So far the weather has been reasonably kind, but no doubt I will regret saying that.

Work has continued on our level crossings with New Bridge Public Road one having had some TLC as seen in photos A and B where we have had a contractor cut out and repair the tarmac alongside the rails.

Martyn and the P Way gang have recently also refixed the fourfoot panels as they were loose partly due to the uneven sleeper spacing but mostly the gunge that covers the road from the lorries coming out of the nearby quarry. We are planning to provide side panels alongside the rails later in the year but this will require a formal road closure.

This level crossing is on a big skew to the road and the gates are inevitably long and being wood they develop rot which our S&T are good at repairing by cutting out bits and chamfering in new as seen photos C and D.

Craig took photo C but I took photo D yesterday, just to show that the sun doesn’t always shine when I am about!

We have bought and fitted new Rosehill level crossing panels on a farm field crossing between New Bridge and Trout Farm which was unusable after we relaid it last year. It may look a luxury but the landowner for both sides has a legal right to use the crossing.

Photo E shows the new panels with the Plasser crane beyond that had just lifted them in and then promptly broke down. Another job for our volunteer fitters at the weekend.

The Esk Valley relay progresses with Peter having now done the formation digging and track relaying has started. The whole section will be welded up and stressed so we need to provide adjustment switches at the ends to protect the jointed track. 

The final job when the short section to the south of the relay near the P Way cabin above Esk Valley will be to join up with the Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) section from there up to Beckhole. As we don’t know exactly when this will be done we will have two sets of breathers there for now ready for the hopefully hot weather in the summer. The middle timbers that have the bolted slide baseplates have to be strapped together to stop them moving about when the rails get hot or cold. The one set we have was missing the straps which are made out of short lengths of bullhead rail so in photo F Darren is seen drilling them with the rest of us watching. 

Earlier in the week the section of jointed track is seen beyond the 08 shunter. The dipped joints are obvious which is one of the reasons we will rerail it after respacing the sleepers to 28/length as the present ones have variable spacing and are only at 23 or 24 per length.

Pete and Jim are seen in H and I regrading the formation near arch over bridge 36. As we are short of space to put the old ballast etc the area of the left of these views will have to be dug and loaded into rail wagons when the track is in.

That’s all for now. More next week.

Best wishes
Nigel Trotter
NYMR Civil Engineer

Previous Entry