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Latest News: Archive
September 2010
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Latest News: Archive
September 2010
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37s approach Thuxton. 25th September 2010. Photo: Geoff Tibble |
Class 37 Golden Jubilee gala weekend was a massive success. Approximately 2000 visitors attended the celebrations with 12 locomotives on site. Representing the 50 years of service, liveries represented including original British Rail green, 1970s BR blue, 1980s railfreight grey, pre-privitisation Mainline blue and civil engineers, up to the latest Direct Rail Services, West Coast Railways and Network Rail locos.
The weekend also saw the opening of the passing loop at Thuxton which enabled an hourly service from Dereham and Wymondham with over 30 departures from the MNR's Dereham headquarters over the 3 days.
Visitiors came from far and wide including Ireland, Denmark and Germany. Many warm comments were received over the weekend. Local publicity included a live broadcast on BBC1 local news which brought in a number of local visitors.
Other highlights of the weekend were double headed BR blue locos, with Fenman headboards on 7 blue/grey Mk2 carriages; the first runs in service of 37 003 ,which is a permanent resident at the MNR; the naming of DRS loco 37 601, which is the oldest currently operation mainline engine, built as D6705, named Class 37 - 'Fifty'; the first run on a preserved line of a Network Rail ERTMS locomotive; and on Saturday a cavalcade of engines through Dereham Station. No other preserved railway has attempted anything on this scale before.
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Crowds at Dereham. 25th September 2010. Photo: Steve Tweed |
By Matt Goodrum, Toby Rawlings and Gary Hall.
The Northern Section gang spent the day digging out almost 100 sleepers south from Hoe Level Crossing ready for changing next month. Additional excavation was required at each so that the new sleepers can be slid in from the lineside at the same angle as the track. The combination of a right-handed curve and close cutting slopes makes this the hardest area in which to replace sleepers by our usual method.
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Removing trees and ivy from Bridge 1700. 19th September 2010. Photo: Toby Rawlings |
A team of four northern section volunteers lit nine bonfires between Hoe level crossing and Bridge 1699 in order to clear piles of previously cut dry vegetation. The first fire was near Hoe level crossing and it mostly removed a pile of broken pallets left after the platform slabs were transported to Thuxton. The last fire was just South of Bridge 1699 to burn up recently cut ivy and vegetation left at the track side by the Community payback team. Substantial additional ivy and vegetation from the up side of the bridge was cut down and burnt by the volunteers.
Eight Northern Section members cleaned and returned all the ballast we could find in order to backfill the sleepers that had been replaced just south of Bridge 1701 in August. In the afternoon we continued the clearance of vegetation from around Underbridge 1700 ready for the installation of new fencing. The improvement is most striking from the road: last summer you could not see the bridge for the overhanging trees and ivy. Of course no working party would be complete without a bonfire and we managed to have two.
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Using the road-rail digger. 26th September 2010. Photo: Gary Hall |
Today saw two members show up for the end of month work party. The low turnout was expected as other members of the group had duties on the southern end in support of the Class 37 Golden Jubilee event. We managed to finish clearing the wood from the trees that were cut down along the drive. We then moved on to the north end of the station platform and cleaned up the area where we removed the small section of track that once was used for the Wickham's Trolley years ago. The area was raked level and the sleepers that were in good enough condition to be used for packing were cut to length. These were then transported to the level crossing in ready for when they start packing again. This area is now reasonable and can be used for access to and from the meadow. Efforts were then concentrated on removing the signal post at the South end of the station to be eventually moved to Thuxton. A strap was tied around the post and the road rail digger took the strain while we dug out around the post. After digging a 4 foot hole we were finally able to release the post from the ground. We made the site safe and then called it a wet day done.
By Trevor Brackpool, Owen Stratford and Roy Malyon.
At the south end of Thuxton passing loop, there is an accommodation crossing. Now that all the track work is finished, we spent the day fixing a deck to the new up-side track to provide an even surface to people crossing the line.
P Way returned to 'normal duties' following the successful inspection of Thuxton Loop. We spent today at Whinburgh Cutting, digging out sleepers ready for changing. After a steady effort all day 65 sleepers were dug out between the Mustard Pot Bridge (1689) and the main road bridge (1690).
We had a change of plan for today's works as the sleeper delivery could not be arranged until Monday. As a result we all went off to Thuxton to complete a few outstanding jobs down there. The main plan of attack saw us work through both loops, checking the chairscrews for tightness and replacing odd ferrules that were in need. We also lifted and packed a minor dip that had developed off of the back of the north turnout. With all of this work completed and with the loop ready to go into action, the TSR was removed. Some signalling works were also carried out, with a smoothing capacitor added to the north end phones to take the buzz off of the line. We also collected a drum of telecoms cable from Dereham and ran out the requisite length ready for the installation of the guards phone on the up platform. Also all of the signals were unhooded with the loop being signed into full use. The evening saw some driver and guards training with the DMU making several trips to and fro around the loop on the various possible routes and modes.
PW spent the morning at Crownthorpe attending to a fault on the overbridge. The steam crews had reported a rough ride a few weeks back, which was diagnosed as a couple of sleepers that had been lifted off of the waybeams by recent tamper activity. We took out some packers and inserted these between the chairs and the sleepers on the Wymondham end of the bridge. This cured the problem and we inserted a few new ferrules at the same time. We then removed a few of the walkway boards adjacent to the rails in order to provide space in which to access the main bridge waybeams and deck for a detailed periodic inspection that will be carried out later on this year.
A small but very select band of PW people turned up at Thuxton on Saturday. Apparently the lure of canals had got the better of two of our most stalwart members and one other decided that the Operations Dept needed his help. Thus two of us proceeded to the North points and moved a pile of older ballast from the trackside to an area of the old main line which needed it after the recent tamping. This cleared the way for us to bury another 45m of the control cables to the signal and points.
Meanwhile, down at Wymondham, we located and replaced a cracked fishplate that had been reported to us a few days earlier. We also planted the new speed limit boards for the bridge at the Sewage Works which has its speed limit raised to 20mph after the recent tamping.