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Latest News: Archive
July 2006
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Latest News: Archive
July 2006
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By Owen Stratford and Trevor Brackpool.
We spent today preparing the point that will be installed to the new pit road in Dereham. The original plan was to head off to Whinburgh, but it was far too hot for digging out sleepers. As a result, we set out the switch blades for the point onto new timbers before gauging, drilling and screwing down the chairs. We also changed a few chairs for ones without broken bits, to make this point 'as new' when it is installed. We were kept going with lots of water, ice cream and dashes into the shade of the bubble car!
Having got on well with yesterday's task, we rewarded ourselves with another foray into the signal box. The catch handles were refitted onto the levers and the split pins inserted. The pins were all primed ready to receive under and top coat later this week. We also put a top coat of white onto the spare levers. Finally we sorted out a further ten levers from the goods shed and brought them down to the box ready for preparing later on. In between jobs, we also loaded up point timbers onto the flatrol for taking up to Norwich Road and removed some signal components from a post that will be installed up at the north end of platform 2. More ice cream was consumed to keep us going.
Up in the northern section, around a quarter of the ballast was boxed off from the most recent round of sleeper changing, although it was too hot to stay out for more than a few hours.
Owen spent a couple of days working towards the weekend, by getting a head start of the next batch of signal levers. 8 levers were stripped down and the main levers wire brushed back to bare metal (outside in between the heavy thunder storms of Wednesday). Bearings were matched up to the levers and everything carefully left for finishing off at the weekend. A lineside cabinet was also selected and configured for Wymondham. This involved refitting the doors and placing shelves inside.
We carried out repairs to Kimberley north level crossing gate today. A replacement is under construction, but crossing keepers had reported that the old gate was dragging on the roadway. We jacked the gate up and placed spacers at the hinges and adjusted the tensioning bar. This solved the problem, but resulted in the gate no longer fitting across the road. We had to remove the locking bolt and cut 3mm off of the entire height of the end of the gate. The bolt was refitted, and everything worked fine. Every little job takes longer than expected. Having completed this we went to assess a fencing job at Garvestone, before heading back to Dereham to remove some piles of spares that were in the way of our next project.
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8th July 2006. Photo: Owen Stratford |
The P Way crew spent today in Dereham, preparing the next part of the point for the pit road. We selected the right size timbers to assemble the crossing panel. The timbers were placed under the crossing and check rails. These were then positioned on the sleepers before the crossing was attached. We then set about squaring and gauging the two check rails before drilling and screwing these down. Once everything was complete, we unloaded the timbers off of the flatrol.
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9th July 2006. Photo: Owen Stratford |
We were back in Dereham Central signal box today. With 8 levers stripped back to bare metal during the week, these were inserted into their locations in the frame. Meanwhile, the catch handles and catch rods were cleaned up and reassembled with the levers. Finally a coat of black paint was applied to the lower half before fixing each lever to the bearing spindle.
The p-way team spent today replacing 400 ferrules in the track in Whinburgh Cutting. This is essential preparation for the forthcoming sleeper changing. Once completed, we began digging out some of the sleepers that are to be changed.
It was another hot and muggy day today out on the track. A small team set off to Whinburgh Cutting to continue with the digging out of sleepers that need changing. Despite the conditions, we still managed to dig out 22 sleepers at the south end of the cutting.
The team were back out at Whinburgh Cutting today and carried on with digging out another 40 sleepers. To beat the intense heat, we started at 7:30 and finished before it became unbearable. At the end of the day, most of the required 80 were dug out and ready for changing.
By Terry Mann.
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24th July 2006. Photo: Terry Mann |
The small team of three have now refitted the hoist rope pulleys to the jib and threaded and fitted the ropes along with the hook and its pulleys and weights. All the jib spindles have been greased so the top of the crane is virtually complete.
Both the hoist and the jib gearboxes have been reassembled following cleaning out of old grease and subsequent internal inspection, and the stuffing box glands topped up and lubricated ready for filling with oil.
Derusting and cleaning off the old paintwork, using a needle gun and various power tools, and then applying a rust preventative paint to the machinery and crane lower framework continues every week. This is our main focus in preparation for painting the whole lower section of the crane and we expect this preparation work to continue for at least another three weeks.
By Gary Hall, Richard Cullen and Matt Goodrum.
This weekend, in addition to the fortnightly mowing of the orchard and picnic area, we hosted a very large party of cycle racers. The station car park served as a check-point and the Tea Room was able to provide large quantities of tea and snacks for the weary riders. A new blackboard sign was also fitted at the entrance to the car park. This will be used on special event days to indicate where people should park, keeping the upper car park clear for exhibitors, coaches etc. It will also indicate when the Tea Room is open. Digging the hole for this small sign proved surprisingly tough, as there seems to be a foot thick band of solid chalk about three inches under the very flinty soil in this area!
On 30 July, four of us headed down to the cutting by bridge 1706 to continue the clearance of the East side of the cutting. Good progress has been made, even though one of our major pieces of equipment had broken down half way through the day. By the end of August we expect to have completed up to the bridge. Due to the drought it was decided not to light any fires at the present time. So the amount of brush to burn has grown in to a mountain range. We are hoping for a cooler and wetter August so that all of this can be burned off.