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Latest News: Archive
October 2007
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Latest News: Archive
October 2007
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Direct Rail Services (DRS) and the Mid-Norfolk Railway are working in partnership to provide maintenance facilities for the autumn rail head treatment trains. These trains operated by DRS on behalf of Network Rail help keep the rails clear of leaf mulch. The locomotives on the trains need regular maintenance and the MNR at Dereham have the facilities to do this. DRS operatives carry out the work using these facilities.
Classes 20, 37 and 57 have visited the facilities, even including two former Eurostar rescue locomotives. These trains are expected to run until the middle of December.
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DRS locomotives use Dereham inspection pit. 23rd October 2007. Photos: Alan Cooper |
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By Owen Stratford, Trevor Brackpool and Paul Mobbs.
P Way returned to Wymondham. We changed the 14 sleepers dug out last week and backfilled the ballast back around them.
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The extension to the pit road. 13th October 2007. Photo: Paul Mobbs |
P Way were in Dereham working on the pit road siding extension. The track panels had already been roughly positioned and we had to align, join and pack them to level. The day started with us drilling a couple of outstanding fishplate holes and insert a couple of missing concrete sleepers. We then unkeyed and moved the last rails up before fishplating them on. Once this was done, the siding was jacked into approximate line with the help of a lot of crowbars and people to wield them. We then jacked the track up to the right level and packed ballast underneath. Once all was in order, the new siding was tested out with 08 631 making a couple of trips along it to bed everything in.
We put our S&T hats on today. There was a length of the new point channel run that had not been bedded in yet and this was the object of our efforts today. The rodding stools that hold the rollers were positioned in the holes, which had to be enlarged and dug to level. We then installed the last few lengths of point channel, joining it all up and packing soil back around the stools. Finally the third length of channel was placed into the empty space at the front and all joined together. The three runs will control the point and point lock for the southern turnout on the main line and the exit from the yard once the signal box is commissioned. The next job will be to dig in the benches for the cranks and install these to turn the three runs under the track to the up cess before then running them to the front of the box. In the interim however, the second point end will be joined up to the existing ground frame.
The P Way team set off to Wymondham today. After the last round of resleepering, after all those that were required at Crownthorpe were delivered, there were 14 left over. These were dropped off at Wymondham some months back. We dug out 14 candidate sleepers that needed replacement north of Abbey Station, before moving up to the Tiffey foot crossing. A misalignment had developed there over the last year. This was corrected by slewing the kink back to alignment with bars before lifting up the cess rail and packing ballast under the sleepers.
By Gary Hall and Roy Malyon.
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The new fence. 24th October 2007. Photo: Gary Hall |
The drains and fence crew have been hard at work installing the replacement yard fencing along Norwich Road. When the fence and gate work is finished, it will present a much better appearance, and make it much easier for lorries to gain access to deliver and pick up large items like locos and carriages.
As part of the job to improve access and security within Dereham Yard, renovated yard gates were fitted today. This was an interesting challenge that has relied on great skill from many volunteers, with the gate hangers and posts being made totally 'in-house'. The traditional 'spiky' fencing nearby has begun to be replaced and the whole area looks much smarter. Additional works will take place within the next few weeks including rewiring the fence towards the Stable building.
By Gary Hall.
A reasonable group arrived today at County School. Due to the weather conditions it was decided not to wander too far from the station. Eileen concentrated on the platform garden and tidying up the platform, as well as ensuring that plenty of tea and coffee was available. Gary spent two hours brush cutting around the station and up the drive until the rest of the gang arrived. When the rain subsided, Mike, Tony, Chris and Gary disassembled the Great Eastern signal post that is being restored. It is now ready to start to clean up for repaint. Even Dave arrived and continued with clearance work in the orchard. All and all a very productive day!