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Latest News: Archive
April 2010
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Latest News: Archive
April 2010
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By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford, Robin Stratford and Roy Malyon.
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Resleepering near Whinburgh. 3rd April 2010. Photo: Simon Addington |
P way ventured back to Whinburgh cutting today. The job in hand was spot resleepering again. We caught the passenger train to site and worked our way north around Toller's Lane accommodation crossing, changing 29 sleepers and backfilling the ballast as well.
Once again, P Way were out at Whinburgh attending to sleepers that required changing. There were 12 left to change near to the Mustard Pot bridge (1689). They were soon polished off, which was just as well since the weather decided to snap into summer mode, making it a bit too hot. They were all backfilled and we then walked down to the Trout Farm to dig out a further 30. We decided to change these prior to dropping extra ballast in this length since that will make it much harder. Finally we returned towards Toller's Lane and topped up the beds where the tamper had lifted the track.
A small S&T contingent worked in Dereham on parts for signals to be installed at Thuxton. A ladder was cleaned back to metal and painted black. We also overhauled a couple of circuit controllers and cleaned these up before paining them too. The final component to be prepared was a wheel and parts to mount at the base of the signal in the up platform. Meanwhile Trevor was paining levers in Dereham Central. In the afternoon Trevor and Barney went to Hall Lane to attend to a 'little job' lifting a dipped joint. After a phone call Barry and Owen also went down to help, since the little job was a bit more than anticipated due to having to remove trespass guards, clean contaminated ballast and carry out the original job before putting it all back together again!
P Way spent today working south of Toller's Lane. We worked on the embankment to the south topping up ballast into the areas where the tamper had lifted the track. It was not a very exciting task, but important nonetheless.
Work has started at Wymondham and Crownthorpe to spray the fencelines, visibility splays at level crossings, round bridgeabutments and near signs. This lengthy annual task gives many benefits as brambles are removed making our railway look tidy and making repairs easier. Strimming of the embankments is much easier without having to worry about hitting fences, and we have also found that less rubbish is dumped from adjacent houses if the area behind them is clear. Whilst the weather is favourable further spraying is planned especially near Dereham Station and Yard.
Again we have found by experience that there is only a narrow window of time as the weeds reach about 6" high which is really time- and cost-effective and less chemical is used to cover the same area with the job far easier too.
13 volunteers continued the mammoth task of clearing the vegetation in Danemoor Cutting. To enable us to continue working through the birds' nesting season, we had previously cut the trees that we wished to remove, leaving them to burn later. Now that we cannot cut more trees because of the risk of disturbing nesting birds, we are burning the stacks of previously-cut material. Great progress has been made and hopefully next week will see the remaining piles on the upside burnt.
The fantastic display of primroses near Danemoor Bridge (1682) is testament to the many hours of vegetation clearance that has taken place.
We had an early start today in order to take out a works train before the first service of the day. The train was loaded with the last of the sleepers that required changing around the Whinburgh Trout Farm. These 28 sleepers were dropped off and we then set about replacing those in the track. The job was wrapped up in time to catch the last Wymondham-bound service. We took this as far as Thuxton where we got off again and cleared space on the platform ready for next week's planned work. With a little time to spare, we caught up with the signal box builders.
P Way were in Dereham yard for the morning to load up parts onto wagons. We started off by putting components for Thuxton level crossing onto the Tench, comprising of a bundle of hardwood sleepers, all of the check chairs, and some ducting. The weatherman promised warm and overcast and shortly after starting, the skies opened and stayed that way making us all very wet.
We then dripped our way over to the sleeper stack and loaded up the Flatrol with 7 bundles of sleepers for the northern section to be delivered and changed next week.
By Toby Rawlings and Gary Hall.
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The new distant signal and stop board at Neatherd Road. 1st April 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Two members of the Northern Section team undertook what currently passes as signalling works north of Dereham station, where there are three level crossings in the space of 800 yards. Each requires a "Stop" board on the approach to the gates and a fixed distant set further back. Given the distance involved, the distant sign is mounted below the stop board at the previous crossing.
The Northern Section team, totalling 11 volunteers at one point, had a very productive day in the heart of Northall Green cutting. The previous digging out of ballast around the sleepers to be changed this year was checked, with more material being removed from 104 sleepers. 240 new rail keys were inserted to replace rusted, rotten or missing examples. Other work included clearing blockages from the drainage ditch, inserting missing fishplate bolts and burning previously cut material.
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1695 with fresh paint. 11th April 2010. Photo: Graham Aldous |
Seven members of the northern section team held a bonus work day and managed to fully repaint the railings of bridge 1695 (Northall Green) much improving the look of the railway in this area.
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Digging out drains. 18th April 2010. Photo: Matt Goodrum |
An excellent turnout of 12 volunteers on the northern section quickly dealt with the day's planned work of locating and digging out blocked sections of drainage pipe and rodding through the rest in the southern end of Northall Green Cutting. This meant that we were then able to make a start digging out an extension to the system to cope with an occasional flooding problem at times of exceptionally heavy rain.