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Latest News: Archive
October 2006
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Latest News: Archive
October 2006
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By Owen Stratford.
A smaller group were back working on the pit today. We started off by removing all of the formwork and the remaining shuttering from the pit. Once all of the shuttering was removed, all of the construction debris (wooden wedges and packing etc.) was removed from the pit. We then engaged in house-keeping, stacking up all of the formwork and removing nails and stacking the timber struts. The wedges and packings were also gathered together into heaps. Meanwhile, the concrete surface beneath each of the chairs was dressed to ensure that any irregularities in the finished surface were removed. This stopped some of the chairs from rocking and gave them all a better seating. By the end of the day were were getting interrupted by heavy thunderstorms and torrential rain and so excused ourselves to somewhere drier!
The intrepid PW crew spent today delivering things to various parts of the line. We set off with a fully loaded flatrol full of sleepers and also loaded up the bolster with tools and a location case. The sleepers were all unloaded through the length of Crownthorpe Cutting. Once this was done, we then ran to Wymondham to deliver the location case and concrete base. This will be used as the token exchange point to replace that which is currently located in the booking office, and thus separating the operational side of the railway from the public area. The train was then reformed for the return journey and on the return trip to Dereham we changed a few cracked chairs in isolated locations.
P-Way were at Swanton Road in Dereham today. The purpose of the expedition was to resurface the carriageway in the '4 foot' between the rails. A tarmac contractor had been booked, and we supplied the muscle. The road was resurfaced in two halves. We set up traffic management, which was a bit of a squeeze over this crossing. To give a little extra room, the gates were swung inwards. Once this was established, the old worn boards were removed. The old surface was broken out before new tarmac was rolled in, in several layers. Once it had cooled sufficiently to accept traffic, the management was swapped to block the other carriageway and the process repeated. Having satisfactorily completed the repair, the site was demobilised and the gates returned to their normal position.
In Dereham the operation to install 2 points in the yard commenced with the measuring, planning and selection of all of the required rails in order to match up wear and profiles on all of the fishplated joints. This enables a better quality result, avoiding having lift fishplates everywhere which become a maintenance issue.
Following several months of planning, the operation on site to connect up the new pit road commenced today. We are installing two points into the yard reception road: one to run back to the pit and one abutting it to start a second siding down the yard. Unfortunately this severs 75% of our storage space from the rest of the world. Prior to starting the project on the ground, a careful organisation and shunting of stock had taken place to extract everything that we might want up to Christmas. Anything that was not required was locked into the yard before P-Way set about the siding with a big crane, lifting out the first pair of rails and the next two panels. Once this was done, the crossing and two switch panels were roughly placed into position. All of the required rails had already been identified and these were brought to site.
We were in the yard in Dereham today continuing the installation of the pointwork. The crossing panel was accurately positioned and then the closure rail was cut to length to fit between the backs of the two points onto platform one road. Then the sleepers to go between the crossing and the switches on the pit point were laid out. The belly rail on the main route was craned into position and cut to length and fishplated up. Once this was located, then the switch panel onto the next turnout was moved over into alignment and joined up. Finally two further rails in the pit point were fishplated at the south end ready for cutting to length. Now that the main pieces are joined, the whole scheme is much clearer to see.
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Sawing rails to the correct length 22nd October 2006. Photo: Owen Stratford |
We continued today where we had left off on the previous day. The remaining rails for the pit point were craned into position and cut to length before being installed, leaving two rail ends to cut and drill once the alignment has been tied down. We then moved onto the second turnout. The sleepers were pulled into the approximate line. We then lifted the four rails that are joined onto the switches into position. Finally the crossing was craned into alignment and location. We then joined all four of these rails onto the switches and cut one on the straight route to length. This was joined to the crossing, joining all major components together. Unfortunately at this point the rain arrived and came down in buckets so we called an early finish to the day.
Following on from the previous week's terrific start on the assembly of the points, we continued the process of fitting the second southernmost turnout together. Chairs were collected from the stack and placed under all of the rails and the sleepers aligned. The straight road on the point was then gauged, drilled and screwed down. We also jim-crowed a slightly kinked rail. The switch also given some attention, with the long timbers for the switch lever fitted and also a few other odd ones which were outstanding. By the end of the weekend, the majority of the turnout was more or less aligned and complete with just the diverging road to complete. Elsewhere on site we had an excavator carrying out a lot of essential jobs, including preparing further areas for track installation, digging a trench for the supply to the water crane, excavating the hole for the new signal at Norwich Road and moving materials to new more organised storage areas.
By Terry Mann.
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30th October 2006. Photo: Terry Mann |
With the main elements of the pit construction underway the team have been able to get back onto Horace's restoration programme. The lower half of the frame has been needle gunned and painted in "blood" colour; and very good it looks too. Front brake shoes, which were relined some months ago, have been fitted along with the brake drums and wheels. I won't go into all the problems we had with seized brake components, wheels and wheel nuts but suffice to say the path to restoration was not an easy one. So he's back on his wheels and can be moved again if necessary. The generator has been painted and we will now concentrate on installing this, the diesel engine and all the auxiliaries before giving it a test run. Once all that's done we will then have to concentrate on re-engineering the electrical system and would really appreciate help from anyone who can assist us with fitting out the electrics.
By Gary Hall.
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Left photo: Creating a new path at the bottom of the embankment. Right photo: Chris Remon mows the newly-tidied picnic area. 1st October 2006. Photos: Matt Goodrum |
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Ray and Neil spent the morning tidying the area to the south of the level crossing in preparation for lowering the path to beside the stream. The first part has been lowered already and looks very impressive. In the meantime Matt and Chris cut the grass in the picnic area. The main area is now completely cleared and returned to grass while we cleared some more brambles from the lower area and cut the grass around the picnic tables.
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9th October 2006. Photo: Ray Jordan |
3 of us regular volunteers arranged to meet to make a start on clearing the east side of the line from the County School crossing gates South. On the 8th we managed to light 2 fires and continue clearing work. By the end of the 9th, another really good day of cutting and burning has resulted in a major improvement. One can actually see the meadow clearly now. This area has seen several clearances in the past, but the stumps were not treated at the time of cropping. This has caused the stumps to shoot up several new trees from one stump. Unfortunately these will all need to be removed, but we have decided to leave a few to lessen the blow of the change. We try to maintain as many good trees as possible along our track.
The County School group met at 8 and lit 3 fires along the east side of the line by County School level crossing. At around 10 we all went down to bridge 1706 and cut up the remainder of the tree trunks and stacked them on the east side to be recovered when we can reach this area with some sort of transport.