Our small track team had a busy day on Saturday, with two important jobs underway. The main task was the replacement of a timber on one set of points that make up the East Crossover just outside the station, where trains can switch from our North Line to the South Line.
The timber had been identified for replacement as part of our regular track inspection regime. The time between summer trains and Halloween with no public trains running was a good time to fix this before it became problematic.
The process is pretty simple. In fact, we’d say it was the same as it was in Edwardian times apart from our useful collection of battery and two-stroke petrol track tools!
The old timber was first unbolted and removed, the area under it was levelled. Next, the new timber was slid into place using muscle power alone. With everything lined up, it was drilled to accept the chairs that hold the rail, then bolted in. Ballast was poured round the area and adjusted using pick and shovel, with one of our petrol Geismar hand tampers used to finish off the task. Levels and gauge were checked to make sure everything was good for trains to run over it again.
Work to install our first working signal in the station headshunt was also started. There was no machinery involved here, just spades and shovels. The foundations were dug ahead of a concrete pour to support the signal.
It was all in a day’s work for our volunteers. If you think you’d like to join in the fun, please get in via our volunteering page.
