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Latest News: Archive
May 2010
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Latest News: Archive
May 2010
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By Matt Goodrum, Toby Rawlings and Gary Hall.
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Driver Mark Hallett with the sleeper-delivery train. 1st May 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
In preparation for tomorrow's jumbo sleeper changing event a small advance party of northern section volunteers and driver Mark took a works train to deliver sleepers in the depths of Northall Green Cutting. We also took the opportunity to deliver drainage pipe ready for the improvements we plan to make later.
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Rotten sleepers. 2nd May 2010. Photo: Matt Goodrum |
9 Northern Section volunteers along with Owen, Trevor and Barney from the southern team soon got in to the swing of things. With a target of 52 there was much to do but we were all surprised when the final tally for the day revealed that we had managed 80! We plan to replace approximately 250 sleepers this year and 300 more next year but only if our sponsor a sleeper scheme continues to be a success, so do please consider sponsoring another sleeper or two, to help us achieve this aim.
The northern section team spent the morning finishing off changing the last 24 of our 104 sleepers replaced this month. After a spot of lunch we then begun the task of backfilling screened ballast around the new sleepers.
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Cleared lineside after the cut material was burnt. 16th May 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
After a winter of heavy lineside clearance on the Northern Section we have a huge amount of branches stacked and ready to be disposed of so today we made a start burning around bridge 1701.
A small northern section team, ably assisted by the probation service, spent the day burning pre-cut vegetation, and strimming the lineside north of Swanton Road in Dereham.
Dave showed up and cut the grass in the orchard. Eileen was working on the GER carriage. Ray, Neil, Andy and Gary managed to light several fires to clean up wood that had previously been cut. We drilled an additional hole in several fence post in readiness of the last strand of wire that is required after a two year delay, and cleared out a hole in a post and tube fence along the new foot path so the last tube could be pushed through the post of the first run. We made two trips to Dereham to collect a pair of gates, an air compressor and some fuel. We are expecting an all-steel site office to be delivered: this is to be used as a work place for plant and equipment, so a site has been cleared and made ready.
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Rubble awaiting disposal near Swanton Road. 28th May 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Two Northern Section volunteers helped members of the Probation Service to collect and transport loose rubble to a temporary stockpile just north of Swanton Road Level Crossing. By removing rubble from the lineside the task of strimming or mowing the grass is made safer and can be completed to a higher standard.
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Visiting Bridge 1700, the furthest north a train can reach. 29th May 2010. Photo: Tom Brooking |
Despite the rain six Northern Section members, plus 73 210 and driver Mark, went to Hoe to collect the wagons stabled there since the last works train. The remaining small logs were transported to the southern end of the Cutting for safe keeping while we find a buyer. Some scrap metal was also taken back to Dereham Station from both Hoe and Swanton Road.
Three of the volunteers spent the morning burning previously-cut vegetation, which is always much appreciated - if you can help dispose of any more, please get in touch.
By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford, Robin Stratford and Roy Malyon.
P Way started on the preparations for relaying the up side of Thuxton Level Crossing today. We had an early start at 8:00 to take a works train down to Thuxton containing the materials and also the hoppers. Once there the tench was shunted into the up platform and the sleepers, checkrail chairs and ducts were unloaded. We then shunted the hoppers into the down side of the loop and dropped the one loaded wagon on both cess and 6ft next to the level crossing. The train was reformed and returned to Dereham. The first job was to cut and drill the rail ends on the last panel before the level crossing. We then started the job of building the level crossing panel above this. We moved two short 30ft rails over the road ready to build the track panel. The sleepers and check chairs were laid out and one side drilled and screwed down. The two rails were installed and the gauged before the other chairs were drilled and screwed to the sleepers. We then removed each rail in turn and used the jim crow to bend the checkrail flares onto each end before re-installing them. We also used the time to install the wheel at the base of the up starter signal next to the level crossing. This was planted on a concrete base and then the signal chain was fitted onto the wire down from the signal.
We spent today clearing overhanging branches near to the sewage works bridge (1675) in Wymondham. This was to enable our bridge engineer to carry out an inspection.
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Lifting and packing. 15th May 2010. Photo: Simon Addington |
P Way went down to Thuxton to continue the good work of getting the loop ready for action. The first job was to lift and pack the two panels on the up side to the south of the level crossing to their final level. These had been roughly levelled before and we now jacked them up the last inch to complete the job. This required ballast to be trollied along to fill some of the larger voids. Once this was complete, the party split up to attack two fronts. Half of the group went to the north end and installed one of the half location cases that will hold signalling equipment. The remainder of the party dug a big hole at the bottom of the up platform ramp. We were surprised to find a brick wall right in the middle of our hole, probably part of the older platform which was slightly longer and all of which was right in the way and so needed to be removed. After shifting this out, a concrete bench was placed into the bottom and aligned. A crank will be bolted to this at a later date to transfer the wire run towards the wheel at the base of the adjacent signal.
We had a signalling day today. We started off with a progress meeting and it was then followed by a heavy duty effort and we spent the time gathering up more components for Thuxton Loop. This consisted of a large relay cabinet and 4 half relay cabinets. These are rather heavy and we also had to find and install doors onto some of these. Each was checked for suitability before being carried over onto the platform ready for taking down by train. We also then collected all of the required concrete bases. These too are really heavy requiring 4 people to just lift them. One of the cabinets was down the yard and it was easier to shunt the DMU into siding three alongside to load it. We jokingly suggested that the train crew might be kind enough to unload it at Thuxton and we were pleasantly surprised to find the DMU returning empty.
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New location cabinets. 22nd May 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
Today's main job was to install the two location cabinets nearest to the level crossing at Thuxton. These cabinets will contain the electronics associated with the nearby signals and track circuits. We took the concrete bases down on the first train, and then had to dig holes in the right places to set them into the ground. Once this was complete, we could bolt the cases themselves onto the bases.
We had a little time left before the final train of the day took us home, so we brought up a few trolley-loads of ballast to place in the final track panel that is yet to be lifted and packed.
A small permanent way team went out to regulate the ballast in the north end of the passing loop at Thuxton. The persistent rain dampened our ambitions, so we cut the day short after lunch.