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Latest News: Archive
January 2010
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Latest News: Archive
January 2010
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By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford and Robin Stratford.
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Shunting at Thuxton to retrieve the crane. 2nd January 2010. Photo: Mark Hallett |
PW ventured down to Thuxton. We collected the tench and crane and used them to pick up a couple of piles of sleepers and some timbers that will be used in Dereham to resleeper the point into the yard. On the way back, several old sleepers were collected to be used in the northern section as steps. Ballast was also trollied ready for next week's lift and pack of the first 4 concrete panels in the up platform. Once back, the stock was marshalled ready to unload/reload tomorrow.
We had a reasonably early start for a Sunday and it was just as well as we only just managed to complete the unloading and reloading of the tench wagon with the available daylight. We started off by unloading the stacks of sleepers in the yard. We then set about loading concrete sleepers back onto the wagon to take to Thuxton in two weeks. These sleepers were in a slightly muddled heap right at the bottom of the yard from where they were unloaded from Cambridge many years ago. The main siding number one had been cleared for us to access them and so the tench was placed in the siding, with the crane on the main running line. Because the heap was unloaded by forklift originally, we had to pick up each sleeper individually. Some had to be turned up the right way with crowbars before we could attach the lifting stirrups and we also had to separate out any damaged ones for later stripping of the chairs. With 76 loaded and a slight hiccup in the middle when we had to stop to top up the fuel in the crane, we then loaded up a hinge post and a stop post for widening the level crossing at Thuxton.
The team went out to clear a small stand of blackthorn near Rash's Green today. This work will improve the view for pedestrians using the nearby footpath crossing. The day was cold with a little snow forecast but as the day progressed the fire grew and the snow got heavier and heavier.
The Wednesday team had a good turnout today. We went to Yaxham to burn some previously cut wood but had to plough through some fairly deep snow to get there.
The fires were very reluctant to get going but eventually they were coaxed into some life. A lot of brambles were also removed and now the area looks much better. Now I will go and sit down to ease my aching muscles: who needs a gym to work out?
Today's P Way party returned to Thuxton in order to carry on with completing the up platform track. The train was taken down, loaded with concrete sleepers and the crane. We lifted out two further panels in the up platform, laid out concrete sleepers before returning the rails. For the final panel, we unkeyed and lifted up the rails, before swapping 10 timber sleepers for concrete ones. This formed the final transition between concrete and timber, which should not take place on a joint. We then stacked up the removed timber sleepers before loading them onto the flatrol to take back to Dereham with us. Whilst this was taking place, Trevor's half of the group lifted the track in the platform to the desired level and packed the ballast underneath.
Despite breaking the record for the largest Wednesday group ever - 14 - we spent all day clearing vegetation near Bridge 1681 at the summit of Danemoor bank. The trees in this area have grown towards the light (and the trains) and so require removing before they cause a problem. Vegetation clearance is very tiring and again the Wednesday group returned home exhausted but happy!
Recently two days have been spent strimming the regrowth on the upside just south of Garvestone Level Crossing. This project continued today with some larger untidy blackthorn bushes chainsawed together with three overhanging tree boughs. It is hoped to clear the scrubby small growth in the whole section so the embankment will be easier to maintain whilst leaving specimen trees.
The Southern Section P-way spent the day aligning the newly-installed concrete-sleepered track at Thuxton. We set the expansion gaps to the correct sizes for the rail temperature, and then fishplated the rails together on one side of the line only. The sleepers were then spaced and keyed up. Once this was completed, we could roughly align the track before repeating the process with the remaining rail. After lunch we moved a lot of ballast ready for packing through where the extended platform will be.
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The first train into the up platform at Thuxton. 30th January 2010. Photo: Mark Hallett |
P Way finally completed the Up platform area of the Thuxton Loop today. The remaining three panels were lifted and packed to height. We also unloaded the last of the sleepers from the tench wagon along with the gate posts for the widened crossing. Several spare rails were collected from the 4ft of the loop and stacked out of the way alongside the line. The last job for the crane was to lift one panel off of the north end of the southern half of the loop in order to allow the formation to be excavated. With the crane work completed, the dogfish were retrieved and shunted into the north end of the loop, where the platform is. We then dropped two wagons of ballast in the platform and sharked them. (A shark is a ballast plough.) This movement was the first rail vehicles to run in the Up Platform at Thuxton since the line was singled in 1965.
Despite the cold and ice, four volunteers continued the clearance of overhanging branches and lit two huge bonfires south of Garvestone today. Whilst a bit remains to tidy up on the upside embankment near the level crossing and along the fenceline on the downside at the end of the cutting, the whole cutting looks much better and visibility is much improved.
By Matt Goodrum, Toby Rawlings and Gary Hall.
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Sorting sleepers for reuse. 3rd January 2010. Photo: Julian Elsdon |
The Northern Section team were determined to make up for not burning anything at Swanton Road two weeks ago, unfortunately our bonfire curse has continued into the New Year. Admitting defeat at lunchtime the six volunteers collected together old sleepers which had been changed last year and sorted through another stack by Bridge 1696. Any useful wood will be used as catchpit lids or to construct access steps in Northall Green cutting.
Two track panels worth of sleepers were delivered to the Northern Section, having been released from the construction of the passing loop at Thuxton. The works train, including the Class 20 and Rail Crane, returned to Dereham with firewood to sell and, in a new trial, four oak trunks for sale to a saw mill. A good turnout insured that the sleepers to be changed were dug out and numerous missing keys were replaced between Swanton Road and Northall Green. Thanks must go to Southern Section P-Way for the sleepers and their time.
This was the first time that the Northern Section had changed sleepers without the help and supervision of the Southern Section P-Way team, with the nine volunteers managing to change and backfill 32 just north of Swanton Road. Available as a result of a tidy-up at Thuxton, these sleepers came pre-drilled and with chairs, which had to be removed, while returning the screws to their original holes. These are in addition to the sponsor a sleeper scheme - those removed would have needed changing in 5 to 10 years time.
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Sleepers strapped to the Flatrol. 17th January 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
A stack of sleepers ready for reuse. 17th January 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Today the County School Area Group consisting of 4 people managed to install two posts along the drive where people have been driving around the speed bumps and damaging the road edge. This was quite difficult to do because of a layer of old tarmac, stones and tree roots. We then moved to the car park where we were storing some new pipe. This has now been cut to length and threaded in readiness to install a post and tube fence along the drain by the level crossing.
The group then went down the line and cut down a tree. This was cut up and a fire lit. We burned off all the cuttings from that tree and the tree that was taken down last month. With the fire going out we packed up and called it a day.