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Latest News: Archive
March 2009
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Latest News: Archive
March 2009
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Prototype Mk2. 25th March 2009. Photo: James Steward |
A new arrival at the Mid-Norfolk Railway is Mk2 prototype coach, number 13252. It is a first class corridor vehicle and has been obtained from the National Railway Museum collection. It is a historically valuable vehicle due to a number of pioneering techniques used in its construction. It was built in 1963 at Swindon and retired from service in the 1980s. It is intended that the vehicle will undergo some minor refurbishment work to enable it to return to service.
By Roy Malyon
We spent another day burning the cut vegetation on Danemoor Bank between bridges 1681 and 1682.
There has recently been some flooding of the track in the platforms at Thuxton. To alleviate this, we hired in a digger and installed a new cross-drain, 2 catch-pits and 45 metres of new pipe to an outfall in the adjacent field. In the process of digging the trench, we uncovered the original outfall, which was blocked and almost entirely on the alignment of the 'new' pipe. We also encountered two drains in the cesses, that had also baffled us in the past, so these were connected in.
To the south of Thuxton, a section of pipe was failing to drain properly in spite of the renewal of the cross-drain in January. A replacement drainage pipe from the catch-pit now leads through the downside gate to the land drain from the adjacent field that has been causing the flooding.
Work progressed well today to tidy cut vegetation between bridges 1681 and 1682 on Danemoor Bank. Most of the area towards the summit has now been cleared and the logs retrieved.
The burning of cut vegetation on Danemoor bank again progressed well. The upside strip between bridges 1681 and 1682 is now clear and the downside is amazing with only a day's burning left for a small group.
Clearance of our upside embankment half a mile north of Yaxham Station has progressed very well in the last week. This work is being done by the farmer who owns the adjacent field and will involve a replacement wire fence and some new posts as well. This is part of a plan to remove trees that are becoming unstable on the embankment and improve visibility.
By Matt Goodrum and Gary Hall.
Another day spent digging out sleepers in Northall Green Cutting. We began with 4 volunteers but by lunchtime this had swelled to 6 and we achieved the respectable total of a further 32 dug out and ready for changing.
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Fires in Northall Green Cutting. 15th March 2009. Photo: Lee Temple |
A superb turnout of 11 volunteers, 2 with chainsaws, saw practically all the previously cut material at the southern end of Northall Green Cutting burned or stacked as logs for collection. We had 12 fires during the day - possibly a new record for the MNR? Thank you to all the volunteers who made this possible.
The main northern section team spent the morning loading the works train with components for delivery to Hoe next month while 2 chainsaw operators were felling overhanging trees to the north of Hoe LC. After lunch at the station, the main gang proceeded to Hoe to tidy up and burn some of the felled branches, followed by a trip on the last train of the gala for a change.
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Burning vegetation at Hoe. 29th March 2009. Photo: Lee Temple |
Work on the signal post has continued and the painting of the post is nearing an end. The station platform edge has a new coat of white paint. Orchard work continues, building on the work that was conducted during the summer, to include extending the foot path from the picnic table to the drive. Clearance work on the east side between the level crossing and the farmers crossing is going well. We even managed to conduct some fence work which involved concreting in an intermediate stretcher post with side supports and installing 3 wires on the section we just finished installing the post on.
I would like to pass on my thanks to Mike Bolton. He has taken on the restoration of the signal post and has done an outstanding job. All though this is coming close to completion, regrettably he will not be able to finish the job. We will miss his smile and positive demeanour.
By Trevor Brackpool and Owen Stratford.
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Installing the crossover. 7th March 2009. Photo: Owen Stratford |
The PW crew fixed down the diverging route of the southernmost turnout at Thuxton and began the job of connecting up the rails on the 'up' side of the crossover. We also craned the old removed track panels out of the way and further from the line. Several others were digging ballast and placing it into the beds.
It was our last weekend working on the Thuxton loop for this half of the year. We carried out a few snagging jobs, including fitting the stretcher bars and other switch rail to the point and secured it out of use again. Various missing bolts were inserted on the up-side crossing nose. We also worked on the up-side turnout, gauging the six-foot rail and aligning all of the sleepers into their correct position. The chairs were fitted to this rail before drilling and screwing it down to the sleepers. Meanwhile a fantastic effort was made by the other half of the group to shovel ballast onto the trolley and place it into the remaining vacant beds to complete that job.
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Crossover roughly aligned. 15th March 2009. Photo: Owen Stratford |
Trevor, Barry and Owen were back at Thuxton. We gauged and secured the cess rail of the up-side turnout. This rail was then cut to length and drilled. We cut the curved closure tail to length at the switches and joined this on before cutting its partner to length. Finally, all of the chairs were hung onto these rails. We loaded up all of the remaining tools onto the train and tidied the site to leave it respectable until the autumn. Having achieved all that we wanted, we then scoped the re-sleepering job that will start next week in the cutting.
P Way started on the maintenance work for the year. We began by moving the 'Stop' board for Thuxton to the opposite side of the line in preparation for some ground works in Thuxton Loop before moving on to begin digging out sleepers. We worked our way down the cutting and dug out out 45, around half of those required.
It was Gala Weekend and so we had pre-arranged to work in Dereham. There was some outstanding work to do on the turnout in number three siding and this was the focus of our efforts. The weather was appalling, with cold rain and a biting wind and we didn't feel like doing that much, making a hasty retreat to the dry MLV during the worst of the rain! In between all of this, we installed, gauged and secured the last of the timbers in the loco shed access point. Meanwhile a start was made on lifting and packing the elastic spiked track for three panels into the siding.
A few of us caught the second train of the day in order to deliver some components. We unloaded some boards at Yaxham and then some rolls of geotextile at Thuxton, before an early finish to enjoy a roast Sunday lunch at home for a change!