Permanent Way Reports

By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford, Simon Addington, Paul Mobbs and Roy Malyon.

Saturday 2nd February: Repairing Fence

Steve Tweed and Roy Malyon continued to repair the downside fence-line south of Thuxton where tree clearance under the overhead electricity power line took place last month. So far a mile and a quarter of new wire has been used and the task is not complete.

The vegetation clearance work, in co-operation with BTS contractors working for EDF energy, is of a very high standard and involved great efforts by the small group of volunteers who are now doing a similar thing half a mile north of Garvestone.

At Thuxton, there is a tree-mendous amount of cut vegetation, stretching a distance of half a mile, still to burn: hopefully the working party on Saturday 16th Feb. will be well supported.

The new siding in Dereham.
9th February 2008. Photo: Paul Mobbs

Saturday 2nd February: Changing Sleepers and Chairs

The p-way team spent the day changing 17 sleepers and 5 broken chairs just south of Dereham.

Saturday 9th February: Lifting and Packing

P Way had one final area to jack and pack this year and so we took the train off to Thuxton to attend to a two panel sag by the river bridge north of the station. This took a lift of several inches at the centre of the dip in order to restore a good level on the approach to the bridge. With everything packed, we then had to top up the beds with ballast from the second formation.

Meanwhile, a small group of volunteers is continuing with lifting and packing the remaining track panels leading up to the buffer stops in No 2 siding. Over the weekend good progress has been made with this task, and with another couple of weekends we should be able to finish off another three panels ready for operational use. That will leave a 30ft panel and a buffer stop to do.

Thuxton Cutting.
16th February 2008. Photo: Owen Stratford

Saturday 16th February: Tidying up at Thuxton

With a bargain bonus day in our schedule due to the good weather that has helped us out lately, we spent it south of Thuxton working to clear up behind the tree cutting contractors. A fair amount of twigs and offcuts were littering the ballast and so we worked through the cutting gathering them all up to the side. After this rather tedious job we set about burning up some of the piles of brashings that remained, clearing up four piles at the north end of the cutting.

Sunday 17th February: Replacing a Level Crossing Gate

We were in Dereham today and started off by helping Ian to fit a new gate onto the south side of Norwich Road level crossing. With assistance from the loco owners, the old gate was jacked off from its hinges and carried into the yard for breaking up. We then positioned the new gate and fitted the hinges and braces. Once this was done, Barry, Owen and the crane loaded 12 bundles of 16 new sleepers onto the flatrol and tench ready for taking out to Danemoor in a couple of weeks. With a little spare time at the end of the day we removed four bundles of rails to make space around the bubble car to help with access for restoration.

23rd February 2008. Photo: Simon Addington

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th February: Lifting and Packing

It was out with the jacks and shovels again this weekend: the traction and rolling stock staff were joined by operating staff to carry out p-way work on the Dereham No 2 siding. As a result we managed to lift and pack the remaining three 60ft panels which once inspected will hopefully be brought into use. This leaves a 30ft panel and the buffer stops to connect up, align and lift and pack.

Saturday 23rd February: Digging Out Sleepers

P Way started on the perpetual job that is sleeper renewal today. Our latest area is a return to Danemoor Cutting, last attacked several years ago. Unfortunately these pesky sleepers keep on going rotten. We have identified 192 sleepers that are to be renewed over a half mile length. Today we dug out 45 of them. Unfortunately, the paint marks applied before Christmas that indicate which sleepers are to be changed had worn off, so we took a little time to get going, but despite this, we achieved a very reasonable day's work.

Northern Section Report

By Gary Hall.

Sunday 24th February: Work at County School

We installed ducting to the signal box at County School last year, and now we need to build some inspection pits to gain access to the duct. The County School Group managed to complete the first new inspection pit by the signal box today.

We have also been busy with maintenance of the lineside south of the station. The east bank is almost completely brush cut and cleared of dead branches all the way to bridge 1707, with all the cut material being burnt. Meanwhile, Eileen has been working around the station and orchard, keeping everything tidy there.