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Latest News: Archive
February 2007
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Latest News: Archive
February 2007
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By Owen Stratford, Trevor Brackpool and Paul Mobbs.
A midweek trip down to Southampton to collect the missing common crossing chair, thanks to Eastleigh S&C Ltd for helping out on this one, meant that we able to rebuild the common crossing ironwork. This should have been a reasonably easy job but yours truly couldn't remember how the jigsaw of distance blocks fitted together so it was back to basics and we got it together in the end. On Sunday we trimmed the straight closure rail to length and fishplated it to the switch blade and the common crossing. The straight stock rail was also trimmed to length and drilled ready for fishplating up next week. We also made a start on screwing down the straight route through the pointwork before the near freezing mist descended and it was time to pack up and put the tools away for another week.
The p-way team jacked and packed about 30ft of track with the Hilti hammers just north of Kimberley Park crossing to raise and level the track, and to remove a dipped joint. Also from Kimberley Park station heading south, the bays of 28 sleepers were dug out ready for replacement, which should take place next Saturday.
Attention focused on the assembly of the 60ft track panel which leads from the new point towards the existing track in platform one. The rails were tipped into the sleeper chairs, fishplated onto the rails of the new point and keyed up. Thanks to the class 56 boys who saw us struggling when trying to the drop the rails into their chairs and came along and lent a hand.
We returned to Kimberley today with the works train to change the batch of sleepers that were dug out last week. We started by dropping off the new sleepers from the flatrol before the works train headed off to Wymondham to run round and re-marshal. A few extra ones were dug out for good measure and we changed 35 in total working from the concrete sleepers back towards the level crossing. We had a really good day and managed to leave site in good time despite some heavy drizzle for a couple of hours in the morning.
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The new turnout after fitting of the closure rails. 11th February 2007. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
With the pointwork at the north end of Dereham coming along really well, P Way spent the day attending to gauging and drilling the turnout. We corrected an alignment problem in the switches and secured these before fixing down the common crossing. Having done this, the diverging belly rail was cut to length and fishplated. We set up the curve alignment and secured this before gauging and fixing the final rail off of this. Whilst we had the rail saw and drill out, we cut and installed the closure rails to take the track up to the MOD siding. This had the effect of visually showing us a 'completed' loop.
A couple of productive days keeping things moving forward. Tuesday was spent assembling the panel of track which will connect with the existing track in platform one. As the track in platform one sits on concrete sleepers the first two sleepers of the new panel needed to be concrete as well. Therefore we needed to dig under these to drop the rails to the correct level. Also the 6ft rail needed a visit from the Jim Crow to take out a bend. All in all a good day's work. Wednesday started out very wet with a dark and sullen sky but were we put off? Not likely! The day was spent with the rail crane clearing the site of the old rails which used to form the old offloading ramp siding together with rail off cuts from the recent work. We also brought up the rails which will form the new offloading siding so that we can get cracking putting these together this weekend. The rain stopped once we started and the sun even made an appearance after lunch.
Whilst all that was going on a second team got on with dropping in ballast on the 60ft panel and the switches of the point sufficient so that they can be lifted and packed later. Then it was time to prepare and level the site for the reinstatement of the loading / offloading siding which was complicated by the heavy rain the previous night turning the site into a mud bath in places. The siding trackbed then had a layer of ballast spread out and levelled before the sleepers were carried back into position. Thanks to everybody who turned out on a wet Sunday morning and helped make it happen.
First job of the day was to space the sleepers on the closure panel we assembled last week, then came the arduous task of filling in cribs in the pointwork and the closure panel with ballast which took us the rest of the day.
We spent the day digging out, changing and backfilling eleven sleepers at Wymondham Abbey station. We loaded 26 redundant concrete drainage troughs (which were removed during the construction of the run round loop) and delivered 13 to Garvestone crossing and the rest to Yaxham crossing for future works to improve drainage at those crossings. While we had time we also backfilled a few more of the sleepers that had been previously changed.
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The loading siding at the north end of Dereham Station. 18th February 2007. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
As we had brought up most of the components last week we set about starting to put together the first part of the offloading siding. First job was to move the sleepers to their approximate spacing, interlacing the ones that butt up to the point timbers. Next we trimmed back the turnout stock rail and drilled it ready for fishplating up. The cess side rail was manhandled into the chairs and the whole panel was barred over to form the curve of the siding. The rail was then fishplated up and keyed up into position. For good measure we then set about selecting two more rails which were then cut to 40ft lengths along with sleepers which were placed at the end of the panel and will be assembled next weekend to complete the offloading siding.
Tony and matt have now completed the strimming of the Neatherd to Swanton Road section of the line and stacking of all the rubbish ready for next Saturday's works train. Now we need a volunteer to mow this section once or twice a year to keep it all down as meadow grassland beside the track. Any takers?
Work over these two days centred on fixing the operating mechanism to the new point. First a front stretcher bar had to be found which when fitted gave the correct dimension on the open side of the switches. Usually on new installations stretcher bars are fitted and drilled to suit their individual switches and as we have to refit second-hand ones it was a case of sorting through those on hand to see whether any would fit. Luckily one of the last to be checked (it's always the way) was the right length so it was brought back to the workshop and overhauled. Next a drive rod was needed. The first suitable one we found had its adjuster seized solid from lying outside to long. Even after liberal amounts of heat and some very big spanners, which usually do the trick, it still refused to move so it went back to its resting place down the yard. A further search revealed another drive rod which was willing to co-operate and was freed off. The second day saw us fitting up the drive rod and the point lever to the point, and after the usual adjustments everything worked fine. Attention then turned to fitting the rear stretcher bar. This time, because it a tight turnout, we needed to measure up, cut and drill a new piece of flat bar to form the stretcher. The brackets were offered and bolted up and everything slotted into place.
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The new loading ramp. 25th February 2007. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
Work on Saturday saw us complete lifting and packing of assembled track throughout the worksite. We then assembled the final section of the offloading siding. We also fitted the baseplate under the Common Crossing A chair which had been missing. A new one had been fabricated from a sheet of steel 1" thick and was drilled to suit in the workshop. On Sunday attention turned to lifting and packing the last section of siding track assembled on Saturday. Next came the construction of the offloading pad so that hauliers can use swan-neck trailers when delivering rolling stock. Thanks to the volunteers who gave up their Sunday to help shift the 1 ton of spoil needed, among the other works, which was necessary to get this job done.
A busy week in putting the finishing touches to the installation of the new point together with the reinstatement of the offloading ramp siding. The MNR Drainage and Fencing gang spent a full day putting in the cess drainage to keep the site dry. An arduous task as new drainage pipes need to be dug in alongside the track and deep enough so that they have the appropriate fall so that the surplus water flows away. Well done lads.
By Gary Hall.
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Clearance along the footpath at County School. 11th February 2007. Photo: Raymond Jordan |
Members of the County School Area Group have continued coppicing trees on the east side of the railway between County School Level Crossing and the farmer's crossing some 200 yards southwards. The majority of the cuttings have also been burned off leaving the site a lot tidier.
With a morning free on Saturday 17th, contact was made with a few of the regulars and we all met to continue clearance work just south of County School Station. Branches that were left across the new footpath to prevent people using it during the clearance work were cut up and the farmer's crossing was strimmed. Friday the 23rd saw a return of 3 members, who made a start clearing the area just north of the station, where the signal box will go. Sunday 25th saw a return south of the level crossing once again. Two large branches were removed that blocked the visibility of the signal that is in the station as well as a few lower branches on some trees that are in the fence line. This should conclude all of the tree work in this area. We continued strimming the west bank as well. All the trimmings have now been burned to keep the area tidy.