bump stop was adjusted to level it out. (The main arm still requires adjustment as it is sitting at about 4 degrees raised to the horizontal.) We then fitted a clamp-on lamp bracket further down the post and added a red lamp. Before finishing for the day we puttied the crank assembly at the foot of the post and fitted a set of new bolts to it.
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The switches at the north end of Dereham Station. 24th December 2006. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
Three volunteers (Paul, James & Rod) set about moving two of the rails, which were moved up on Tuesday, into their final positions ready to be turned in. These two rails are to form part of the track which will join the new point and the existing track in platform 1. Attention then turned to fitting the remaining point chairs to the right hand switch and repositioning the point chairs on the left hand switch to their correct placing.
It was good to see so many familiar faces and old friends for our annual post-Christmas work party. We we aiming to clear the last of the scrub on the embankment just north of Yaxham. We eventually got a good fire burning after battling with the high wind, and then set about the scrub with a chainsaw and a brush cutter. We were joined later by Ernie with his saw, but Barry's developed a crack in part of the casing and had to be stopped. Despite this setback, we managed to clear almost all of the embankment. We were unable to complete the last 10 metres or so because we ran out of daylight and it started to thunder. This will have to be completed another time.
By Gary Hall.
This morning we started work at 8 as usual. We managed to light 6 fires and were able to improve the look just that little bit more. As more people showed up we started to split into smaller groups.
Two went up to bridge 1706 and started to clear the drains. The drain by church lain is clear down to the track bed and the catch pit has been partly cleared and the pipe to the open drain cleared as well. Approximately 1/3 of the open drain has been cleaned out and really looks a treat.
Two other members started to work on the fence from the level crossing to the accommodation crossing. One of our members showed us how not to unroll a coil of wire. The other group was called in to aid in untangling the mess. We were able to install one wire between end posts in readiness to install the intermediate post. We had a very productive day and everyone went home extremely tired.